My Process of Home Ownership in Dominican Republic

We attended home showings with great interest of buying a home. Along the way we decide to buy land instead, with now the intentions of building a house.

The search for land has been completed. With great joy, and even though this is just the very beginning of building a home in Dominican Republic. There is a great feeling of accomplishment. Being patience though this time of search was the key factor. We viewed quite a few houses and seen many different lands. Most of all by going through the process, I've learned through firsthand experience on buying property in Dominican Republic.

It all started awhile back, right before we moved from a small town on the south of the Dominican Republic. We were contemplating on moving to the north part of the country. The reason for the move was to buy an already made home, a condominium at that. Personally, I lived in condos my whole adult life. So, unconsciously I was overlooking the idea of a house at first. At the time, I’ve never been North of Dominican Republic before. I wasn't familiar with the North coast. My lady had been to Puerto Plata before, she loved it, but it was well over 10 years ago and for only a short period of time. One afternoon we were taking the bus to Santo Domingo and she showed me a few houses that were for sale. At this time, the thought of a house over a apartment never crossed my mind. The house prices were really good and in many cases neck and neck with the condo prices. The houses were bigger than the condos, and they had a yard. Almost instantly, I started to think ideally about the benefits with having a yard. The plus side changed my mind completely from a condo to a house. As a foreigner, there is only one concern in regards to living in a house. That would be the safety factor. The safety of the location of where you would like to invest and call home. Some living situations are better suited for a foreigner to live. For example, it’s best for a foreigner to live in a condo or gated community rather than a house in Santo Domingo (my humble opinion). Now if you are in a similar situation like myself and your other half is from DR, or maybe you have close relatives nearby. Then of course this may differ from a foreigner living just anywhere in DR alone. You can't just live anywhere as a foreigner, certainly not in or near higher crime areas. Yes, the cost is much cheaper, but you also would be first to be targeted. A house in a nice affluent community is so much more worth it.

As I was scrolling through the images of the houses, and seeing the cost. The more this was sounding like the better idea. Then I started imagining growing a mango tree and how surreal that would be lol. Shortly after we settled in Puerto Plata we started looking for houses on sale. There were a few standouts houses that I couldn't forget. The first house was 3 bedroom/ 2 bath, about 1600 - 1700 square meters, a nice yard with a small coconut tree and an avocado tree of a price just under $100k (USD). Located in a good quiet neighborhood, I was like where do I sign. Then after some days of waiting on a reply the listing agent said that the house was sold months ago. I knew with patience another good option will come by. I figured that with this country being a high foreigner destination that there will be many good options available. Also, that a good deal is right around the corner. Expats are not really buying real estate in DR as a business, it’s more about living in paradise. So, for whatever reason it may be when they decide to sell their property. Good deals are usually included, so just be patience and prepared. Speaking of deals, another house came up on the search, this house was a must have. The best deal so far, it had to of come from a motivative seller. This home was 2 floors, 4 bedroom/ 3 bath, about 2000 square meters, with a hammock in the front yard. We were definitely interested in this house, and knew we had to act on it quickly. We contacted the agent, and after some time the reply was that the home had been sold a few months ago. The common theme was some houses remain listed well after being sold. Another really good option was the houses that were in construction being built. I felt we would settle on this new construction. We loved the price, but not so much for the location. The location was distance and further out away from everything, not in any of our preferred areas.

We went to see countless of built houses, only to run into the problem of either a small kitchen or something with the floor plan that was a turn off. I was open to a fixer upper, but the few that were fixer uppers were charging non fixer upper prices (too much). Then out of the blue, we stumbled on a search for land and the idea sparked on purchasing land. I came to the realization that with buying land if you have patience for the timely building process, it’s likely the best decision. You can build exactly how you want with your custom-made designed floor plan. There is still good land for sale in some of the best neighborhoods. You can save so much more by hiring a team to build your home. The process can take between 4-6 months to complete the finish of the house. This would be a win-win situation for us, because we aren't in any rush. The land buying process is much faster than buying an already made home. Not much more to it then to look at an empty space? Kinda, but a little bit more to it. We had to reject land that were too close to the mountains, in order to avoid any influx of mosquitoes. Also, if possible, not to be surrounded by too many bushes for the same reasons. It’s very important to check on any water leaks on the land. We saw a land that was perfect, but it had a water leaking problem, and that wasn't something we wanted to deal with. A street where the water can flow out to the river or sewers is ideal to best avoid any rain floods that could cause major damages.

My Land The Business (more detailed)