Colleen Valerio

Certainly, from the people that I’ve at least sold to, most of our buyers come from cold places, although we get a lot of buyers from Florida, which is always amazing to me, having said that, our buyers are mostly Americans and Canadians. There are tons of Europeans too.

Find out all traits that our owners have in common below:

TRAIT #1: Adventurous, Well-Traveled

I can usually tell fairly quickly if someone’s going to be a good fit here, and if you’re not, I’ll tell you because we want you to be happy. People tend to be from cold climates. They tend to be adventurous. They tend to be well-traveled. They are looking for something different.

TRAIT #2: Tired of cold

Generally, they just want to get out of winter and that is always a common denominator. Why do they come here? Full-time? Part-time? Most of our buyers don’t move here full-time. Most people buy pre-retirement so they can pay for it. Still there working with people. Many let their properties rent and we´ll caution you.

Rental is because you want to cover your costs, not because you think you’re going to get rich and I can tell you honestly, 10 years ago people made a lot of money on the rentals. Now, there’s a lot more competition Airbnb happened and that changed the scope and face of rental.

All of our owners are part of property management companies that are on Airbnb, Expedia, Trip Advisor, they’re doing marketing project levels. I always say, if you make a lot of gravy, that’s great, expect to cover your costs, these are vacation homes, not investment properties. You want to have an investment that’s a whole different realm of opportunity. You’re buying here because you want to. 

TRAIT #3: Pre-Retirement age

Our buyers are between 50 and 70 years old, usually, and looking towards retirement and what’s been really kind of a gift for us is this business has been engaged all around. We’ve made friends from all over, but what’s been cool is watching the progression from the time where they bought where they still worked, then seeing them come more often to where all of a sudden, this property becomes their primary residence.

The other thing that it’s important to know is as you’re getting older your body doesn’t work so well anymore. If you are 62, 14 years from now, the knees hurt, the hips aren’t so good, the heart condition is not at its best.

What’s important to know is that the medical care is here, and, they work with your doctor from the place you come and they find specialists to help you with whatever condition, so you can get old here. People think I got to go back forever, but you can have a full-time nurse here. Do you need home care? This is the place to do it; It’s better to be elderly in the Dominican Republic where climate is not as rough for the joints.

TRAIT #4: Sense of community

I once had a client who said something that I thought was so incredible I have never forgotten. It went «I want to choose who I grow old with». I said: «what do you mean?» and she said to me: «I want to have my court group of friends to be together, for when I get old because your kids are always around you but they have their own lives». Then I realized that I’ve been doing that for 14 years with all these buyers.

This is a great place to have friends to be with you as you get older, you’re stuck with us forever and that is something people don’t think about when they buy here, again, back to the community. 

So, we’ve seen this happen time and time again. However, I also see it as us. We used to spend as much as 11 months a year here. Now with grandchildren, we’re going home for 4 months a year during the summertime. So, what is cool I guess is that you have a massive amount of flexibility and you can do what you like. 

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». 

Colleen Valerio, Marketing Director

Originally from western Canada, Colleen came to the DR over 15-years ago. She has been helping buyers find their tropical dream homes ever since.