John Lankford was a 37-year-old lawyer in New Orleans when he first visited Belize’s Ambergris Caye in 1982. Intrigued by what he saw, six weeks later he came back a second time. “I found five acres with a house I couldn’t afford and on return to New Orleans called the owner and agreed to buy it on the Gringolian plan: There, I’ve bought it. Now how the heck do I pay for it?” It took him about 11 years to pay for it, he says, with periodic commutes to resample life on the island. John finally moved to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye full time in 1993 and registered with the Bar Association in Louisiana as “retired.” The biggest mistake he made in moving to Belize was “not moving here sooner,” John says.

Belize is not for everybody, however. “We’ve seen so many gringos give up and go home, and so many others still here who are burned out and bitter, that you sometimes feel there is really something insidious underlying the friendly surface appearances,” says Phyllis Dart, an ex-Coloradan who runs a jungle lodge, Ek ‘Tun, in western Belize.

“You have to really like Belize for what it is. You must be prepared to adapt your lifestyle to fit Belize -- Belize will not adapt to you,” says Pamella Picon, the publisher of a newsletter on Belize and co-owner of Mopan River Resort in Benque Viejo del Carmen. For those who are willing to put up with the challenges -- such as lack of high-tech medical care, a high crime rate in some areas, the high cost of imported items and the occasional hurricane -- Belize can be a wonderful place to live.

Costs of Living

With a big SUV in the driveway and Belize gasoline at $3 a gallon, the Carrier turned to frigid and three fingers of French cabernet in the glass, living in Belize can cost more than back home. But if you live as a local -- eating the same foods Belizeans do, using public transport and living in a Belizean-style home with ceiling fans and cooling breezes -- you can get by on a few hundred dollars per month. In between, combining some elements of both lifestyles, you can live well for less than you would pay back home. Health care, the cost of renting or buying a home in most areas, personal and auto insurance, property taxes, household labor and most products produced in Belize are less expensive than what you’re used to paying. 

You can eat well for a modest cost in Belize. Even in resort areas, a fresh grilled-seafood dinner is $10-$12, and stewed chicken with rice and beans -- Belize’s national dish -- might be $5. In-season (mid-June to mid-February) lobster in nice restaurants costs $10-$20. Belize City has modern supermarkets, and district towns have smaller but still well-stocked shops. Many towns and villages have weekly markets (usually Saturday morning) where fresh fruit and vegetables are sold at low prices. In coastal areas and on the cayes, fresh seafood is sold cheaply off the dock or at local seafood cooperatives.

However, grocery items imported from the United States, Mexico or England are expensive. Examples: A 15-ounce box of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran is $5.13, a three-ounce box of Jello is 80 cents, a can of Campbell’s chicken soup costs $1.75, and a bottle of Gallo Turning Leaf cabernet is $12.50. But locally produced products are fairly inexpensive, including black beans at 75 cents a pound, red beans for 40 cents a pound and a dozen eggs for $1.25. A liter of premium One Barrel local rum is $7.30, corn is the equivalent of 10 cents an ear, mangos are 15 cents each, and pork chops are about $2 a pound.

For ex-New Orleanian John Lankford, living in Belize is cheaper than in the United States. “I need neither heating nor air-conditioning with their attendant bills, nor insulation in my house, nor much of a house, nor much in the way of shoes. One casual wardrobe serves all purposes except travel back to the USA,” he says.

If you know where to look, prices for seafront or rural real estate in Belize will remind you of costs in the United States in the 1960s or 1970s. In small towns in Belize, you can rent a pleasant seaside house for $250 a month. Land in larger tracts can sell for $200 an acre or less. Building lots on a remote caye might start at $4,000. Outside of high-cost tourist areas, you can build for $30-$50 per square foot or buy an attractive, modern home for $50,000-$100,000. Property taxes in Belize are low, rarely over $100-$200 annually even for a luxury home. Unlike Mexico, Belize generally has no restrictions on the ownership of land, even seafront land, by foreigners, as long as the parcel is of 10 acres or less outside a town limit, or one-half acre or less inside town limits. Purchases of larger tracts and, in a few instances, land on the cayes require government approval.

Belize banks offer mortgages and personal and commercial loans, but rates are higher than you’d pay in the United States, about 12-16 percent. Therefore, most expatriates try to get loans outside Belize or arrange owner financing. About the best owner-financing deals available for property in Belize require 10 percent down with payout over 10 years at 10 percent interest.

The good old greenback is the national currency of Belize -- almost. Belize does have its own currency, the Belize dollar, but it is pegged at two Belize dollars to one U.S. dollar, and it has been that way for decades. Belize shops accept both currencies and often give change in a mix of the two currencies. As it’s not always easy to exchange Belize dollars back into U.S. dollars or other hard currencies, expatriates in Belize usually keep most of their funds in a bank in their home country, transferring what they need for living expenses, or what is required under the retirement program, as needed to their Belize bank account.

The main tax affecting expatriate residents is a national 8 percent sales tax on nearly all goods and services, with exclusions for some food and medical items. (An unpopular 15 percent value-added tax was eliminated in 1999.) Import taxes are a primary source of government revenue. They vary but can range up to 80 percent of the value of imported goods. Official residents in Belize under the Retired Persons Incentive Act do not have to pay import duties on a car, boat, plane and up to $15,000 in household goods imported into the country. For those working for pay in Belize, the country has a progressive personal income tax with a top personal rate of 25 percent. Belize has no estate or capital gains tax. On real estate purchases, buyers who are not Belize citizens must pay a 10 percent transfer fee.

The exact number of foreign expatriates from the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe in Belize is unknown. Estimates range from around 1,000 to several thousand. Most foreigners living in Belize are not in the country as official residents. Often they are snowbirds, in Belize for only part of the year. In any case, the number is as yet small, although interest in Belize as a second home and as a retirement or relocation destination has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years.

Go To Page Two Of Retiring In Belize By Lan Sluder - C L I C K  H E R E