Buying a Home in Dominican Republic: Our Purchase

The Future

Ok, so the ink is dry or drying on our casa purchase.  I've put off writing about the details of the whole process of buying property in the Caribbean.  I didn't want to jinx anything. But, now that we have finalized the purchase I feel it's safe to document our trials and tribulations.

I outlined our desire to live on a tropical island in earlier posts. Both my husband and I would like to make this happen before the 'traditional' retirement age. We want to simplify our lives, live slower-paced and not rush around like the proverbial 'rats in the maze'.  We are willing to throw the dice, move to an island paradise and try to make it work on much less income than we do now.

We had a five year plan.  We had rented places on Eleuthera, one of the 'out islands' in the Bahamas. The proximity to the mainland but non-touristy feel seemed like a good mix.  A few things worked against us however.

1) To avoid a hefty 10% or more transfer tax you need to buy in the US $500,000 price point which buys you citizenship/residency...can't remember exact details, but that was NOT our budget.  Our budget was more like $0 - $150,000.

2) There's no agriculture/industry on the out islands...which means you have to live on one of the more 'developed' and thus, in my opinion, over-touristy and crime-ridden islands to have good access to groceries and/or hardware OR you deal with driving around a lot trying to find things and often doing without and being very savvy with your trips to Miami and back.  Everything seemed scarce and expensive when we would rent there.

Island Breeze bungalow

Kokomo Beach House

3) No See-ums/Sand Fleas...I have no idea what those things eat when we're not there! We would be covered in hard, itchy bites all over feet, ankles, legs, back...you name it!  EW! You don't feel them biting you...but a few days later....Look out!  Wasn't sure we could find a tropical island paradise without blood-sucking buggy-boos!  (I'm from Michigan... born and raised... which for those of you who've never visited... is home to unbelievable numbers of mosquitoes in summer... and black flies up north... seriously, read the accounts of the early pioneers who tried to cut through the thick forests of Michigan before it was a state!...I digress...)

After our honeymoon in Punta Cana we knew we wanted to check out the real Dominican Republic so we started researching where we should look off resort. The first (and ultimately last) stop in our five year plan for a place to retire to ended up being a small town on the north coast of the DR called Cabrera. That brings us right back to post numero uno from summer 2015!

Now that the purchase is over and done I feel some extra details could be provided. We offered $110,000 with 20% down (They countered with 30% which we accepted.) for both the house and the two empty lots up closer to the awesome view. Then we paid 5% interest on balance plus monthly payments of $1,200 for 10 months until we sold our rental property and paid the $65,000 balance off. Then it was in the lawyer's court. Deslinde and cleared tax history and title needed to be certified by seller's lawyer and ours. This takes a long time. It requires visits to Santo Domingo and the bureaucracy of an up and coming Caribbean nation. Everyone will tell you that you must be patient doing anything official in the Dominican Republic or any island nation I assume. They aren't kidding.  Even though the terms of our sales agreement had long expired...and we were concerned that all the repairs and updates we had done to the house would benefit the seller, if the closing didn't happen soon. In the end, there was nothing to worry about. We ended up signing the final documents in the last week of June and transferred the stamp tax (only $1,155.00) yesterday.

Timeline:  July 2015                Found our house
                 September 2015      Purchase proposal
                 October 2015          Proposal accepted, Thomas did inspection of property
                 November 2015      Signed via power of attorney
                 December 2015       First visit together...Thomas worked his magic and turned a cement                                                        bunker into a working house and pool!
                 April 2016               First Spring Break visit with mom and the kids
                 August 2016            First Visit with friends, checked out Lifestyles in Puerto Plata
                 December 2016       Big Brodowsky Family Holiday at the house
                 April 2017               Second Spring Break with mom and the kids
                 June 2017                Two weeks just the two of us and signed closing documents
                 July 2017                 Closing documents filed and certified.                
                 August 2017            Transfer Taxes paid  (waiting for title to be transfered)

All and all, if you are thinking about buying a home or some property in the Caribbean, go for it!

Thomas has worked nothing short of several miracles every time we've been to the house. The presupposition being that no one wants to be at the house without Thomas in case someone hijacks our water line...or just turns it off...just because...or the inverter stops charging the batteries or this or that. There is no way I would have done this without him. But, that's why we could look for a bargain fixer upper. I married Thomas, Master of the Impossible.