The questions owners actually ask.

About an hour. We walk the property the way a buyer will, look at whatever documents you already have, and talk about what the property is likely to be worth and what would need doing before it is shown. You get a written opinion of value afterwards with the evidence set out. There is no charge and no obligation, and it does not commit you to instructing this office.

Yes, and a good deal of what this office handles is sold that way. The property is introduced to our own register of buyers and to the broker networks on the island and in the Netherlands, without a board at the gate, a portal listing or your address in circulation. Say so at the outset and it never enters the public market unless you later decide it should.

Not with this office. The appointment is non-exclusive and has no fixed term, so you are free to instruct others or to stop at any point. The fee is earned on effective cause — that is, if the buyer came through us. Oasis funds the photography and marketing and only recovers that cost if the property sells through someone else.

Assembling the file takes weeks rather than days, and that is before the property is shown to anyone. Once a price is agreed, transfer at the notary is usually a matter of weeks — unless the land is held in erfpacht, in which case the R&O permit statement sits on the critical path and can take several weeks on its own. That statement is the single most common reason a Bonaire transfer slips, which is why we request it at the start rather than when a buyer appears.

The meetbrief, an extract from the Kadaster, the building permit, the tax assessment, and — where the land is in erfpacht — the erfpacht deed together with the canon invoices showing it is paid up. If there is a mortgage, we need the details for the discharge. Most owners have perhaps half of this, and a good part of the early work is simply obtaining the rest.

It is common and it is not necessarily fatal, but it has to be found before a buyer's notary finds it. An extension that does not appear on the permit or the meetbrief will surface during the title investigation, and discovering it then costs you both time and negotiating position. We look for it during the first inspection precisely so that it is a known quantity rather than a late surprise.

It is not a defect; it is a different right, and it is priced differently. What matters to a buyer is how many years remain, what the annual canon is, whether it is paid up to date, and what the terms say about transfer and about building. A long remaining term with a modest canon barely affects value. A short remaining term does, materially — and the earlier that is established, the better the sale goes.

Carefully, and with the limitation stated out loud. There is no multiple listing service on Bonaire and therefore no database of what anything actually sold for. What exists is current and historic asking prices, what brokers on the island know from their own completed files, the condition and tenure of the property, and — for anything let — the rental income. We weigh those together and label every comparable as the asking price it is. Anyone who gives you a confident single figure without saying where it came from is guessing.

No. A property gets one first week of real attention, and an overpriced launch spends it. On an island this size the buyer pool and the broker network both see everything, and a listing that sits and then reduces reads as a problem rather than a bargain. Price it on the evidence and the first week works for you instead of against you.

Predominantly Dutch and North American buyers, a mix of people relocating, people buying a second home, and investors buying for rental income. Which of those your property suits changes how it should be presented and where it should be introduced first — an income asset is shown on its numbers, a family house on its light and its terrace.

The notary, in their own client account. The notary acts for the transaction rather than for either side. No broker on Bonaire holds client funds, and if one offers to, that is the moment to stop and take advice. This office never touches your money.

By custom on Bonaire the buyer carries the transfer costs — kosten koper — which is roughly five per cent transfer tax plus about two per cent for the notary and registration. As seller you pay the brokerage fee, which at this office is four per cent, and the cost of discharging any mortgage. Photography and marketing are funded by this office.

At transfer. The deed of levering is executed before the notary and registered at the Kadaster, any mortgage is discharged from the proceeds, and the balance is paid to you. It is one appointment, and by the time it happens everything contentious should already have been dealt with.

Bonaire does not license real estate brokers the way the Netherlands or the United States do, which means the standard you get is the one the office sets for itself rather than one imposed from outside. Our terms are set out in the written appointment before anything begins, including how to end it. If something goes wrong, it comes to Madison directly.