By Amy Gunderson for the New York Times
When Steve Carl steps out of his three-bedroom beach house in Ambergris Caye in northern Belize, snorkeling at one of the largest barrier reefs in the world is just a short swim away and going to dinner means leaving footwear behind.

“Everything is barefoot here,” Mr. Carl said. “There are fantastic restaurants nearby and I can walk in there with bare feet for white-linen service.”

Mr. Carl visits his vacation home in Belize with his family four or five times a year. The cost of labor in the country is low enough that he and the five other homeowners in his community can house two full-time caretakers in the development to keep watch over the homes and manage renters. Also, property taxes are “virtually non-existent,” Mr. Carl said.

Low real estate prices combined with the allure of life at a tropical retreat have long drawn second home buyers to Costa Rica, but increasingly other countries in Central America, from Panama to Belize and even Nicaragua, are seeing foreigners snap up oceanview condos and beachside homes.   Click here for the full article…