It’s clearly evident wherever you look...
I hate going food shopping these days. It’s madness.
Went to take the dog for his vet appointment, the vet moved across the street because his old office is being turned into a building. He said he ran out of space as clients more than doubled in the past year.
Most business owners have halved their expenses under the new curfew and are profiting even more as more people have taken to crunch the shopping hours in their visits.
Food delivery has gone triple their load and newer clients are hard to accommodate in some instances.
I get my tipiles, kipes and other Lebanese foods from Tu Quipe at Los Jardines, they now open earlier and do twice as much business than before.
Most fragile businesses are the ones folding tent. It was just a matter of time for them. Pandemic or not, their business model was doomed from the start. The pandemic and curfews just hastened the timing of that demise.
The big losers in this pandemic have been the bars, clubs, centers of entertainment and frills type.
A whole new cadre of businesses savvy people are being formed during these trial times.
Adaptation is the new norm. They learn to evolve and adapt quickly.
The average business in the DR is debt-Free. They can close their doors and hibernate.
Others are quickly adopting the emergence of the internet and apps to their benefit, unlike before.
Local artists Newfound tools of trade online, have given credit to a new profit lane they’d never were interested in exploring before.
If you want to know if your economy is healthy, just look at your banks. If banks are reporting increases in profit, then your economy is chugging along as it should.
Dominican households carry very little to moderate debt compared to other similarly economies. Savings have increased, rather than decrease during these trial times.
My extended family has zero debt, and any car financing is done only to increase the credit line and keep it healthy. They can all pay off those financing loans with ease.
A foreigner friend asked me recently why I keep buying apartments in the 3 million range, only to keep them as rentals. I explained to him it’s the safest and most profitable way to earn a minimum yearly $300,000 NOI profit return on each. That’s a cap rate of 10% and more.
I furnish the units and have an overseas rental pitch. Rentals are 1, 2 and 3 years with rent increases after year 1. I include a biweekly full house cleaner, which I employ and acts as a home inspector as well (for me).
In practice I made things easier for tenants, it includes the Netflix, cable, internet, water and electric setup under my control. Tenants receive a copy of the bill electronically, which is charged to their rental account monthly. In some instances I also provide any number of cell lines and wifi dongles to the tenants on request.
All my units are now rented for 3 year contracts. A US based company which carries lots of work here, contracted all the units for their rotating staff. The add-ons are left to each staff to pay for it.
So far I had only one incident with a tenant. A fire caused by a bbq on the balcony left unattended. Minor damages but lots of smoke all over. Ever since bbqs on the units are forbidden.
All units have a rental insurance policy and a 24 hour emergency maintenance 👨🔧 guy on call. And no, I’d never rented to locals.
There are no more 3 million range units in nice areas to be had. Now they are selling new units for how much they will be worth in 5 years, not their true present value.
As far as I understand, my extended family and circle of friends are not reporting any loses from any of their businesses here in the DR.
Many have taken the opportunity to expand and remodel their businesses, during the shortened hours.
I often buy empanadas de yuca from an older guy at Rafael Vidal, just on the end corner close to Lumijor. He’s much busier now and tells me he sells more than before on the compacted hours. People just flock to him and buy extra unlike before. He was saying this as he told his calling clients there were no more as I bought all the last stock he had.
If you go to the shopping plazas, you’ll notice the void from all those Little planned businesses with weak to no business plans behind them.
The ones hurting are the conformists, the ones too happy to just make enough to go gone without much hassle. Including the informal vendors that just seat all day by their trinkets as they await buyers.
Now they need to hustle for their livelihoods.
The new practice of all home served deliveries is here to stay for good. This is something people are quickly adapting to in all levels.
Tax revenues increased in the DR this year. I see a healthy economy rebounding well into 2021.
Aside from your personal business economics (which only you can state and it would be very difficult for others to refute), the rest of this posting belongs in The Clown Bin.
There are too many ridiculous and implausible assertions stated here to take this posting seriously, and definitely not enough time to attempt to address each one in the short time I have to contribute today. Please tell us you were joking.
Let me start/end with one in this brief time...
We are to assume the RD economy is doing well right now because the emapanada de yuca guy on your corner has longer lines and sells out his product quicker than before?
Perhaps it is because people have limited options on where to eat, and others have no disposable income to spend elsewhere due to the Covid restrictions in place.
I never heard of a successful economy being based on the success of "street food" vendors.