Margarita island is a good place to purchase Caribbean properties at low prices and is also one of the few places in the world where a foreigner can actually BUY properties with no real restrictions. Some foreign nationals require visas to enter the country (please see our links on How to get to Margarita page). It is a great place to retire and live well on your foreign income while being blessed with our stable warm and sunny hurricane free climate.

Please call me before contacting anybody else, so we can intelligently and professionally coordinate your requirements with our own team or then perhaps with other reliable and punctual associates. Calling several estate agents at once may inadvertantly create internal conflicts among our own colleagues and other realtors with whom we may already have a strategic alliance so we can offer a lot more. Real estate in Venezuela is a cut-throat business.

Always try to be honest with us about your requirements (see links below) just as you would want us to be with you, as this is a tourist destination and we get a lot of curious people wanting free tours of the island. The first thing we try to do is to meet up with you face to face in a public place cafe and discuss in a friendly and informal manner your requirements. We do not meet at hotels unless in Porlamar and as a rule don´t call hotels for lack of proper message services in most of them. We do offer a paid real estate tour for those who wish to hear about how things are done here without any obligation, read below for more information. Always ask if sellers want Bolivares or foreign currency wire transfer, as the tendency from mid 2007 is that proof of payment in local currency will be required to close.

Mortgages and finance: sorry, no financing available for foreigners as interest rates far too high and will not qualify, except perhaps for new projects at pre-construction prices with some payment plans. Otherwise, I would advise you to get a loan your end and use the money to pay CASH here.. There are some NEW projects that will have some pre-sale prices here and there though and we can show you some of these reliable ones.

By law our listings have to be shown in Venezuelan Bolivars (shown as VEB or "Bs.") and closings on title documents will always show in our official currency. Alternative payment methods can be arranged as some sellers wish to receive their money by deposit into foreign accounts while others will want only Venezuelan currency payable in Venezuela. The first and most important question to ask is whether payment is to be undertaken in local currency or by wire transfer. New regulations June 2007 make it mandatory to show proof of payment by check in local currency when drawing up legal title documents. This makes payment by wire transfer more complicated.  

Local owner / sellers will invariably hand out their listings to everybody and do not keep the agents updated with prices so do not be surprised if these are changed from one moment to another and even while actually showing the property! This has happend to us too although we try to avoid this like the plague! We cannot accept responsability for these actions and we do not want to work with people like these.

It is recommendable that an option document be drawn up and notarized with standard penal clauses for your protection. We cannot give you a time span for closing because this all depends on whether the sellers are in the country or not and if they have their paperwork completely up to date. Remember that when buyer makes a down payment to reserve a property and buyer defaults  - buyer loses his money, if seller the buyer gets back the deposit plus double the amount. 

Choose someone reliable and punctual who best serves your own particular profile and needs and if you don´t trust anybody not even your own shadow you can always check with your local consulates for reputations. By the way, remember that your host Douglas Weller was the honorary British consul in Margarita for 11 years prior to retirement in 2004.

Our legal department will be more than glad to assist you in many ways through our network of colleagues, for example, we can arrange to register corporations for you, offer you unbiased and reliable legal advice and consulting, assist and draw up complete documentation regarding purchases and sales of properties, undertake and notarize authorizations to buy or sell on your behalf including powers of attorney, foreign investment, legal immigration procedures and much more.

Authorizations to buy or sell on your behalf (notarized powers of attorney): these are particularly useful when you cannot stay here long enough to close on a purchase or if you need someone to represent you as the buyer or seller, you can also save a lot of money on travel expenses just to travel here to sign a simple document! Believe me, for you this is a welcome service and far cheaper than traveling back & forth. Read comments by our customers in our guestbook.

ONCE YOU HAVE BOUGHT - Bill paying, property management and other services: You will have to make sure you get your utilities like telephone and electricity bills paid on a regular basis, also condo fees and yearly taxes must be put in your name by going with a copy of your title to make the changes, and in the case of single family homes and houses the water billing from Hidrocaribe. Municipal taxes should also be put in your name. At time of closing we will do our utmost to ensure that all seller bills are paid for and after that you are on your own so give this paragraph some priority as utilities are quickly cut off when not paid in time! 

Relocation - our job is to buy and sell properties although we will gladly try to be of help to you if it is within our means. If not, I would suggest you visit our free unclassified classified ads for some reliable English speaking contacts like translators drivers and so on.

On a selective basis (usually our own customers) we can manage your property and pay your utility bills and condo fees for a very reasonable fee but only if you leave with us sufficient funds with us to open an "account" with us and operate here for you as we do not finance your payments here - no money no payments! We can also make periodical visits to your property and undertake inspections to ensure AC units are turned on, water run, check plumbing, etc. We can also rent out your properties if they are suitable rentals.

Some tips on buying if you are a foreigner

For now any foreigner on a tourist visa can buy properties here with just a valid passport and a RIF obtained from Seniat which must be done here personally and in long trousers. Information regarding visas should be obtained from your nearest Venezuelan Consulate.

We do get questions from potential buyers in regard to whether you should bring in bank drafts or travelers checks to pay for properties, but if you have any queries on this please contact us individually for advice as we do have currency control regulations at the time of publishing this. Our tip is to ALWAYS consult prices and payment methods before getting into trouble as some sellers want wires and others accept local currency.

Buying to rent: From my own personal renting experience you can generate quite a bit more income renting out to vacationers on a daily basis for around a conservative figure of 80-100 days a year or more rather than 365 days fixed rental as this leaves the property available to you. There is presently much demand for fixed or long term rentals and are difficult to find. Agencies usually charge 10% for their collections for long term rentals that we do not handle but we can put you in touch with reliable agents you perform these services.

Cost of buying: Buyer pays in advance in CASH all registration fees and legal expenses and the seller is obligated to deliver the property free of lien. At this moment with ever increasing registration costs you can expect to pay in advance 3% of the closing value of the property in local currency to handle everything up to and including closing costs, depending on the real estate companies and legal services. Here you will receive title of ownership, perhaps called "freehold" in the U.K.

Once you have bought your property you advised to make one photocopy of your passport and title document for each utility and condominium management in order to go and put billing into your name (usually Seneca for electricity and CANTV for telephones if you inherit a line.)

Some things to transfer into your name:

• Catastro municipal taxes of your location - impuestos municipales
• Seneca electricity company - servicio eléctrico
• Condominio building condo fees administration
• Cantv telephone company - servicio telefónico
• Hidrocaribe water service (houses) - servicio de agua (casas)

It is not easy to own a condo while living abroad and having to pay your monthly fees, so you may also want to have someone collect the rent and pay utilities taxes and condo fees for you. This is a low cost and useful service we offer to customers on a selective basis. If, for example, you have granted us an authorization to buy or sell (power of attorney) we will include transfer of condominium and utilities billing to your name, otherwise you have to do this yourselves.

International moving: If you wish to know how to get your personal belongings over to Margarita you will need to contact international freight forwarders like SCATadministracion@scatca.com or GARCIA HOYER ghoyergerencia@cantv.net on the island who should let you know how this is done from USA or Europe if they answer their emails. Perhaps you could also check our classified ads section for more.

Although Margarita island is a very informal place long trousers or dresses MUST be worn for all government offices especially Seniat otherwise you may not get in. It seems, however that the Mariño and Maneiro Registry offices accept shorts, but be on safe side!

If you are coming over to Margarita and have to stay overnight in Caracas as no connecting flights same day you may wish to take a look at our section on how to get here or where to stay or even our accommodation directory and look under hotels in "Litoral Central" where we are adding some hotels in that area which is on the coast closer to the airport rather than taking a taxi all the way up to Caracas.

For arrival at Margarita island you may also contract a fluent English speaking private driver for round trip airport pick up service who will even arrange a tour for you during your stay if you so wish. See links below and my classified ads usually shows some drivers.

Permanent residence in Venezuela: Buying a property does not give you automatically the right to permanent abode but we do have our legal department who will guide you through the process.