New members of the Puerto Rico forum, introduce yourself here – 1st quarter of 2016

Moved here last week with my husband and two kids.   Live in San Juan. Love it so far!  We will be hopefully residing closer to Guaynabo soon. Our kids started school on Monday and so far are doing great.

Welcome to the Island, relax and take it easy.

That is great to hear, MarathoMama!  If you like, you could start a new thread post talking about the in's and out's of your move

Hi everyone...my wife just signed up on this forum and not to be left out I decided to join so she doesn't have to tell me everything she is reading online.

We will be traveling back to PR in a few weeks to check the island out, meet with some family who already live there and hopefully make a decision regarding moving to the island. This forum seems really helpful and it has already answered some of our questions. Our biggest concern is whether or not we can find part-time work while we try to get our business established. Hopefully we will get the answer to that question in the near future. Look forward to meeting as many of you as we can if we end up moving there. Enjoy sunny and warm PR!!! Going to be 21 here tonight...ugh!!

Welcome to your new adventure

Welcome to the forum,
As to part time job ..... That is very hard to answer, it depends on your set of skills, Spanish would be very helpful also.

There is around 11% to 15% unemployment (depending where you see the number) in the island, there are people with master degrees working at supermarkets, competition is though. Bosses have plenty of applicants. Pay is typically 1/2 to 1/3 what it is in the US in IT and other high paying jobs. Minimum wage if you can get it is the same as the one set by the Federal government.

If you can work remote with your profession you may want to consider that and work from PR, if you depend on the Internet for work, I suggest that you have two very different Internet providers as it can be unreliable at times. If your phone allows you to provide WIFI for your computer, you may want to use that as your backup internet service in case of an outage on your main Internet service.

Feel free to start a new subject for each of the main questions you have, we will do our best to answer.

Welcome to the Forum and hope to welcome you to PR soon.
Rey

Welcome dhancock! Are you bilingual? In what part of the island do you plan on living?

Hello, I moved here 2 years ago, I absolutely love the island. Living in Luquillo up in El Yunque. Im hoping to run a medium size guest home soon, it is a work in progress. Does anyone know where there are spanish classes available? I ve picked a lot of spanish in the last two years but I wold love be fluent. Ive checked with nearby colleges and was surprised to find out they do not offer any classes to learn spanish.

As stated above .Are you bilingual. Your skills and the location you want to move too.

Sagrado Corazon University has Spanish classes. Not close for you though...

Hi Suzanne...unfortunately I do not speak Spanish. I hope this won't be a huge hurdle to overcome. We are hoping to live in an area where there are a lot of beach weddings for our business. Of course our son, who is an avid surfer, wants us to live In Rincon. Hopefully we will decide when we come back In a few weeks.

We please consider Rincon.  Lots of nice places for weddings.   90% of the people are bilingual or English speaking.  I speak no Spanish. We moved 3 times before settling in to Rincon. We would visit her and love it . We lived in joyuda Cabo rojo as well as arecibo .I always had language barrier issues .Rincon no issues. Love it here. People are friendly .It's a big surfer town and lots of expats here.  I know lots of people and can hook you up with everything you need .However. not many supplies type of stores here. So you would either want to ship your stuff here or you can order online and ship your merchandise here.  I can give you special shipping information

Also wanted to remind you snow bird season. Unless you already booked a place here in Rincon months ago .You willl have a hard time finding a rental and if you do it will be expensive.   So take that into consideration. Mid April they start to leave.  If your looking for long-term rental I can help you with that. I know plenty of natives . Also suggest to stay away from puntas area .It's where all the tourist rent .The prices are higher and they lose power and water all the time.  You can get a 3 bedroom house in cruces mountains of Rincon starting at $425.  It's 10 mins from town center. Supermarket and the beach.  It's quieter here and less crime. Rincon doesn't have much crime. But it's usually in the tourist area anyways.   Rincon is 30 mins with traffic to get to Sam's club and 35 mins to ban airport

Hi! We're moving to Puerto Rico in June for my husbands job. He starts next week so will be traveling back and forth, and we're coming over in Feb to look for a home. We will most likely be living in Guaynabo since I believe our kids will go to Baldwin. How old are your kids and where are they going to school?

Welcome Rbenrubi, i wish you alot of luck.
I have been living here a week now, and im loving
It. I have 2 sons ages 23 and 25, i do not have
School age children, sorry i couldnt help you.
Enjoy the island once you move. )

Welcome to Puerto Rico and this forum. I live on the far side, Humacao, and do not have children so my experiences are a bit different than yours.  But we share this great place called Puerto Rico.

Hopefully  we can meet when I move there gd luck  to u. How old are r kids? And please let me know how things  work out.

We're moving there in June and will be there in Feb looking in Guaynabo. Getting excited!

Gd luck we might moving  around  the  time. How old are your  kids? Gd luck.

I have a 15 yr old daughter, a 13 yr old son and a 6 year old daughter. You?

10yr old daughter, 6 yr old daughter, 12m daughter. 

Here is my email  gd gd luck. xxx

R u taking all r furniture, I hear sometimes  it's better  to  not take alot of things.  Curious.  Thx V

You can purchase fairly inexpensive furniture in PR, most people buy inexpensive furniture.

Now if you have very expensive furniture in the US, it may be worth considering shipping the stuff. I would check with a mover, get a quote, if you can move a portion or most of the best furniture to PR for 4,000, maybe is worth it. It all depends.

Personally I would not move any leather chairs or couches, it is too hot in PR to sit on those and the humidity may damage it.

Rattan is popular but don't get it wet.

Cloth is best but does wears out. By the way I seen many people get these plastic covers for their furniture to protect them, you get stuck to the plastic cover, very uncomfortable and you sweat. Big expensive mistake.

Elegance: if you have any type of decoration or furniture that is very elegant and you find a place that goes with those pieces, by all mean ship them. If the house is rustic, modern furniture may clash.

Not sure. It depends on the house we rent. My husband's company is moving us, so it also depends on what they allow us to take.

We are in the process of making fixes to our house here in the US and have given a lot of stuff away, we are removing and trowing away a lot of stuff, we will end up shipping some stuff once we sell the house but we will be selective as to what we ship. Kitchen stuff like blenders and stuff can be purchased anywhere but we may ship some kitchen stuff since it will be expensive to replace all of that.

Rbenrubi wrote:

Not sure. It depends on the house we rent. My husband's company is moving us, so it also depends on what they allow us to take.

Check your allowance, if good, bring the kitchen sink too. Let them pay!

Ok curious.  Thx . What comp?

It's AstraZeneca.

Ooo ok ,I knew,alot of reps from there.  I'm  a nurse. But now a stay at home mom. My husband  company  is a,research  vision comp.

Hello!

We moved to Puerto Rico mid-January 2016.  We are renting a house in Palmas del Mar, and LOVE it so far.  We are both Information Technology consultants on the Tax Act 20/22. 

Jennifer runs a Travel and activity blog, that will feature our new Caribbean life.  JenThereDoneThat.com

We are still getting settled, but are interested in finding local produce (farmer's markets or co-ops), other Tax Act 20/22 professionals, and other like minded couples that are ready to slow down and enjoy the island life.

- Jennifer and Roger

We just moved to Palmas del Mar community in Humacao!  We love the East side of the island.

Great my husband  will move mid March n we will move Mid June until kids r done w school. Looking forward  to  hearing  the feedback  how do u like it. Do they  have 4 bedrooms  in r gated  community  there ?

Yes, we moved into a 4 bedroom home in a gated community.  There were many homes with more bedrooms, but they were way too big for us. 

Here is our realtor's site and the neighborhood that we live in.  Contact Eddie, he is fantastic!  http://alinasantiago2.point2agent.com/R … 76446.html

Did u rent or buy? If u don't mind me asking  what's the  rentals  for a 4 bedroom?

Hello everyone,

Welcome on board all newcomers 

Just to remind you that the new members thread is reserved only for the introduction of new members.

If you need infos, please go through the threads in the different categories of the Puerto Rico forum.

You are advised to create your own thread if you do not find any info related to your questions

- https://www.expat.com/forum/post.php?fi … mp;lang=en

And if you want to ask something in particular to a member, you may do so via the private messaging system. Click on the member's profile, you will see a "send a message" tab.

All the best
Bhavna

We are looking to buy a condo in Fajardo as our future retirement home.  We're coming back to PR during Spring Break since I'm a teacher and can't go whenever I want. LOL  The first time we brought our boys, the youngest asked if we could fake our deaths and not go back home.

Hope you will be enjoying the island soon. Welcome to the forum. Plenty of condos in Fajardo, you may want to consider a repo, may need a little work inside and several coats of paint but you will save. Offer about 15 to 20% less than what they ask and maybe even lower in some cases. There are a lot of properties for sale and few buyers.