Thinking about relocating - few ?s re: income

jdubs

New member
Jul 28, 2010
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The woman and I are planning on relocating somewhere in the near future. I'm pushing the dominican republic as we are both 29 years old and cost of living is a very important factor.

I studied exercise physiology and opened a gym after college. My specialty was weight loss and lifestyle coaching.

My question is: does anyone believe there is an opportunity for either a personal training studio or inhome personal training in an area heavily populated with expats (reasonably priced, of course)?

Also, we would move down tomorrow, but we'd only have about $50,000 in cash. I have read lots about CDs and interest rates and we can wait a few years and come down with double that, but we're tired of being indentured servants to corporate america. How stable is the banking system for anyone that has experience with it?

I have a rental property which currently nets about $500. Would I need to sell it or is it easy to handle that from the DR (as far as depositing the rent and paying the mortgage)?

Any thoughts, suggestions are extremely welcome!

Regards,

-Jonathan
 

Rbh44

Active member
Mar 28, 2007
269
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Research

Use sites like this and others for your research. Do a lot of research and then do some more. I doubt there is a large enough pool of potential customers for your business...... but you never know.
 
E

engineerfg

Guest
American Income Stream ->
- if you could CLEAR $500/month in the USA (after expenses), you'd be making the same as an entry level dentist or 2 security guards here. Which is probably middle class. you could live okay, by not buying any imported products ie. forget stella artois or even tostados.


Banking System Here ->
- banks here are safe. scotiabank is a Canadian bank (although admittedly their operation here is a local subsidiary). they pay reasonable interests on bankers acceptances and term deposits. so you don't have to worry about your savings being looted by some gangster.


Exercise Physiology ->
- to be honest, my experience here about health and lifestyle is that locals aren't too educated about matters related to fitness and health (not to the level that Americans or Canadians are). To give you an example, my friend is a dentist here and tells me many many times local rich people show up to the office demanding to get their teeth bleached/whitenned, and they're not too bothered that they have cavities - if it doesn't hurt, they don't want to spend the money to fix it.


- having said that, I can tell you that even still, people do buy gym passes - usually at fitness facilities like at hotels. I'm paying the equivalent of 800 pesos a month for a 6 month contract at a local hotel. I get in and get out either to swim, hit the weights, or warm up on the bikes before running at the park. Whereas the locals it seems come to socialize, chat, make fun of each others bellies, hit on women at the pool, have a beer at the pool etc.... so again, the culture is totally different than back home. So when planning your business plan, keep in mind that the gym here is much more social than the gym back home which is about results.
 

jrhartley

Gold
Sep 10, 2008
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there are four gyms already in Sosua with varying degrees of success - most expats are on a fixed budget ie pension or part time job and therefore are looking for the cheapest option most of the time
 

aarhus

Long live King Frederik X
Jun 10, 2008
4,412
1,987
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Personal trainers

No. There are hunky Dominicans running the gyms here.

imho

At Body Shop in Naco they have a blond Canadian guy working as personal trainer. He seems popular with the Dominican ladies at the gym.
 

aarhus

Long live King Frederik X
Jun 10, 2008
4,412
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Re

The woman and I are planning on relocating somewhere in the near future. I'm pushing the dominican republic as we are both 29 years old and cost of living is a very important factor.

I studied exercise physiology and opened a gym after college. My specialty was weight loss and lifestyle coaching.

My question is: does anyone believe there is an opportunity for either a personal training studio or inhome personal training in an area heavily populated with expats (reasonably priced, of course)?

Also, we would move down tomorrow, but we'd only have about $50,000 in cash. I have read lots about CDs and interest rates and we can wait a few years and come down with double that, but we're tired of being indentured servants to corporate america. How stable is the banking system for anyone that has experience with it?

I have a rental property which currently nets about $500. Would I need to sell it or is it easy to handle that from the DR (as far as depositing the rent and paying the mortgage)?

Any thoughts, suggestions are extremely welcome!

Regards,

-Jonathan

I would keep that Rental Property you have. As a security for you and as a fixed income for living in DR.
 

jdubs

New member
Jul 28, 2010
3
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0
Thanks

For the advice!

I would lean more towards in home personal training. Keeping in mind people's budgets, of course. The thought would be to get in the game early and market towards retirees with the assumption that that DR will continue to be a destination for said retirees.

If we arrive with $100,000 + the rental income, that should buy us some time to determine the best course of action re: employment or opening a business. What are the business opportunities like in the tourist/retiree communities? Is it easy to say: set up on a beach and rent kayaks, snorkels, etc? I'd love to continue the nutritional counseling/personal training, but if the opportunity lies with the tourists and not the retirees, I might have to change my approach.

With regards to the rental property (and i guess int'l banking), how would I get the money down to the DR and subsequently to the mortgage company?

Thanks again!
 

DRob

Gold
Aug 15, 2007
8,234
594
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The woman and I are planning on relocating somewhere in the near future. I'm pushing the dominican republic as we are both 29 years old and cost of living is a very important factor.

I studied exercise physiology and opened a gym after college. My specialty was weight loss and lifestyle coaching.

My question is: does anyone believe there is an opportunity for either a personal training studio or inhome personal training in an area heavily populated with expats (reasonably priced, of course)?

Also, we would move down tomorrow, but we'd only have about $50,000 in cash. I have read lots about CDs and interest rates and we can wait a few years and come down with double that, but we're tired of being indentured servants to corporate america. How stable is the banking system for anyone that has experience with it?

I have a rental property which currently nets about $500. Would I need to sell it or is it easy to handle that from the DR (as far as depositing the rent and paying the mortgage)?

Any thoughts, suggestions are extremely welcome!

Regards,

-Jonathan

The most important things you can possess is an open mind and a solid command of Spanish. Like any other third world country, DR is a very different animal than from wherever you're coming from. You'll need to be aware of what is going on around you and how to interact with people at all socio-economic levels (hence the Spanish), and be able to react accordingly (the reason for the open mind).

Like in the U.S. the recession is hitting people differently. Most are struggling more than before, some continue to do very well. Most expat are on tight budgets, and may not be able to hire a trainer.

That said, even if you do get work, keep in mind that the likelihood of you getting anywhere remotely close to the hourly rate you enjoy at home is extremely small. Your monthly rental is about the equivalent of one middle class family for an entire month.

My advice would be to consider purchasing another rental with some of your money and use it to generate more income. That would be far easier to do than trying to replicate your stateside salaries in DR.