Montego Bay, on the northwest coast, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean. It is Jamaica's second-largest city and a thriving port. The heart of Montego Bay is Sam Sharpe Square. It is named in honor of the slave who led the bloody "Christmas Rebellion" of 1831, which helped to expedite emancipation on Jamaica. The square is a popular gathering spot, where vendors offer refreshments, snacks and T-shirts.

Montego Bay has some excellent examples of Georgian architecture, a style emphasizing classic proportions. A favorite is the Town House, built in 1765 for a wealthy sugar planter. It now houses a restaurant. The crafts market, where "higglers" (street merchants) hawk their wares and bargain with customers, is an exciting place to observe and even participate in what many people consider a game.

Outside Montego Bay lie several splendid plantations and great houses that may be toured. They are reminiscent of a time when sugar, the Caribbean's boom crop, generated great fortunes for Jamaica's large landholders. Rose Hall may well be the most renowned estate on the island. The opulent edifice was built between 1770 and 1780 by John Palmer, a custos, or "custodian," of the parish. Annie Palmer, the estate's second mistress, brought great notoriety to the estate, becoming known as "the white witch of Rose Hall." Her deeds ranged from cruelty toward slaves to the murder of her three husbands. At Croydon in the Mountains, a working plantation located outside Montego Bay in the interior of the island, tour guides explain how coffee, pineapples and other crops are cultivated and offer insight into Jamaican landforms, plantation life and history.

Real Estate Info

Unlike the rest of Latin America, Jamaica has managed to attract large private-sector investments to support a rapid expansion and transformation of its infrastructure.

With a veritable domino effect, change is taking place in almost every industry corner, including real estate, tourism, banking, telecom, energy and transportation.

Along with the real estate boom comes the first Casino in Jamaica which will be near Rose Hill in Montego Bay.

Properties for sale in Jamaica that are in secure locations and are viable acquisitions for the serious investors are valued as they are in the US.  Seaside properties in Negril, for instance, (which is a seaside resort that has been growing non stop since the 1970's) is valued in the US millions.  Properties just off the sea side with complete views are selling in the US 100 Thousands.  Montego Bay and Ocho Rios are other considerations.  Port Antonio and the South Side of Jamaica are lower valued, specifically because of security issues, though there are some cute and locally secure communities here.  Many of our internet inquiries assume that Jamaica is still a third world country.  This may be true as far as Socio/Political Standards but not compared to world class real estate values.  It is a small island, the only one of its specific kind.  The maturation of the business, social, and political sectors of Jamaica are more retarded than the value of some of the actual real estate and primarily the value of the tourism dollar potential.  Hurricanes have come and gone in Jamaica, but the love of the tourist has never dwindled.  There is a unique quality of the Jamaican Culture, along with the beauty of this diverse island, that continues to attract the eclectic tourist market.