For most families, there's no better type of investment than buying a home as their residence. They not only enjoy pride of ownership while living in their own home, but it provides a great vehicle for saving money and potential profit when it's sold.

Even though the Grand Bahama Real Estate market has been very quiet for many years, over the last few years home and property values have really started to appreciate. For years all of the attention and business has gone to Nassau the capital city, but once again the second city is poised for success. The hurricanes have come and gone and as the green on the wind burned vegetation blooms, so does Freeport’s potential. Its easy to sit back and say Freeport is always a bridesmaid but never a bride as Freeport has been on the verge of success many times in its roller coaster history. But I think this time Freeport is ready to walk down the aisle of growth and success and I invite you to be a part of this celebration by investing in Real Estate. In the past year with Westin/Sheraton occupancy rates up, many more direct flights to Freeport, The Marriott Hotel finally ready to be built, The Ginn Group finally ready to develop in the west end and eastern Grand Bahama, Goldrock Creek Studios (yes it is finally happening) in the east preparing for the arrival of the shooting of Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 and 3 this year, and more people being exposed to Freeport around the world, all indications are that Real Estate is the place to invest your money. If the future plans for this island stay on track I still predict that this will be one of those points in history that people will look back and say those famous words of regret in Real Estate Woulda ! Coulda! Shoulda!. “I Woulda have bought that old house if I knew it would be worth so much today. I Coulda have bought that canal property for cheap, I told you we Shoulda have bought that lot next door”. Don’t be a woulda, coulda, shoulda, negative, procrastinator, pessimist. Now is the time to invest in Real Estate and take advantage of the rising prices which means strong return on investments and in fact better returns than banks, or the fickle stock market.

Grand Bahama has everything going for it right now and instead of just talk there are actual sales supporting some very strong appreciation numbers. On Grand Bahama Island many people raise the price of their property just because their neighbor raises there property which has caused inflated prices, but for the first time in many years prime property is catching up with some of those former over inflated prices.

The key to making money in the property market is to buy property that is under market value or at market value with the potential to increase. If you overpay for property when you buy, it will be very difficult with stamp taxes, real estate fees, and legal fees when you sell to make a good profit. If you purchase a property over $250,000 when you sell you will have to pay the government 5% (half the stamp tax), real estate fees of 6%, legal fees of 2.5% which means that you have to sell for 13.5% more than you paid just to break even. If you are borrowing money from the bank make sure that you spend time and really look at your personal cash flow to make sure that you can really afford the real estate. It does not make sense to be land rich and cash poor because eventually you will be neither land or cash rich when some unforeseen expenses come up. Do your home work, talk to realtors, keep looking at the web sites and watch the prices. If you are purchasing land, have a long term strategy to hold property for several years and if you buy a home, plan to live in for several years make improvements and then sell Many Property owners are enjoying steadily growing wealth from increasing values and paying down their mortgage each month as the property appreciates. Real Estate is a good investment that is getting better so take the plunge and Go for it !! Until Next week.

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