Eager to Share Insights on Dominican Republic Real Estate!

[NanSanPedro]

Punta Cana is becoming Disneyland/Orlando with the entire focus on foreign tourists. And, over-run with Airbnb apartments. The real estate business is complicit in these (to my family) obnoxious and undesirable changes. They promote buying apartments to rent them out for short term stays. To the detriment of anyone who wants to live as a resident of the community. For these reasons, we recently sold our homes there that we and various family members lived in. We have invested in land to the north where we may or may not build a home. That was our intention but it looks like the same will happen there (Miches). [The government is spending substantial amounts of money to attract more than 10 million tourists a year. A whole different topic.]

I will also note that the real estate sales industry in the DR is unregulated. Hence, there are many inexperienced, unethical people in the business who like to call themselves real estate agents. And, since they have no experience or skills in the business, they are only able to push to buy the new projects and are incapable of finding a particular property that their clients may want.

We are currently living in La Romana where we have a house.

No argument at all with what you said, which is why PC/Bavaro is fine to visit for a few days but I would never consider living there.

However, what do you think about Veron? I've only been there for 1 short 4 day visit last year and liked what little I saw. My understanding is that Veron's water and electricity piggyback off of PC/Bavaro but the rents are quite reasonable and it appears to be to be the real DR. I'm just curious as to what others think.

 

[XQT]

Most people that live here know that most of our fellow countrymen could not live here.

The lack of infrastructure (Power is out right now in much of Cabarete because of stupidity) the lack of water, let alone the lack of potabale water.
Potable the DR? Where? Lucky to have water to clean with.

Then there is the dealings with morons at Migracion. I become a citizen to avoid those cretins.

Then we get to the very poor drivers with the worst education and accident rates in the region.

Then we get the people think it is OK to play there sound systems at 135 dB whenever they want to, motorcycles with the exhaust baffles removed and cars
with sound systems that cost more than the car.

The corrupt and deficient power company is tops on my list of bad things here. Followed closely by the water company.

Then we get to builders making promises they cannot keep, It looks like Casa Linda at Encuentro will be at least 2 years late in delivering to clients
that bought there. TWO YEARS LATE!

Then we get to the very corrupt legal system, the rampant influence of the drug running, and the expats themselves coming here
to hide from their crimes elsewhere.

And that list above is just off the top of my head. The DR is not for those will to adapt to all that and more. People can be isolated from this living in gated communities, but it is still best to rent before buy. And don't buy anything you cannot pay for in the morning and move into in the afternoon.

This is posted by someone who lives here full time, became a citizen and has a Dominican family.

One can live in their gated Palace, to escape some realities.

Yet when you have to go into the real Dominican Republic outside of your gates, it will slap you in the face.
If one lives here there is no escaping the realities, dealing with government agencies,
doing business, needing medical care, driving and interacting with average Dominicans.

There is no tropical dream in this poor underdeveloped country, unless large amounts of money level the way.
It is not for everyone.
Best to heed the advise of those who live here, rent for three years.

Those who may live for 3-6 months in their property may be able to endure the DR.
Punta Cana may be OK, but will get sterile after a few months.
Don't count on rental income to cover your costs.
The North Coast or Jarabacoa my offer more variety.

I get way more value in real estate investment and quality of life in developed Spain, with the largest population of Dominicans outside of DR.

Spain is home to the next largest population of Dominicans (167,000), followed by the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico (51,000), Italy (46,000), and Venezuela (14,000), according to mid-2019 United Nations Population Division estimates.
which country has the most dominicans

 

[aarhus]

Justice?
Lol...need I say more.
It's corrupt.
Do you not read the Dominican news?

I think if you specifically look at buying a property in the DR. A vacation home. Many have done that without any problems. And that I understand is mainly Pamelas business. But you are right when it gets into larger business ventures. Honestly it is not recomendable.

 

[aarhus]

I'm Pamela Nunez from Canablue Real Estate, in Punta Cana where we're passionate about fostering discussions on real estate in the Dominican Republic.
I'm here to connect with fellow members, learn from your experiences, and contribute to the community's shared wisdom.

Feel free to reach out if you have questions or just want to chat. Looking forward to engaging with you all!

Good luck Pamela. I worked several years with real estate but in Santo Domingo and we liked working with commercial leases. I have only heard good things about your brokerage in Punta Cana.

 

[windeguy]

This is posted by someone who lives here full time, became a citizen and has a Dominican family.

Yep. Going on 21 years in the same location with my wife originally from Jarabacoa. The DR is not for everyone. I cannot even get friends to visit, but that is just me.

One can live in their gated Palace, to escape some realities.

Yet when you have to go into the real Dominican Republic outside of your gates, it will slap you in the face.
If one lives here there is no escaping the realities, dealing with government agencies,
doing business, needing medical care, driving and interacting with average Dominicans.

There is no tropical dream in this poor underdeveloped country, unless large amounts of money level the way.
It is not for everyone.
Best to heed the advise of those who live here, rent for three years.

Those who may live for 3-6 months in their property may be able to endure the DR.
Punta Cana may be OK, but will get sterile after a few months.
Don't count on rental income to cover your costs.
The North Coast or Jarabacoa my offer more variety.

I get way more value in real estate investment and quality of life in developed Spain, with the largest population of Dominicans outside of DR.

Spain is home to the next largest population of Dominicans (167,000), followed by the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico (51,000), Italy (46,000), and Venezuela (14,000), according to mid-2019 United Nations Population Division estimates.
which country has the most dominicans

Spain? Not even close to what is in NY let alone the USA at over 2 Million Dominicans and 190K in Spain. From your link:

Republic	9,341,916 (2017)[1][2]
United States	2,393,718 (2021)[3][4]
Spain	190,190 (2021

My wife has a cousin in Spain she wants to visit. I looked at the region she is in, it looks like a "rust belt" economy there.
Cheap to live for sure, but it certainly doesn't look good at all. Plus they lisp when they talk.

 

[franco1111]

No argument at all with what you said, which is why PC/Bavaro is fine to visit for a few days but I would never consider living there.

However, what do you think about Veron? I've only been there for 1 short 4 day visit last year and liked what little I saw. My understanding is that Veron's water and electricity piggyback off of PC/Bavaro but the rents are quite reasonable and it appears to be to be the real DR. I'm just curious as to what others think.

Absolutely Veron is more real. And undesirable for many tourists. There are projects there that are ok. The problem for us is that it is not near the beach. I have said before that the first reason we are in DR (other than my wife's family in La Romana) is the beach. Best beaches.

I have also pointed people to sources of gritty Dominican news. Here you will get an idea of what Veron and other places are really like. Dominicans read these sources. And Facebook news sources, which I don't use. My wife does.

Bavarodigital.net

Breaking News

bavarodigital.net

 

[USA DOC]

Pam as you well know real estate in the DR can be a nightmare to buy... I have a sister in law who is Dominican and a attorney, she purchased a apartment in Santiago before it was built . Her downpaymet was about 25% and monthly payments started the next month.... and that was about 3 years ago... so the nightmare is for Dominicans also, as she is still waiting to move in.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

No argument at all with what you said, which is why PC/Bavaro is fine to visit for a few days but I would never consider living there.

However, what do you think about Veron? I've only been there for 1 short 4 day visit last year and liked what little I saw. My understanding is that Veron's water and electricity piggyback off of PC/Bavaro but the rents are quite reasonable and it appears to be to be the real DR. I'm just curious as to what others think.

Veron is a 🕳️ good to just pass thru and thank god you don't have to live there

 

[RDKNIGHT]

This is posted by someone who lives here full time, became a citizen and has a Dominican family.

One can live in their gated Palace, to escape some realities.

Yet when you have to go into the real Dominican Republic outside of your gates, it will slap you in the face.
If one lives here there is no escaping the realities, dealing with government agencies,
doing business, needing medical care, driving and interacting with average Dominicans.

There is no tropical dream in this poor underdeveloped country, unless large amounts of money level the way.
It is not for everyone.
Best to heed the advise of those who live here, rent for three years.

Those who may live for 3-6 months in their property may be able to endure the DR.
Punta Cana may be OK, but will get sterile after a few months.
Don't count on rental income to cover your costs.
The North Coast or Jarabacoa my offer more variety.

I get way more value in real estate investment and quality of life in developed Spain, with the largest population of Dominicans outside of DR.

Spain is home to the next largest population of Dominicans (167,000), followed by the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico (51,000), Italy (46,000), and Venezuela (14,000), according to mid-2019 United Nations Population Division estimates.
which country has the most dominicans

I would be everything I own that NYC 10x the amount of Dominicans you have in Spain ands that just NYC

 

[franco1111]

I would be everything I own that NYC 10x the amount of Dominicans you have in Spain ands that just NYC

Ouch. Are you a wealthy man? You just lost it. Or correct my calcs below Or find other numbers? Maybe there has been an increase since 2019.

About four times the number of Dominicans living in NYC than in Spain as of 2019. 714,978 Dominicans in NYC vs. 167,000 Dominicans in Spain assuming the number as stated in #22 above. About seven times as many in the NYC "region" as of 2019 - 1,146,672 Dominicans.

[WIkiepedia info is easy to find, but let's go to their source. More reliable in some cases, and avoids the criticism of Wikeipedia as a source.]

"In 1970 there was a very small Dominican population living in the New York metropolitan region, 77,000 compared with over 1 million Puerto Ricans. (See Map 1). Thereafter, large scale Dominican migration transformed the structure of the Latino population in the area.

"By 2019, there were 1,146,672 Dominicans in the region compared with 1,181,495 Puerto Ricans. In New York City the Dominican population had surpassed Puerto Ricans to become the largest Latino national subgroup: 714,978 Dominicans compared with 666,709 Puerto Ricans.1 (See Figure 1)."

The Dominican Population of the New York Metropolitan Region, 1970-2019

Introduction: This study focuses on the demographic and socioeconomic changes occurring within the Dominican population of the New York metropolitan area between 1970 and 2019. By 2019 Dominicans had become the largest Latino nationality in New York City having surpassed Puerto Ricans a decade...

academicworks.cuny.edu

 

[windeguy]

Pam as you well know real estate in the DR can be a nightmare to buy... I have a sister in law who is Dominican and a attorney, she purchased a apartment in Santiago before it was built . Her downpaymet was about 25% and monthly payments started the next month.... and that was about 3 years ago... so the nightmare is for Dominicans also, as she is still waiting to move in.

She should have known better and violated rule 1 of DR real estate: Don't buy anything you can't close on in the morning and move into that same day in the afternoon.

Same situation facing Casa Linda Encuentro buyers getting close to 2 years late on delivery.

 

[USA DOC]

She should have known better and violated rule 1 of DR real estate: Don't buy anything you can't close on in the morning and move into that same day in the afternoon.

Same situation facing Casa Linda Encuentro buyers getting close to 2 years late on delivery.

yes she did know ..I told her. The contract had a no money back clause, If you get tired of waiting and stop making payments your down payment and all the money you have paid to the seller is not refunded... and thats just what many of the buyers did, walk away with none of their money and no apartment.

 

[JD Jones]

yes she did know ..I told her. The contract had a no money back clause, If you get tired of waiting and stop making payments your down payment and all the money you have paid to the seller is not refunded... and thats just what many of the buyers did, walk away with none of their money and no apartment.

Another great reason to stick to Windy's rule about buying.

 

[TravelOverSky]

Hey guys!
It's very interesting what you write, in Santiago I heard that it is profitable to buy apartments under construction and then, when the developer finishes, they sell them for at least 10% more. It all depends on the developer, whether he is good, well-known and whether he has any problems - I suppose it is the same in other regions

About Punta Cana, as exapact I know some others polish that living in this area and are very happy. It's true that is 'life behind closed gates' and don't care about others problems what is sad but this is in whole Punta Cana region. For foreigners, apartment prices are bearable (or cheap) and that's what it looks like.
For me, Punta Cana doesn't have much in common with the Dominican Republic, and probably not for the Dominicans either. This is a region that is created for tourists, but for many foreigners this is enough and they are happy about it. It also has its advantages, because when there was a previous hurricane, I had no electricity for 3 weeks, and in Punta Cana they repaired the lines in a few hours.

I believe that the housing market here (agents) should be more regulated, because every bartender/taxi driver sells real estate and, unfortunately, many naive tourists fall for it... There are a lot of fraudsters, but there are no regulations to limit it (regulations are one thing and then their enforcement) is second.

 

[windeguy]

Hey guys!
It's very interesting what you write, in Santiago I heard that it is profitable to buy apartments under construction and then, when the developer finishes, they sell them for at least 10% more. It all depends on the developer, whether he is good, well-known and whether he has any problems - I suppose it is the same in other regions

So, you tied up your money in a preconstruction build for 2 years and made 10%. Explain to me how that is a good deal?
You can get that kind of return in US T Bills at the moment. There are far better investments that don't violate the rule here of paying for a property in the AM and moving in that PM. During the Wuhan Flu, properties that were on the market for YEARS finally sold. Those conditions are unlikely to present themselves again in the near term. There are better investments.

About Punta Cana, as exapact I know some others polish that living in this area and are very happy. It's true that is 'life behind closed gates' and don't care about others problems what is sad but this is in whole Punta Cana region. For foreigners, apartment prices are bearable (or cheap) and that's what it looks like.
For me, Punta Cana doesn't have much in common with the Dominican Republic, and probably not for the Dominicans either. This is a region that is created for tourists, but for many foreigners this is enough and they are happy about it. It also has its advantages, because when there was a previous hurricane, I had no electricity for 3 weeks, and in Punta Cana they repaired the lines in a few hours.

PC is good for those that would otherwise opt for Miami to Fort Lauderdale or Orlando, I guess. Not my idea of a place to be.

I believe that the housing market here (agents) should be more regulated, because every bartender/taxi driver sells real estate and, unfortunately, many naive tourists fall for it... There are a lot of fraudsters, but there are no regulations to limit it (regulations are one thing and then their enforcement) is second.

Well, we are not the tail that is going to wag that dog. Buyer beware in a developing nation of hoodwinker real estate people.

 

[josh2203]

Honest curiosity here: So what would you say about our justice system that prevents you from investing in our country?

We have not yet been involved personally in real-estate purchase in the DR (I'm from EU, my wife from the DR), but my wife's whole family owns numerous properties on the NC as well as a huge amount land. My brother-in-law (Dominican, in his early 40s, went to university), has been years dealing with various legal cases regarding their own land, and they are ready to send the DR justice system where the sun does not shine...

What I have seen, is that you can purchase/sell property in the DR, but you have to be very very careful. And, as pointed out many times on this forum, do not buy anything you cannot access immediately after paying for the property...

I will want to retire in the DR (we've lived in POP for more than a decade) and as soon as possible, we want to purchase a house there, so I and my wife definitely do want to invest in real-estate in the DR, but that just needs to be done carefully...

 

[josh2203]

Yep. Going on 21 years in the same location with my wife originally from Jarabacoa. The DR is not for everyone. I cannot even get friends to visit, but that is just me.

Ha... Same here, a few years back, my dad (now close to 70yo) and my brother visited us in POP, and they have not returned... Our family comes from near the North Pole, so my brother had apparently said to my dad that it's too hot there... They prefer freezing temperatures.... I'm different in that way, I'm always sick in the cold climate... I've been to DR since 2009 and despite all the things I complain, we will retire there or move earlier when the kids have grown up...

 

[Pikobello]

Best deal is to build your home by yourself. We've done this 5 times here and the profit is way more than 10%. Real Estate investments are longtime invests.
The sooner you buy, the greater is the return.

 

[JD Jones]

Best deal is to build your home by yourself. We've done this 5 times here and the profit is way more than 10%. Real Estate investments are longtime invests.
The sooner you buy, the greater is the return.

I used to buy bank repos, and did really well with them.

 

[Ecoman1949]

I'm Pamela Nunez from Canablue Real Estate, in Punta Cana where we're passionate about fostering discussions on real estate in the Dominican Republic.
I'm here to connect with fellow members, learn from your experiences, and contribute to the community's shared wisdom.

Feel free to reach out if you have questions or just want to chat. Looking forward to engaging with you all!

Welcome Pamela and good luck on this forum. You’re going to hear a lot of horror stories here about the pitfalls of renting/buying or building in the DR.

I started spending my winters in the DR two decades ago. A lot of my expat friends constantly urged me to buy property. I’m glad I rented and didn’t invest in property. Two of my friends had their house completely gutted by thieves right down to the electrical wire in the walls. One friend is constantly dealing with petty thievery. I watched them do major repairs on houses that were only a few years old. It took a long time for them to get the Deslinde deeds and the legal fees were expensive.

My main detractor is the length of time and money it takes to get citizenship. The process is much harder and costlier and they make you jump through more hoops. I’m talking about Pensioner Residency, supposedly the easiest to get.

I can go to other Caribbean countries and get a six month visa as soon as I arrive. If I could do that in the DR I’d have more incentive to spend more time there.

The DR I first visited is long gone. The cost of everything has increased significantly, gasoline, electricity, car rentals, local and imported foods. The crime rate has skyrocketed and driving on the roads is more dangerous than ever. Other Caribbean countries are cheaper and safer.

I love the climate, the culture, and the different geographical regions of the DR but the urge for me to rent or purchase property is long past. I can rent and explore other areas such as Spain, Portugal, and Southern France. Places that are cheaper, have better medical systems, and police enforcement that actually works.