What's It Cost - 2017 Update

This posting was prompted by an email from Eric. He and his wife are interested in possibly moving down here and he wanted to know some of the costs of living here. It had been a few years since I looked that sort of stuff up, so I thought I'd go ahead and make an updated blog posting about it.

Finding out what things might cost down here can be quite hard, at least until you actually are here and thrashing through the bush with the rest of us.

I've written about this a few times on the blog, and I've provided some links to the previous postings for you to follow up on.

To start with I picked this one:
http://www.winjama.net/search/label/Cost%20of%20Goods Can I Really Live on $200 A Month Down There? Posted on 15 January 2016, so it is still quite current in the figures I've used.

Coin of the Realm

Next, is this post:
http://www.winjama.net/2007/07/it-costs-how-much.html It Costs How Much? Posted 12 July 2007. I wrote this one after we had only been here for a couple of months. I think you'll be able to extrapolate costs listed by comparing the cost of Post Office Box Rental for one year, of $32.50 BZD in 2007. Now, the same Post Office box costs $40 BZD per year.

Checking the Mail

So you can see that things have gone up, some more than others. But, I think it's fairly consistent overall. for example, a loaf of whole wheat bread cost $1.00 BZD in 2007. Now, it's about $1.70 a loaf.

Finally, a look at construction costs:
http://www.winjama.net/search/label/Construction%20Costs. So, What's It All Cost? This one was posted 04 February 2010.

There have been some additions to the construction costs. We extensively redid our swimming pool, deck, and awning (cost, approx. $66,000 BZD). We also made a large addition to the pool house (which became our primary residence  (cost, approx. $140,000 BZD). We finished up with a couple of projects, a small utility storage shed (cost, approx. $14,000 BZD), and a driveway addition (cost, approx. $2,000 BZD for 30-yards of gravel and hiring a Bobcat).

The  Bobcat At Work

Grand total for property and construction is approximately $260,000 USD.

We paid for it all a little bit here, a little bit there, pulling from our IRAs, my deferred compensation portion of my state retirement, and having lucked out a couple of years before we moved here when we sold our house in Olympia at about the height of the market. As a result, we have no mortgage. We own the place free and clear. Oh, yes, and our property taxes are a whopping $400 BZD per year.

Just so you don't think that we're part of that 1% crowd - Dianna and I worked most of our adult life. Between us, we've owned one new car, a Gremlin, which I bought in 1970 for $2,400 US.

Mine was Big Bad Orange

We've owned four or five houses, making payments on them. Belize is the only place where we've actually held the title to our property (or Land Certificate, as it's called here).

I hope all this helps with your planning and decision process. Would we change anything or do things differently? I don't think so. We've been comfortable with our decisions, and still enjoy living here. I think we're pretty happy.

So, What's It All Cost?

Thanks are due to Jill, with a British Army training unit in Canada. She wanted to know what our house cost, which prompted me to dig into my MoneyDance (open source financial software) records to see just what we really did pay for some of the stuff we have here.

Keep in mind that not all the costs are recounted here. Things like hiring an electrician for some new wiring, a whole-house surge suppressor. You know, there's a whole laundry-list of stuff that just sort of gets lost in the shuffle. You forgot to categorize some purchase, or maybe forgot to enter this one, etc. So, it's not exact by any standard, but it should give you a fair idea of what we've spent to get Casa Winjama up and functioning. I hope it helps with any decision-making process you're entertaining.

Cash On the Barrel Head

What's it cost to build such a palatial estate in Belize, such as the one we see here?

Casa Winjama

First, we bought the land. That was about $72,000 BZD.

Then, and none from here on is in order of construction or purchase, just the Mennonite house, the upper portion - about $51,500 BZD. This included the concrete columns and beams.

Then we finished the lower portion - that was about $15,000 BZD

And the other structures:

    * The well and well house (includes a trash bin) - $20,000 BZD
    * septic tank and drain field - $6,800 BZD
    * parking palapa - $11,000 BZD
    * swimming pool and deck - $48,000 BZD
    * guest house - $45,000 BZD (estimated, as it's still under construction)
    * bulkhead - $12,000 BZD (still under construction, but paid for)
    * electrical transformer - $11,000 BZD

    * fence, gates, motor, concrete, and ironwork - $75,000 BZD
    * Total: $295,300 BZD or $147,650 USD

This doesn't take into account burglar bars and doors, gravel for the driveway and parking area (currently about $550 BZD for 15 cu. yd.) concrete and rebar for curbings, custom living room sectional, custom kitchen cabinets, custom workbenches, custom wardrobe, custom desk and shelves, etc., etc., etc.

It's probably a good idea to keep in mind that some of these costs are at least two years old. I'm sure prices have gone up since then.

It Takes A Lot Of Shillings!