Welcome to Jamaica, the home of the internationally acclaimed reggae artist Bob Marley. So it is here with little surprise, you will find music to be an integral part of the Jamaican way of life everywhere you turn. The reggae sound brings about toe tapping to dancing no matter what the age and whether at the beach, the market or out for the evening.

Jamaica is a luscious mountainous island, its highest point Blue Mountain’s Peak at over 7400 feet above sea level. The Blue Mountain & John Crow Mountain National Park with almost 200,000 acres of wilderness presents a national preserve of flora and narrow terraces where farmers grow the famed Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. The island of Jamaica also boasts many rivers where visitors and countrymen alike enjoy the scenery and adventure of river rafting while others off-shore enjoy the challenge of deep sea fishing; as a mere 15 minutes from shore is the best marlin, wahoo, billfish, tuna and dolphin fishing in the Caribbean.

Real Estate in Jamaica
Jamaica is within the chain of islands known as the Greater Antilles comprised of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico and Jamaica. In fact, the Greater Antilles represents almost 90% of the land mass of the Caribbean Islands. Even though a small nation, Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean at 145miles (234 km) and 21 (35km) to 59 miles (80 km) in width and is the most populous English speaking island of the Caribbean, with Jamaican Creolean an English/African-based language also widely spoken. Jamaica, population 2.7 million is rich in culture and with its renown global presence lies six hundred miles south of Miami and ninety miles south of Cuba. This country rich in vibrancy and culture features some stunning real estate.

Real estate opportunities in Jamaica are interesting and diverse. The nation’s three land form regions: the eastern mountains, the central valleys and plateaus, the coastal plains and with a coastline of many contrasts provide numerous real estate opportunities. The western coastline contains the island's finest white sandy beaches; while the southern coast has small stretches of black sand beaches; the narrow strip of plains along the northern coast offers calm seas and white sand beaches; to the northeast shore where it is severely eroded with a rugged coastline. In fact many stretches where there is no coastal plain, the cliffs drop 300 meters straight to the sea. Yes some dramatic and picturesque scenes abound.

The major towns and cities of Jamaica are mostly located on its coast line, including the capital of Kingston found on the south east shore, with one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Jamaica’s other main ports are Montego Bay and Ocho Rios and are ports of call for several cruise lines. Other coastline municipalities are Portmore, Spanish Town, Mandeville, Port Antonio, Negril, and Montego Bay while the communities of St. Andrew, St. Catherine, May Pen or Mandeville are also popular regions. These areas are high in viable economic activity with a healthy mixture of commercial real estate and business districts and active local governments and services to complete and maintain comfortable well balanced communities.

Most properties in Jamaica are registered at the Titles Office through the National Land Agency. Thus it is easy to validate a registered title. The Jamaican conveyancing law and procedures are based on the old English common law and the torrens title system; in fact Jamaica is still within the Commonwealth realm of the United Kingdom and one of the 16 sovereign states. The typical conveyancing transaction in Jamaica takes about 90 days after the offer to purchase the property is complete. Taxes are placed on both the buyer and the seller when buying or selling Jamaica real estate. These are levied by the Stamp Office at a rate of 2.75%

The exchange rate of the Jamaican Dollar to the American Dollar is $90.009 for US$1. As of July 31, 2008 the rate was $71.8965 for US$1, so there is now more value for the money and greater purchasing power in buying real estate in Jamaica.

And while in Jamaica, it is easy to stay connected to your home base as the island has a fully digital telephone communication system with the country’s three phone companies and mobile operators.

Getting to Jamaica is easy too because of the carriers that service the island : Air Jamaica, American Airlines, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines. Jamaica has two international airports: one at Kingston (south east) and the other at Montego Bay (north west). From either Kingston or Montego Bay, the approximate flying time to: Miami is 2 hours; to Los Angeles 6 hours; to New York under 4 hours, and London is 10 hours. Nationally, Air Jamaica Express operates services to and from Kingston, Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio. Frequency of the daily flights dependent on the season.

Jamaica is a mixed economy with tourism and mining as the leading earners with other contributing areas including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and financial and insurance services.

While the climate in Jamaica is typically warm and humid, the higher inland regions have a more temperate climate, so where bathing suits are in on the coastal plains the climate is very different the higher you go and where the higher region has rainforests the areas on the south coast, such as the Liguanea Plain and the Pedro Plains are mostly quite dry.

Come to Jamaica and discover it all. Come see an island that is surrounded by the most beautiful beaches, each offering their own uniqueness and with varying degrees of amenities. The most famous beaches on the island is Seven Mile Beach in Negril, where you can eat, drink, shop, and hop a kayak or a wave runner, to Doctor's Cave Beach in Montego Bay—a family oriented beach playground with water sport amenities and a food court to Hellshire Beach near Kingston where the ambiance is carnival like, full of booming music, laughing children, and the odors of cooking chicken and pork to other numerous beaches that provide nothing more than the chance to relax and just lay back.

And if Bob Marley is Jamaica’s music claim to fame then the infamous Jerk Jamaican seasoning is Jamaica’s unique gift and claim to fame in the culinary world. You simply can’t go to Jamaica without trying this tantalizing spicy seasoning and cooking technique that is used on chicken, pork or fish. You will find Jerk stands all over the island, with their thatched roofs, pimento smoke filled air and most likely locals playing domino's and drinking another of Jamaica’s claim to fame- the infamous Red Stripe beer. Ah and did we mention the world famous aromatic and savory Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee?

Whether it’s Jamaica’s glorious real estate, coffee, the food or the music, come see what Jamaica has to offer. Come to Jamaica mon.