1-844-872-8686 info@buyincasalinda.com
Things to Consider When Buying Foreign Property in The DR

Things to Consider When Buying Foreign Property in The DR

As an ex-pat, I saw the Dominican Republic as the best balance in the title system and security of investment, which were key elements for me. Fortunately, this country offered that and much more. I am very comfortable and happy with the security of the government and how it’s invested in trade agreements with North America.

But, is that it? Many things need to be taken into account when buying foreign property. Therefore, we prepared a shortlist of what we’ve determined to be the most important:

Government

The first and foremost thing that I think is important is you need to check out the government. What is the government? Is that a stable government? When was the last time it had a coup? What’s its stance on drug lords? What’s its stance on crime? What are the crime stats? What are they doing about it? Are they investing in their people? Are they foreign investor-friendly? Do they want you to come to someplace? Say they do but they make it tough on you when you get there. Also, check what the government’s infrastructure is like as it pertains to you as a foreigner and the second one if you’re buying property, what is the title system?

In many countries you don’t own it, you have a life lease or a bank trust. I know that that’s okay for some people. I want to own it. Here, in the Dominican Republic, they’ve based the title system, very much on the Canadian title system. They redid it a few years ago and went back and resurveyed the entire country to make sure that they had done it properly. These were really big signs to me that they were looking for foreign investment here and they were willing to do it.

None of us want to pay tax. We all want to pay as little as possible and keep that money in our pocket. This country makes it easy and simple. In addition, when you own real estate you have the same legal rights as a Dominican citizen when you buy. If we end up in a dispute say in court or something you have the same legal rights as a citizen here, which is another one. Residency is another large thing to consider. If you’re going to spend several months in any country, most countries expect you to have a residency status of some sort. Dominican residency it’s a simple process, they’re looking to see that you can support yourself. When you live in the country they want to make sure you don’t have a criminal record, that you don’t have AIDS or hepatitis C.

Ownership Status

The DR makes it very simple and accessible to get a proper residency status to be able to live here full-time. This does not affect your citizenship in any country that you come from. It just means you’re allowed to live here. If you choose to become a permanent resident after, you can go on and become a citizen of this country, which brings me to the other thing that I think people need to consider particularly in third world countries is security.

Security & Crime Rate

We recommend being in a gated community for several reasons. One is most of the people that buy here don’t end up living here full-time, not away, or maybe even ever. So, you know, when I have a property in Canada, someone checks on my property, when I’m not there, it’s advisable to leave any property sitting on looked at for months on end because even if it’s not break-ins, that’s going to be when your toilet backs up when something goes wrong, you know, and your insurance is null and void. So we always recommend being in a gated community, somebody’s watching your property here too.

This is a very safe country. Crime is another key thing to consider. What is the crime rate? Is it safe to walk down the street in the middle of the day or the middle of the night? Anything here is petty crime. Every country has some crime but here, it’s going to be you come home and your laptop’s gone, but the truth is this is what a gated subdivision does to protect you from those things as well. But the safety factor here is, it’s very safe. I’ve been here for 14 years and have never had a problem, my grandson lives here. It’s a very safe country, but we still recommend that you are in a gated community. 

Also, the guards where we live they’re trained in CPR. They are trained for when renters are renting there, should we have domestic disputes. There are all sorts of things that can happen when you have 300 houses all put together.

Resale Rate

The other thing about investment is, look at resale. How long does it take to sell? If you buy it, it’s great, but if it takes five years to sell your house or your condo moving forward. That’s a problem. Check out what resales are doing. Check out the economy, check investment coming into the area. You want to be in a place where other money is coming into the area that you’re in. What’s nice here is it’s been just a nice steady incline since I came 14 years ago, which is great.

dominican republic custom villas

Medical

What I think is important, is medical: We’re not getting younger! Having very good medical services, being able to get your prescriptions, you want to be able to find a doctor that can communicate with you and speak English and have the proper field, access to tests, and that you can communicate back to your country’s doctor. Should you go home for the summer? These are all really important things that people don’t think about because they’ve fallen in love with the beauty of the place, but I always have to stop and turn them around and say, yeah, but you got to think about this.

Community

I always hear about people, we bought this little house and this little town and wherever and I’m like, what are you gonna do? You know, what do you do? I like my quiet, but I also like having friends. Where we live at Casa Linda, the doors are open come on in.  If it’s closed, leave us alone. So it’s a very active, very welcoming community full of people who have a diverse group of interests. So whatever you’re into, you’ll have someone that’s doing it too. But that’s the nice part about being here is, it’s such a diverse amount of real estate condos over there. You want to be on the water. You can always sell your place and buy-in another place. You have a lot of diversity here, and that’s the beauty of the North Coast. 

If you are planning for retirement or seek a home base with a lower cost of living, it’s time to check out the Dominican Republic! ? Learn more about Dominican features and amenities through our video series “Buying Real Estate in the Dominican Republic”. 

Christmas Traditions in the Dominican Republic

Christmas Traditions in the Dominican Republic

How do people in a tropical country celebrate Christmas?  There’s no snow, no cold – just swaying palms and sunshine!

Christmas is a continuous celebration of life and family.  Family members living abroad venture home to the DR loaded with gifts. Celebrating begins in October and one party follows another.  Read to discover what makes a traditional Dominican Christmas.

Dominicans Love Christmas!

Puerto Plata at Christmas

 

 La Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)

Christmas dinner Dominican Republic

The Good Night” is the largest family event of the season with a feast of food and extensive family gatherings.  A very Catholic country, many Dominicans attend Christmas Eve Mass at midnight called La Misa del Gallo  or “Roosters Mass”.  This is part of the belief that a rooster crowed at midnight when Jesus was born.

Christmas Eve dinner is called “La Cena del 24” or “La Cena Navideña”.  It consists of a traditional meal of roast pork “puerco asado”, rice with pigeon peas, pasteles en hojas (wrap of banana leaves filled with pork and “Russian” potato salad made with beetroot.  Telera is the name for a baguette-shaped soft bread that is only eaten at Christmas time.

 

 

moro de guanddules con coco

Check out the recipe for
Moro de Guandules con Coco (Rice, Pigeon Peas and Coconut)

 

 

 

 

 

Charamicos

charamicos

Christmas wouldn’t be the same without these hand-craften wooden stars, trees, balls and animals.  You can find these beautiful creations for sale on almost every street corner.  Usually a set of white lights are strung through to provide night time sparkle.  As you travel through the country you’ll see them on front porches, city streets and town squares.

 

 

El Angelito (“The Little Angel”)

The Christmas gift exchange is called Un Angelito and is a little like a Secret Santa exchange.  Everyone writes their name on a small piece of paper and then names are drawn .  Whomever you choose is your Angelito and you give them a little gift. You are their personal angel.

 

 

Aguinaldos

Aguinaldos

Music is always a backdrop to Dominican life, but at Christmas Dominicans take it to an extra fun level.  An “Aguinaldo” is a group of family or friends who go from house to house singing with  infectious, joyful happiness.  More and more people join in – creating a street festival with dancing and hot drinks.  Informal, community parties are a staple of island life.  Dominicans are very warm, social and inviting.

 

 

Flores de Pascua (Christmas Flowers)

Poinsettia

You may recognize these red flowers as poinsettias.  They are grown locally here and become large trees!  Sold in pots along the sides of the road, these traditional Christmas plants are given to friends and family as a long tradition.

 

 

Fuegos Artificiales (Fireworks)

fireworks in the dominican republic

Christmas is celebrated with a bang and atmospheric displays of color.  Fireworks are a big part of Christmas and New Year’s.  Larger cities will do professional shows, but it’s common for individual families or groups to create their own beautiful lightshow.

 

 

 

New Ambar Coast Highway from Puerto Plata to Santiago Will Cut Travel Time to a Half Hour

New Ambar Coast Highway from Puerto Plata to Santiago Will Cut Travel Time to a Half Hour

Residents of both Puerto Plata and Santiago will enjoy a  much shorter drive between the two cities.

The construction of the Ambar Coast  Highway is a critical roadwork that will link the north coast to the major centre of Santiago and will cut travel time by over half.  The 35 -kilometre road will take just 30-minutes to travel, making commuting from the north coast to Santiago a very pleasant, quick drive.  This is perfect for our Residencial Casa Linda owners and renters.  Many of our owners go to Santiago for large scale shopping trips to big box stores like Ikea and Bellon, as well as to several shopping malls, theaters and other services that can be found in a city of a million people. A shorter, safer drive makes this a fun day trip with lots of time to enjoy the city and get back home.

 

Santiago has excellent large hospitals like HOMS – and for full time residents receiving treatment, this is a much shorter drive.  The Dominican Republic is a destination healthcare area.  A half-hour drive means that renters can stay in Casa Linda and drive to Santiago to see doctors and receive hospital treatments.

 

Robotic Surgery at HOMS HOspital Santiago

For travelers coming in or out of the Dominican Republic to Casa Linda, Santiago airport will now be a viable alternative to landing in Puerto Plata.  This gives people a larger offering and more options for flights.

Residents of Santiago will have the option of living on the beautiful north coast and commuting to work in the big city.  This will increase the value of all property on the north coast – good news for all current and future villa owners in Casa Linda!

The Dominican Republic Minister of Public Works stated that this highway represents an economic transformation that will guarantee greater security, and directly and indirectly impact almost all sectors of the northern region of the Dominican Republic, and is a “relaunch of regional development”.  He stressed that the highway would be vital to allowing a change in the positioning of the Atlantic coast, providing it with more significant potential as a “thriving” tourist hub.

 

Villa Sunset en Casa Linda

Villa Sunset en Casa Linda

Villa

Sunset

$179,600 US

    2 Dormitorios

    2 Baños

     8,000 Galon Piscina

Lote y Paisajismo

Creado para la verdadera vida tropical!

La villa Sunset tiene todos los acabados profesionales de nuestros planes ejecutivos, todo diseñado en un plano de planta que hace un excelente uso del espacio y el flujo. Disfruta del Caribe en esta villa elegantemente planificada. Aunque es una casa más compacta, la luz del sol fluye a través de las puertas de vidrio a lo largo del costado y la parte posterior de la villa, mezclando la entrada de luz de dentro y de fuera. Las ventanas en la sala y cocina se abren para permitir que la brisa tropical fluya y el plan abierto es perfecto para entretener a las visitas. Cada área tiene una vista perfecta del patio, la piscina y la terraza cubierta que, por supuesto, está convenientemente ubicada junto a la amplia sala y cocina. Ambas habitaciones son espaciosas y tienen un baño completo. La lavandería y el cuarto de almacenamiento completan la villa.

$179,600 US –

El precio incluye el lote, villa, paisajismo, piscina y cuarto externo de servicios.. 

Villa & Lote

Villa: 1,081 ft2 (100.50 m2 )

Lote: 4,306  -4,844 ft2 (400-450 m2)

 

Ver plano de planta

Click para una vista más grande

Villa Sunset

¿Tienes una pregunta?

Nosotras estamos listas para responder

Toll-Free: 1-844-872-8686
Affordable Luxury in Paradise

Villa Harmony en Casa Linda

Villa Harmony en Casa Linda

Villa

Harmony

$366,700 US

    3 Dormitorios

   3.5 Baños

   15,000 Galon Piscina

Lote y Paisajismo

Un Bungalow Ideal En La Naturaleza)

La villa Harmony tiene un plan espacioso de 3 habitaciones separadas con tres baños completos, ofreciendo privacidad a los dueños. Está hecha a medida para el entretenimiento en la cocina de estilo de chef con una enorme isla central. La gran sala, el dormitorio principal y la cocina se abren a una terraza exterior cubierta y fresca, con un bar al aire libre / área de entretenimiento.

$368,800 US

El precio incluye el lote, villa, paisajismo, piscina y cuarto externo de servicios.. 

Villa

2,645 ft2 (245.8 m2)

Lote

8,676 ft2 (800 m2)

Ver plano de planta

Click para una vista más grande

Villa Harmony Casa Linda Villas

¿Tienes una pregunta?

Nosotras estamos listas para responder

809-571-1190
Affordable Luxury in Paradise