Welcome to DR1 and the DR!
First of all:
If you plan to move to the DR, do yourself a favor and don't rent in the nicest area you can afford!
This will only give you a very false image of what the DR is really like and the normal dangers/lifestyle you must assimilate into.
I don't mean that you must rent in a bad place, just not the best your money can afford right off the bat. I learned this the hard way a long time ago. I'd lived in many countries for periods longer than a year and the first time I made the big mistake of renting where I could afford the best area.
I crashed soon after when reality and paid for reality met face to face!
What you need to be looking for in the DR, are nice upper middle class areas where to rent first. Not the upper class areas where you can afford to fake into the image.
This will allow you to understand what living in the DR is. A big difference from what visiting or staying for long vacations can compare to.
After you stay in that area for a year or so, then move to another area of the city on the same or a bit better off from the last one. Do that and I promise you that within three years, you'll need nothing from any other person to tell you where you must live at.
A good measure of renting would be some three years, to get a full grasp of the city you want to live at. Very low risk and affordable.
After that, it's your choice to rent or buy. From personal experience, unless you plan to live for over close to ten years in a certain city, renting makes better financial sense over buying. Unless you can find a great opportunity from a relative or close person too good to let pass.
Living in Santo Domingo will afford you all the conveniences of what any large city of comparable development can offer. On the low end, it will also offer you all the bad stuff bigger cities have to muster at you.
It all depends on your likes and age for the most part. Younger people prefer SD over smaller cities like Santiago. Older people look to the rural areas or the coast. The rich and can afford at will, opt to live behind a well guarded and still open complex with all the needs at your calling.