In the same vein, WTF is it with all the new malls being built when most of the existing ones are struggling to let their units and some languish completely empty or unfinished?
It's not just in Santo Domingo - there is a veritable epidemic of gratuitous mall building in Punta Cana/B?varo.
Wow, is that YOUR blog? What a great analysis.
IThere was a great book written about 15 years ago called Drug Wars which estimated that the Drug Cartels had an annual budget equal to the US military.... just imagine that amount of money.. around 400 billion. And all of it has to be laundered to get back into the system. So even if the drugs do not transit here, the money can.
The other point is that drug money is only one kind of illegal money. There is also all the illegal money that gets skimmed off of the government. This government as well as other governments where people come here to avoid paying taxes.
Just one story by way of illustration... a friend in LT was at Banco Popular, ahead of him was a Russian with a Dominican opening an account with $24 million Euro. The Russian - who did not have his cedula yet and was therefore opening the account in the name of the Dominican- looked at the Dominican and said "and you are not going to touch a penny of that money, right?"
I believe that it is only the US that requires banks to track deposits and transfers over $10k-
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The other rumor that made its way around is that the foundation is no good and its sinking. Should have been knocked down 8 years ago. Was a good restaurant there before.:tired:
A gleaming new luxury apartment block is being built in the neighbouring lot. I'm sure it will put off a lot of buyers.When the OP was talking about the building blocking his view, that other torre came to mind......imagine the poor folks who have to look at THAT as a view all these years!
Bingo!a couple of years ago, before the price of cement and re-bar went way up, a friend of mine, who is one of the biggest developers in the country, along with the rest of his family, father, brothers, explained to me that if he built an 8 unit building and sold only 3, then he was at his break even point. so at 300K per unit that will net a profit of 1.5million dollars and he could easily build this in less than a year. most buildings are nothing more than concrete and rebar, a little "caoba" here and there, plastic plumbing (cheap), no heating systems, no central air, no insulation, maybe the most expensive item is an elevator. then you have haitian labor. no property or school taxes to worry about, no insurance premiums due, nothing to force you to sell in a hurry. this is a very lucrative business with little risk..........
so if i had a million bucks sitting around, rather than build a house, i'd put up an apt building, keep the penthouse for myself, kick back and relax. i've got my place to live and my money is as safe as if it were in a bank, with a much better return.........
No.mountainannie said:Wow, is that YOUR blog? What a great analysis.
Of course you can't back it up, that's how many "theories" on DR1 are created, with not much to back it up with. However, the article in the blog clearly shows the sources of the data, including the United Nations International Cocaine Market report, which I think is much more credible than what you think on a whim.mountainannie said:I certainly admire and appreciate the author's and your efforts to portray this economy as completely honest and above board but would really question these stats...and no, of course, we can't back it up with anything except our feeble eyes and our gut instincts. Mine say that only a very small portion of the powdered white stuff that passes through here gets caught. I would bet that the bulk of it is shipped out ... into the ports of the US which are not under drug surveillance like the airports are... and not in the stomachs and suitcases of individual travelers.
You should stop conjecturing nonsense out of thin air and instead befriend and talk with actual developers. Study the actual market. Stop coming up with crackpot (pun not intended, if there is any :cheeky: ) ideas based on crackpot ideas, excuse the redundancy.mountainannie said:That is just soooo much cash. Considering that 1k a month is considered a good wage, US4k a month is consider a LOT of money. So you figure out who these torres are being built for and where the money is coming from.
I never said money laundering doesn't exist!:speechles
Nals I remember a post of yours where you wanted to pay your Haitian maid 1000 for 2 weeks work and then after that a week at an all inclusive hotel. This was back when you told people that you lived in Los Cacigazcos, had a Lexus Suv and administrated 2 different franchises.
Now you are telling people that LIVE and work here that laundered money is not a factor in the development boom in Santo Domingo? I think that you should stay with www.Connecticut1.com
amparocorp, I spoke (posted?) too soon.So many torres and malls half empty. What more evidence is needed?
so if i had a million bucks sitting around, rather than build a house, i'd put up an apt building, keep the penthouse for myself, kick back and relax. i've got my place to live and my money is as safe as if it were in a bank, with a much better return.........
i know more people with few million dollars than i can count. here, in POP. not to mention SD. all gained legitimately.Exactly...If I had a million USD just sitting around. Who working in a legitimate business does?
I'd bet there's a lot more people here with a million dollars than you may think.
Why, just look at all the torres that are going up.
Maybe Robert remembers how many there are in the golden square, between 27 and Kennedy, and Maximo Gomez and Churchill. I seem to remember it was close to 150 BUILDINGS...
That's the one mentioned earlier in the thread. I'm surprised it has some glass doors / windows still attached...