Buying Tips
If you’re thinking about purchasing Caribbean Real Estate, and wish to make your investment on the island of St. Lucia, there are a few steps that you need to follow to get you there. Your most effective step in this journey is to contact us, and our personalized service will guide you through everything you need to know, for everything you want to do.
- Find an Agent. - Many people prefer to go it alone and dive into the search process, but investing in a foreign country is time consuming and difficult to keep all of your facts straight. Local, professional agents already know what will take months to discover and are experts on the laws you didn’t know existed. Use these resources that are available to you.
- Build a budget. - Attacking the open real estate market without your facts straight, especially financially, will prove a costly mistake. If you intend to use cash or similar means, make sure to know what and when it’s available. If you intend to purchase through a loan, always acquire pre-approval so you don’t find yourself short when it’s time to close. Beware of hidden costs in any transaction, your agent should be able to help you with them, and we will attempt to expose most of them in this list.
- Select your property - When the search has ended, and you’ve found your spot, the purchasing process begins. It is at this juncture that you should appoint legal counsel. They, along with your real estate professional, will guide you through the process until title has transferred.
- Reserve your property –Sometimes this is required of the seller. An initial reservation contract is signed, along with a deposit of approximately US$5000, guaranteeing the seller will not enter into a contract with another purchaser. The price of the deposit is eventually taken off the total purchase price and may or may not be refundable, depending on the seller.
- Sign the contract - Once a purchase price has been agreed upon, a purchase contract is drawn up with the appropriate stipulations. For foreign investors this is important because in order to purchase property, they must secure an Alien’s Landholding License for that specific property. The purchase agreement will state the contract is valid as long as the purchaser obtains such a license. These usually take 6 months to acquire, so be prepared for the wait. At this time, a 10% deposit is also often required of the purchaser, refundable if they are unable to secure the license.
- Apply for Alien’s Landholding License - This is a process generally taken care of by the law counsel you’ve agreed to work with. An application fee of US$1000 is required up front, and the overall fee will be US$3350 for parcels of less than one acre, and US$6700 for larger plots of land.
- Land Purchase Closing and Closing Fees - When the license is finally acquired, the land is now legally available for purchase. In addition to the 90% remaining of your seller’s price, you will also be responsible for a stamp duty of 2% of the purchase price and your real estate and law fees of 3%-5%.
- If desired, Build - Once the title has transferred and is legally yours, assuming you bought vacant land, rather than an existing home, you are now able to build your Caribbean Villa, to build your Flagship.
There are 24 beautiful homes for sale in the exclusive Cap Estate area of St. Lucia. These Caribbean Villas boast modern amenities and a classical style, by Sater Design and built exclusively for you by Flagship Homes.
