The West Coast of Barbados. So good I purchased there myself!

One of the benefits of being the director of a property investment company is that you generally get first dibs on the property opportunities you source!
For years this has helped some of us acquire good sized property portfolios. We generally need them as not many of us have pensions!

Now over the last few years the property investment market has got increasingly hard to operate in, there simply are not the funds that there were a few years ago. This means that we all have to be a lot smarter about where we invest, we can’t just take a chance!

Well as of yesterday I am the proud owner of apartment 6 block 4 at the Weston Resort, Barbados.

I thought I would write a brief summary on why I decided to invest here as opposed to any of the other investment opportunities we are offered on a daily basis.

1. The Location

In a market where yield really is king, I make sure I concentrate on areas that are already established. Areas that I know people will holiday at no matter how dire the financial market is. For me the West Coast of Barbados has this.

The types of people that regularly holiday here are not bothered that their mortgage rate just crept up a few percent. Most probably don’t have mortgages!

2. The Developer

Another important point for me is the quality and financial stability of the developer.

I have met the directors of Candelisa on numerous occasions, in London and at their fantastic glass fronted offices in Leeds.

I know that they have the facility to not only build this out but also deliver it on time.

3. Its Rental Return

I have holidayed in Barbados before so have an idea of the amount you pay to rent on the West Coast.

Before offering Weston to yourselves, we took some time to delve into rental values in the area, as well as reading through the information provided by the developer. We found that with just 38% occupancy a return after mortgage payments of over £10,000 per annum was achievable. This amount of return in such a quality area is almost unheard of.

In the UK you would not expect the same amount of rental return in Kensington as you would in Manchester, at Weston we have achieved exactly that!

4. Its Re-Sale Value

The final straw came when I conducted further comparable research on competitors resorts in the area. Quite simply, nothing came close.

The fact that I could purchase a 2 bedroom apartment within walking distance of Royal Westmoreland golf course at just £200,000 sealed it for me. Especially when I realised they were selling 2 beds at Royal Westmoreland at over £1m! The closest comparable I could find was over £50,000 more expensive!

5. My Long Term Goal

I don’t actually plan to visit Barbados in the near future, I will put my apartment in their management scheme and plough the profit back into the mortgage. I have worked out that I should be able to clear the mortgage in just over 10 years taking into account renting for just 20 weeks out of 52. If I manage to rent for 40 weeks out of 52 this is reduced to just under 4 years!

Why have I mentioned this?

I know if I was looking at purchasing abroad, the fact the guy offering me the property was in the same boat would definitely give me some comfort.

As of today there are just 11 apartments left at Weston. (One just came back to market)

4 X 2 bed apartments (1 with sea views) Invest from just £62,000.

4 x 3 bed apartments (3 with sea views) Invest from just £78,000.

3 x 4 bed apartments (1 with sea views) Invest from just £92,000.

Remember these are selling quickly, the sooner you come back to me the sooner we can secure your chosen apartment.