How much does it take to live 'comfortably' on a Monthly basis in D.R.??

elbachatero6504

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Sep 26, 2010
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By 'comfortably' lets say - House or Apartment with at least 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, access to the Internet at home, hot water, money to buy non-essential food items (cookies, snacks, candies etc), at least one Car, and enough for a bi-weekly excursion (movies, concert, etc). How much money would be required to do such things on a Monthly basis?? USD or DOP.
Thanks

Additionally: Lets compare 3 different areas - Barahona, Jarabacoa and Santiago. Or comparatively similar areas.
 
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karlheinz

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Oct 2, 2006
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monthly costs

I think $3000 USD / monthly you could live the high life, more or less.

Realistically much less I believe
my apartment, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, $RD 12,000
Elec - avg +/- $RD1000
Internet/TV/phone - $2500
Car payments - $150 US
basics - $580-600 US / month for me
figure an extra $500-1000 for food, entertainment, travel, fuel, etc.....
I can live here for avg $1500-2000 / monthly
This is for Santo Domingo, Colonial zone
 

elbachatero6504

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Sep 26, 2010
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This is for Santo Domingo, Colonial zone

Wow, I was expecting that to be in an area much further away from Santo Domingo. Thanks for the details. And I'm assuming there would not be too many places more expensive to live outside of prime real estate or areas closer to the Hotel/Commercialized zones.
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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Do a search...been discussed ad nauseam. Bottom line comfortable for you could be very different than other people. In Santo Domingo for instance two bedroom apartments could go anywhere from 8k pesos a month to 2500 USD a month.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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I think that cost of living is really determined by the rent...

Santo Domingo has rent control so if you find a good apartment and pay on time and do all the necessary stuff, you are set.

Lots of people can post what their cost of living is but if they have a good apartment for a low rent, then that figure will not apply to a newbie coming in.

I think it would be very hard to find a good,two bedroom apartment in SD now for less than $700. Not impossible - but hard. Santiago is reportedly less in rent.

A car will cost you lots of money in the long run-- do not know really what it is here but in the States they now estimate that owning a car will cost you $8000 a year.. that includes depreciation for the purchase of a new own. Cars do not depreciate as fast here - and insurance is not as expensive-- but you cannot finance the purchase at less than 25%...

And just fyi-- you will not be going out the movies in Barahona or Jarabacoa since there are no movie theaters. The concerts will be the local bachata musicians who come to play. If you want a "cultural" life - then you are limited to SD or Santiago.
 

bob saunders

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Rent for a decent place in Jarabacoa, if you can find one, is in the range of $250 to 500 per month, electricity and cable, telephone are about as KarlHeinz says. Where you either need the money or not, is in food or entertainment. If you are a restaurant fan it?ll cost you considerally morre than if you eat at home. We don?t pay rent or have a car, and since we are only visiting for a month at a time it is hard for me to figure out what the expenses are. Food for 4 people has cost us 10,000 pesos so far in 4 weeks. Beer cost 55 pesos for a large Bohemia in the Colmado closest to the house. Jarabacoa doesn?t have a movie theater but I?ve been watching about 10 different movie channel in English, Baseball and NFL on Fox on Satellite TV.
 

cobraboy

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I think that cost of living is really determined by the rent...
IMO, that's a large component for sure.

It is also determined by:
  • how ofter you eat out
  • your drinking/tobacco habit
  • health insurance (MUCH less expensive that the states, for instance)
  • transportation needs (once a car is a sunk cost-you paid cash-how often yoy drive because fuel in much more expensive)
  • the kind of food you eat: if you eat like "at home" it will cost much more

Rules of thumb: the more you live as you did in NA or Europe, the more it will cost you. The closer to an urban area you live, themore it will cost you. The more you rely on imported goods, the more itwill cost you.

After moving and initial expenses (deposits, furniture, car) it is quite possible to live very well on US$2000mo. or less.
 

elbachatero6504

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Very valid points as well. I don't smoke, do drugs nor could I be considered a 'drinker' although I do like an occasional beer with a good meal. When I move I am looking at Jarabacoa, Santiago, Samana or Bani. And I plan to adapt my living according to where I am, and not try to live an 'extended vacation' buying unnecessary things or just doing things for 'kicks' that will cost more than it should. Thanks for the input, very helpful.
 

ExtremeR

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For those areas and needs you stated I would say you could do really good with $2,700.00 monthly. Life is more expensive in Santo Domingo though.
 

AZB

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After the initial investment in furniture, car, TV, internet, inverter and apartment deposits etc, the rest will depend on your consumption. You can learn to cook at home and then eat out when you desire. Do not look for a girlfriend whom you have to support financially and carry her family's weight as well. Do not get her pregnant if you plan on living on low budget.
You can get an apartment in santiago from 10k pesos to 20K. all depends where you feel comfortable. The apartment will not even come with stove so you have to buy everything. Then you have furnished apartments which will cost you far more. You can easily control your electric bill with a/c in bedroom under 3k pesos / month on hot summer days (meaning: do not use a/c all day). Get yourself a lcd TV screen that you can use with computer. Now you can watch your downloaded latest movies right at home. Connect good pc amplified speakers and you have good music as well. So your laptop will act like music / video entertainment center. Watch streaming videos of your choice on big screen. get an hdmi cable and watch your (hdmi ready) laptop contents on full hd lcd Tv screen. watch movies and all. Connect magicjack and now you have an american line. Connect to badoo.com and now you have an instant girlfriend willing to meet you. Make sure your neighbor has a nice sized mango, aguacate and guava tree. Now you have fruits and aguacate for free. make sure your girlfriend has a real job so she won't use you as ATM machine.
The rest is up to you, how to keep your expenses within your budget.
AZB
 

Anastacio

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Feb 22, 2010
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3 bed 2 bathroom house, 7000 pesos. Bills Inc 4000 pesos. Food 16000-20000. Family of 3 in santo Domingo.
 

CFA123

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After the initial investment in furniture, car, TV, internet, inverter and apartment deposits etc, the rest will depend on your consumption. You can learn to cook at home and then eat out when you desire. Do not look for a girlfriend whom you have to support financially and carry her family's weight as well. Do not get her pregnant if you plan on living on low budget.
You can get an apartment in santiago from 10k pesos to 20K. all depends where you feel comfortable. The apartment will not even come with stove so you have to buy everything. Then you have furnished apartments which will cost you far more. You can easily control your electric bill with a/c in bedroom under 3k pesos / month on hot summer days (meaning: do not use a/c all day). Get yourself a lcd TV screen that you can use with computer. Now you can watch your downloaded latest movies right at home. Connect good pc amplified speakers and you have good music as well. So your laptop will act like music / video entertainment center. Watch streaming videos of your choice on big screen. get an hdmi cable and watch your (hdmi ready) laptop contents on full hd lcd Tv screen. watch movies and all. Connect magicjack and now you have an american line. Connect to badoo.com and now you have an instant girlfriend willing to meet you. Make sure your neighbor has a nice sized mango, aguacate and guava tree. Now you have fruits and aguacate for free. make sure your girlfriend has a real job so she won't use you as ATM machine.
The rest is up to you, how to keep your expenses within your budget.
AZB

now that's a well thought out plan... nice post
 

cobraboy

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For those areas and needs you stated I would say you could do really good with $2,700.00 monthly. Life is more expensive in Santo Domingo though.
You can live like a Crown Prince here for US$2700! Including golf club and country club dues!
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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is there only one of you? :)
after you secure basics (downpayment of rent, purchase of a car, furniture and so on) a single person can live a nice life even for 1000 dollars a month. make it your base. weekends away and other guilty pleasures will add up some. but sometimes you will also find yourself spending less.
 

ExtremeR

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Mar 22, 2006
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You can live like a Crown Prince here for US$2700! Including golf club and country club dues!

Yeah, but remember I am thinking as if it were in SD. You could very well live like a Prince with US$2,700.00 monthly in Jarabacoa, not so much in SD.
 

heliace

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Mar 27, 2004
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Much easier...roughly the same lifestyle in Canada cost me more than double,but, less thieves,con artists and lack of respect in Canada.
More snow, rules... etc. in Canada too.
With the home and jeep paid for, one can live good on $1500 a month and great on $2500.
Oh, I live in Santiago, by the way...
 
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Anastacio

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ExtremeR, rubbish, you can live extremely well on 2,700 in SD. As was mentioned a lot depends on rent. I know people who live a couple of minutes from me, same size house but different neighbours and pay 5 times and more what I pay. I have the same sized house, garden, but my neighbours are working lower class Dominicans. Security guards, police, builders and mechanics. If you want to live next to Charles and Shirley retired from Texas or London then you can pay 6 times what I do and be just down the road, if you don't mind mixing it up with the locals and living completely independently away from your security blankets then you can do that also, much cheaper.
 
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