Wow, location in El Batey?
Because I'm currently living in Los Castillos and being that it's 5-10 minutes from everywhere, you would think that it would be cheaper than El Batey, and unless you're willing to live in a small house with a tin roof, then what they are asking for a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment is at least 15-20k/month, some of the newer buildings start at 25k/month. And Los Castillos is not a "barrio" but it's not a gated community or within walking distance of the beach, so you would think it would be cheaper.
Currently, I'm paying 12.5k/month, for a 525square feet 2 bedroom apartment, and the landlord has not raised the rent because they are VERY picky with their tenants (they kicked out a couple downstairs because they were fighting loudly a couple of times), so they don't want us to leave.
I'm located in El Batey , a few cross streets before Ahnvee and in between the two of the main streets Pedro Clisante and Dr Alejo Martinez. It's really my wife that got us it. Two bedrooms, two big patios, parking included
Well off Dominicans rarely advertise their properties eg. if its their personal home and they are renting one floor. In my case the top floor is rented to us and the bottom floor is occupied by the mother of the owner.
The owner's good friend (they both own huge business's in the area) recommended us to the owner and told us of the vacancy.
Rentals like this do come available, it's just that you will only hear about it by word of mouth in certain circles.
Since we moved , on that same street has opened up a couple of opportunities and both got rented fast by word of mouth. If we knew someone really well and they were trustworthy we could have easily recommended them. So it's not a rare occurance.
For example, the house next door to us , a one story but an ENTIRE house ( 3 br) got rented for I believe 28k or something around that. We got offered it first but turned it down as I am happy where we are.