Buying a second home in PR

I have no experience with OSJ, we live on the eastern side of the island. Our home is a second home and there are some hurdles. First of all, get a good lawyer. Plan on delays in dealing with ARPE, the local governmental agency for registering property. Get a title search with title insurance. PR land ownership can be a legal maze. Check out the water situation which in OSJ should be city water. However, this does not guarantee purity or a dependable supply. Make sure your roof is good and don't buy anything without good screens, the bugs are biblical. Check out the electrical box, 40 to 60 amp services are common here and you will end up loosing appliances, computers etc. A couple of good surge protectors are also a must. Since you speak spanish you will have an easier time, try to find a good handy man. Health care is going to be a problem. I use the VA and get pretty good care but the public hospitals and clinics are famous for poor care. Be prepared to fly back to the states for serious health issues. I would recommend a small to mid sized SUV. You need plenty of ground clearance here whether you are in the city or out in the boonies. As for personal experiences, we had neighbors challenge our ownership of our land, spent two or three years in court dealing with outright lies by town officials, had men armed with machetes try to scare and intimidate us and have had to deal with illegal cock fights next door. I won't even go into the maintenance problems we have had to address. Luckily I can fix almost anything. ARPE lost our deed and it took us seven years to find out and produce our copy which is in the unending process of being filed now. Thank God for a good lawyer. We have had neighbors plant on our land without permission and cut down our trees. Through out all this the word has gotten out that we are fair and friendly gringos that are not to be messed with but the people here always...always push. At first this was very uncomfortable to us but after a while we grew to accept it. Right now my biggest problems are keeping up with the lawn, controlling the mosquitoes and capturing the dry days to do outside maintenance. We live next to the rain forrest well off the beaten path so this is a problem. I hope some of this helps, if i can be of any more help, just holler.
Cheers,

Skip

Thanks for the feedback, Skip. The comments about ARPE and getting a good lawyer are particularly helpful. We will keep these suggestions in mind. Any other comments about issues particular to getting a condo (either in a 3-5 unit converted colonial in OSJ, or in a larger development) are welcome. Thanks!

Hi Anolis:

My wife and I lived in Capitolio Plaza in OSJ for about 10 months.  It is a beautiful building, right across from Bahia Urbana that has 24-hr controlled access, walking distance to everything in OSJ, a parking garage, gym, pool, jogging track, and basketball/tennis.  Fortunately it also has a cistern and backup generator.  The power went out several times per week, but the generator kicked in immediately.

When we moved in, we had our lawyer go over the lease - there was about 20 items that needed to be addressed.  The landlord wanted us to pay for new a/c units right off the bat.  Being right off Bahia Urbana, it is VERY loud, particularly when there are concerts, which are nearly every weekend.

The big thing that caused us to move was that the fire alarm would go off all the time.  The neighbors said "oh yeah, don't worry about it - it's never a fire".  Needless to say, that was quite unnerving, so we moved.

When we were out, the landlord was trying to get more money from us.  Luckily we have a military lawyer, and as soon as he responded, we didn't hear a word from them again.

So, if you are considering Capitolio Plaza (there are lots of units available), talk to others - they may be able to provide some additional information.

We have a good lawyer here who does work in OSJ and SJ. When you get here, get in touch. I'll put in a contact request and I'll send my phone number via private message. We would love to meet you folks,

Cheers

Skip

trekrider, I just looked at your website.  Amazing photos! They are breathtaking, you are very talented!

Thank you Skip & trekrider.

I have lots of experience in PR, so some of this is not news. We're not leaning towards a place like Capitolio Plaza, but more likely a small multi-unit directly inside the old city. Given your comments, though, does anyone else have anything to add about the necessity/desirability of a backup generator? Since we are not (for now) full time in PR, this would be for short outages due to the AEE, rather than longer term outages after a hurricane (for instance). Thanks!

Not all AEE outages are short in nice weather. There is also talk of lengthy rolling blackouts on the horizon because of the situation they are in Get a generator. It's like having a raincoat, you'll need it sooner or later. If you need one and don't have one and can't get one because the stores are all sold out, well, that would really suck. I recommend an LP generator if you can afford it. They are sooo much quieter.

Thank you for the advice on this GreggK. Since you seem to know what you're talking about (more than I would) can an automatic backup generator be installed on a flat rooftop? Since we are looking at OSJ, I ask for obvious reasons.

What about having an electrician install a transfer switch for a small number of essential circuits and then just using a portable gas or diesel generator that we'd store on a rooftop terrace (say) and then roll out and run (obviously, far from any windows or air intake to the building) when required?

Thoughts & experiences welcome!

Sounds like a good plan, Anolis. Obviously being in a highly populated are you would need a generator that doesn't make a lot of noise. Having a diesel or LPG generator is an advantage when there's a hurricane and gas is hard to find. You won't have problems buying diesel or LP gas.
An LPG generator might be your best bet - your hardly smell the exhaust.

Having a transfer switch installed is a good plan, too. Get a licensed 'perito' electrician to do the job for you.

Thanks Skip for the info about land and property ownership.  We are currently renting our home in Quebradilla but may buy it in the future and I have heard about the problems with the land ownership, etc. and where we live, it is all mostly owned by one family. This is a little unnerving since if we do purchase the home, we may not get a clear title since probably the original family still owns the land where the house stands. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. I have heard of people giving some land to others and when they go to sell it, it was not theirs to begin with.The first thing is definitely get a good lawyer and not one for the seller because when we went to lease this house, our landlord said we would go to the lawyers office to sing a lease and that he got one in Aguadilla since all the ones in town charge a lot. So not knowing better we went along and we had to pay for the lease being drawn up and so forth which we didn't have a chose in the matter then but before going in to him, the landlord had a closed door meeting with him which we didn't like while I read over the lease in Spanish(which most of it I understood perfectly) and then we asked the lawyer about certain items about it and he answered.

Anyway, it has all turned out okay to this day and we are very happy here. I just wonder does he really own the property or what???? I heard from some neighbors that he bought it from the bank as a foreclosure and maybe that is it.

So we shall see if in a couple of years, we decide to buy it. Anyway best of luck. We get along perfectly well with our neighbors and like them alot, maybe it is because we are Boricua and understand their mentality ????

HI, Anolis. We just purchased a condo in the Fajardo area, right up the road from the Puerto del Rey Marina. Depending on what you like to do there are a lot of complexes in this area worth looking at, if you are not set on buying in San Juan. We found that the closing process was very easy, given that our real estate agent took great pains to make sure that everything was done properly. With a good agent, you should have no worries, If I can help in any way, let me know. You can read about our experience at our blog www.villamantua.com

I like that area you are in. I was last there in 2004. I hear they did a multi million dollar upgrade to Puerta Del Rey marina. I keep track of that stuff because I used to letter the names on yachts in 23k gold leaf. They have a yacht repair facility right next to the marina. I'm sure it's changed a lot since I've been there. I bet you got a condo in one of the buildings they just started construction on when I was there. Is the Chinese restaurant still there?

Thanks for the suggestion Bear66. No, we are definitely set on San Juan for reasons of work, school, & friends. I like OSJ for safety and walkability, but we will also look in Ocean Park/Condado area.

Gary & GreggK, it sounds like you both have experience with generators. Do you know if a small home automatic emergency backup LP generator can be installed on a flat rooftop in the city? I think this may be theoretically possible, but have you seen it? We may also look for a condo in a multi-family that already has a backup generator. Thanks for all the feedback!

Gary would have more experience in that area than I would. I only lived in PR for a year but my wife is from there so I knew that a generator is a neccessity. Even if the power goes out for a short time it can still ruin your food which is very expensive to replace. Gary has been there for 13 years and would have much more knowledge than me. I just suggested LP because of the quietness. You can also get an inverter which is run by gas and very quiet but very costly. Just make sure you get something so you can set it to start automatically if your power goes out if you are not home. I only needed to use mine twice but I sure am glad I had it.

It gets more expensive if you want(need) a quiet generator. Home Depot sells a quiet 2.2 kW Ryobi for around $550. It runs on gas. 2.2 kW will power your fridge, a couple of fans and some light.

Quiet LP or Diesel generators are (a lot more)  more expensive but also have more power.  A 7 kW diesel generator goes for around 2 Grand.
LPG sets seem to be only available in pretty high capacities (15 - 20 kW and up) and  start at 3 Grand. Those are capable of running a house including A/C.

Since I live out in the boonies I have a simple, loud gas generator. I had a used 5.5 kW Coleman for 10 years or so and it died on me a couple of weeks ago. I bought a 5.7 kw Rigid (Yamaha engine) and it is working just great. It does make a lot of noise but I put it away from the house so it doesn't bother that much.

One way or another when you are or generator power the cost of electricity is a lot higher than  the already high prices that AEEE is charging. I burn something like $15/ day and I only have it running for 8-10 hours.

I'm sure you may find a place in OSJ where the building has a backup generator. Of course that will raise the service fee.

Also, get yourself a of battery backup unit for your computer(s) and surge protector for fridge, TV etc. Power spikes can kill equipment..

Hi Anolis,

We have a 7.5 KW gas operated generator. It's loud and of course there are the gas fumes. It does however run the whole house and pool. The make is black max sold by Sam's and uses a honda motor which I am partial to. Our house cam equipped with a switch so the transfer of power is easy. I would suggest storing any equipment out of the rain. We are out in the boonies and use the genny at least once a month. In my opinion it is an essential piece of equipment. Good luck!

Skip

Thanks for the comments Gary & Skip. They are very helpful and we will keep these things in mind as we look for places in San Juan. We will also ask our real estate agent for feedback.