Trade winds resort in Sousua

The original owner/builder (American now approx 70years) is selling off the last few units he had kept for himself. As he and his family own a large company in the US and also hundreds of apts there as well he can afford to offer these terms. He would rather do that and sell the units than go back to the US and pay maintenance on something he will not use.

It is not a resort but a condo complex. The pricing is about the same as other simular projects in the area. Condos Dominicanos and Coconut Palms are simular projects. Eddy who manages Condos Dominicanos is on this board and you may want to email him. He has introduced me to others that own apartments at Tradewinds. Financing in the DR is pretty crazy so if you are getting something special there is may be worth the extra couple of thousand they are asking.

I have thought about buying this sort of thing but after about 2 years of looking into it I have come to the conclusion that you are better off with the money in a bank and renting. That is just my take.

Good luck.

Trade Winds

Basically what I have heard is about what James said in his post. Never did any checking on my own. It is a nice project and appears to be very well maintained. Maybe a trip to Sosua and a first hand look is in order. Good Luck.

The deal they're offering at Trade Winds is hard (If not impossible) to beat. As for the common fees etc., I don't know what they are at Trade Winds, but if you send me an e-mail, I will give you the information for Condos Dominicano.
Eddy
info@condosdominicano.com

P.S.

I think everyone on this board will tell you to come on down and spend some time before even considering moving here or investing in whatever.

jdiaz said:

Thanks guys. Appreciate the info.

BTW: The financing terms are this: $2500USD down, with zero percent interest and the balance paid over a 10 year period (120 payments at $283.33USD). $500USD for closing costs (attorney) and 3 months advance on maintenance $360USD. Works out to a monthly payment of $403.33USD or $5182.16RD.
It just sounds a little bit too good and you know what they say when sounds too good to be true.

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Nope, 403.33 x 18.50 is over 7400 pesos a month.

Nope that is great by DR standards. Can't beat the financing. The market there is real soft today and I think you can do better in price comparitively speaking but not the financing.

That makes the deal work if you insist on buying....

jdiaz said:

Now doing the math: if you put let's say approx $15kUSD in an interest bearing account in DR in pesos and get approx 20%, you could basically live of the interest.
AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE?

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Yes, the dollar appreciates against the Peso. In a year and a half approx it went from 16.80 to 18.50 not including spikes because it was over 19 recently. Since your payments will be in dollars I think you will be caught short in a year or so. Also keep in mind that these prices are cheaper than they were years ago. This is not an appreciating asset historically.

Looks like the Maintenence is 120 a month. That probably can rise also. Eddy, how is that compared to Condos Dominicanos?

You can buy apartments as inexpensive as 19 thousand US I think maybe even less today.

Just another thought... Put 36k in 20% Peso account and rent in Pesos. That makes more sense to me. Check figures in my next post to make a point.

Well thats my two pesos on this subject.

Escott

How about some reverse math? Using 18.5 peso per dollar

figure the 120- a month maintenence over the 10 years 14,400
figure the down payment 2,500
figure the closing 500
figure the payments over 10 years 283.33x120 33,999.60
-------------
51,399.60
Put this in a peso account at 20% which is possible 190,178.52
I bet you may even be able to do a little better than the 20%

Now this is your yearly income. You can rent a condo that is just as nice or nicer for 6000 pesos a month. Rent the condo and you will have almost 10k a month in Peso left over for Presidente's, have all your capitol at the end and NOT have a condo you may have to sell at no interest when you decide to move and maybe at a loss to boot.

Or, rent the condo for 6k a month, put the difference of 1400 a month between what you would need to pay the condo off along with the maintenence in a 20% account compounding along with the 2500 Down payment, the 500 legal fees and I wonder what you would have after 10 years compared to what the condo would be worth to you after selling it and getting finished with either getting paid or a possibly lower price.

I think my math is about right but havent had enough coffee yet this morning.

I am in the Real Estate business in the states. Buying/selling/renting/land developement/renovations/building new homes. I have been kicking myself in the ass for years trying to make buying real estate in the DR make sense but for the life of me I can't. I have Real Estate in my blood. I don't bleed red, I bleed dirt for heavens sake. I love it, I love talking about it, I love developing it, I even love kicking it and what is most important, I love calling it mine.

I haven't bought anything in the DR. I rent when I am there. I like the interest rates more than the dirt.

Peso is over 18 now so why use 16.80?

If you get your DR residence you can avoid taxes on 80k in income in the US. You may also want to make a DR corporation in order to pay yourself a salary.

on 50k you can get 10% at Baninter in DR in US DOLLARS fwiw. No conversion back to dollars neccessary. You will lose in the translation converting.

No, you buy in at 18.50 a few weeks ago. add a couple of percent to trade back.

US law states that if you establish residency in another country you can avoid taxes on the first 80k if this is made outside of the US. You can also avoid it if you are out of the country 335 days a year and don't even fly over US territory. You do have to report overseas earnings and if you don't you lose the ability to NOT pay taxes on it.

I would bet on further depreciation of the Peso btw. One other thing to keep in mind is what happened in Ecuador and Argentina.
If you were there at the wrong time you wouldnt have gotten your money out no matter what.

just a thought

There is something else to keep in mind here. Peso depreciation against the dollar is of less importance when the money will not be used to buy "imported" items. For use entirely within the DR (assuming you're staying for a while), you might want to look at the subject a bit differently.

Mike

Just a thought......from an "Owner"

We bought our property roughly 11 yrs ago on the south coast where prices are considerably higher than the North coast. The exchange rate was good and as we spend anywhere from 4-6 months here yearly it made sense to us to buy a place where we could park our belongings and not have to cart them back and forth while looking for a place to rent every year.
That said and keeping in mind that our kids have already got their inheritance order in for the condo we own, I would hesitate greatly before buying again.
We did own a second unit and got out of it at a time where we made money but on the exchange and not on the actual selling price. I think (know??) that we would have a hard time selling in today's market. What are the chances 10 yrs from now??? Who knows!
Point is if I had to do it today I'd rent and stick some money in a US$ account (which weren't available here when we first came) or in a peso account and collect the interest to pay my expenses when I'm in the country (and when I'm not too!! Power bills,phone bills, condo fees, maintenance!!)
So pay attention to Jazz....he makes a lot of sense in todays market.