It's Chad again....Stephanie mentioned some big and exciting news in her last post. Well, here it is...We are buying property here in Belize!!! A prayer answered by a God that surprises and delights us constantly when we give our desires over to him.
Several months ago our closest friend here in Belize who is a very experienced real estate investor who is from Belize told us about a 33 acre property 6 minutes down a bumpy gravel road heading towards a beautiful and growing tourist area here in Belize. Close to zip lining, cave tubing, water falls, Mayan ruins, luxury resorts and lots of adventure! So we headed out with our families and took a beautiful and challenging hike around the perimeter of this hilly property consisting of high hills, jungle, fern meadows (the ferns are 5-6 feet high!) and dry creek beds. (it was a dry time of year). We did bush whack with our machete up a big hill and found we had a 360 degree view of the mountains in the distance. So beautiful. We were in awe of the beauty of what God has created!
Our pictures just don't do it justice.
The jungle
We were immediately excited but the plan was to wait until June when the listing with the real estate agent expired. Our partner in this found out about the property through his many contacts and thought it best to wait to save a pile of money. We were in no hurry so we decided to wait it out. As we were partnering 50/50 with our friend we knew many factors were involved in bring this deal to fruition so we were not getting our hopes up. We gave it to God and said whatever your will is we are OK with it.
While my brother was here for a visit I felt compelled to take him to the property to show him what we were thinking. The original plan was for our partner and us to each build our homes on the top of the hill and severe 5 lots or so along the road frontage below our building spots. During our hike we found that the property has many great hill top sites. we immediately rethought our plan to included 10 lots spread throughout the property with a fruit tree/garden area at the front and a nature trail surrounding the entire 33 acre property. But we still weren't getting too excited because although June was getting closer it was still a long way off and our partner seemed to be waning in excitement for the property.
To our surprise our partner called 2 days later to ask if we wanted to do this deal NOW! NOW, What! The owner was eager to do the deal and he would deal with the real estate company to eliminate commissions. So in 5 days from the hike with my brother we had made a down payment on the property as partners and are going through the process of purchasing the property.
Today was a big day as we started clearing/ under-brushing the land so see what the lay of the land really looks like so we can start identifying building sites and map out a subdivision plan. This is done the old fashion way with machete in 100 degree weather. And yes, this white boy was working side by side with a couple of Belizeans with my machete. We are so excited for this opportunity as property development had always been a dream of ours and God has opened the door for us here in Belize.
So if a 1-3 acre slice of heaven sounds pretty good to you then stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks and months as our project progresses.
With the thought of building a happened to stumble across a mahogany lumber sale at our local lumber yard. I ended up picking up 4 skids of beautiful mahogany lumber for $450 US. This stuff is beautiful, some of it is 2 inches thick and 12 inches wide! I sanded a small piece after it was delivered and it came up amazing. I am looking forward to building a few tables and maybe even a kitchen with this lumber. I am sure I will post the cool stuff we are able to create with this bargain find.
