Anyone moving to DR?

Golo100

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Jan 5, 2002
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Just so that you think twice before you take a boat here, here are the latest on the Dominican front. DR is still a paradise for tourism, but living here is another story. Bring lots of cash, otherwise join the Salvation Army:

1)Rent in a decent neighborhood and apartment or house is over US$1000 dollars, and I mean dollars. Most places do not welcome pesos anymore. Anything below that and you have to ignore people dry-hanging their clothes in your own balcony and screaming maids having sex with guards and a colmadon playing bachata all night long with 5000 watts music systems. Also sell your jewerly.

2)Your basic new Honda Civic will cost you over US$22,000 and up here. Your basic Jaguar over US$70,000. License plates are US$60, insurance as expensive as New York, original auto parts cost twice as much and the hourly rate at your dealers repair shop is over US$40. Gasoline is at an all-time high US$2.25 and is low octane. A car is as costly as a home and has more expenses.
Accidents are almost unavoidable if you drive on a daily basis. Parking is almost non-existent where you want to go. 99% of apartments have no guest parking. If you drive any day and avoid at least 1 pot hole, play the Lotto 6. Your chances for the day are good.

3)Phone bills just went up again and will keep rising until only the very rich can call. The most expensive communications in the world. You are even charged for calls made to countries you have never heard of. Phone cards are a rip-off. Cellular bills are as bad as your credit card bill. If you get a bill for under US$50 without long distance consider yourself lucky. If you have internet start selling diamonds.

4)Electricity: DR electric bills are considered among the highest in the world, except you pay for blackouts in addition. Our electric meters are worse than machine slots in Las Vegas. They have a roulette for a measuring device. Some people with just basic electric appliances pay as much as their rent or mortgage for electricity.

5)Food: Since you are not expected to eat platanos, yuca, yautia and salami, most imports are as expensive as in the U.S. 8oz. Dannon Yougurt is US$1.25. A 20oz plastic bpttle of Coke is US0.60 cents.

6)Restaurants:Fine restaurants are very expensive since they charge you 22% up front for taxes and you are still expected to tip. Restaurant decor and ambiance exceeds food quality. In addition you have to pay for your car security and deal with buscones and beggars.

7)Clothing is cheaper here. Yet fine clothes are just as expensive as in US. 12% sales tax added. Counterfeit clothing is everywhere, except U.S. name branches. Laundering is expensive for people earning in pesos.

8)Shopping for an apartment in Santo Domingo? Even in ghetto areas like Alma Rosa, Carretera Mella, Charles de Gaulle new apartments are going for over US$45,000. And these are cheaply constructed with cheap pine doors and useless door locks and handles. The floors are cheap granite or ceramic which crack easily. Kitchens have no appliances included and most have no water heaters. Parking is ususally outdoors and unsafe. Any nice apartment in a better neighborhood would easily go over US70,000. Houses cost 3 or 4 times as much but are a security nightmare. You must invest in high concrete fencing and or window and door iron bars for protection. No house or apartment is provided with this protection and a house without it is as bad as sleeping in the middle of a Harlem sidewalk. Air conditioning will eat up a good part of you salary in electric bills, installation and maintenance.

9)Schooling: Must go to private schools. Public schools are for educating thieves and tigueres. Private schools are expensive and they have a nasty habit of changing books and uniforms every year. Add to it trips and many other gimmicks they use to raise money. Education is below average in most schools. English schools are even more expensive. Some are in the $US20,000 range.

10)Water must pe bought even for showering. Dominican water meters move with wind!! Bottled water is a must for drinking. Water bills keep going up. In most places there is no water pressure, so you must use pumps to bring it up.

Still want to move???? P.S. Salaries are very low and in pesos and you are expected to be a slave.

TW
 

JOHNNY HONDA

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Sep 25, 2002
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YEAH BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love it here after 18 years still,oh well we all have our cross to bear.
J.H.;)
 

jose?to

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Jun 19, 2002
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Do those numbers--housing costs--apply only to La Capital?
 
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mainer

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Mar 22, 2002
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Golo,
We are sitting here in Southwest Florida at my sister's house. We are finding that the DR will cost us as much or more than living here does for my sister. (And she lives in a VERY expensive area.) We spent years deciding where to go, and now we are questioning our decision. We already have our tickets, so we are coming down at the end of the month.

I guess that we will have to see how it goes. Thanks for your informative and up-front posts.

Mainer
 

andy a

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Feb 23, 2002
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Thanks for your post, Golo!

I am absolutely dumbfounded (something like Dr. Spock with mouth agape as he watches mass hysteria around him) at the way that some posts appear occasionally proclaiming that they are ready to move to the DR sight unseen - and certain members of this board encourage them to do so.

You can get away with such posts, whereas (certain) others would be viciously attacked.

Anyone seriously interested in moving to the DR will not be easily deterred, anyway, but will investigate further to see whether there are alternatives to what you say and whether it might still be worthwhile.

Keep up the good work!
 

DR_DEFENDER

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Jan 8, 2002
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If people used to call the Leonel's admistration "Los Come Solo" what do we call this government? I'm sure you all agreed that regarless of what happened to the US things are definitely worse now then when Fernandez was President. Agree?

DR_DEFENDER
 

Barnabe

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Dec 20, 2002
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GOLO,

although you might be true in many respects, I am still wondering what a "basic JAGUAR" is?

Well I agree 50000Rd$ a month is a must.
 

AtlantaBob

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Jan 2, 2002
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Thanks for the info TW. I don't think now is a good time to move to the DR. But, I would appreciate if you guys would hurry and clean up the place and get a decent president elected. My retirement is about 10 years away.
 

swake

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Oct 27, 2002
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Geee! Though I take it with the tinge of spitting sarcasm this state of the daily DR union is pretty depressing...

Even tourism is gonna take a blow if things don't clear up, I'm afraid...
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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water bill is said to be raised by 150 pesos.
Chicken used to me about 45 pesos a month ago now a full packed chicken costs around 79-80plus pesos in super markets.
Cheap gasoline is 40.87 all over santiago (1 peso less than a few days ago). Electric bill has gone up 100 - 200 % in many locations.
Taxi charged me 100 pesos to bring my wife home yesterday. I guess I will be driving my wives back in my car from now on.
prices in all fast food restaurants have gone up. 40 pesos Bigmac combo is now 50 pesos. same goes for KFC and other fastfood chains.
We have to pay more in pesos to fly out of the country (because the airfare is based on dollars). My rent has gone up 500 pesos / month. My income has been reduced with the devaluating pesos vs dollars. People are spending less and cutting down on unneccessary items. Taking less cabs and spending less on night life etc. Girls are seen in huge groups in santiago sipping coca cola or local beers as the guys keep a healthy distance from them. The poor guys just can't afford to take out a girl (even the cocktail drinks have gone up in prices). So if you have some money to spend, have a pick of your choice.
December is over and now people are already in debts. No one is making any money and everyone is afraid of the future.
I am set to waste my time for the next few months in my office and catch flies.
So if you think you have gotten this place figured out, think again. You may just lose everything you bring with you.
Good luck.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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"Even tourism is going to take a blow","Swake"

Where the HELL have you been?Tourism has taken a huge "Blow"! Since 9/11 the North Shore has died! This is by far the most "Expensive","Cheap Country" I have ever seen!CRIS
 

Golo100

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Jan 5, 2002
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However. do not despair

Even during the very worse, I do well. So those of you who have a healthy retirement income and some extra cash may do very well here if you follow this advice:

1)Stay single. No family. Specially no children(the most expensive little beast in DR). If you have a concubine, be sure she has a job and was paying for her rent, phone and electric bill before she met you. It would be easier to ask her to share, not depend on you. Be patient, women are a dime a dozen in DR. If you are a woman follow the same advice. Except good men are an endangered species.

2)If you have a set mind to come here and nobody can deter you, buy an apartment right away. No houses. If you have a place to live you have won 50% of the battle. Dominicans use a home as a base for operations for everything. Most Dominican homes operate some kind of business from within. If you buy a house, be sure you USE IT FOR BUSINESS TOO.

3)Dont get into any fixed expenses like cable TV, phone service(use a cellular with a card). If you have money for a car buy one that is over 7 years old so you wont need collision insurance. Dont buy anything that will pay big taxes. Your apartment should not be over $1,300,000(the limit for luxury tax) After that expect heavy property taxes. There is a plan to increse limit to $2,000,000 because of the dollar value. Big cars, sports cars and any car over $US$30,000 will open up Internal Revenues eyes here, specially if you buy it cash. In some neighborhoods you can still get free electricity and you never have to pay cable TV. There are installers everywhere who do it for less than $500 pesos.

4)Bring all the clothes you may need for 3 to 4 years. If you need to buy here buy counterfeit. They are all over. Sell all your jewelry. It would only attract thieves and cause you lots of trouble with police, specially in poor neighborhoods.

5)Your dollars are worth more now and will continue to increase in value. Open up a dollar account and use your dollars as a bargaining chip. Those who are liquid own the streets.

6)If you have retirement income, even if you dont make it, you still can go back and sell the property you bought here and even your car. Those two items are easy to sell with patience and choosing the right property and machine. For fast getaways always buy Honda and Toyota. The Camry is the best selling used big car in DR. Dominicans are also making the Camry the best selling car in the USA. Thats all they buy...Goddam Camrys!

Of course, I do not follow most of my advice if you get to know me. But then again, I have paid my dues here and I know now how to live here.

TW
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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golo

1)Stay single. No family. Specially no children(the most expensive little beast in DR). If you have a concubine, be sure she has a job and was paying for her rent, phone and electric bill before she met you. It would be easier to ask her to share, not depend on you. Be patient, women are a dime a dozen in DR. If you are a woman follow the same advice. Except good men are an endangered species.
golo

The rest of what you say sounds like good common sense. But what on earth do you have against women and children? I've been married for a long time and have grownup children. I always made my own income and equally contributed to the household and other expenses. Seems like your experience with women is quite different, or are you only talking about Dominican women?
 

andy a

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Feb 23, 2002
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Golo, your advice in 1) is ok - for a young man headed to Scandinavia. Unfortunately for we old codgers however, the girls there (or anywhere else in the 1st world that I know of) don't like us. Please tell us all if there is an exception, or better still send me a private message.

One has a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a girl in the DR who doesn't want money. Even Dominican men complain about them wanting nothing else. They want to go dancing, but only if there is a 300 peso cover charge. They want (you) to pay 2000 pesos for pants that are made to look worn out. Whenever they cough or sneeze, they have to go to the doctor for a 300 peso shot of sugar water - and heaven help you if you don't go with her, she'll come back with a diagnosis of needing a quistes operation for 15,000 pesos (does she plan on splitting that with the doctor)?

By comparison, it seems that kids are a bargain. As Chris also asks, why not kids?
 

jrshd9

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Oct 31, 2002
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Hey what's up, here I am booking my ticket for a 2 week stay to make the final decision on moving, mostly where to live in the north coast, having never anyone completley dish the D.R. and these posts make the place sound like the last one to go to. I have lived in third world countries so the things you deal with from that are not a problem for me, nor will i lose any sleep over things i cant control, what side of the fence do these complaints fall on?

Thanks

John
 

Golo100

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Jan 5, 2002
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If you don't belive me come on down!!!

I have nothing against women. If I have to choose between alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling and women I would stick to women as my vice. It is expensive, but I like it better.

Yet, to deal with women in DR you got to have a serious budget. Penny pinchers need not apply. Dominican women require lots of money. At least the good ones. But even if you happen to choose a fat, big ass black Dominican woman from a barrio, by the time you get your first massage you will be out all you have in your wallet. And I am not talking prostitutes here.

Even if you happen to fall inlove for a rich woman, you have to be super-rich. The rich only marry the rich here. You are not going to find a fool like Jennifer Lopez who will fall for a Cuban defector, one of her coreographic dancers and then pay them millions to get divorced. Rich women in DR want more. And they want "big" names, blue blood names like Barcelo, Brugal, Piantini, Vicini, Pellerano. They dont want to have last names ending in Perez, Martinez, Rosario, Hernandez, Tejada or something like that.

If you go for a college girl be ready to start thinking about paying her tuition and more. Most women over 25 already have children. Do you want to support a few wet noses?

Yes, there are still lots of good women who are worth a try for marriage. But you will be lucky to get one. Remember, already the divorce rate in DR is way over 50%. Of those most are young lovers who were madly in love until they figured out the finances involved in marriage. By the time they divorce, at least one child has been born. You will be the recipient of that child if you happen to get caught by one of those divorcees.

TW
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Eat all

DR_DEFENDER said:
If people used to call the Leonel's admistration "Los Come Solo" what do we call this government? I'm sure you all agreed that regarless of what happened to the US things are definitely worse now then when Fernandez was President. Agree?

Come Totos, Eat all or grass eaters
 

JOHNNY HONDA

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Sep 25, 2002
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Re: Eat all

bob saunders said:
DR_DEFENDER said:
If people used to call the Leonel's admistration "Los Come Solo" what do we call this government? I'm sure you all agreed that regarless of what happened to the US things are definitely worse now then when Fernandez was President. Agree?

Come Totos, Eat all or grass eaters

My translations
come todo/eat all
come todos/everyone eats
come toto/pussy eater(vulgar term);)
J.H.