DR1ers who live in Zona Colonial

Larry

Gold
Mar 22, 2002
3,513
2
0
I want to get an idea what the rental market is like in Zona Colonial, SD. I am considering renting a 1 bedroom apartment there in a nice building on a quiet, safe street. I am not looking for a "hole in the wall" type place; I want a nice apartment. Anyone "in the know" please give me an idea what I can expect to pay for furnished and unfurnished apartments like I described.

I am not limiting my options to ZC so if anyone has info on apartments in other neighborhoods in SD, I would appreciate it. The area around Abraham Lincoln and 27 would be convienent for me too.

Thanks in advance.

Larry
 

juanita

Bronze
Apr 22, 2004
1,893
115
0
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I asked a friend who rents in ZC and this is what he said:
"The problem specifically is that there is NO rental market in the ZC... You can find anything at any price. But just to give an idea, a "nice furnished appartment in a quiet, safe street" is likely to be expensive. I'd say mininum 500-600US$ if you want water and light 24h. But they're quite hard to find, it works mainly with word of mouth. I am paying 430US for a one-bedroom appartment with basic furnitures, light and water almost 24h. But I was lucky."

I saw one for rent close to my house, interested? We could have BBQs even for breakfast! Juanita
 

bienamor

Kansas redneck an proud of it
Apr 23, 2004
5,050
458
83
How long are you thinking about

I want to get an idea what the rental market is like in Zona Colonial, SD. I am considering renting a 1 bedroom apartment there in a nice building on a quiet, safe street. I am not looking for a "hole in the wall" type place; I want a nice apartment. Anyone "in the know" please give me an idea what I can expect to pay for furnished and unfurnished apartments like I described.

I am not limiting my options to ZC so if anyone has info on apartments in other neighborhoods in SD, I would appreciate it. The area around Abraham Lincoln and 27 would be convienent for me too.

Thanks in advance.

Larry

Residencial La Fonte on Mercedes/Santome has furnished studio apt with inverter, I lived there for 2 years. small but ok, lights most of the time, only problem is they also rent out for 2wks or so, some of the incoming neghbors need to be told to keep it quiet once in a while. email is La_Fonte_SA@hotmail.com, or 809-685-8381 x111. I paid about 8krd a month. Everything included, lights water, furniture, TV.
Lots of other places, furnished/unfurnished, but as juanita says word of mouth on finding the cheaper ones,
 

tjmurray

Bronze
Aug 11, 2006
627
68
0
I currently live in a spacious fully furnished one bedroom in the Zona. I'm on the third floor with two balconies, the place is nice and so is the building. My biggest complaint is that my living room furniture is more like lawn furniture, not comfortable at all. I'm paying about US$400 a month. With gas/elec it comes to about $415. I put together a list of prices that may be of help. Please if anyone disagrees tell me. From looking at other DR1 threads, my building, and the local newspapers, I came up with the following estimates for furnished apts. in the Zona:
Studio: RD $8,000-10,000 (US$242-303)
One Bedroom: RD$13,000-15,000 (US$393-454)
Two Bedroom: RD$19,000-21,000 (US$575-636)
Three Bedroom: RD$27,000-29,000 (US$818-878)

Larry, there's usually available apt's in my building. If you want the landlord's contact I can give it to you.
 
Last edited:
Sep 20, 2003
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Does the Colonial Zone experience 12 hour black outs like other parts of SD? Does being a major tourist attraction mean it has power more often than other places in the country?
 

Larry

Gold
Mar 22, 2002
3,513
2
0
Does the Colonial Zone experience 12 hour black outs like other parts of SD? Does being a major tourist attraction mean it has power more often than other places in the country?


I dont know but this is something I am looking into. I currently live in Gazcue and the power rarely goes out here.

Larry
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
3,563
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I dont know but this is something I am looking into. I currently live in Gazcue and the power rarely goes out here.

Larry

Larry, there is a small sector of the Colonial Zone that (almost) never has power outages. Why? because it is connected to the same 'circuit' as the Palacio Nacional.
 

jaguarbob

Bronze
Mar 2, 2004
1,427
60
48
zona coonial

I want to get an idea what the rental market is like in Zona Colonial, SD. I am considering renting a 1 bedroom apartment there in a nice building on a quiet, safe street. I am not looking for a "hole in the wall" type place; I want a nice apartment. Anyone "in the know" please give me an idea what I can expect to pay for furnished and unfurnished apartments like I described.

I am not limiting my options to ZC so if anyone has info on apartments in other neighborhoods in SD, I would appreciate it. The area around Abraham Lincoln and 27 would be convienent for me too.

Thanks in advance.

Larry

I rent in zona colonial,solome urena,very quiet...3 bedroom.2 bath unfurnished,I pay 9100 pesos...my elec is around 800 mo average...hardly any blackouts...water is 125. and garbage pickup is 100.all pesos...
it is hard to find any advertised...like others have said,it is mainly word of mouth...that is how I found his one several years ago...
bob
 

macocael

Bronze
Aug 3, 2004
929
10
0
www.darkhorseimages.com
bob you are lucky, salome ureña is nice. I lived there for a few months on the block closest to Hostos. They just fixed up another building, gonna be a hotel called Hostal Ureña I think. Nice place.

There are plenty of places, and in the range you're thinking Larry it would cost you minimum about 12 or 13,000 I should imagine. Lights are more constant in the zone nowadays, but water can still be a problem. What Mirador said about the palacio is dubious: I am on that circuit; a transformer in the nearby substation exploded and there have been problems ever since. Plus even the Palacio is not immune to the new wave of blackouts we are having. Actually my friends in the zone are doing better than I am lately.

Everything in the zone is by word of mouth (radio bemba) and sometimes you will find signs out as well. You have to walk around, ask around, knock on doors. Plus there are many new high-end condos going up, like the Paseo Colonial. A new apt block is going up on Sanchez and Mercedes. There are also full houses available, some in bad condition, some ok and they can rent for as little as the apartments.
 

PlantaFULL

New member
Oct 21, 2004
280
0
0
I would check this in person. From what I heard (from Dominicans) ZC has aweful electric and the water situation is very bad... As I understood buildings there have no "cisternas" (no wonder) so it comes down to there being electric and water at the same time for it to be pumped up the tinacos.
 

Larry

Gold
Mar 22, 2002
3,513
2
0
There are plenty of places, and in the range you're thinking Larry it would cost you minimum about 12 or 13,000 I should imagine.

That is fine. I would be willing to pay a little more if I really liked the place but of course, the cheaper the better. I am in no rush; I want to do plenty of due diligence. If I could move into a place in Janurary or Feburary, that would be great.

And, as I said, I am not limiting my options to ZC.

Larry
 

Ant

New member
Feb 1, 2002
69
0
0
Colonial Zone

I have lived in the Colonial Zone for almost 3 years and in my opinion it has gotten much more expensive than when I first arrived. I have seen several apts. in recent months in the zone and for anything "nice" I think you would be looking at $600 and up. There are several condominiums in the Zone where they occassionally have apts. for rent, and the prices are $600-1000 per month.

Also, the lights go out everyday, but the frequency depends on where in the Zone you live. I now live on Padre Billini, right off Palo Hincado, which is on the border of the Zone and Ciudad Nueva. Because there are 2 different circuits for Ciudad Nueva and the Colonial Zone, I had a guy who worked for the electric company hook me up with a switch. When one side is not working I just switch to the other side. Works like a charm and is completely legal.

That's my 2 cents.
 

macocael

Bronze
Aug 3, 2004
929
10
0
www.darkhorseimages.com
well done Ant!!!

I have lived in the Colonial Zone for almost 3 years and in my opinion it has gotten much more expensive than when I first arrived. I have seen several apts. in recent months in the zone and for anything "nice" I think you would be looking at $600 and up. There are several condominiums in the Zone where they occassionally have apts. for rent, and the prices are $600-1000 per month.

Also, the lights go out everyday, but the frequency depends on where in the Zone you live. I now live on Padre Billini, right off Palo Hincado, which is on the border of the Zone and Ciudad Nueva. Because there are 2 different circuits for Ciudad Nueva and the Colonial Zone, I had a guy who worked for the electric company hook me up with a switch. When one side is not working I just switch to the other side. Works like a charm and is completely legal.

That's my 2 cents.

Excellent solution, Ant! I have a friend on Billini too who has a place that abuts two different circuits and he does the same thing. I love it. Btw, I agree that most deals are more expensive now than they were, but I daily run into reasonable deals, and the more friends you make the more likely you are to find something decent. But yes, the truth is rents are higher than they ought to be and greed is running rampant.

Larry, I have friends over on duarte, near the park there, and frankly after a month in the house (they are newly installed there), they have not have problems with blackouts adn I was surprised to discover this. Of course, an Inversor (inverter) will take care of the problem but that is an extra expense.

It is not true that all the houses in the zona are without cisternas. In fact it is a mix, but if your tinaco is big enough you can filll that thing up with water enough for days. However, I do know one fellow, also on Duarte, whose cisterna inexplicably ran dry!
 

tjmurray

Bronze
Aug 11, 2006
627
68
0
I live close to the catedral on Arzobipo Nouel and I rarely experience power outages. I would say the power goes out maybe 5 times a month for no longer than 20 minutes or so. Compared to where my girlfriend lives in Isabelita in the Zona Oriental, where the light goes out everyday with a fixed schedule, I'm sitting pretty.