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| Caribbean Property Magazine Home / August 2009 / 'Reinventing You Life? Try Roatan! Part 2 of 2' | SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND  |
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A U G U S T
 2 0 0 9Issue 31
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REINVENTING YOUR LIFE? TRY ROATAN! PART 2 OF 2
by Janine Goben Last month I told you how my husband and I came to live on the Western Caribbean island of Roatan, our home for the past eleven years. It was quite an adventure, but purchasing the right piece of property was only the beginning…… Twelve years ago, my husband and I arrived on the Western Caribbean island of Roatan as tourists on a scuba diving vacation; we left as land owners. But we didn’t leave for long. You can read about our adventures and how we got to that stage of our lives in last month’s July edition of Caribbean Properties and Lifestyle magazine, if you haven’t already done so. We learned a lot of lessons in the week on Roatan - which culminated in becoming the stunned owners of our piece of paradise……and, we had no idea how many were still to be learned. In spite of our inept and self-serving real estate agent, we managed to make some good connections on our own, and my husband was lined up to teach at one of the private, bi-lingual schools here, so we had to make the decision to move right away. Paperwork was completed on our second trip in September 1998, and we moved here at the end of October…..or, that was the plan. Back home in Denver, we had three teenage boys at home. The oldest was independent and we arranged to rent our 5 bedroom home to him and 4 of his friends (DON”T DO IT!!!); the two younger boys were moving with us. There is so much to do when you decide to relocate to a different country, and the only person we knew to rely on was our realtor on Roatan. Enough said – we handled things ourselves. You will recall from last month’s article that I am now a realtor here, so I can help people avoid some of the pitfalls we encountered. The first thing we needed to do was to start the process of acquiring residency in Honduras. We had spoken with an attorney while still on Roatan and discovered that the process actually starts in your country of citizenship, or residency, if the two are different. So, we had to go to a Honduran consulate or embassy in the U.S. Unfortunately, Denver doesn’t have one, but as luck would have it, I was scheduled to give a presentation at a conference in New Orleans, so we made an appointment to start our residency there.  It turned out to be quite easy; we already knew what documents we would have to provide, so we made up packets for each of us and took them to New Orleans and appeared before the Consul General to get everything stamped and authenticated. The next phase of the residency process was to have the stamped documents mailed back to us – for some reason it couldn’t be done while we were there – and then take them with us to Honduras. Getting the household sorted out and packed up was excruciating. We had two yard sales and were pretty proud of ourselves for scaling back our lives to the bare minimum. Many lessons here - all learned after we had been on Roatan for a while. Most importantly, bare minimum in the U.S. is completely different from bare minimum in Honduras. My advice? Leave it all behind except for personal items. Leave the vehicles and buy one in Honduras that was made for the Central American market, not the U.S. market – very different. Second lesson; if you’re moving from a place with a different climate, like the dry climate of Colorado, don’t bring anything made of wood. I was very attached to my specially made wooden furniture. Not anymore. Clothes - fortunately, I had the good sense to get rid of all my clothes which had to be dry cleaned – we still don’t have a dry cleaner on the island. (NOTE: This sounds like a business opportunity.) You can imagine how difficult it was to get the 2 boys to downsize…some things you just have to let happen, so all their goods came with us, including skateboards and bicycles, which were never touched once they got here. Pets – part of our family – they had to come, that was a deal-breaker. We opted to rent a U-Haul truck and drive it to Tampa, Florida, along with a minivan and a 1978 Ford F150 truck. Jackson Shipping is in Tampa, and they ship directly into Roatan, as does Hyde Shipping from Miami. They were very helpful in telling us how to prepare our cargo for shipping and also for customs in Honduras. So, all our boxes were labeled with their contents and I made a complete list of every item, along with its estimated value. When goods arrive in Honduras, you need a customs agent to handle import taxes, etc. Believe me, it’s well worth the fee. Now it was the end of October, and we arrived in Florida just as Hurricane Mitch was bearing down on the Bay Islands of Honduras. During the drive from Denver, we survived numerous fights between the boys, the escape of one of the cats and the subsequent retrieval of said cat, nights in motels with fights between the boys, meals on the go with fights about which fast food place to eat from, ill-timed bathroom breaks for the boys and the dogs…we were relieved to see the City of Tampa sign and quickly got to our motel. The next day we were scheduled to unload our cargo into a container at the shipping company. Yes, we unloaded it all from the U-Haul and loaded it into a container. Our Ford truck was placed in its own container, and the company workers strapped in down…sort of. Note to self; check everything yourself, even if it means crawling under a truck. While we were finishing up the task of unloading and reloading, we got news from the shipping office that the hurricane was going to hit Roatan and the ship wasn’t going to sail until it passed. As it turned out, Hurricane Mitch hit the Bay Islands head on and continued onto the mainland of Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, doing millions of dollars of damage to the infrastructure of those countries and killing thousands in landslides. A direct hit from a hurricane is rare on Roatan, the previous one being 19 years earlier. We were sick and knew our beautiful property was going to be ravaged of all its fruit trees and the rocks we fell in love with, and on top of that - our dreams had been devastated, too. |
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So now what to do? We had a rental home waiting for us on Roatan and my husband had a job waiting for him. We had quit our jobs and sold a lot of our stuff and given our home over to renters. The ship wouldn’t sail for at least a week, so I flew back to Denver and stayed with my son while my husband, two boys, two large dogs and three cats remained in Tampa to wait for the ship to sail. The reason they waited for the ship is that was their transportation to Roatan, along with our goods.
The ship had 2 small cabins and they all squeezed into one of them for a three day trip to our new home. Apparently, it’s a trip my husband chooses to lock away in a part of his memory he doesn’t visit very often! The boys were not happy, the cats were sea sick, the dogs didn’t want to leave the cabin and the food was the same as the crew ate, which was totally foreign to the boys, so they didn’t want to eat. The best decision I ever made was to fly to Roatan after the airport re-opened! I think I may have saved the life of a family member by not traveling with them! In spite of all the events, my family arrived safely after three days of rough sea, and I came down two weeks later. I remember crying as the small plane circled around to the airport, desperately searching for our property, which is very close to the airport, and praying that there might be a tree left standing, indeed, I prayed that the island had been spared. Everyone on the plane was praying for the island and for the safety of their loved ones. It was astonishing to see that there was very little visible damage, and yes, our property was exactly where it should be and the trees were still there, minus a few leaves and branches! Amazing! And so we settled into our new life; the boys were enrolled in school, My husband started teaching and I surveyed box upon box as we squeezed around then in the tiny house that our realtor had helped us find. Fortunately, we found a much better one a couple of months later and moved into a four-bedroom house on the beach. So now I needed to find a job. There was no-one doing property management and there was certainly a need, so I started handling people’s rentals and other tasks involved in being an absentee property owner. It was very difficult, but I am very thankful because I had to learn very quickly how to get repairs done, who to go to for various tasks, in short, it was a great stepping stone to learn how things should be done. THANK GOODNESS, I TOOK THE TIME TO LEARN ABOUT THESE LEGAL DOCUMENTS When we moved to Roatan, neither of us spoke Spanish, but that’s not very important on Roatan, as it is a mostly English-speaking island. However, it quickly became apparent that knowing Spanish would be very helpful in business, at least, so I learned some as I went along. One of the things I focused on was being able to read some Spanish, especially legal documents, so I set about teaching myself how to read property documents and corporation documents, since I was now also helping people sell their properties. And, thank goodness, I took the time to learn about these legal documents.  We had interviewed several builders and asked lots of questions so we thought we had chosen well when we hired a Canadian builder to build our home. Our realtor suggested him, intimating that a local builder would rob us blind. Ha! When we asked for references, he said he would do better than that, he would show us some of the houses he was working on. Fair enough, we thought, and so we walked around two houses that were incomplete, but the owners had moved in and work was being completed around them…or so we thought. Here is the most important question to ask when asking for references “show me some work you have completed.” We were looking at homes that the builder has not finished to this day. In short, we hired the builder, signed a contract without having a lawyer look at it and got ripped off…big time. Trust – don’t get carried away with it, and don’t worry about hurting someone’s feelings by asking pointed questions – believe me, you’re not going to offend an honest person because they will have the answers and the dishonest ones have no conscience anyway…so, ask the questions. The builder started doing some work then stopped, and all the materials I had paid him to buy disappeared. Pay vendors directly, not through your builder. I ended up paying for the wood for my house three times and the house is still not finished. Unless I finish it myself, it won’t get finished. The builder took all our money, didn’t do the work and stole all the supplies I had bought to build the house – all of it, from nails to appliances. Of course I rushed to my realtor and told her what happened and asked about a lawyer, since we were new to the island and still didn’t know all the players (believe me, I know them now, skeletons and all!!). She set me up with a lawyer, so now I had someone to trust…wrong. It’s not uncommon for money to exchange hands and alter the course of even the most straightforward law suit. Yes, imagine the worst…..payoffs, delays, lies…it all came into play and we lost everything we had except a small slush fund we had vowed not to touch, but which we ultimately used to build another home on our large property. Ask yourself what you would do in this situation – your answer might help you decide if an overseas move is the right move for you. I’ll bet most people would cut bait and return “home.” I certainly know a lot of people who have done just that. That wasn’t an option for me; no-one was going to crush my dream, and so we stayed. I worked harder and took on more properties, and then things started falling into place for us. I was offered several employment opportunities, and I became the sales manager at Lawson Rock, a very prestigious development on Roatan, when it was starting up. I stayed until we sold the first phase out, then I was courted by International Living magazine and went to work for them as the bureau chief for Honduras, opening two offices in Honduras, one on Roatan and one in La Ceiba on the mainland. My husband also worked with them now, and together we traveled all over the country and went to other countries to give presentations about Honduras to investors and people considering moving overseas. I DON’T WANT ANYONE TO GO THROUGH THE PAIN AND DISAPPOINTMENT MY HUSBAND AND I ENDURED. I learned a lot about Honduras as a country and particularly about Roatan and its history. I also put on conferences in Honduras and made a lot of money for realtors who contracted with us to help our readers in purchasing property. It finally dawned on me that although I was having a great time traveling and meeting lots of people, everyone was making money except me, and all my information and research was free, so I became a realtor and vowed to help my clients in more ways that just selling them property. I don’t want anyone to go through the pain and disappointment my husband and I endured. And so we’re still here in Honduras! I live on Roatan and my husband has an apartment in La Ceiba, a ferry ride away. We see each other every weekend, sometimes more, and drive to San Pedro Sula every few weeks just to have some time away together. Sometimes we drive to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, for the weekend. Honduras is an astonishingly beautiful country. My work with real estate keeps me grounded on Roatan, and my husband loves to play golf, which he does every morning in La Ceiba.  Living in Honduras has allowed us so many opportunities that life in the U.S. didn’t…we’ve also been able to re-invent ourselves in a fluid manner And so our lives are not completely together, but for now it works well for us. I concentrate on my clients here on Roatan and my husband takes care of his mother. We don’t know how long this arrangement needs to be in place, but it works for us. Living in Honduras has allowed us so many opportunities that life in the U.S. didn’t. And we’ve had some disasters, but we’ve also been able to re-invent ourselves in a fluid manner. When one path takes a turn, we either moved with it or changed direction. You can do that here. And you don’t have to go through all the ups and downs we endured, because I’m here to help guide you! I promise to offer you choices and suggestions. I won’t make decisions for you, but I can certainly warn you of potential pitfalls. I can also introduce you to the right people for whatever you need. Living on an island is like living in a small town; people know me and most trust me. I’ve clearly made a few enemies, but they are the crooks I encountered. I can help you in many ways and I invite you to join an investment tour we are conducting from August 17th to the 19th where I will show you how to enjoy life here and how to make informed decisions. This is a way to decide if Roatan is for you or not, it certainly isn’t for everyone. And this is at no-risk to you. The tour cost is $200 per person or $350 per couple. If you purchase property through our company up to 6 months after the tour, I will refund the entire tour fee, so you stand to get the information for free! Let me know right away if you would like to join us this month, and if you can’t make it during this time, I’ll set up a personal appointment for you, but you will get more out of the organized tour and conference with speakers you can interact with. I hope I have given you something to think about; I’m passionate about this country, warts and all, and I like nothing better than to share it with others. Let me be your person on the ground, and come and visit….for a few days, or for a lifetime. |
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| JOIN THE AUTHOR’S INVESTMENT TOUR ON ROATAN, BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS - Investment & Property Tour August 17th -19th..... CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION | ||
Author : Janine Goben was born and raised in England and re-located to Colorado in 1976. Her lust for travel and experiencing other cultures led to extensive travel in Europe, North America and Central America. Avid scuba divers, Janine and her husband moved to the western Caribbean island of Roatan in 1998, where Janine has been a successful and well-known overseas property consultant ever since.
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Keyhole Bay in Roatan
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| Related Articles | ||
| July 2009 | ||
| Reinventing Your Life? Try Roatan! Part 1 of 2 | ||
| Have you ever thought about running away from home, as an adult, I mean? Perhaps you’d call it re-inventing yourself, or chasing a dream. My bet is you have. I did, and I’ve referred to my great escape in all those terms, depending on the situation I was describing and my level of euphoria or gloom at the time. My escape eventually led me to Roatan, off Honduras. Here I not only found my perfect home site, but also new life, career and lifestyle. ---> Read More | ||
| July 2009 | ||
| Caribbean Emerging Nations | ||
| Emerging Nations have one common component....the willingness to change or reform in order to attract business and capital in to the country. Interestingly, if the countries that comprise the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) were to adopt the practices of each top performer on the ten areas measured for doing business, they would collectively rank second globally on the overall ease of doing business. ---> Read More | ||
Click Here to download this article in PDF format.
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