Tips please letting or renting house in DR.

[Fulano2]

We decided to let or rent our house in the DR.
I have been looking and Airbnb seems the most obvious platform to use.
Our ideal situation would be long term but not permanent, let’s say three to six months.
Who has experience with this please?

How much can we ask? 200 m2, garden 800 m2. Quiet, neighbourhood is all family.
Completely walled.
Fully furnished, high quality and antiques (Chesterfield, art and wooden furniture 19th century).
Location is Magante. Beach close.

How to control lost of utensils (kitchen for example).
We think of offering it with water (well) and electricity (even with a/c 24/7 on we pay just 2000) and internet. Good plan?
Insurances?

Any comment and tip is very welcome.

 

[SKY]

Don't rent to Dominicans................

 

[windeguy]

Don't rent to Dominicans................

100 X the above. Just don't do it.

Airbnb sucks. But it is probably the best you can do unless you find a reliable property manager out there in the middle of nowhere. Blocking certain people from certain regions, like the DR, on Airbnb will probably reduce your visibility on the platform. But as SKY mentioned, just don't do that kind of rental.

Your location? Might not be easy to rent. Airbnb fees only make that harder. If you want a long term only rental with Airbnb make sure you included the minimum stay time you will permit. Otherwise will have 100 locals showing upon during Hell Week, otherwise known and Samana Santa.

 

[NanSanPedro]

My landlady says her dad told her the same thing as @SKY says. No Dominicans.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

We decided to let or rent our house in the DR.
I have been looking and Airbnb seems the most obvious platform to use.
Our ideal situation would be long term but not permanent, let’s say three to six months.
Who has experience with this please?

How much can we ask? 200 m2, garden 800 m2. Quiet, neighbourhood is all family.
Completely walled.
Fully furnished, high quality and antiques (Chesterfield, art and wooden furniture 19th century).
Location is Magante. Beach close.

How to control lost of utensils (kitchen for example).
We think of offering it with water (well) and electricity (even with a/c 24/7 on we pay just 2000) and internet. Good plan?
Insurances?

Any comment and tip is very welcome.

Do not do this. That's the post.

 

[windeguy]

As for theft? Inventory everything the best you can with lists and pictures. Expect to "lose" things. It will happen.
Perhaps AIRBNB will reimburse.

I have no idea what the region is worth for a monthly rental. Do you have 100% backup for water and electricity?
If not, I suggest you forget about it. Your reviews by guests will be 1 Star if you don't have such backups.

 

[Fulano2]

Don't rent to Dominicans................

Thanks. I won’t do that, but I didn’t post it as we have some Dominicans on this forum and didn’t want to step on toes.

 

[windeguy]

Thanks. I won’t do that, but I didn’t post it as we have some Dominicans on this forum and didn’t want to step on toes.

Understood. My wife is Dominican and she very well understands the issues if she were to rent to locals. Been there, done that.
Everyone out to third cousins ends up at the place. No thanks.

 

[Fulano2]

Nevertheless, we own another apartment, small on the same street that we rented to a Californian Jehovah’s Witness.
Never again. She brought in five dogs that did their daily things in the garden and when she left, the bathroom had more drilled holes than a Swiss cheese.
That’s why I never will do long term.

 

[SKY]

Thanks. I won’t do that, but I didn’t post it as we have some Dominicans on this forum and didn’t want to step on toes.

The ones on this forum you can rent to.........

 

[Father Guido]

Don't rent to Dominicans................

I 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th that

 

[Father Guido]

We decided to let or rent our house in the DR.
I have been looking and Airbnb seems the most obvious platform to use.
Our ideal situation would be long term but not permanent, let’s say three to six months.
Who has experience with this please?

How much can we ask? 200 m2, garden 800 m2. Quiet, neighbourhood is all family.
Completely walled.
Fully furnished, high quality and antiques (Chesterfield, art and wooden furniture 19th century).
Location is Magante. Beach close.

How to control lost of utensils (kitchen for example).
We think of offering it with water (well) and electricity (even with a/c 24/7 on we pay just 2000) and internet. Good plan?
Insurances?

Any comment and tip is very welcom

Do not do this. That's the post.

agree 100%, you're risking ruining your house for 3-6 months rent?

 

[josh2203]

Fully furnished, high quality and antiques (Chesterfield, art and wooden furniture 19th century).
Location is Magante. Beach close.

How to control lost of utensils (kitchen for example).

That sounds scary to be renting out fully furnished. If long-term, definitely triple-check everything in screening potential tenants. My wife's family own and let out a number of properties, they have had a decent amount of issues as well. And that's all unfurnished.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

After a tenant has lived in a property for a minimum period of time, that tenant has rights. It can be challenging to get rid of a tenant after the rental agreement expires if they do not wish to leave and are willing to continue paying the rent and are not using the property for illegal purposes.

Possession being 9/10th of the law...

 

[JD Jones]

That sounds scary to be renting out fully furnished. If long-term, definitely triple-check everything in screening potential tenants. My wife's family own and let out a number of properties, they have had a decent amount of issues as well. And that's all unfurnished.

I've told the story before about a man I rented one of his houses in a block of 5 houses.

I was the only person he didn't have a problem with.

One of the persons he kicked out left in the night, and that person took all of the Mahogany woodwork (Doors, cabinets, closets etc), bathroom fixtures, light switches and even pulled many of the electrical wires in the walls, and the water pump and tank.

That was from an unfurnished house, after the person lived there almost 2 years rent free..

 

[josh2203]

I've told the story before about a man I rented one of his houses in a block of 5 houses.

I was the only person he didn't have a problem with.

One of the persons he kicked out left in the night, and that person took all of the Mahogany woodwork (Doors, cabinets, closets etc), bathroom fixtures, light switches and even pulled many of the electrical wires in the walls, and the water pump and tank.

That was from an unfurnished house, after the person lived there almost 2 years rent free..

Sad thing is that the above does not even surprise me. This is why there are landlords that don't want to invest in their properties more than the bare minimum. My FIL is unfortunately NOT one of those people, he spends a reasonable amount of time and money to give maintenance to his properties, and for that exact reason he has been burned a few times. He continues with the same though as he has pretty strong faith in humanity...

There are obviously plenty of good tenants as well, but as Cdn_Gringo pointed out above, the law in the DR can be a bit problematic for the landlord...

 

[JD Jones]

In my case, the owner had 5 stand alone houses and a 3 story apartment building with 6 apartments.

His wife is/was a well-connected PLD official, and that didn't make a difference.

His problem was he was too kind-hearted, and rented to anybody who showed up with money for the deposit.

Only 3 of the houses and 1 of the apartments were trouble free. The rest were non-payers. What a nightmare.

 

[SKY]

It normally takes 2 years or so to get rid of a non payer here that has good representation. For the OP with his furnished house No Go..............

 

[CristoRey]

It's not just locals, I've heard plenty of stories about gringos trashing short-term rental properties as well, hence many of them now requiring a much larger deposit than before.

 

[Fulano2]

Thank you all for the tips. I will think ten times about it.