On paper, selling your house and buying another one in perfect sync sounds like a dream. You unlock your equity, avoid juggling two mortgages, and glide smoothly from one front door to the next without having to move in with relatives and their six barking dogs. But in Jamaica? That dream often hits the brakes before it even pulls out the driveway.
Let’s not sugar-coat this. While it’s technically possible to buy and sell at the same time, the Jamaican real estate process rarely moves like clockwork. Once a deal hits a lawyer’s desk, it can sit there for weeks—sometimes months—before an agreement for sale is even drafted. I’ve seen files gather dust like last week’s Gleaner. And the bottlenecks don’t end there. Land Registry delays, valuation hiccups, missing TRNs, family disputes, and what feels like a national allergy to email replies can all grind the process to a frustrating halt.
There’s talk on the street that you can pay a “fast track” fee to speed things up. Maybe. But even with…
