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My brother, wife and 2 of their grown up sons live in Belize - they are British, he is ex military who got his pension at 42. He is 50 now - they sold their home in the UK and bought 30 acres near Corazal, had a 4 bed 4 bath house built - the land cost $30k and the house cost $100k.
His wife and eldest son have been out there about 18 months they over saw the building of the house - she by the way has lost over 100lbs in the 18 months - she was pretty big - they have no fast food. She had to buy stuff, prepare it and cook it - they only had one truck between them and if the son was using it she had to walk to buy groceries and carry them back. She was taking medication for high blood pressure - she isn't any longer - she thinks being out there has saved her life! I don't know what sized clothes she wore before (I was too polite to ask) but she takes a US size 14 now.
They didn't go on retirement visas (his pension wasn't enough) they went on tourist visas (you can't work) and renewed them every month or so for about $25 - after 2 years you can apply for citizenship which both she and the eldest son will do soon.
They aren't on the grid (too far away and too expensive to connect) - they have a generator and solar panels, the water is from a well - safe to drink (we have friends in California who have a well too) they don't have a landline phone (is that what you call a normal house phone in the US), they have mobile (cell) phones. I haven't asked them how they access the internet - it maybe using an internet cafe. I keep in touch using Facebook.
They drive on the opposite side of the road to the US - same as us here in the UK. Their laws and parliament are based on English Common Law - as they are in the US - so I suppose things wouldn't be too unfamiliar. Property buying is like the UK and very regulated.
They say health care is pretty good and cheap - there is one particularly good hospital in Belize.
They have cleared the land and are growing corn, watermelon etc, they live near the Mexican border and every now and then they go over and visit a shopping mall - complete with Walmart. So I guess they don't go with out too many things.
And they have just returned from a week in Cancun so I suppose things aren't all that bad.
There are a few places south of the Border that are safe, inexpensive with excellent medical care. Several have expat buy in programs.
If homesick, fly back for a month a year and you still qualify for the 330 day a year fed tax exemption.
It can be done, did it. Some places you must be tolerant and learn "when in Rome".
I do agree with you and I did like living in Panama. The health care was good and most of the ppl where nice to gringos.
I always said 'look for the good because the bad show up soon enough'. I do believe that some folks expect it to be like the US which it is not. I heard lots of complaints in those 5 years.
I lived there years ago and wouldn't trade it for anything. Would I go back and live there again.. maybe.. I speak spanglish and there are lots of wonderful things to see and do.
The house I lived in back in the 60s that was gov't duplex housing in the canal zone now sells for 1 mil. Of course it was redone but 1 mil is a lot when other houses have not been updated.
How funny.. I was watching House Hunters and they had a couple moving to Panama. The housing was not cheap.. they were looking at 250K and up. One house was 1 1/2 hours away from the city.
The other thing is they had to put their dogs in quarantine for 30 days. There is a way around it if you can get an attorney to help you but you have to have all the paperwork plus pay a fee of $130 for each dog to stay in your home.
I did check where I use to live in the CZ. Houses are being rented for 2K a month!!!!
I had a couple of freinds who went to Belize on vacation.
They took a guided tour of the jungle like interior many miles from the coast.
At one point during their tour the road was blocked by a pair of jeeps.
When they approached two more jeeps blocked them in from behind and they were trapped.
The men in the jeeps got out with AK-47 rifles and semi automatic pistols
whereupon the tourists were robbed at gunpoint.
Fortunately, no one was injured.
From what I have learned this is not an isolated incident.
On more than once occasion tourists who resisted were shot.
Bands of militant guerillas roam the interior of Belize and they
prey on tourists whom they believe carry lots of money.
The local law enforcement does little to detour this activity
other than warn tourists to stay closer to the coastlines
where the population is more dense and the militants
less likely to strike.
Make sure you research carefully before moving for same.
I do agree with you and I did like living in Panama. The health care was good and most of the ppl where nice to gringos.
I always said 'look for the good because the bad show up soon enough'. I do believe that some folks expect it to be like the US which it is not. I heard lots of complaints in those 5 years.
I lived there years ago and wouldn't trade it for anything. Would I go back and live there again.. maybe.. I speak spanglish and there are lots of wonderful things to see and do.
The house I lived in back in the 60s that was gov't duplex housing in the canal zone now sells for 1 mil. Of course it was redone but 1 mil is a lot when other houses have not been updated.
Agree. I sort of have a skewed image. I lived in Boquette and loved it, out of the city scene, crime etc.
My petsitter went to Belize on a high school senior trip. Some of them took a guided side trip with other tourists on an old banger of a school bus. Adventurous fun for teenagers, right? Wrong. They were hijacked and forced to lie face down on the ground, then guys with guns patted them down, took all of their jewelry, money and anything else of value. It is foolish to relocate to any third world country with a romantic notion that you'll be allowed to assimilate and be treated any differently. In most places south of the border the mindset is, once a gringo, always a gringo.
I visit Mexico every year or so in February, and one of my favorite destinations is a small, out of the way coastal town on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan peninsula called Mahahual, about an hour north of the Belize border. It's 4+ hours south of Cancun via rental car or the once a day ADO bus. There are not a lot of tourists in Mahahual unless a cruise ship docks at the nearby Costa Maya port, but they are gone before sunset.
All of the Mexican residents I know in Mahahual told me that Belize was a place they did not visit much because of security concerns and because they get hassled there excessively to buy junk they were not interested in. One day I went along with a few Mahahual residents on a shopping trip by car to big box stores in Chetumal, Mexico, a few miles north of the Belize border. They dropped me off in Santa Elena, at the Belize border crossing, and from there I walked across the border and took a short bus ride to Corozal, Belize. I wasn't too impressed with Corozal, and although I didn't feel insecure walking around town, my friends in Mahahual were right about getting bothered a lot to buy junk I did not want.
After having a good seafood lunch in Corozal, I hopped on the bus from Corozal back to the Mexican border and called my friends in time to get a ride back to the peace and quiet of Mahahual. Belize did not impress me. Just because they speak a form of English doesn't count much to me because there are too many things in the Not So Good column. When people in Mexico won't go to a place due to security concerns, you need to take notice of that.
I guess one important consideration if you're retired is health care. Medicare doesn't cover health care abroad - and even the best Medigap policies only have very limited coverage (suitable at best for occasional travel - not living). And lots of countries that aren't even third world have problems in their health care delivery systems. E.g., a doctor friend of ours needed semi-emergency surgery in Moscow - but wound up flying to Scandinavia to get the surgery due to concerns about contaminated blood supplies.
FWIW - there are a lot of pretty cheap places to live here in north Florida. Mostly rural and somewhat rednecky - but usually within an hour or so of a civilized area (like JAX or Tallahassee or Lake City). Robyn
Excellent posting! Health care, and health insurance are my concerns. I have retinal issues that require I see my ophthalmologist and/or retinal specialist several times a year (or more if needed), and I can't take the chance of losing my eyesight for the sake of relocating to an area that does not provide good medical care.
I investigated living outside the USA, but rejected it. Yes you can live cheaper but you also give up US conveniences, cheap power and others. What I found, is that if you want to live a USA lifestyle outside the USA, it will generally cost you about the same or more. Besides, there are ways to live very cheap in USA, even get along on just SS. Lots of folks do it. Live in low property tax state that doesn't tax SS, and you're pretty much there.
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