vinnieboy

Gordon Barlow

Wow! Is that really the rule over in the east, there? Here in the western Caribbean, the high point of Grand Cayman is 40 feet above sea level, not counting the town dump... In 2004 we had a class 3-4 hurricane hovering over us for a while, and the floor of our house was a foot underwater from a surge from the south coast a mile away, but nothing anywhere near a hundred feet. A couple of condo blocks were washed across the road, but they were flimsy wooden buildings. (Our home is wooden, but Canadian cedar logs, not the traditional pine planks.) Nobody that I know had or has a panic-room of any sort. Yes, once in a while there is a lot of damage - witness Puerto Rico and the islands near it last year - and a lot of poor families always lose their flimsy roofs, but there are good builders everywhere capable of building safely. Although hundred-foot waves would be pretty hard to handle, I must say! Crikey.

Back during our 2004 storm, many residents (mostly expats) flew to Miami for safety. I happened to be off the Island at the time, and my wife sheltered in a solid office building in town for a couple of days, but survived OK. Looting was the worst part of the whole experience, for those who abandoned their homes for longer than the two days!

uk_grenada

Happyowner

Barbados has not had a direct hit from a Hurricane since 1955. Thank God we are east of the normal Hurricane path. We prepare ( in a fashion ) and we have Tropical Storms which often turn into Hurricanes after the pass by, but thank God, that's it.

Where I live we were in the Eye of Harvey. An electrical Storm like I have never seen and total stillness a very weird experience . Harvey moved on and became a Hurricane , closely followed by Irma and Maria who passed by us a fair way away thank the Lord They caused damage to beaches because we had 20 foot waves , but nothing incredible ..Whereas they wiped out whole Islands catastrophically Yes there is always a possibility of a Hurricane, but Barbados is VERY VERY lucky. in that respect
Hence the saying "God is a Bajan "

vinnieboy

Gordon Barlow

Well, you might have to revert to British colonial status...! At the moment, we colonies get first dibs at UK post-hurricane help.

vinnieboy

Mister Arsenal

Hi Vinnie.

I haven't use this for ages easily a couple of years but I started to follow your story and sent you what I thought was a private message
to introduce myself, don't know what happened to it.
Anyway long story short I lived in Barbados 8 years also worked there, at the moment I'm in St Lucia but will be returning to Barbados next week with the
plan to buy my own piece of the rock which I intend to build my own house on, or have it built I should say.
The advice you have been given in this forum has been very good, but having lived and worked as a project manger on some of the island
more prestige hotel projects, I have a few stories to tell.
hope you manage to see this as I to would like to pick your brains over a few matters construction wise.

P.s Brummie Born And Breed.

vinnieboy

Serendipidy

Just a note on why there might be so many places for sale. About 10 years ago Barbados was awash with expats who wanted a home from home and was the height of when Place in the Sun was on TV a lot so many expats brought a place and came and went as they liked. I am not an expert in politics but this is my personal experience and that of many in the forum as I have been moderating it for past 13 years. In 2011 there was a change in government (DLP) and they were heavily focused on denying status, not extending stays, only giving 3 months in a year etc all resulting in getting expats and foreign investment to leave Barbados in order to drive down the house prices to make them affordable to locals again.

There appeared to be a real bitterness about foreigners coming and going and buying homes - even though they brought these homes from locals willing to sell and who made a large profit. This meant that ex pats could no longer utilise their homes as they did previously and it left a bitter taste.

On top of this there was a global economy crisis and houses everywhere depreciated. As a result the homes that the dream seekers owned that were brought at premium prices were put on the market but there was no one to buy. Many people who brought could afford to ride out the storm and see what happens but the prices never dropped enough to be affordable to locals. Hence the owners hold onto these and keep them up for sale in the hopes that they will sell at some point and they will at least not have negative equity and in the meantime they may rent them out.

Dips

vinnieboy

Sunniebgi

i'll do a bit of correcting. the change in government came in January 2008.. with the DLP winning 20 of the 30 government seats.... from that year, the cause of "expulsion of expats" seemed to start taking place. people being escorted to the airport with little to no notice that their time in Barbados.. even living legally, was done. now.. don't take this the wrong way.. it wasn't mass hoards.. but it was a few. The then Chief Immigration officer seemed to also stop all residency requests.. (you could get a visitors visa.or. Citizenship, if you had to right documentation, . but no residency.. which just simply means you can't vote.. and there is a different form to fill out and money to pay)..

not being in the real estate business. I can say.. I'm not sure that expats were not allowed to buy houses or land.. but even at that point.. the cost of a local buying a house, was the same as an expat.. and very high.. even to rent... and that was locals thinking they could take advantage of the market of expats coming to Barbados for jobs (which also was on the decline.. again.. think Immigration rules)

in 2008, while the rest of the world was dealing with the economics of the day.... market crashes , issues in real estate etc.. we continued to live a "happy" life here on the island.... in October 2010, the Prime minister passed away do to pancreatic cancer..and our beloved (not) Ferundel Stuart was placed in as PM.. and was then voted in to office officially in January 2013 and held that office till he, and his party, was summarily dismissed on May 24th 2017 ....

At the moment.. after those lovely 10 years.. the island is having an economic issue of our own.. No government money.. thanks to the last government.. corruption in the form of government officials doing as they please in the last days of the last government.. which means higher taxes, to put money back into the government..

I'm a little confused, Dipity, about the part where you say.. expats couldn't use their homes like they could previously.. I don't think that many of the rules/regulations changed for home owners when it came to the immigration issues. people still came.. could stay 4 months.. leave the island for a day or week and come back.. and it wasn't just greedy locals who couldn't get people to purchase the "high cost" houses. there a difference in what you want to sell something for.. the worth of something.. and the money you actually had to put in to make it worth living in.. (it's those items that cost the money, because they aren't manufactured here and have to be shipped in.. which means money/taxes shipping costs etc..

AND.. at the moment.. the biggest issue is Brexit.. the drop in the GBP.. and the uncertain future all over... including in Barbados.. .AND.. the unfortunate unscrupulous real estate developers who talk big and never deliver..

Don't Give up Vinnyboy. keep looking. and keep asking questions. you never know...

Happyowner

Sunnie, for a very short time, ( I can't remember when ) ,Virgin and BA were instructed not to sell Air tickets for stays of more than 3 months. This immediately , lead to a public outcry amongst the Ex Pats who had been encouraged to buy million dollar properties with the intention of living in them for 6 months of the year.

The 3 month limit stopped, but instead of issuing a 6 month Visa on arrival at GA, many, but not all, were granted 3 months and advised to apply for an extension of another 3 months , for the sum of $100. Some still got 6 months .Permission is almost always given for the Extension, but think of the revenue brought about by charging every member of the family $100 --------------very clever.
When they finally realised that I was staying here for 7 to 8 months, but in 3 visits, they demanded I got my Special Stay Visa. I recall seeing the huge pile of forms each representing at least $100 when I presented my Application which cost $300 . What an " earner " that is.

vinnieboy

Serendipidy

Quote : I'm a little confused, Dipity, about the part where you say.. expats couldn't use their homes like they could previously.. I don't think that many of the rules/regulations changed for home owners when it came to the immigration issues. people still came.. could stay 4 months.. leave the island for a day or week and come back.. .[/QUOTE]

Sunnie I wrote a post in the forum back then that was picked up by the Bajan press about the fact that people I knew had been told by Virgin that they couldn't purchase tickets longer than 3 months because immigration would not allow entry. There was also a big hoo ha as the couple that posted in here that they had brought and told they had to leave etc fought it as they had a property and were kicked off the island. Also the one day to leave and re-enter concept stopped around then too. As you know I was personally caught up and affected by this after attempting to renew my work permit and being told with 2 weeks notice to leave my business, home (rented) and car etc as "this is not your home so its time you went home" verbatim by the CIO and her team!

I myself was not a home owner but I rented properties from expats who were so it affected people all round. I heard of a lot of cases where they said we don't care if you have a house here you only get 3 months in 1 year. That all changed I think when it went to press etc. I don't think the actual "rules" ever changed but the administration of how they were utilised definitely did

Just saw Happy Owners post on this after writing my response - so I may have double up on info provided