Before signing on the dotted line, do your financial homework. Make sure you can afford your ideal property without relying on rentals or property appreciation. If the island's tourism or real estate market suffers, you want to make sure you don't want to feel the pinch.
You'll want to know what fees are associated with the real estate transaction, such as transfer taxes, stamp taxes, insurance, and residency fees. Some islands such as the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla require that non-residents apply for a Non-Belongers License before they can own property. If you do plan to rent out the property, ask if you can do short or long term rentals yourself or if you must use a property management firm to handle rentals.
Find out what all your costs will be. Figure in the additional yearly costs of insurance, maintenance, sewer, water supply, utilities, extermination, taxes, and repairs. There are other costs besides the obvious legal and real estate fees, especially if you choose to rent out the property. "You will have to cover costs of maid service if you rent," says Dickinson. "Electric is not cheap, and there are Internet connection fees, monthly TV cable fees, gardening costs, telephone costs (local calls are free but calls to UK are very costly), and the cost of a local agent to manage the property when you have renters or are not in the property." And of course there are also the costs of provisioning and furnishing your property to consider.