Expert: Garrett Fifer - 6/17/2008

Question
I am interested in buying say 200-300 acres of farmland (if available) in the country of Columbia. My questions are how much per acre? and How do i go about doing this? is there a real estate agent i can talk to? thanks for the help!

Answer
Brian,
This is a question that needs to be studied quite thoroughly as there are several things to consider and variables that come into play depending on where you decide to purchase. I don't consider myself an expert on Colombian real estate or agriculture but I can probably offer some helpful insight to get you moving in the right direction.

Colombia has lots of land for agriculture and 12 months out of the year that it can be worked. They produce such a large variety of agricultural products and in different parts of the country that it would be helpful to know what it is you hope to do with the land. If you just want a large parcel of land for a quiet vacation home, your options are plenty.

Weather is another option you have. Colombia has several climates depending on the location. You can choose hot, hot coastal areas, hot and rainy plains, cooler mountain settings, or just about anything in between. For example I'm living in Bogota which has average temps in the 60's during the day and 40's at night. However I can be in a much warmer climate in 45 minutes (in light traffic).

Some areas of Colombia have more FARC, paramilitary, and criminal activity than others. Remote areas and also rural areas not too far from major cities are often guerrilla o para playgrounds. It's a very important aspect and one that needs to be considered very carefully. Wealthy cattle ranchers, farmers, or landowners make for good kidnapping targets. This sort of thing has decreased significantly in recent years, but a wealthy gringo farmer that comes to a rural setting could draw unwanted attention.

I can't answer specifics about costs per acre. Regions near cities that typically attract more tourists and foreigners, like Cartagena often cost a good deal more to live and you can expect higher land costs in those areas. The best bets are to talk to real estate agents in those areas. The search terms you will want to use for your Google searches are: finca raiz, inmobiliaria, terreno, viviendas and the name of the city or department in which you wish to look or just use Colombia. The yellow pages is also another good place to check that you can search in english... www.paginasamarillas.com

I just took a trip 5 hours south of Bogota this weekend to Neiva even further down to a place called Yaguará and got a good taste of what's down there. I noticed a lot of cattle farms, rice fields, some banana farms, and what looked like lulo plants or tree tomatos. I'm sure there was much, much more. On previous trips elsewhere I've seen coffee and banana farms in areas such as Antioquia, Risaralda, and Caldas and fruit farms near Cartagena.  North of Cali has a lot of agriculture and large towns like Palmira are a probably a good place to check out in that area with easy access to an international airport and Cali within about a half an hour's drive.

If you have more information about where it is you wish to look, I can probably be of more assistance. I'll look forward to your follow on question.