Opinion for Best Place for My Family Situation

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sanluisdavid

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May 18, 2012
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Just to give you some background on my situation: I am in mid 40's, US born and raised. I speak pretty good Spanish.
My wife is in her late 20's. Colombiana from Barranquilla. We have a 3 1/2 year old son. I have a 15 year old son who lives
with us too. My 8 year old daughter visits us frequently. We currently live in San Diego, CA. The lifestyle here is pretty good
but hectic, the ocean water is cold, and it is very expensive and depends on us driving a lot. We are getting hit hard by
Obamacare and will be paying around $950/month for a crappy health plan here. None of us have any real medical issues
. We all exercise frequently, eat well, and don't want to pay that much for insurance which will probably rarely be used.

We traveled to Sosua for a very short trip last year. We loved the water, beach, seafood, prices, music, and international
community. But it was a little rough around the edges for family life.

What other options might be good for us based on the information provided? We want to vacation there for a month
or so first, then possibly relocate there full time in 2 years when my oldest son hits college. We have several rentals here
in San Diego which will provide some income and I have a couple other income producing investments which combined with the rentals
would bring us up to maybe $4,000/month.

We would be traveling back to San Diego at least once a year. And having the kids travel down to see us at least 2 times a year. So a total
of about 8 round trip tickets from San Diego to DR. Keep that in mind when giving some options.

I know there are a lot of variables that cannot be figured, but just wanted some input which might give us a little more
insight as where to start our research.

Oh, and if you have experience living in other tropical, lower cost countries, feel free to mention them as well.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
 

DRob

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Aug 15, 2007
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First, welcome to DR1!

With all respect, given what you said (particularly about your wife's birthplace), my initial suggestion would be Colombia. Especially when compared to a caribbean island, you can purchase an awful lot of lifestyle in Medellin or Cartagena for 4k/month, and she already is comfortable with the culture. On top of that, I'm sure there are some pretty good flights between Southern California and there.

My next suggestion would be either Baja or somewhere on the western coast of Mexico. Again, much less expensive, plenty of infrastructure, the water is very warm, and you can go back and forth to San Diego in half a pinch.

In terms of DR, the most "family friendly" area. (meaning good schools, near the beaches, things to do, etc.,) would be Punta Cana/Bavaro (on the east coast).

I really like Las Terrenas, but there isn't a solid english-speaking "international" school that covers K-8. If your kids speak Spanish, it greatly opens up your options, obviously, but a rock-solid private school will still cost you.

Sosua has a decent school, but you've noticed some of the other issues, few of which will be changing in any meaningful way in the near future, that you will simply have to get accustomed to.

If you're willing to give up super-close beaches, I'd encourage you to look into Santiago. Better weather, schools, infrastructure, culture, etc. Your 4k budget will go as far as it can in a "big" city with real resources. And the beaches are about a 60-75 minute drive away.

Either way, good luck:glasses:
 

sanluisdavid

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May 18, 2012
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Hi DRob. Thanks for the post. WE have traveled extensively in Colombia. Cartagena is super expensive. Medellin does not give us the beach life. It is actually a little boring there for us. And it is getting expensive now as well. My wife is actually the one who does not really want Colombia. She has safety concerns about living there as well.
We have been to Baja too. It is getting to be pretty unsafe there as well. We love Mexican food, but not really what we are looking for.

I will look into Bavaro and Santiago. We actually had our return flight cancelled at the last minute during our trip to DR last year and we had to fly out of Santigao, so we took a taxi from Sosua to there and loved the cooler weather and it was not far to the beaches like you said. Looked pretty nice. And I notice the flights seem to be cheaper in and out of there too.

Las Terrenas looks super cool. I don't have a problem with my son going to an all Spanish speaking school if it is high quality.

Thanks again for the info. I really appreciate it.
 

pauleast

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Jan 29, 2012
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First, welcome to DR1!

With all respect, given what you said (particularly about your wife's birthplace), my initial suggestion would be Colombia. Especially when compared to a caribbean island, you can purchase an awful lot of lifestyle in Medellin or Cartagena for 4k/month, and she already is comfortable with the culture. On top of that, I'm sure there are some pretty good flights between Southern California and there.

My next suggestion would be either Baja or somewhere on the western coast of Mexico. Again, much less expensive, plenty of infrastructure, the water is very warm, and you can go back and forth to San Diego in half a pinch.

In terms of DR, the most "family friendly" area. (meaning good schools, near the beaches, things to do, etc.,) would be Punta Cana/Bavaro (on the east coast).

I really like Las Terrenas, but there isn't a solid english-speaking "international" school that covers K-8. If your kids speak Spanish, it greatly opens up your options, obviously, but a rock-solid private school will still cost you.

Sosua has a decent school, but you've noticed some of the other issues, few of which will be changing in any meaningful way in the near future, that you will simply have to get accustomed to.

If you're willing to give up super-close beaches, I'd encourage you to look into Santiago. Better weather, schools, infrastructure, culture, etc. Your 4k budget will go as far as it can in a "big" city with real resources. And the beaches are about a 60-75 minute drive away.

Either way, good luck:glasses:

damn !! A drob post I agree with and 100 %
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Welcome to DR1. Please visit the East Coast forum and skim through the General Info sticky, and feel free to ask specific questions about places to live, schools, etc.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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Hardly

$50,000US a year...... is plenty for most people.

I run my place for less than $2,000 / month.. 2 acres......... 3 day a week housekeeper, daily and nightly men around the clock plus another 1/2 man looking after my other property.
and that feeds the dogs too

Sure , I eat after that $2,000......

$50,000 is a lot to most people

Tambo may have a point.....
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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Too many people move here thinking it's going to be cheap and easy

Too many people do things wrong and make life harder than it need be.

Case in point-
my friend bought a fridge in SD a couple of weeks ago.... against my advice to import.

her kitchen is shut down while she awaits delivery to Cabrera..... WRONG IDEA !!
never leave the final decision to the local company

I always buy FOB the warehouse - ex delivery charges - and then send a truck to fetch my purchases.

I control when and how I get my fridge.
The big SD stores wait until they have a full north coast load to ship... might be a month or more.

Meanwhile, my friend has no fridge and family coming for Xmas.......

Bad decision..................IMO
 

sanluisdavid

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May 18, 2012
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Welcome to dr1.

Just bc you all eat well, exercise and are healthy does not mean you should not get good health insurance here. MANY things can happen here where you would need it!!

$4,000 would be tight in the NC area, Santiago is much cheaper to live in.

Good luck :)

Yeah, insurance is necessary. I just don't like the idea of paying for my insurance and about 10 other able body folks as well who are just sitting at home watching Sponge Bob rather than paying their share. I will definitely need to get health insurance there, but I can't imagine it will be anywhere near the price as it is here. BTW, do you have any idea of what it would be? Thanks for the input.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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very affordable is the answer to your question ..... more so than USA.

All depends on your circumstances
There are big threads on health insurance here
 

sanluisdavid

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Sosua is not expensive at all in my opinion. Probably half as much as here in San Diego. The beaches were nice. We liked the food, music, and most of the people. Just that my wife did not like all the putas.
 

sanluisdavid

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Man Bavaro looks like it has awesome beaches. Does it have much of a city center? That is one thing that Sosua seemed to have, a walkable town center.
 
Jun 18, 2007
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www.rentalmetrocountry.com
http://experience.usatoday.com/caribbean/story/punta-cana/2013/11/04/punta-cana-overview/3430419/

I don't know if this is still accurate, but it looks as if there is no real city center to speak of. That is something we definitely would want...a walkable city center where we could hang out, get something to eat, grab a coffee, things like that.

Bavaro and Punta Cana are not really "cities" they're tourist areas. Beautiful beaches, lots of hotels etc. Well if you like that then you'll be okay.
Have you seen the videos in my other post?
 
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