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Where to live in the DR

Caribbean wantabe
#1
Dear Planner I'm responding to your post about living in La Romana.聽 My husband and I are currently researching and considering a possible move to the DR.聽 I have Dominican friends who live in Santiago and I have visited there, but not my husband.聽 I like Santiago and could probably live there, but my husband would probably find it somewhat stressful because of how crazy people drive.聽 Our Dominican friends have suggested La Romana, but we weren't really thinking the southern coast.聽 I have done a little research on La Romana and would consider taking a look, but my concern is it being snuggled in between Santo Domingo and Punta Cana, neither of which I am interested in at all.聽 Also, from what I read it seemed touristy, which is not at all what I have in mind.聽 Besides in my language touristy translates into costly, which is why we are wanting to leave the U.S.

Ideally what we would be interested in is something that could provide us with the opportunity to enjoy both the mountains and the ocean.聽 We see ourselves living up slightly in the hills/mountains overlooking the ocean.聽 In other words, not exactly on the coast, but close enough to see it.聽 We'd prefer a small community with access to a large city or larger community.聽 聽A somewhat rural setting, yet close enough to walk or ride to town.聽 We'd prefer more land and less house.聽 And of course, safety is of utmost importance as is health care and easy access to an airport.聽 It will be just me and my husband as our kids are grown.聽 We probably would not want anything more than 3 bedrooms.聽 A pool would be AWESOME as would be part-time domestic help.聽 Our goal is to live off $2000-2400 per month.

Also, my husband is a highly skilled electrical contractor in the U.S.聽 Is it possible that he might be able to pick up work in the DR?聽 I teach school, but am not a "certified" teacher, although I have received certification in reading.聽 My husband lived in Vieques years ago and spoke some Spanish at that time.聽 He's lost most of it, but does have a tendency to pick it up easily when he's around it regularly.聽 I speak no Spanish at this time, but do plan to learn.聽

So armed with all this information, what can you tell me about where we should start our search and what, if any, is the likelihood that both or either of us could eventually pick up some part-time work.
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planner
#2
First welcome to the forums.聽 聽The info you provided is very helpful.聽 聽Mountains - not really in this area. It is pretty damn flat.聽 But the ocean is right here.

We are over an hour from Punta Cana and an hour from Santo Domingo.聽 La Romana itself is not overly touristy -聽 you mostly see tourists when the cruise ship is in聽 port.聽 Expats for the most part live in聽 Casa de Campo -聽 it is very expensive there.聽 聽Here in La Romana is not overly expensive. We have some expats but not huge amounts. You tend to see expats in Jumbo supermarket and a couple of restaurants.聽 聽

All your budget needs are easily met here.聽 I live on the west side of the city, a bit out of the city but still close.聽 Yards and land are harder to come by as it isn't聽 cultural but it can be done.聽 聽There are many communities near La Romana as well.聽

I am not really sure it would meet your needs here BUT聽 you should come and visit!

Electrical work -聽 well unless he is willing to work for almost nothing聽 he will be hard pressed to find work here.聽 Unfortunately almost anyone can call themselves an electrician!聽 And they will do聽 several hours work for less then US 20 bucks!聽 聽YOur husband will shake his head at what I can show him聽 in terms of crappy work.聽 He could develop a business servicing expats who want the job done right at a reasonable cost!聽 I would pay for that!
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DominicanadaMike
#3
Planner, what's your take on Bayahibe?聽 I see some expats there, some tourists mostly running to Saona or Catalina,聽 not far from La Romana, beach close by, prices for housing seem reasonable and housing can be very nice, might be a bit of both worlds?
planner
#4
Bayahibe can work. There are some expats, not sure how big a community it is.聽 It is more expensive then La Romana but less then聽 Punta Cana I think.聽 It has a nice beach, some nice restaurants etc. And 20 minutes from La Romana and the other services you might need.
Caribbean wantabe
#5
Dear Planner and DominicanadaMike:

Thanks for your prompt reply.聽 Do you know of any place in the DR that might afford us both mountains/hills and ocean?聽 Would it be unreasonable to expect an acre of land?聽 I know it's not measured that way there, but I don't know how to convert from the measurements I see posted online, which to me seem rather odd.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?聽 We've mostly researched the North Coast and Jarabacoa, which seems too far from the ocean.聽 Some of the places on the north coast have warned about a lot of expats, crime and seem like they could possibly be too touristy.

Can you name some of the other areas surrounding La Romana that I could research?聽 As for size, we've lived in areas that have been 1.5 million, to 500,000, to 50,000 to 25,000, some have been tourist areas like Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach and Niagara Falls.聽 As for me, I like them all.聽 My husband prefers smaller, which I'm ok with as long as I can easily access something larger.聽 What are your thoughts about living outside the Santiago area, especially since we have friends there?

Thanks so much.聽 I'll check out the suggestion of Bayahibe.聽 Not sure what is considered pricey in DR, but I do like the idea of best of both worlds.
Bob K
#6
We live on the north coast and find a good mix of expats, locals and tourists.聽 Depending聽 on where you live will have a lot to do with the crime level. Just like anywhere else you live in the world.聽 I know I feel much safer here than many places I have lived in the States.

Bob K
Caribbean wantabe
#7
Thanks Bob.聽 Do any other the northern areas offer mountains/hillside as well?聽 Do you know anything about the Samana area?聽 I looked at the San Franciso area, didn't sound desirable at all.聽 Mentioned a serious water pollution problem, is that common in the DR?
Bob K
#8
Yes there are lots of hillside properties.聽 We live on the hillside between Sosua and Cabarete with great ocean views.聽 Cabrera is another area with wonderful hillside properties.聽 I don't know much about Samana.

Bob K
planner
#9
For hillside you want north coast and maybe Samana. Anything else is flatter or away from the ocean.

1 acre is about 6.4 tareas.聽 :D
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Bob K
#10
Or 4000 or so square meters.

Bob K
Caribbean wantabe
#11
Thank you.聽 You guys are awesome.聽 North coast is what I was thinking, so thank you for confirming.聽 Doesn't mean I won't consider other options; just confirms that is where we should start our search.聽

Thanks for translating the way they measure space.聽 4000 sq meters makes sense since it's based off the metric system, however, I don't always see it measured that way.聽

Researched Samana extensively last night.聽 Looks like a possibility, but not sure about cost.聽 Could be more pricey than what we have in mind.聽 We'll see when we visit.

Bob, are you selling real estate?聽 I understand that no licensing is necessary, is that true?聽 if so, how does one protect themselves from becoming a victim of fraud?

Mucho Gracias
Bob K
#12
We used to sell real estate but retired 3 years ago, so we do know the Sosua/Cabarete area pretty well.

In order to protect yourself you need to use a reputable agent, yes it is true no license is required,聽 and most important a reputable lawyer of which there are not many but certainly enough around.

Bob K
Caribbean wantabe
#13
Thank you.聽 Ya'll have provided plenty of information for me to get start.聽 For now, I will focus my efforts on planning a trip to the north coast.聽 Bob, depending on timing, do you think you would be interested in meeting with me and my husband while we are there?聽 I'm thinking possibly sometime between October and December, possibly January?

Thanks again.
Caribbean wantabe
#14
One last question, since I have friends in Santiago, my first choice of airports is Santiago, what other airports should I consider?
Bob K
#15
Caribbean wantabe no problem meeting with you.聽 But I must warn you the last two we meet with both have since bought homes here and are planning on moving in the next year :D:D:D聽 Just keep me posted as to when you will be here.聽 We have no travel plans during that time.

Puerto Plata is the airport closest to Sosua/Cabarete but also the most expensive.聽 We actually sometimes fly into and out of Santiago and then have a cab take is to Sosua.聽 Cab is $100 or so and even with this cost it is many times cheaper to fly to Santiago, especially if we are both flying.聽 In fact mid Sept I am flying to Newark.聽 Fare from POP was $786 RT and from Santiago $285.聽 So even with the cab I will be saving $200.聽 Trip from Santiago to our home here is about and hour and 15 min.

Bob K
dreamtime
#16
Electrical contractor? We need it here! :) At least the gringos may hire him. I would on a new house build. In fact, on a new house build, I'm only hiring gringos, local or imported, to do the work. The locals can fetch the coffee, do the clean up, and provide the muscle.

The local "electricians" and "plumbers", if you can even call them that, have really no idea what they are doing. I mean no clue at all.聽 They talk a good game but at the end of the day, not a frickin clue. Loosely translated that means whatever job they do, it will be redone BY YOU 4-5 times before it finally gets done right.聽 And that's not limited to electricians and plumbers. It applies to ALL TRADES here.

In my building the owner hired a "plumber" to do the work. There was a leak in EVERY APT. Why? Because the "plumber" couldn't even do a simple connection without having a leak. Hilarious!
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dreamtime
#17
To Caribbean wantabe:

One thing that your husband could specialize in would be as a gringo inverter expert. That means he comes in and measures/computes all electrical usage in a gringo home. Then recommends the PROPER SIZE for the inverter in a PURE SINE WAVE machine. Installs and maintains everything. He can do that for all expats that move here. That will give him plenty of business.

As it works now you go through a local, who hasn't a clue what they are doing. Then redo the inverter or start replacing parts every time it breaks down, which it will and is a royal pain in the ass not to mention the downtime every time it breaks down at the worst possible times.
Caribbean wantabe
#18
Dear Dreamtime:

Thanks for the input.聽 My husband keeps insisting that if we move there he is RETIRED, but I know him better than that.聽 There's only so much fishing and golf he can do before he'll be bored out of his mind.聽 And God knows the last thing I want is a restless, bored man hanging around the house.聽 Yikes, just the thought of that sends a shiver down my spine.聽 I have no doubt he could handle anything electrical in the DR, providing the materials are available.

What part of the DR did you end up settling in?聽 I've read several of your postings, but I don't recall off the top of my head.聽 Have you been to Samana?聽 I know you mentioned Las Terrenas was blase'.聽 I'm assuming Samana is relatively low-key as well, but I really can't find too much information on it.聽 Most everything I pull up is on Las Terrenas, which is definitely an expat community and not something I'm interested in,聽 I also looked at Barahona, which is in the south, but I think it might be too Dominican for me and possibly closer to Haiti than I'd like.聽 However, it does provide the mountains and ocean.聽

Next September, our daughter heads to Santiago to work in an orphanage.聽 She plans to be there 3 months, possibly longer if things go well.聽 Our plan has been for me to go over with her and help her get settled.聽 My husband was thinking that might be a good time for me to stay in the DR and do a trial run on living there.聽 What advice would you, planner, bob, or anyone else have for us regarding that idea?聽 In the meantime though, I thought my husband and I should make a trip to explore the north coast and narrow down some possible choices.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all your input.聽 When I ask my Dominican friends they always steer me to the resort or expat areas despite repeatedly telling them that's not what we're interested in.

One last question (for now at least):聽 Everyone keeps saying how you need to try it because it's different than the US.聽 No kidding.聽 That's one of the reasons why we want to go there because it's different.聽 However, I need for you all to define what was the most difficult difference for you to adjust to.聽 Different is just too vague.聽 Not flushing the toilet paper is different, but not undoable.
Bob K
#19
In Samana you will find yourself at the end of nowhere.聽 Not much going on outside some tourism and a very busy Feb - April for whale watching.聽 Kind of remote.

As to trying he DR "on" for a month or two....Great idea but do it in an area or two that your are interested in. I am not sure Santiago fits that bill.

The hardest part for me to get used to is the blatant corruption of the government and the officials.聽 Also somewhat the lack of respect for life of many of the young folks.聽 The other stuff like intermittent electricity, non drinkable water from the taps, no law (or not enforced by the authorities) for driving, the manana syndrome, lack of quality work by many so called trandsmen, bad roads and such are all adaptable.

Bob K
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dreamtime
#20
Umm, that's one of the selling points :):)

"no law (or not enforced by the authorities) for driving"
dreamtime
#21
I am in Bonao. It's one ugly town. The center of it, that is. But, the rivers are everywhere and the mountains are next to it. Therefore, it cools down at night so the weather is perfecto!聽 The nature is amazing and that's what I love.

Most small cities in the country look like one big ghetto at first glance. Especially when someone new arrives. But you acclimate to the place and in time, you don't see it as a ghetto at all. It just is. That takes time. It doesn't happen in a week or two. It happens in 6-12 months, if you make it that long. Now I find myself loving all these little village places. But when I first got here I was afraid to walk to the corner :)

When I first arrived I was in a taxi that looked like it was going to fall apart. We were on the highway from Santo Domingo airport going to the colonial zone in SD. I saw the ghetto barrios to the right of the highway and I started laughing with tears wondering "did I really just fly into this ghetto"? I said to my friends in the back, "what a piece of shit this place is". I didn't think the driver understood a word of English.聽 A minute later it started to rain. The driver didn't turn on the windshield wipers. So I said to my friends "I guess the windshield wipers don't work". A second later he turns on the wipers. I guess he does know English! :) At that moment I thought I wouldn't arrive in one piece. HILARIOUS!
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Caribbean wantabe
#22
Bob, would you please explain your comment regarding the lack of respect for life among young people?
Bob K
#23
The way they drive the motos, fights over stupid stuff that many times leads to injury and death, and just a general attitude. Many young men and some women I have talked to do not expect to live beyond their mid 20s.聽 Really kind of sad

Bob K
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planner
#24
And there is an attitude of: when its my time its my time. No thought to stupid and reckless behaviour changing the "time".....
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J
#25
You want Jarabacoa, cool beautiful mountains 2.5 hours to the beach though.
ohmmmm
#26
There can be a big cultural shock over the first year here.聽 So, I always suggest someone rent a place for a year to get used to the country and how it works and such.聽 Many people have mis-conceptions of the place and adjusting to what the place is really like takes some time.聽 I would suggest living near a tourist town at the beginning so you are able to make gringo friends and get support to learn how to do things practically here and how not to get scammed.聽 Also, I would suggest renting in an apartment complex or nicer subdivision.聽 I know people have romantic ideas of jumping into the new culture, but there are real issues and lessons about living here that only come with living here.聽 If you rent an apartment or house in a nice subdivision you can slowly get the lay of the land and learn how to handle yourself, learn where to get things and whom to maybe associate with or not.聽 I have lived here for over five years.聽 I have had to learn patience and many things in order to maintain my cool and become effective and happy living here.聽 Diving into the place by buying something right away and moving into a Dominican neighborhood is not advisable by me.聽 Best of luck and wishes.
3 members reacted to this post
planner
#27
Well said Ohmmmmm.....
Bob K
#28
ohmmmm good post and so true


Bob K
Bibs1
#29
Good day,

I don't know if you have found your dream house yet.聽 I have been leaving her in DR for the last 8 years.聽 what I strongly suggest you, is to come, stay somewhere, rent a car, visit the country and choose your nest. But I will explain my area to you.

We leave in Costambar, off Puerto Plata, close to the beach.聽 It's a gated community, with lots of expats leaving on and off who mostly have their own house or condo.聽 We are only 8 minutes from town, and Costambar is very quiet.聽 Lots of places look safe but in fact are not even with iron bars at windows and doors.聽

You can rent from 390$/mth to 1500$/mth.聽 I presently have a Canadian friend renting her penthouse, she is asking 500$ all furnished, although she is strongly looking to sell.聽 聽I personally have some all furnished apartments but they are one bedrooms.聽 Here in Costambar we don't sign lease contracts whereas in the rest part of the country it's mandatory.

Definitely your husband would find jobs here in DR.聽 聽I would be his first client.聽 My plumber is from England, he has lots of work but of course he can't charge what he charges back home.聽 I have been trying to attract a couple of electrician friends to come and work for me but up to now not working.聽 聽I even offered 3 weeks of free lodging.聽 Well!!!

Here in Puerto Plata there is an English School but I would not know how much they would pay for a teacher.聽 I had a girl friend that worked there I think the pay was about 300$ month.聽 Not sure.聽

Well hope everything goes well for you....



Bibswarth@gmail.com
1 member reacted to this post
planner
#30
Not a good idea to rent a car,聽 if you are not used to this place and speak Spanish it is a recipe for disaster.
Bob K
#31
Welcome to the forum.
I agree not a good idea to rent a car right off.聽 Get used to the place first
I personally would never rent with out a contract.聽 Too much chance of something "going wrong"
Also yes work can be found but to do so legally you need your residency and cedula

Bob K

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