How Owning a Caribbean Vacation Home Costs More Than Money.

-
Unfortunate cloudy day...but, the extra suite now has a door to pool deck!
The Master At Work...Peek A Boo!
It's 3 AM. The WhatsApp notification chime has pinged twice and awakened me out of a much needed restful night sleep. My heart is pounding. WhatsApp generally means the neighbors at the casa are contacting me about something... tinaco isn't filling, no outside lights are coming on...or the worst...the bars have been pried open and the house is standing open!?!!! Holy S@$#!!! (That actually happened... I'll elaborate in a future post about safety in a up and coming non-touristy town) But, wait...no, it's a message Judy sent earlier that day during a internet outage that has just now come through to inform us that our normal cleaning lady couldn't make it so she had gotten her lady for the house before our first ever renter arrived!  PHEW!  Cut to today, my darling husband is on one of his lone trips down to the DR and doesn't understand the 1 hour time difference. Thinking it's 7:20 AM and I'm happily on my way to work, he texts me 6 times AT 5:20 AM to let me know he's finally tracked down a pesky slow leak that keeps forcing the house pump to lose pressure that in turn forces us humans to toggle a switch on the circuit breaker box that sometimes has a metal frame with labels but more often does not... I can't count how many times I've turned the wrong thing off and on, resetting something I not supposed to. Whoops. I had immediate visions of worst-case-scenarios:  The pool has a leak and we need to spend $35,000 to rebuild it, the neighbors have built a giant wall blocking all views of the ocean, the cement roof that we thought was impenetrable cracked and caved in, or the absolute nightmare, he's been kidnapped and I have to pay a ransom. (That last one I've never heard of happening to anyone I've met there, but I read too many blogs both positive and negative about the Caribbean and Latin America...hmmm...)  Another 5 years taken off my life.


I am NOT a paranoid person and I thought I knew what it would be like to own a Caribbean vacation home.  We own rentals around here.  But, it is not the same.  The distance, a different culture and the understanding that most things are out of our control send me into near panic mode when someone from Cabrera contacts us.  For a while, if Richard or Judy called on the magic jack line, I really knew something was wrong...but, actually most of the time they are calling to ask us to bring stuff down to them, like seasoning packets, candy you can't get there, small stuff. So why does my blood pressure jump as soon as the whatsApp notification chimes or the caller ID on the magic jack line indicates the DR?  I don't know...but, it's costing me years off my normal life expectancy due to sheer panic for those few seconds before I read that Judy wants a couple fidget spinners for some students she tutors...WOOF!


Comments

  1. spneventsMarch 1, 2018 at 10:45 PM

    I really appreciate your work and very amazing and important information about the Magical vacation Homes which have share in this blog.
    Magical vacation Homes

    ReplyDelete
  2. leerenekMarch 2, 2018 at 5:32 PM

    Thanks...I hope to continue blogging about our future build too! Just letting people know, it's possible for average people too!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Episode of HGTV's Caribbean Life!

-
Image
All photos courtesy of HGTV Our casa! We were on Caribbean Life!  It was sooooooo much fun.  I'm sure you have read elsewhere online that it's somewhat staged...and you kind of already need to own a place to even go on the show to pretend your looking for a place, but it was a great experience and one that Thomas and I will never forget...mostly because HGTV sent us a DVD copy...but, we don't acutally have cable TV. So, we had to watch our episode at friends' house.  I have to tell you, as someone who doesn't even like pictures of herself...a whole filmed episode is torture.  But, in 10-15 years, I'll probably think I looked fabulous! HAHAHA. Interview from on our pool deck! So, as an avid watcher of Caribbean Life/Beachfront Bargain Hunt/House Hunters International I ran across a link on HGTV to apply to be on one of these shows. I was absolutely CONVINCED we were going to be on the show.  I think my husband thought it was a long shot.  But, they pum
Read more

Buying appliances and what kind of stores to expect in Dominican Republic.

-
Image
If you go on to IKEA.com you will be surprised (at least I was) to find one country in the Caribbean listed there.  The Dominican Republic!  They actually have one store in Santo Domingo and then 'distribution centers' in the East and one in Santiago which is closest to the North Coast.  Basically, you order online at the SD store and they ship it for free to a distribution center, or ship it to your door for not too much (I have not done this yet...but plan to).  The prices seemed at first to be WAY too high...but, upon further inspection it would seem it depends on the item.  Appliances at IKEA-DR no way!  They are ridiculously expensive...mattresses too...but, some things are about the same. So, we drive down to our IKEA check out some of the items we see available at the Santo Domingo IKEA and then go from there.  The website is great...since you most likely have to order online. Haven't been here...but, here's a photo...looks the same as the one here  in Michig
Read more

Shopping in the Dominican Republic and Money Transfers

-
Image
There is a beautiful ocean view from the parking lot... but no one seems to notice! La Sirena (the Mermaid) is a chain store much like Walmart. It has fresh produce, groceries, appliances, mattresses, etc. The prices are also very good. There are more La Sirenas around than the other stores mentioned earlier. We were also able to pay by credit card here without any additional charge on goods.  So, that is an option for those not wanting to carry loads of cash.  There have been some violent muggings and even murder in the Puerto Plata La Sirena parking lot recently. Thomas has been there three times and I was with him once. There wasn't any parking lot security that I could see, but the lot is barricaded off from the street so there could be security.  I would suggest  going there in midday and not carrying obvious amounts of cash.  Super Pola store front...they all look the same Inside a La Sirena Also, owned by the same company as La Sirena is Super Pola.  It'
Read more