Up until recently, property purchases on Ambergris Caye were either cash purchases or were a combination of cash and Owner financing. Owner financing depended on the financial needs of the owner and several years ago, a “10/10/10” deal – 10% down, 10% interest, 10 year amortization was not uncommon. As the market values of properties were increasing between 15% and 30% per year, owners soon realized that such financing was not in their best financial interests! Some owner financing is still offered but terms today range from 30% to 50% down, 8% – 10% interest, amortized over 5 to 10 years but with a 3 to 5 year full balloon payment.
During the last year or two, several local banks have become more interested in foreign purchasers. As foreigner purchasers will not bear the 14% to 18% interest rates the local banks were charging, a new loan category for foreign investors was created with interest rates between 10.5 and 12%, good rates by local standards but still significantly higher than US or Canadian rates. Contact information and application forms for these local banks are available through Century 21 – Coral Beach Realty!
