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Now that I have finished expessing my admiration for Hasbeen AKA Humbert,(we all know who Humbert is, don't we ?)I felt I should cover one last portion of Cartagena.

    As you leave the Old City and head for Baranquilla the first suburb is Crespo. It is a middle class suburb and looks like most of the barrios of Cali, nothing special. The interesting thing is at the end of the streets on the ocean are condos while the rest of the block is single family homes. The airport is located here. We only drove up to the condos and asked security if any units were for sale. I actually was able to get inside three.

One was a large building which must have had fifty units. There were too many people and started at $60,000 dollars for three small bedrooms. It was very modern and sort of slanted back with each balcony being further back than the one below it. It looked like the side of a pyramid.

 The other two were jewels for different reasons. The first(remember these are directly on the beach and are not highrises) was the third and top floor of a four floor building It had a rounded facade and circular stairways outside. It seemed like something you would find in the Greek isles, white and circular. Inside on the first floor was a living room and dining area with a balcony,  one bath two bedrooms one with a balcony and a kitchen. At the far end of the living room was a circular stairway to the suite on the top floor. Master bedroom ,dressing room and large bath. There were two balconies one on each side of the bedroom $37,000 dollars. Only ten condos in the building.

The next was the playboy condo. The penthouse of close to 2,000 sqft on the roof of a five floor condo overlooking the ocean. The balcony was probably seventy feet long with a barbque. The rooms were huge there were three bedrooms each with a dressing room and private bath, two dens, a large american style kitchen, Big livingroom and dining room.to die for if you were single, very upper class. Five minutes from the old city. $140,000 dollars.

The real question I have come to, is what do I want to do in Cartagena? Three partners in the playboy penthouse could be a lot of fun. The $37,000 condo would be attractive and cheap for a low cost home. The house in Manga and the building in the old city could be a great guest house or an agency. I am sure that I have only scratched the surface as to the opportunities there. I have come to one decision. The quality of life in Cartagena is close to what I have experienced in Key West at 1/4 the cost. Of course there are drawbacks and risks. It is really hot in August. You really have to learn spanish. Who knows what will happen in Colombia in the next five years. But if you don't put your money on the table you never win anything. Buying property in Key West was a risk twenty years ago, but there are a lot of millionairs here now. jimc

... in response to crespo, posted by jim c on Sep 10, 2003

Just for kicks I did a quick search to see if Cartagena's municipal website had all the great info that Cali's does, like murder rate, crime etc.. by comuna - that helped me substantially when evaluating barrios.  No luck, Cartagena's website offers nothing, indeed I found at least Spain's had some good maps:
http://www.cifaeci.org.co/index.htm
I ran across some decent real estate links however at Cartagenainfo:
http://www.cartagenainfo.com/negocios/?categoria=BIENESRAICES&lang=ESP

I clicked on a couple and was very suprised, Looks like a very nice pad can be had for around $30K (not luxury, but nice).  It almost looks more reasonable than Cali prices.  Looks like a fun place to hunt for real estate - hurry, I read the other day where Uribe pledged to return Cartagena to a pristine tourist destination - prices just may go up soon!

... in response to Cartagena Real Estate, posted by cancunhound on Sep 10, 2003

The site cartagenainfo.com is owned by a gringo jim bone and Juan Paul who had the listings on line. I found his stuff to be priced for gringos and looked elsewhere after one day. I ended up at Bozimbet which also has an office in Bogota. My agent there is Esmeralda Julio P.  a nice lady, Home # 6608300 and web  memjulio@hotmail.com. Very low key and honest, was an economist for the government.

It looks like I will be buying the condo for $37,000 my sister wants half. Its a good start until I find something larger and possibly commercial. It costs less than a one week a year timeshare. You guys can always rent it when you come. There are no sales persons in front of my condo. jim c