Beautiful sailboats in the bay.
The St. Maarten real estate market offers a wide and wonderful selection of opportunities. The cost of residential properties starts at roughly $300,000 for a condominium and extends well into seven figures for lavish seaside villas. A luxury beachfront condominium perfectly situated on the Simpson Bay Beach, having a fresh water pool in a pool house and a barbecue area would cost you about $875,000. A beautiful fully furnished waterfront condominium on the shores of Simpson Bay would cost around $73,200.
Buying St. Maarten real estate is as easy as buying property in the United States. There are no residency requirements or any kind of legal restrictions that limit foreign home ownership, but you are required to obtain all the necessary legal documents and status for extended stays.
There are no annual property taxes, no personal capital gains taxes and St. Maarten is a duty free port making the owning of real estate here all the more appealing. St. Maarten Real estate transactions are always closed using the European system where the Civil Law Notary (appointed by the queen) is responsible, by law, to both parties and is obligated to do a proper title search to insure a clear title transfer. The responsibility of clear title is with the Notary, thus title insurance is not needed.
All Notaries are lawyers; a personal attorney is not necessary. St. Maarten real estate closings are in English within the time frame set by the purchase agreement . Closing costs are minimal and are the buyer’s responsibility. Closing costs include a one-time government transfer tax, plus the Notary’s fee with the total of both amounting to approximately 6-7% of the sale price.
There are three basic types of deed transfers for St. Maarten real estate transactions: ” fee simple (Same as in the US) ” government long lease ” private long lease. You may purchase property in your own name or in the name of a business. Personal or business accounts can be opened at local banks. All in all, the process of purchasing St. Maarten real estate is quite simple.
