National Colony Realty

To stray away from the regular Real Estate posts, I thought I would write about what is happening on the island of Turks and Caicos this week. This is a very important week for teachers and most of all students. Why, its graduation week. The end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Students  will be saying goodbye to the four walls of Highschool, close friends and teachers who have inspired them in shaping their future. Some will be heading to college, while others will be stepping into the work force. In summary, this marks the beginning of change.

Church services were held on all islands on Sunday, 28 June 2009 for all government high schools. While, starting from tonight and unto Friday night there will be a graduation ceremony from island to island. Best wishes goes out to all graduates of the Turks and Caicos Islands from the team at National Colony Realty.

As a native or non resident of the Turks and Caicos Islands, you can obtain free hold title to your real estate purchase, i.e. Land or developed property.

Freehold title simply means free and clear title to real property with no set termination date. As a Freeholder - one who owns freehold interest in real property, you are free to sell, convey or leave your property as inheritance. You are free to disburse of your property as you see fit.

This is one of the benefits of purchasing property in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In the Turks and Caicos Islands, the real estate agent is not responsible for drawing up contracts of sale and purchase like in some other parts of the world. Instead, this is the job of an attorney and hence we encourage all Vendors and Purchasers to retain an attorney to assist in the final stages of their real estate transaction (s). However, the real estate agent can assist by suggesting an attorney that you can work with and also assist the attorney in obtaining all necessary documentations to make the transaction move smoothly and in a timely manner where needed.

The attorney will be responsible for drawing up contracts and making sure that the interest of the Vendor/ Purchaser is protected as well as registering of freehold title to the land or developed property. Attorneys will charge from 1% of the value of the transaction and in some cases a flat rate. Every attorney method of arriving to a fee is different.

In some instance where financing is involved, the Purchaser tends to use the bank’s attorney but he/she is free to use another attorney of choice. Also, there are instances where the Purchaser may choose not to use an attorney and review all the paperwork themselves. This is an option I rearly recommend as I believe that you would want your interest to be represented in every possible way.

A belated Fathers day greeting to all fathers from the Staff at National Colony Realty. We hope that yesterday brought you joy.

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law explains Restrictive Covenant in such an easy way. It states that “A restrictive covenant is a clause in a deed or lease to real property that limits what the owner of the land or lease can do with the property. They are intended to enhance property values by controlling development.

Land developers typically use restrictive covenants when they subdivide property for residential developments.  A land developer, after platting the subdivision into lots, blocks and streets will impose certain limitations on the use of the lots in the development. They may include a provision restricting construction to single-family dwellings or specifies a minimum square footage for dwellings, and even specify a time to complete construction once you begin to build among other things. There may be a variety of other restrictive covenants that seek to control the way the development looks and is maintained.

A person who purchases a lot in a development with restrictive covenants must honor the limitations. When the purchaser resells the lot to a buyer, the new owner will take the propety subject to the restrictive covenants, because the covenants are said to “run with the land”. ”

Well explain, don’t you think! with that said, please be sure to ask your realtor if there are restrictive covenants associated with any piece of property that you decide to purchase as some people prefer to live in a development with such covenants while others prefer not to.

In April of this year, the government of the Turks and Caicos Island had granted the approval for the extension of the reduction of Stamp Duty effective 1 April 2009 to 30th June 2009. In which, Stamp duty was reduced from 9.75% to 6% in Providenciales and from 5% to 3% on all other islands, including North Caiocs, Middle Caicos, South Caicos and Grand Turk. The 30th of June is now only 11 days away.

At this time we cannot say if stamp duty reduction will be expended once again, we would only know this information when the date is up. Therefore, if you have made up your mind to purchase within these Turks and Caicos Islands, now is the time to act before this opportunity pass you by.

Canal lots in the Turks and Caicos Islands can vary from $150,000 to $695,000 per lot depending on the size, location and of course your budget.

If you are someone who is into boating and have a boat of your own, a canal lot would be one of the obvious choice of purchase. This would eliminate you having to pay docking fees at a marina and also it means a short walk to your boat and onto the water.

On the other hand, if you do not want to go through the processing of building you can always purchase a canal home starting from $429,000 up to $3,000,000. Or town home from $429,000 up to $600,000 located on the North or South of the island.

Contact your local real estate agent or one of our qualified agents at National Colony Realty if you are not currently working with an agent, and let us help you achieve your dream of living on the canal.

On Monday, 15 June 2009 is a national holiday with all rules applied, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This holiday is to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen birthday. The Turks and Caicos Islands is a British dependant territory and hence we are subject to the holiday.

Email is a simple tool that most every individual use on a daily basis, weather for personal reasons or business. However, despite how common it is to use email, many people do not take advantage of it like they should. As a Real Estate Agent in TCI, let me say this to my peers “Take advantage of email”.

Every morning you arrive at work you should immediately check your email and respond to any inquiry that come in over night. Even if you do not have the answer right off hand you can always send a courteous email acknowledging receipt of the email and promising to get back to the potential client as soon as the information is available. An action like this will tell the inquirer that you are inerested in helping. Never leave a potential client waiting for days for an anwer to a question, remember there are too many agents out there for them to wait on you. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EMAIL!

Follow up with existing clients and keep in touch with the attorney on the paperwork and find out what you can do as the agent to make the process smoother. Perhaps you might have to help with gathering information from the bank or geting information from the attorney acting for the opposite side of the sale. Remember not because you have handed over the paperwork to the attorney means that your work is complete. You must follow each transaction to the end. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EMAIL!

Keep in contact with long time clients who have purchased from you; send them holiday greetings etc. you never know they just might want to purchase again or resell in future their property, three to five years down the line. Try to maintain a good relationship. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EMAIL.

The clients whose properties you have listed, send them regular updates of the market; like: how many inquiries you have had on thier property for the month, how many properties have sold near or in the area of their lot/house. Let them know that you are putting special attention into their listing despite the many other listings that you may have attached to your portfolio. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EMAIL.

With the competition that is out there among agents, lets try to stay on top of our game by making use of all the resources that we have in order to serve our clients better, no matter how common or simple the resource might appear to be. Email is just one of those tools.

Offer: An indication by one person (offeror) to another (offeree) of the offeror’s willingness to enter into a contract on certain terms without further negotiation. - (the first stage of purchasing a property is to make an offer) 

Deposit: earnest money or some other valuable consideration given as evidence of good faith to accompany an offer to purchase. - (a deposit of 10% of the purchase  price is usually required within 7 days of acceptance of an offer)

Condition: fundamental term of a contract, a breach of which allows the injured party to terminate the contract. - ( if you have to obtain financing, or would like to see boundary markers in place etc. it must be inserted on the offer form as conditions)

Mortgage: a written agreement that pledges property as security for payment of a debt. - (can be obtained from a bank or any lending institution)

Contract: an agreement between two or more competent parties to do, or not to do, some legal act for a legal consideration. - (the attorneys will draw up the contract to make your offer to purchase binding)

Closing: the final settlement between the buyer and seller; the date on which the title passes from the seller to the buyer. - (can happen within 30 days depending on the complexity of the sale)