Lots of threads about relocating to the DR. Most of your questions have been addressed previously in those threads.
Question #1: Why the DR?
This is a developing country. Some parts of it are developing much faster than other parts. Depending on where you choose to settle, you will probably need to deal with intermittent electricity & water delivery. You will need to be more or less proficient in Spanish depending on location as well. The tourist enclaves are pretty easy to pick out as that's where the resort on the travel sites are located. Tourists will not impact your existence here, workers who speak English are pretty easy to find on the resorts but maybe not so much in the local stores and service businesses that never see a tourist.
A move to the DR is not at all like a move from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin.
Question #2: What type of life do you want to live?
If you wish to pretty much duplicate your western lifestyle here in the DR you will struggle in most locations to do so. Product availability, competent trades people, familiar restaurants and activities may be hard to find outside the large cities.
Question 3: You can only choose where to live after you have been living here for awhile. You need to pay a few electricity bills, do routine grocery shopping, get a leaking pipe fixed etc. You need to be light and mobile for at least the first year. Narrow down your areas of interest then go live in the top choices for 3 or four months each to see what it's like - then make your final determination. Rent, do not buy for the first couple of years.
Question #4: "I hate it, now what do I do?"
It happens, a lot. People get here, realize they had no idea what they were singing up for and have to either compromise far more than they were originally expecting to do because they are here and its "grin and bear it time", or they leave for somewhere else - all because they made the decision to live here permanently before actually getting some real living experience under their belts and are now completely committed to that errant decision logistically and financially.
Final thoughts:
All the stuff that is not in the brochure -- Criminality is an issue (like elsewhere) and foreigners are targets of opportunity. The police are corrupt, the Govt is corrupt, the institutions (including the justice system) are corrupt and all of them can be predatory. The costs of living here are rising quickly for those who prefer foreign name brand products, upscale dwellings and a general lifestyle set aside from what the locals can afford to support themselves. Your budget will need a bit of room for future growth.
There are lots of other counties in the world that offer beaches, warm winters and are easier for 1st worlder's to integrate themselves into. You really need to be sure that this is the country for you before you commit.
Good luck, good learning.
