The West Coast of Barbados – So Good I Shopped There Myself!
One of the benefits of being the director of a real estate investment firm is that you are usually the first to take advantage of the real estate opportunities you seek!
For years this has helped some of us acquire good sized property portfolios. We usually need them as not many of us have pensions!
Now, in recent years, the real estate investment market has become increasingly difficult to operate, there simply are not the funds that there were a few years ago. This means that we all have to be much smarter about where we invest, we can’t just take chances!
Well, since yesterday I am the proud owner of an apartment in Weston Resort, Barbados.
I thought I would write a short summary on why I decided to invest here instead of any of the other investment opportunities that are offered to us on a daily basis.
- The location
In a market where performance really is king, I make sure to focus on areas that are already established. Areas where I know people will vacation no matter what the financial market is like. For me, the west coast of Barbados has this.
The types of people who regularly vacation here don’t mind that their mortgage rate has gone up a few percent. Chances are you don’t have mortgages!
- the developer
Another important point for me is the quality and financial stability of the developer.
I have met the directors of Candelisa on numerous occasions, in London and in their fantastic glass-fronted offices in Leeds.
I know they have the facilities to not only build this, but deliver it on time.
- Your rental return
I have vacationed in Barbados before, so get an idea of how much you pay to rent on the west coast.
Before offering Weston to our investors, we took some time to delve into rental values in the area, as well as read the information provided by the developer. We found that just 38% occupancy could achieve a return after mortgage payments of over £10,000 per year. This amount of return in such a quality area is almost unheard of.
In the UK you would not expect the same amount of rental return in Kensington as you would in Manchester, at Weston we have achieved exactly that!
- Your resale value
The final straw came when I did additional comparable research on competitor resorts in the area. Simply, nothing was close.
The fact that I was able to buy a 2-bedroom apartment within walking distance of the Royal Westmoreland Golf Course for just £200,000 sealed it for me. Especially when I found out they were selling 2 beds at Royal Westmoreland for over £1m! The closest comparable I could find was over £50,000 more expensive!
- my long term goal
Actually, I don’t plan to visit Barbados in the near future, I will put my apartment on your management scheme and reinvest the proceeds in the mortgage. I have calculated that I should be able to pay off the mortgage in just over 10 years considering renting for only 20 weeks out of 52. If I manage to rent for 40 weeks out of 52, this comes down to just under 4 years!