- Home
- Caretakers Needed - Belize, ME
Caretakers Needed - Belize, ME
Caretakers Needed - Belize, ME
WHY DO WE SHOW EXPIRED LISTINGS?
This posting is directed to a person or couple who love warm weather all year, love keeping up the grounds, and can maintain a home. Easy-going friendly is much more important than Spanish language skills. Please pass on if you know someone like this.
This posting doesn't quite fit anywhere because it could be just house-sitting, it could be renting part or whole, or it could be a money-making HomeAway-type deal with you living in the caretaker's quarters. The picture shows the corner of the home with the caretaker's quarters.
Just a little about me; I moved to Spokane in 1977 from Iowa and have lived in the same house since 1978. I'm a retired industrial engineer. This was initially advertised in Spokane, but getting someone local interested in Mexico is too much of a long shot....I was just hoping for a common connection.
Here's the story of the home so far. It was owned by a college professor for decades as a summer home away from Chetumal. An acquaintance of mine from Montreal contacted me regarding this great(?) deal on a home for sale next to the one he was renting in Xul Ha (which is 5 hours south of Cancun and halfway between Bacalar and Chetumal, the capital of Quintanna Roo). He had only a little money but expected an inheritance so I put up most of the cash. We kind of half-heartedly rented out the main portion of the house for 3 years but didn't make a whole lot. Now 4 1/2 years later, I ended up buying him out and I need someone to replace him as soon as possible because he's already found a place in Chetumal. He will be able to pass on the keys, show you where you have to go in town to pay bills, and show you how to operate the house.
The main requirements are to live there full time which provides security, maintain the extensive(1/3 acre) grounds, repair and maintain the home as required, and manage the whole of any rental operation you want to set up. I would prefer a minimum two-year commitment and the strength and skills to maintain the yard and the house. If you like the idea of answering rental inquiries and hosting visitors that would be a plus for both of us as I would more likely hang on to the property if you could afford to pay rent from the hospitality business. If you were living in the caretaker's portion, you could probably stay on even if it did sell because the buyers would need the same service. And I could throw in a 1%-of-selling-price severance if you had to move out with a couple month's notice as real estate transactions are quite slow down there. But again, the likelyhood of a sale is remote.
If you had the skills, I could hire you to build a second floor out of concrete block, stucco, and small t-shaped reinforced concrete beams. I'd also have you build a masonry and steel wall around the place. That could take quite a long time.
Compensation: 3 scenarios: 1) you pay $150/month for the caretaker's quarters + utilities + maintain the house and yard, or 2) you pay $350/month and live in the main house + utilities + maintenance, or 3) (my preferred option of course) rent out the whole building for $500/month and rent out the caretaker's quarters or the main house on HomeAway/Airbnb. Without looking it up, I think water, electric and fast WiFi are about $50/month. If coming as a couple, the caretaker's quarters has a medium sized kitchen, a small bathroom with shower, and a medium-sized bedroom. You could squeeze in together during the winter tourist season and then use the whole house the rest of the time. Hopefully, a well-qualified person(s) will choose the $350 or $500 option; I'm totally flexible on this.
Misc: A car would probably be necessary; you could easily buy one locally. Lake Bacalar is absolutely lovely to swim in and feels buttery smooth on your skin due to the high calcium content. There's a Sanyo 904 massage chair in the house that is quite wonderful. There's very cool chicken house on site if you'd like keep chickens or quail. A pet dog would be a good addition; one that barks just a bit toward strangers for security purposes.
By the way, my hearing is poor so email is better initially. If you email, I'll share my phone number but I probably would miss it on my answering machine.