I live on Margarita, and I've been helping people relocate here for a few years, so I think I can say I know a bit about this place.

First, don't bother listening to scare stories about how we have a dictator and that you'll lose your property. A private residence that one lives in is almost untouchable in Venezuela, and if it's registered as a casa familia (principal residence of a family) it *is* untouchable. Property expropriations have been either businesses or agricultural land, and they've been paid fair market value, and they have been on the mainland- not on Margarita.

Margarita Island is the vacation and investment location for everyone who is anyone in Venezuela, and that cuts across political lines. Not only is Margarita the safest place in Venezuela in terms of crime, it's also the safest in terms of investment because there is political pressure to keep this place stable and safe. That isn't going to change. Anyone living on Margarita has far more civil liberty and enforceable rights than a person living in the UK, Canada or the US. Here, living is really cheap and you're free.

If you're going to invest here, invest in Costa Azul, Pampatar, Jorge Coll or the surrounding areas. That's where the Venezuelan tourists want to stay when they come. Over 70% of the tourists who come to Margarita are Venezuelans, and the others are a mixed bag of Europeans and Canadians. The Venezuelans come here to party and relax, and they want to be close to the restaurants, bars, discos and the Sambil Mall. This is the area that has great support from the local property market (over 90% of all property is purchased by Venezuelans) and it's got the best locations on the island as far as property investment goes.

La Ensenada is a beautiful development on the wrong side of the Island. It's very close to La Guardia, the armpit of the Island. Maybe it's a nice place if all you want is a place to disappear and plan to spend a week or two there without ever leaving. If you want to live there, it's a completely different story: you'll be driving a minimum of half an hour to get to the Porlamar/Pampatar area which is where all the services and decent stores are. If you buy in there and want to sell later, you'll have to find another foreigner to buy it because no Venezuelan is going to pay those kind of prices to live next to La Guardia.

Most foreigners look at a few pictures of an ocean view and think they're in heaven, but when it comes to actually living in a place you want to have the things you want on a regular basis to be close to you, and that's why the area of Pampatar is the best location on the Island: that's where everything you'll want is located. That's also where the Venezuelans will pay top prices for property- because that's where they want to be.