The Caribbean is a true paradise on earth. Turquise blue water, white sandy beaches, sunny blue sky and exotic vegetation lure thousands of tourists on its islands each year. But, it’s also known as a great place to buy a property either as a holiday retreat or even to become your first residence. Now, the Caribbean announced new residency rules – the Economic Citizen Partnership what allows purchasers to become islands residents.

This Partnership agreement states, that people making a minimum investment of US$350’000 in a property are now entitled to apply for island citizenship. Advantages of a dual citizenship provide the purchaser with better relocation alternatives, ease access to the destination and of course more likely much favourable tax conditions than in many major economies. The first Islands like St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominican Republic, Belize and Dominica (more to follow) who participate in this agreement quickly become sought-after destinations for this type of purchaser.

Posted By: Peter Rabitz

Bilanz Homes, Switzerland’s real estate magazine just published a very interesting article on some of the world’s most interesting tax havens worth to by a property. Switzerland itself is one of the investment friendliest countries in the world so Swiss citizens more likely looking for a place to escape the cold and wet winter weather, but where they still enjoy financial advantages.

Countries on that list who are offering a very mild and warm climate, white sandy beaches with palm trees and a relaxing lifestyle are St. Kitts, Bahamas , Croatia and Malta just to name a few. St. Kitts for example features a very tax friendly climate for foreigners. The 168 square miles big island, part of the British Commonwealth, is a independent country located in the northern group of the Antilles and only approx. 2000km south-east of Miami, Florida. Besides its stunning beaches and crystal blue water it also offers no income tax, no capital gain tax and no inheritance tax. When purchasing a property, there is a 6% stamp duty of the sales price and further 0.2% to be paid into a state insurance fond. The annual property tax is 0.2% of the market value. A nice side effect when buying in St. Kitts is that you will be able to become resident when buying real estate worth more than $400’000. So without a doubt, this is really of interest if you are living in a country where it’s of great advantage to be able to hold dual citizenship so traveling for example will become easier.

One of the rising stars in Europe as being a tax haven is Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea south-west of Italy. The small country with a population of round about 400’000 and with one of the lowest GDP’s in Europe joint the EU in 2004 and the Euro zone in January 2008. Furthermore its part of the Schengen Country. Malta has a unique tax infrastructure featuring very interesting fiscal incentives not only for individuals but also for organizations. Malta has no value added tax and no sales tax. A 5% transfer duty has to be paid when purchasing real estate on the island. There are also no regularly recurring taxes or fees on properties. Officially, you don’t generate income with real estate so there is also no income tax to be paid. A foreign individual who takes tax residence in Malta, is taxed at 15% on the income brought into Malta, whilst organizations that set up a real office in Malta, although still attract a corporate tax of 35%, the foreign shareholders are refunded 30% of the tax within 20 days. Malta is also named “little Hollywood” because its ideal for filming and many box office movies have been shot on the island. The country offers a variety of incentives for aviation and vessel industry. Wetag is offering one of the most sought-after luxury properties on Malta. The townhouse like villa or palazzo is located in Rabat and features stunning interior design by Schembri Design Studio, boasting all luxurious amenities of these days. High end finishing’s and a great setting with the possibility to have also your own office in house make this property a rare find on the island. With all these above mentioned advantages combined with 300 days of sunshine all year round, Malta has seen a huge influx of high net worth individuals, organizations and foreign investment.

Posted By: Peter Rabitz

Ueli Schnorf, CEO of Wetag Consulting, the exclusive affiliate of Christies Great Estates for southern Switzerland, attended the annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. More than 100 of the leading real estate brokerages from around the globe, all active in the high end luxury real estate market, came together to discuss market situations, important current updates in luxury real estate, and kept a strong focus on networking news. The summit was held at The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston which provided an elegant old-world-charm background for the attendees. The conference, with its slogan “Meeting the Challenges of Today’s Market”, was a cutting-edge luxury real estate forum specially targeted to principals and senior management to discover new ideas to strengthen their business. Wealth and mortgage experts presented opportunities. Panel discussions featuring the network’s trend-spotters were focusing on the latest innovative marketing, social networking, and recruiting strategies. Ueli Schnorf said: “As a panellist of the “Risk Management in the Age of Social Networking” session, I explained about Wetag Consulting’s engagements in Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and Co and what Wetag’s experiences are”. After two days of successful meetings and seminars, I was invited by Melanie Delman, our Christies affiliate of luxury real estate firm Lila Delman Real Estate, to spend the weekend at the Carnegie Abbey Club where I stayed in the Royal Dornach Cottage. Together with friends and business partners José Ribes Bas of Rimontgo in Spain, and Philip Sherry of Sherry Fitz Gerald, Ireland, we were taken care of in the most generous way by Melanie Delman and Catherine Gazder of Lila Delman. We all hope that the Delman crew who spent a night with us at famous Boom Boom Room, don’t see their image and name damaged too much by their wild European ‘cousins’…..

I toured some of the greatest properties on Rhode Island currently on the market. We have seen the gorgeous penthouse at the Carnegie Abbey Club which is on the market for $14.5mio and the Puesta del Sol property, also located on the grounds of the Carnegie Abbey Club. Afterwards we toured two of the most prestigious mansions on Rhode Island. The first was Gray Graig which is owned by famous actor Nicholas Cage. Gray Craig is an estate of unparalleled refinement. The setting for this remarkable home is stunning, 27+acres of lush landscape, dramatically extending to Nelson Pond with outstanding views of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. All I can say is: Very very beautiful property indeed. No less impressive than Gray Graig was Oakwood, the next important property we visited and where we had cocktails. Oakwood is revered as one of the finest historic properties of coastal New England. Its traditional setting and interior design is stunning and perfect into the last detail. It was amazing to see what great properties are currently on the market and they are almost a steal compare to other listings in the world.”

Posted By: Ueli F. Schnorf