Affordability

For what is is worth, one should never “assume” anything about living in the Caribbean and that is especially true about assuming a salary level for a particular job will be “decent”. On average salaries in the Caribbean are often less than they are for comparable jobs back on the mainland. That coupled with a higher cost of living results in what many people refer to as the Catch-22 of island life.

As far as “how to afford a house” - well, perhaps you have to set your sights a little lower and look at smaller homes, get a second job to increase your income or maybe just rent and live simply until you can save up a bigger down payment.

By the way, most of the regular contributors here will tell not to buy until you’ve been on island for at least a year. That will give you time to figure out if you really like and adjust to island life as well as thoroughly check out the housing market.

Good luck with making your decision to relocate.

This is always a really tough question for anyone to answer. We don't know how you live now, what you consider a necessity. People who seem to adapt better here are the kind of people who don't mind doing without a lot of creature comforts.

Sounds like you may have a couple of children... that is a game changer. Most transplants tend to put their kids in private school. That will set you back $15,000+ per kid per year.

There is a lot of great info on this forum. I encourage you to read through it (even all of the really old posts) and come back and ask more specific questions so we can better help you.

And what do you plan to do for health insurance for your family?