So is the market down now in Nicaragua?...

...No, it's not. As the mass economic hysteria continues in the US of A (you would think this was our country's 1st period in history of slow market growth!?), life as usual continues in tranquilo countries like Nicaragua.

In what may seem like and ironical twist, we have seen business actually increase noticeably in recent weeks. Why-you might ask?

The answer is simple (here it is from an ethnocentric perspective): When the market is good, people have extra cash and confidence to "take risk" and invest overseas. When the market is bad, smart investors continue to invest overseas and people who are now scared to invest domestically look for more tangible investment opportunities in growing markets.

The bonus: Now you can do the same, even if you're cash strapped. Marketwatch.com today overviews a few new programs to encourage lending in Central American, developing countries.

I'm a very patriotic person, but I also can't help but find some amusement in the fact that it may be easier for one of us "gringos" to get a loan in Latin America than it is in the US right now.

Instead of expending negative energy complaining about your fund manager who just flew the coop making off with the last 10 years of your bond earnings, maybe look south of the border to make up some of that lost ROI?

You could be staring at a palm tree instead of a red balance sheet...

Nicaragua Top 5 Real Estate Markets in Latin America

Well, well, well. And where is Costa Rica on this list? ;)

"Nicaragua appears to be an investor's dream, offering an ideal retirement and vacation destination for millions of people, especially Americans and Europeans."

Click here for the low down!- http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/top-five-latin-american-real-estate-markets-51342.aspx

Is Nicaragua Dangerous???

GEEZ. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that question....

How did a country oozing with friendly, peaceful people develop such an incredibly devastating reputation for violence?

State's NBC's TODAY Show Travel Analyst Peter Greenberg: "[Although the TODAY Show feature on NIca reached 12 Million viewers], there are an incredible percent of people who are still misinformed about Nicaragua."



I'm going to clear some things up right here, right now:

To be honest, foreigners and their families are more safe in Nicaragua than any other country in Latin America. Global authorities also agree. Below I am going to go into detail on the crime factor in Nica. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not represented correctly and Costa Rica takes the limelight of being the “safe haven” when that can’t be farther from the truth. For example, I only know one person who has been the victim of an assault/robbery in Nicaragua, while I could quickly make a list of over 100 close friends in Costa Rica who have been assaulted in the last year alone. Most murders in Costa Rica, on the other hand, never hit the press due to covering up and censorship by local authorities.

Click HERE and HERE for some recent press about crime in Costa Rica, a country flaunted by the US government for its safety in order to protect diplomatic relations.

The OIJ international police is actually instructed to cover up violent stories and prevent them from hitting the news!

Here are more stats regarding crime:

Costa Rica is #19 highest murder rate in the world, with .06 per 1,000 people.
The US, with its nearly 50 murders per day is ranked safer at #24. Another "safe" country, Australia< is #43.

Nicaragua doesn’t even break the top 75. They are somewhere down the line at .00034 murders per 1,000 people.



Q. How safe are you in Nicaragua?
A. According to INCAE, the Harvard Business school affiliate in Latin America, Nicaragua is the safest country, and Granada is one of the safest cities, in all of Central America.

A popular way to measure a country’s level of violent crime is using the murder rate.

"Nicaragua suffers only 3.4 per 100,000, making it the least violent country in Central America and one of the safest in all the hemisphere."

The world’s homicide rate is currently 8.86 per 100,000.
The U.S. murder rate is 7.1 per 100,000
14.8 per 100,000 for Los Angeles,
21.9 per 100,000 for Chicago, and
41.8 per 100,000 for Washington, D.C.

Costa Rican homicide rate is 7.2 per 100,000.
El Salvador at 117 per 100,000,
Guatemala at 45 per 100,000 and
Honduras at 41 per 100,000.
Latin America as a whole has a rate of 22.9 per 100,000.

Hopefully this has given my readers more insight into the safety of Nicaragua. The point I would like to make is that, in reality, Nicaragua is the safest country in Latin America and safer than the US, UK, Australia, Poland, Finland, Portugal, Hungary, France, Canada, Iceland, Chile, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Greece, Japan, Hong Kong and many other countries that the world may perceive as “safe”.

I recommend that all of you come to Nicaragua and see for yourself. It couldn't be farther from the unfortunate picture painted by the biased US media during the 1970's.