Im Moving! Need some info guys.

[yapask1]

Smamana etc. might be a choice. With a car airport at SD is 2 hours. Good international community. Excellent beaches. Sufficicient restaurants. Week-end in capital is just fine many hotels etc. there at good prices and 2 - 2.5 hour travel time. Good international schools. Airlines starting from El Catey airport to NY etc. existing flights to Europe, Canada. Many outdoor sports. Good choice of restaurants. Peaceful environment but lively at night. Tax advantages same as rest of DR. Local airports for light aircraft - charters for 4 plus economical. Many spectacular mansions ready to move in. Investment potential.

yapask1

I just bet,that "HB" can post all by himself.
No need to hide behind his "Apron Strings" every time you have nothing of your own to add to the thread.
People with no original thoughts,ALWAYS have to make the thread about themselves.
Transparent,boring,dull,uninteresting,and they soon become a "One Trick Pony".
Take a few month off of DR1,read a book,get a job,and see if you can find ANYTHING positive to add to a thread????
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[JuanDolioLiving]

I say come to Juan Dolio where you and your family can find gated community golf villa of 4 bedrooms from 2000 to 2500USD per month inside metro country Golf $ country club with many amenities in this gated complex. Please send me a private message to send you more infomartion about the are and also to put in contact with North Americans that are already living here even people that works for Barrick Gold Mining Corporation are living here as well as UN personal working in Haiti.

 

[Koreano]

I moved to Santiago about 4 months ago and the move is finally starting to sink in and I am still adjusting to daily life here. I feel I am still being too cautious on everything but as complete foreigner it's better to be safe then sorry. I guess I will add to most knowledgeable people's posts here.

I've been to Santo few times and I would only move there if the city life is what you are looking for. It's not metropolis like NYC but you could probably find most of the goodies that most of the big cities offer but with that city conveniences also comes with many many bad things, like BAD traffic with some of the worst drivers in the world, some of the crimes that people mentioned here and many others that people mentioned...

From what I have experienced in these short periods in Santiago. While the city isn't the biggest in this country but they do offer all the things that Santo Domingo offers but in smaller scale and this includes all the bad things. I don't live in dead central part of the Santiago but it's like 5 minutes drive away or less from all the city conveniences that I and my wife need like place to bowl, movie theaters, small parks and malls. The beach resorts and the mountain is about 1- 1 1/2 hours away and they are pretty easy to get to if you drive and have GPS.

I know some here may have answered all your questions but I'll just add mine. And this is based on where/how I live.

1. I would like to know a very nice safe neighborhood for families to take walks in (a park would be awesome) to live in about 15-20 minutes outside of Santo Domingo? This way we can drive to the city whenever we want to do something.

I feel HB and others have better overall knowldege on Santiago. Where is the best place to rent. etc... but I live in eastern edge of the city. I feel safe and very convenient to live but most importantly it's quiet. I feel quietness very important to finding a house here. After hard day of work with music blasting on your ears, there's nothing better then little peace and quite with family and cold beers.

2. I would like to know about a good but affordable school for my daughters and preferably one that is Bilingual.

I would not say cheap but my wife's heart is set on Christian school in Santiago. And I know my wife is gathering all the info about sending my 2 years old there.

Also can you guys give me a guestimation of a monthly budget for a 3BDR House, Electricty, Water, and a Housekeeper.

Here's our monthly cost of 4 Bedroom house with one room have A/C on half of the days. Mind you we eat and drink pretty well. I need to feast on a plate of some sort of meat daily and Steak once a week is a must. With couple of nights out and drinking wine, beers or other liquors, sometimes it cost more and sometime less. But we generally try to spend no more then our monthly budget of US$1500.

House: RD$21000.
Water: about RD$500
Electricity: about RD$1800
Internet: about RD$3050
House keeper: $11000 (considering)
Food&Entertainment: Shopping and going out to eat about twice or less a week. ($30000)

 

[Criss Colon]

11,ooo a month is waaaaay to much as a starting salary.
I start low,so I have room to grow!
Start at 6,000,or 7,ooo a month.
Tell her you will give her a 500 peso raise at 3 months, if you are happy with her work,repeat at 6 months.
After a year you will give her 1,000 more a month.
If you give a Dominican too much at the start,they have no reason to work hard.
Keep the "Carrot" out there and see how she works.
Never give them an "Advance" on their pay.They WILL ask! You do nothing but set a bad presadence.
Don't give them ANYTHING,next time they will just take it,thinking you have given them permission.
When I first moved here 26 years ago,I treated the maids like they were part of my family.
Trouble was,they treated me as part of their family.They ate like piga, took what they wanted home,worked as little as possible,and showed me no respect,but treated me like a "Pendejo".
If you want a friend,get a dog.They will treat you better,
,come back after "Regalia Pasqual",and seldom steal.
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[Koreano]

11,ooo a month is waaaaay to much as a starting salary.
I start low,so I have room to grow!
Start at 6,000,or 7,ooo a month.
Tell her you will give her a 500 peso raise at 3 months, if you are happy with her work,repeat at 6 months.
After a year you will give her 1,000 more a month.
If you give a Dominican too much at the start,they have no reason to work hard.
Keep the "Carrot" out there and see how she works.
Never give them an "Advance" on their pay.They WILL ask! You do nothing but set a bad presadence.
Don't give them ANYTHING,next time they will just take it,thinking you have given them permission.
When I first moved here 26 years ago,I treated the maids like they were part of my family.
Trouble was,they treated me as part of their family.They ate like piga, took what they wanted home,worked as little as possible,and showed me no respect,but treated me like a "Pendejo".
If you want a friend,get a dog.They will treat you better,
,come back after "Regalia Pasqual",and seldom steal.
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The keyword is considering..
Funny. I was debating with my wife about the good and bad having person working in our home the other day...
Thanks for the advice.

 

[MJSantoDomingo]

Here's our monthly cost of 4 Bedroom house with one room have A/C on half of the days. Mind you we eat and drink pretty well. I need to feast on a plate of some sort of meat daily and Steak once a week is a must. With couple of nights out and drinking wine, beers or other liquors, sometimes it cost more and sometime less. But we generally try to spend no more then our monthly budget of US$1500.

House: RD$21000.
Water: about RD$500
Electricity: about RD$1800
Internet: about RD$3050
House keeper: $11000 (considering)
Food&Entertainment: Shopping and going out to eat about twice or less a week. ($30000)

A monthly budget of $1500 is great if you can keep it!
I am curious if you have other expenses not listed - or have you been able to not have them in your budget?
No kid expenses, for example school? No car? No car insurance? No health insurance? No cable TV? No telephone (maybe that is part of your internet bill)? No DR cell phone bill? No gas for the stove?
And - only 1800 pesos for electricity, even with AC on - that is great - or did you leave off a 0? 18,000 sounds closer for a 4 bedroom that uses AC half of the days.
I am not trying to tear apart your budget. I just want others who may be new to keep in mind that there are other expenses that they may need to calculate into their monthly budget that you did not list or do not have.
Living the middle class life in the DR can be slightly less expensive than the US if you do it right and budget, but it is not by much - and if you do not budget right, it can be a lot more expensive.

 

[bob saunders]

We pay our live maid/mother-in-law helper 6500 per month plus medical insurance. She doesn't cook, only cuts and peels vegetables (makes the salads) Her main job is to help out my mother-in-law. She also comes over and cleans our stairs twice a week. Once I'm there fulltime in August I will faithfully keep an expense sheet to be able to give an accurate account of expenses.

 

[Koreano]

A monthly budget of $1500 is great if you can keep it!
I am curious if you have other expenses not listed - or have you been able to not have them in your budget?
No kid expenses, for example school? No car? No car insurance? No health insurance? No cable TV? No telephone (maybe that is part of your internet bill)? No DR cell phone bill? No gas for the stove?
And - only 1800 pesos for electricity, even with AC on - that is great - or did you leave off a 0? 18,000 sounds closer for a 4 bedroom that uses AC half of the days.
I am not trying to tear apart your budget. I just want others who may be new to keep in mind that there are other expenses that they may need to calculate into their monthly budget that you did not list or do not have.
Living the middle class life in the DR can be slightly less expensive than the US if you do it right and budget, but it is not by much - and if you do not budget right, it can be a lot more expensive.

Like I said this is based on where/how I live, I guess I should had put also based on my situation....

Here's explanation on the lack of some bills...

Since my son just turned two this month we don't have school expense yet but we are putting healthy amounts away since we haven't got clue on how much it will all cost. He does still need diapers though but we still have several boxes of cheaply bought Pampers diaper left over when we did the move. So basically we don't have any kid's expenses yet, thankfully.

And as for a car and insurances... I have a company car and everything is paid for and this includes daily commute/weekend usage fuel(diesel) costs and we are insured through our company so there's no car/insurance expenses yet. We are looking to buy a used jeepata for my wife so things might add up when it's all said and done.

And you are correct on internet it's a Claro Multi Plan the price includes cable/phone/internet. Since we don't have that many friends here yet, we are on prepaid cell phone plan so we charge few pasos here and there as needed. And same thing applies to cell phone's data, it only get charged if we feel need or we have plans to go away for weekends or if I expect to be on the road a lot. I guess you could include in the $30000 or add $500-$3000 to that.

As for gas for stove.
I forgot about that. I charged it when we moved in and I believe it was RD$2000 or RD$4000(forgot). It's been 3+ months and I feel another charge coming soon.

Other than that I don't know what to tell ya. Since my son refuses to sleep alone and cry until 2-3AM if we try to put in the cribs, my wife still let him sleep in the master bedroom. With one room A/C running 12 hours a day or so, we haven't seen a bill go over $1800 yet. You are scaring me on electricity bills here... I hope Edenorte don't screw me in several months and expect me to pay like RD$80000 in few months. I've heard utility companies here are like that. One guy got a $10000 bill from Corasaan and still going to Corasaan about that bill and it's been 3 months...

Like I said before that $1500 budget isn't engraved on stone. This month we are way over our budget ($500 and counting) due to having going through all our birthdays this month...

 

[Chip]

Oh well the theory that one can't live here in the DR comfortably on less than US4000 a month just went out the window. :dead:

BTW $1500 a month with a RD21,000 a month house payment compares pretty close to my experience at US1200 a month but with kids in school and business expenses of over US1000 a year.

 

[Bronxboy]

oh boy, here comes the puppet!!! You all know who I mean.

 

[MJSantoDomingo]

Like I said this is based on where/how I live, I guess I should had put also based on my situation....

Here's explanation on the lack of some bills...

Since my son just turned two this month we don't have school expense yet but we are putting healthy amounts away since we haven't got clue on how much it will all cost. He does still need diapers though but we still have several boxes of cheaply bought Pampers diaper left over when we did the move. So basically we don't have any kid's expenses yet, thankfully.

And as for a car and insurances... I have a company car and everything is paid for and this includes daily commute/weekend usage fuel(diesel) costs and we are insured through our company so there's no car/insurance expenses yet. We are looking to buy a used jeepata for my wife so things might add up when it's all said and done.

And you are correct on internet it's a Claro Multi Plan the price includes cable/phone/internet. Since we don't have that many friends here yet, we are on prepaid cell phone plan so we charge few pasos here and there as needed. And same thing applies to cell phone's data, it only get charged if we feel need or we have plans to go away for weekends or if I expect to be on the road a lot. I guess you could include in the $30000 or add $500-$3000 to that.

As for gas for stove.
I forgot about that. I charged it when we moved in and I believe it was RD$2000 or RD$4000(forgot). It's been 3+ months and I feel another charge coming soon.

Other than that I don't know what to tell ya. Since my son refuses to sleep alone and cry until 2-3AM if we try to put in the cribs, my wife still let him sleep in the master bedroom. With one room A/C running 12 hours a day or so, we haven't seen a bill go over $1800 yet. You are scaring me on electricity bills here... I hope Edenorte don't screw me in several months and expect me to pay like RD$80000 in few months. I've heard utility companies here are like that. One guy got a $10000 bill from Corasaan and still going to Corasaan about that bill and it's been 3 months...

Like I said before that $1500 budget isn't engraved on stone. This month we are way over our budget ($500 and counting) due to having going through all our birthdays this month...

Great explanation of how your other expenses are covered. It helps others understand how you achieve the $1500/month.

But - I would double check your electricity bill - there is no way that it should be less than your internet/cable/phone bill - unless you are never home. Because you are right - you do not want to be surprised with an 80,000 peso bill later and the threat of shutting off your electricity until you pay.
Or - maybe your electricity line is tied into your neighbor's house and they are getting the bill (not that I think you are doing that intentionally, a previous tenant could have done it) - don't laugh, I have seen it happen, neighbor stealing electricity from another neighbor... it happens.

 

[Givadogahome]

In the bad old days we lived on RD45,000 a month, that's two adults and a newborn. Baring in mind that when young children are introduced to the household there is rarely time for evenings out on the town, nice restaurants etc, and most al evenings are spent indoors in front of the TV. As time goes and it is possible to spend more time out, more variety is available then cost of living goes up, and within a couple of years doubles. But all that are the major expenses is entertainment, without a doubt, entertainment being food and wine, weekend in an A/I etc. If someone doesn't enjoy socialising much, or just likes their own company then there is no reason it needs to cost a fortune.
Also rents, foreigners pay huge rents because they need to feel safe and around other foreigners, or be paying the same a everyone else or they feel something is wrong. Really, these days it is not the case, you can live anywhere and it s a lotto after dark. There are beautiful houses out there to rent for RD10,000, but foreigners won't, becau they are too cheap, they feel something MUST be wrong.

 

[bob saunders]

oh boy, here comes the puppet!!! You all know who I mean.

Act like a moderator

 

[Bronxboy]

Act like a moderator

Bob:

Just because he has an alter ego yet once again, this is not grounds to ban.

Robert will need to intervene.

 

[PeteyPablo]

..In santiago you are very far from the beach..the nightlife is smaller too. In santiago they got no big malls and what they got is very limited. In santo domingo theres many more activities to keep you busy and there is also a much larger selections of restaurants and entertainment.

Just go safe, rent a big apartment in naco, piantini or anacaona and you will be just fine with no crime.

While your statement is mostly true, a good majority of the capital is a dump. Damn close to the being wild west. I wouldn't want to move wife and kids (especially daughters!) there jeje. Other areas mentioned here are definitely better so far as quality of life goes.

As far as trusting people? Hiring a lawyer/bodyguard/whatever doesnt guarantee safety or not getting ripped of at all. A lot of times getting robbed/ripped off is an inside job... ie those that know what you have. Not to say that there arent people you can trust, just make sure to use good judgement and not someones title to decide. Not trying to be negative, just realistic. Sometimes its not about getting ripped off, its about how badly it is when its done.

Good luck to you...you will need it. Nothing teaches like the learning curve of living there...

 

[Koreano]

Great explanation of how your other expenses are covered. It helps others understand how you achieve the $1500/month.

But - I would double check your electricity bill - there is no way that it should be less than your internet/cable/phone bill - unless you are never home. Because you are right - you do not want to be surprised with an 80,000 peso bill later and the threat of shutting off your electricity until you pay.
Or - maybe your electricity line is tied into your neighbor's house and they are getting the bill (not that I think you are doing that intentionally, a previous tenant could have done it) - don't laugh, I have seen it happen, neighbor stealing electricity from another neighbor... it happens.

Thanks for the advice...
But what to do in this situation? Do you call Edenorte and demand or tell them i want to pay more? Or do you ask neighbors that are you paying for my electricity bills?
Meanwhile, I am going to put away 4000 pasos per months for Edenorte funds.

 

[frank12]

Why not live in a good, safe, well-reputable, well protected, gated community with lots of security guards? You obviously have some money...why not live in safety in something like Sea Horse Ranch (North Coast) or Cap Cana (East), or Casa De Campo (South East), or Infinity Blue (North Coast), or Cabarete East, (North Coast), or Ocean Dream or Ocean One--(Both North coast), Ocean Village (they have a state-of-the-art Gold's Gym and great restaurant: North Coast)--i'm sorry, as you can tell, i'm much more familiar with the north coast.

In a good gated community, you can forego the idea of a body guard altogether, and may i add, the risk of the body guard telling his friends what kind of expensive things you have in your house, when you are out of the country, what your wife looks like, etc. i have a couple of horror stories about body guards in the dominican republic (i'll leave them for another thread). you got to keep in mind, a body guard here is 99% of the time coming from a poor family, often very poor--with little education, looking for opportunity to capitalize on like every other poor dominican out there with a family to feed and loans to pay.

Anyway, look into a gated community. its an absolute must if you can afford it. some of them, like Sea Horse Ranch and Caso De Campo are like Fort Knox and unimpenetrable. I've never heard of a break-in or anything remotely similiar happening inside Sea Horse Ranch.Ever! if i had the money, that's where i would live...although Casa de Campo and Cap Cana have beautiful Marinas!!

FRank

 

[MJSantoDomingo]

Thanks for the advice...
But what to do in this situation? Do you call Edenorte and demand or tell them i want to pay more? Or do you ask neighbors that are you paying for my electricity bills?
Meanwhile, I am going to put away 4000 pasos per months for Edenorte funds.

Putting some money aside in case they notice the discrepancy is probably the best move. I would not point it out to them. Nor would I ask your neighbor.