Welcome to your daily briefing on real estate developments in JM. Today we're covering 7 key stories including updates on jamaica real estate headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
4 stories
The Real Estate Board is implementing systems that promote acceptable standards of professional and ethical conduct in real estate and land development to protect all parties involved.
JM real estate professionals operate under the Board's regulatory framework, making compliance with these standards essential for maintaining licensure and client trust.
Jamaicans are being urged to verify the legitimacy of real estate professionals before entering into business agreements.
For JM real estate professionals, this underscores the importance of maintaining proper credentials and transparent practices to build client trust in a market where verification is increasingly expected.
The Fair Trading Commission of Jamaica has issued a staff opinion on whether the Realtors Association of Jamaica can require members to pay a minimum 1.5% commission on co-broked real estate sales.
This opinion could reshape how JM agents negotiate commissions and structure co-broking agreements across the island.
The Real Estate Board is advising the public to confirm that real estate dealers, developers, and salesmen are properly licensed before doing business with them.
For JM real estate professionals, this public advisory reinforces the importance of maintaining valid licences and the competitive integrity of the regulated market.
Reach real estate professionals in this market
3 stories
A 1031 like-kind exchange has three hard clocks: the 45-day identification window, the 180-day close window, and the same-taxpayer rule (the entity selling and buying must match). Missing any one of these collapses the deferral, exposing the full gain to tax. The most-missed is the same-taxpayer rule when LLCs change membership mid-exchange.
The tax exposure on a busted exchange is the full long-term capital gain plus depreciation recapture — often 25-30% of the basis difference. Process discipline is the only protection.
A cap rate is just NOI divided by price; it bakes in zero assumptions about the market, asset class, or capital structure. Two properties with identical 6% cap rates can have wildly different risk profiles depending on lease maturity, tenant credit, and capital reserve needs. Cap rate is a quick screening tool, not a buy signal.
Underwriting purely on cap rate is the most common reason new investors pay above-market prices. The same investors then blame "the market" when their projected returns do not materialize three years in.
Beyond the standard CC&Rs, four documents predict future assessment risk: the reserve study (is the association underfunded?), the most recent two annual budgets, the delinquency report (what % of owners are behind?), and any pending litigation. A reserve-study funding ratio below 30% is a yellow flag; below 10% is red.
Special assessments in underfunded associations routinely run $10K-$50K per unit and arrive with little notice. The reserve study is a legally required disclosure in most states — but most buyers never ask for it.
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