You usually have plenty of choice when you want to buy a property in the Caribbean. From the Bahamas to St Lucia or the Barbados, the number of places you can go to is wide with approximately 7,000 islands, islets, reefs and cays!

But because this area is a hot spot for tourists, the price of properties can vary greatly as you certainly will not be the only one around looking to buy a property in the Caribbean.

The geography and the climate in this area can vary from one island to another. You will find islands that have a relatively flat terrain as well as island with mountains everywhere. Usually the climate of the region ranges between sub-tropical to tropical. And even though the weather is usually great throughout the year, hurricanes are a common thing in this region of the world!

As well as having a wide range of islands to choose from, there are also plenty of types of properties to buy like houses, villas, apartments, condos...But people looking for the ultimate overseas property to buy in the Caribbean should keep a close eye on the market as they could come across a small islet for sale and be offered the chance to own their island….

A large percentage of the Caribbean territories usually have a requirement that real estate agency practices are regulated and a real estate investor should check out the specifics of the regulatory guidelines before doing anything if they are interested in buying a property there.

Notable exceptions include countries like Haiti for example, which is actually the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and which has a real estate market plagued by corruption.

Certain countries like Cuba for example, disallow foreign freehold ownership of immovable property. There are often ways around these rulings with black market property deals being done quite regularly. Any real estate investor considering working outside of a country’s constitutional laws should be aware that his subsequent assumed legal rights to own the property assets purchased will not be enforceable in a court of law.

But most of the Caribbean countries are not like Cuba and countries like Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have active policies to encourage foreign direct investment and have regulations in place to not only allow for foreign freehold ownership of real estate but they have regulations in place granting foreign owners the same legal rights as their domestic citizens when it comes to their property assets.