Is There A Housing Bubble In Santo Domingo?

[mountainannie]

She got what she deserved for her greed and stupidness, simple as that.



I got it long time ago - the only reason why the majority of Dominicans are poor is brainless greed and unreasonable price demands.



They think that being persistent and stubborn in asking prices they will force the maket to bend and to work for them. The reality is 100% opposit - to be successful one must be flexible, accomodating to buyers, modest in demands and expectations, willing to sacrifice.



Tourists-expats-visitors-gringos - ARE NOT MILKING COWS. We are here with the expectation to pay normal Dominican prices, to save in this difficult times, not to become subject to price double standards and rip-off atempts on each our step. We are sick and tired.



In an economic meltdown and deepenning recession that we witness now local business must CUT their prices and profits to keep people coming. Instead they INCREASE prices. Go to any restaurant to see yourself. Compare prices in Bailys and Bologna and in el Porto six months ago and now.



Business owners kill their businesses themselves with greed and then complain. A pure lack of education, of common sense and of understanding of economy rules and realities.



To survive in depression business owners must cut their profits and salaries of staff and strongly fight wholesale suppliers of food products to cut their prices too. This is the only ticket to success and prosperity, not increasing prices every month.

HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!!

I just went apartment hunting in Gazcue! What are they thinking?


Now in my old condo building.. there are two vacant apartments..

Fourth floor... two bedrooms.. unfurnished $700

Third floor three bedroom unfurnished $900

NOTE that unfurnished here means that that they even take the light fixtures... NO appliances, NO air condition units, NO new paint job,
Two on Soccro Sanchez
new construction

My estimate is that the fourth floor should rent for $450
The third floor 3 bedroom for $600


Then to a new building on Soccoro Sanchez

2 vacant.. asking for each $1000
first .. 2nd floor.. back building.. no balcony,,, apartment buildings smack up against the windows (what we in NYC would call an "elevator shaft" apartment

2nd... also second floor.. front facing street... wide baclony .. modern glass doors... NO REYES NO BARS at all... and considering that I hear that a US passports is now going for $35K, any American would be extremely foolish to take either...

I am going to move from where i am since the stairs are not the standard 7-11 and so it is becoming difficult to walk up and down three times a day.....



NOTE that FEW landlords in SDQ do
ANY sort of work on their apartments

NO foreigners should rent ANY apartment in SDQ without proper security!!

One of the new buildings in the hood has those great glass doors (image those in a QUAKE) so the sun can beat down beat down,, fry your brains...

You can pretty much climb over the gate and into the second floor apartment!



It will be up to you, the milk cow, to bring the electric up to grade, repair the pipes, etc etc etc-


And for the record, a fourth floor walk up is NOT a "Penthouse"... it is a fourth floor walk up.

 

[aarhus]

I think maybe aiming at a 10% return as a ladlord is being a bit greedy and could hurt the landlord in the long return. Better maybe in the current market to get around 5-6%and have a happy tenant.

 

[mountainannie]

living in sd for a few years,and I walk the city about every day,I cannot count the new buildings as well as old that have for rent signs....has to be in the many hundreds....and rents are ridiculous for what is offered...you can purchase a nice cozy new two bed in zona colonial for $60,000,or rent for 10,000 to 12,000 pesos a month,and even they are on market forever...

and as far as renters go,once in and paying rent,you may never get them out if you want,unless you move in yourself to live...
bob

I had to keep reading this...again and again,,



you can purchase a nice cozy new two bed in zona colonial for $60,000,or rent for 10,000 to 12,000 pesos a month

PLEASE PM me with ANY information on ANY apartment in the Zona or Gazcue-..... for that price!!!!!

think that your figures are bout 3years off... AT LEAST

that is how long i have been in SD and I have NEVER seen prices like that

not for anyplace where you could have your mother visit

 

[Robert]

Bob has been living in the Colonial Zone a long time and knows it VERY well.
I think you'll find he's renting a very nice apartment for a very nice price

It's a renters market right now. Low ball and walk away, you may be surprised who gets back to you

 

[mountainannie]

Bob has been living in the Colonial Zone a long time and knows it VERY well.
I think you'll find he's renting a very nice apartment for a very nice price

It's a renters market right now. Low ball and walk away, you may be surprised who gets back to you

OF course the trick would be having been here for a long time! with a rent controlled market...

I did not know that the Zona was so much cheaper than Gazcue... here the 8,000 pesos THREE YEARS AGO bought you a little studio....

I am not interested in doing the ridiculous dance with landlords here...

not at all

if you have a fair price, state it

one price fits all

 

[AlterEgo]

I am not interested in doing the ridiculous dance with landlords here...

not at all

if you have a fair price, state it

one price fits all

Come on Annie, you're a New Yorker, bargain like you're on Delancy Street! Make your offer, hand them a card with your phone number and say goodbye.

AE

 

[Robert]

OF course the trick would be having been here for a long time! with a rent controlled market...

I did not know that the Zona was so much cheaper than Gazcue... here the 8,000 pesos THREE YEARS AGO bought you a little studio....

I am not interested in doing the ridiculous dance with landlords here...

not at all

if you have a fair price, state it

one price fits all

Then you're always going to pay more than you should.

 

[Onions/Carrots]

living in sd for a few years,and I walk the city about every day,I cannot count the new buildings as well as old that have for rent signs....has to be in the many hundreds..and as far as renters go,once in and paying rent,you may never get them out if you want,unless you move in yourself to live...
bob

My point exactly! Renters do not have to leave even if they do not pay. It's a quirky rule meant to help them find a new place to stay but it has been abused so many times that renting out in the DR is a scary prospect.

This is a ridiculous post.

Why would someone who went to Oxford or Yale be envious of some CHOPO trash?
An Oxford graduate would have learned that outward displays of wealth are for primitive barbaric idiots.

maybe because they were racist?
i guess anyone with more than a white skin is chopo trash to you?...

Not true, you have to meet CHOPO TRASH to understand. These fools believe that their material accoutrements give them worth as individuals.

You have to understand that superficial savage displays of wealth are seen as something of substance in the DR.

The DR has a long way to go to develop social maturity in these matters.

 

[Lambada]

I am not interested in doing the ridiculous dance with landlords here...not at all

if you have a fair price, state it

one price fits all

Remember when you said on another thread

Thanks so much for this one!! It really helps me see a bit beyond my cultural glasses-----

well it applies to this issue as well. To you the dance might be ridiculous, but it isn't to them, it's part of the game of negotiation. They expect the gringa to react as per your first quote above. And it gets met with a certain level of, probably unspoken, disdain. But negotiate hard and your respect rating soars. Why? Because you are entering into the Dominican way of doing things & people will recognise that. And that makes the future relationship between landlord and renter that much easier.

 

[engineerfg]

Are you Dominican?

Do you know the rental laws in the DR?

If you did you wouldn't be so gung-ho about the DR?

Not Dominican. Don't know the rental laws. Don't know anything about the market. Made that all clear at the beginning. My only comment was based on decades of financial experience that's all. And that comment was:


BASED ON:

1. current asking rates for rent

2. current asking rates for sale prices


SDQ looks like a 'cheap' market when measured by internal rate of return. ie. put 100K down, and it will return more (in rental income as a percentage of capital risked) than new york or la, or seattle or miami.

part of that higher rate of return is probably a function of lack of local capital comparatively to the usa.

thanks.

 

[pedrochemical]

I still want to know NALS' take on all this....

Still waiting....

 

[Onions/Carrots]

Not Dominican. Don't know the rental laws. Don't know anything about the market. Made that all clear at the beginning. My only comment was based on decades of financial experience that's all. And that comment was:


BASED ON:

1. current asking rates for rent

2. current asking rates for sale prices


SDQ looks like a 'cheap' market when measured by internal rate of return. ie. put 100K down, and it will return more (in rental income as a percentage of capital risked) than new york or la, or seattle or miami.

part of that higher rate of return is probably a function of lack of local capital comparatively to the usa.

thanks.

I think you can tell by mere observation that the chaos with which the DR operates also reflects in its legal system.

You're not covered if the renter decides not to pay anymore rent. Then what? Some owners have had to pay the occupants money to leave.

What you get in a cheap market comparatively you will more than give up in other areas, i.e. legal and financial protections.

 

[engineerfg]

Point taken!

Just curious - do these rental 'non laws' apply to us gringo's too you think? or if a gringo overstays their welcome would the property owner just bring out the bat and the gat?

 

[Onions/Carrots]

Point taken!

Just curious - do these rental 'non laws' apply to us gringo's too you think? or if a gringo overstays their welcome would the property owner just bring out the bat and the gat?

That would be an interesting socio-cultural experiment.

Any volunteers?

 

[Celt202]

That would be an interesting socio-cultural experiment.

Any volunteers?

I used to rent from a Dominican woman who couldn't tell the truth if her life depended on it.

She stole electricity from tenants in some of the 17 units.

She used a pass key ro get into an Italian tenant's unit and chatted with her daughter in Florida for an hour on his phone.

One foreign tenant stopped paying his rent and she showed up with a police captain who told him he had to get out. He asked for the court order and that little bit of tigueraje fell through.

He started to string her along telling her that his father was a real estate developer in Europe and was working on starting a development in Saman?. When the agreements were in place he could pay all the back rent. She fell for it.

One night he quietly slipped out of the country beating her for 6 months back rent.

To beat a tiguere con falda at her own game is a helluva thing.

 

[jaguarbob]

That would be an interesting socio-cultural experiment.

Any volunteers?

few years ago,my landlord then,wanted to raise my rent 10%,as he said it was a law!!!!I told him if he raised the rent 10% every year,then it would not be long before rents would be unsustainable,doubling almost every 5 years...so I told him forget it,I will not pay more than I am now....well,I have told him that for the last 5 years,my rent has not gone up and he has been unable to raise it....even my dominican neighbors told me not to pay any more,I was paying enough...and I am still here,still paying 8250 a month..a lawyer friend told me the only way he can get me out,is if he,the owner,moves in..but he is happy,Im sure,with always getting rent on time and no problems in his apt...and getting a fair rent.
bob

 

[nas]

Here is another reality-where I live in NYC, the Dominican presence is very strong in two areas-taxis and bodegas. These taxis service communities that yellow cabs do not bother with, and operate with no meters. You pay whatever you and the driver decide on.

Bodegas in these same communities offer similar services that supermarkets do not-the basic necessities like bread, milk, juice, candy, hot sandwiches and coffee. They also dabble in other things, like slot machines in the back room, a numbers racket-whatever their clientele is into. All cash.

Both businesses can operate 24 hours a day. A guy who owns his own cab can rent it out to others and have it out on the streets all day and night. Bodegas only need one clerk to remain open from midnight until 6 in the morning. All they need is a little protective slot in the side window to collect the money and provide the goods to the customer.

So what happens to all that cash? Some of it finds it's way back to the island. You think those little bodegas don't make money? Just ask the owner to show you a picture of his house and jeepetas in the DR.

Life is good when you can avoid paying a large majority of the taxes you owe on an all-cash business.

It is insane to think that Bodegas in the US generate enough money to purchase US $500k and up apartments in DR... Totally illogical.

 

[nas]

Why don't you show everyone concrete proof that the economy is based on drugs and money laundering. Speculation and exceptions being highlighted in the press are not proofs beyond showing that there is some activity of that sort. Show us the studies, the reports, the data to support your claim. At the very least, quote an economist even remotely suggesting what you are claiming.

It can't be too difficult to do that, unless of course, there are none. :cheeky:

No speculation, no wishful thinking; all I'm asking is to see facts, proofs beyond a reasonable doubt, a well cemented foundation that supports your ridiculous claims.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree that drug money must be financing all those projects, but it would be defficult to prove in a society like ours in DR.
No reporter will risk his/her life to produce such type of documentary or facts...

What is happening in DR already happend in Miami 3 decades ago... Everyone knows MIami was built on drugs money.. There are tons of documentaries on it.

 

[Criss Colon]

Look At This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two IDIOTS responding to a thread over a year old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[the gorgon]

nas states

Both businesses can operate 24 hours a day. A guy who owns his own cab can rent it out to others and have it out on the streets all day and night.

i guess he believes that the Lincoln town cars that operate as gypsy cabs in upper manhattan, for example, are owned by Dominicans. sorry to burst your bubble. they are all owned by the Eastern European mob from Van Dam Steet and other parts of Long Island City. Dominicans rent them, and have to break their asses 12 hours a day just to clear the vig.it is not rocket science. these things cost nearly 25 large. a Dominican who can move to the States and plunk down that kind of scratch is not leaving the island. besides, everyone who has lived in the states knows that most bodegas are running some sort of drug connected operation, if only selling crack pipes-