Our experience in purchasing a home in beautiful Puerto Rico.

lgustaf wrote:

My experience with agents in PR has lead me to believe either they don't care, are just plain unprofessional, or are lazy and do the least amount of work possible to get paid.

Not in every case but true of the majority of agents in PR. Most agents in PR are seller agents, a few like my friend Carlos which is a buyer agent are very profesional and very helpful. In many ways like you describe your practice.

As to your VSJ agent being Royalty, I believe it, sounds like a Royal Pain In The ......

By the way Closing on the 1.7 acre lot in Ceiba June 21, alternate day June 22 in case someone is indisposed.

Congrats, Rey, I was wondering how that was going!

Congrats Rey to you and your wife. You will see that after all is said and done, the headaches and everything, it is well worth it.  So when are you moving down?  How is the sale of your house in MA going?  By the way, is your real estate buddy, the same Carlos that Brian had and was it the right Carlos or the bad Carlos?  ha ha.

That was the good Carlos, I gave Brian his contact and recommended him.

We are almost done with the house repairs, wife has appointment with knee surgeon this Friday to schedule her knee replacement so she can become the bionic woman. Since she needs to recuperate from that we are not going into the house market for at least two more months.

So there is a good chance we will miss the window and end up selling next spring. We already missed this year spring sale period.

But either way it is going in the market in 2-3 months after she is able to move around.

Thanks Schuttzie and Tonie.

BrianTX thank you for such a funny and informative review of your experiences.  I too felt like I was right there with you guys experiencing it all.  Glad to hear it all went down like that and you ended up following your (your wife's) dream to be living in PR this year.

We (more like I) are just starting to look into PR as a possible location to buy a place and eventually move to.  I put countless hours into researching a place/country to see if it is what we are looking for, then we visit, check out some properties and decide if it stays on the list.  I have yet to find that Caribbean destination where I just don't want to leave.  So far Mexico(Riviera Maya/Playa del Carmen) has been the closest.  So this time we are looking into PR, visiting in November for our anniversary trip, probably hit up "the good" Carlos to get some real estate info and explore the island as much as possible. 

We are a young couple and I have a dream of living and working in the Caribbean very soon, not when I am retired.  My wonderful husband is willing to come along for the adventure as long as he is able to work in a similar type job as to what he does now.  We are looking to buy a vacation property first which will make it so much easier to make the move at a later date. 

So thankful for this site and forum and I am very eager to come explore this beautiful island!!

Hi taryna,
Let me know a week or two before you come to the island and I will give you the contact info for Good Carlos. Mean time start thinking what sort of area you want to live in and the sort of activities you like. As we get closer we will guide you toward a list of towns that meet tour needs. Dont be afraid to ask questions or ask for advice any time.
Hope you like PR
Rey

PS since you are from California and I assume you like it there, you are a young couple into sports and healthy living, you may want to seriously consider the west side of the island, around Rincon. It reminds me of coastal California with the waves and young active livestyle. There is also a friendsofrincon facebook group that you may want to check out and a good number of the members in this forum live in that part of PR.

Thanks ReyP!  I appreciate the insight.

I'll be continuing to read and research as much as possible.

So BrianTX, are you all moved in? I have not read any news about a wife of a texan in quebradilla killing her husband yet.
Now that you been in the island a few months, how is everything going?
Any updates?

Hey all. Sorry I have been terrible about updating our move to PR. We have been super busy doing things to the house both inside & out. We also have to squeeze in some beach time as well.

We have been living full time in PR for about 5 months now & we just love it!
We have had both family & friends visit us already from Texas. Everyone that visits us hates to leave haha.

We have planted 38 fruit trees on our land, built a concrete fence around the property and done a ton of updates on the inside of the house as well. It has been a lot of work but it's the fun kind of work if that makes sense.

Marina & I have learned so much about living in PR over the past months. We plan to continue to explore the island and PR living every day. I will try to be better about updating you guys.

If anyone has any questions or just want to pick my brain with regards to moving to PR, feel free to send me a message. I have gotten lots of messages from really nice folks and was able to help them out and I really enjoy doing it!

More to come soon!

Cheers,
Brian & Maryna

After 15 years of living part time in Pr and Part time North Carolina I am finally selling my building/studio in NC and moving full time to Ponce/Tibes. Now I am looking into shipping. Now I need to estimate the volume of boxes and furniture to be shipped. Any suggestions? I did contact La Rosa Del Monte and they offer consolidated price based on contents and volume but could not give a price without know that information. The also have exclusive containers at 53' from 15,000 to 17,000 based on volume and weight.

After getting quotes from both La Rosa Del Monte & U-pack, U-pack was cheaper by about $1,000 for our shipment. U-pack doesn't ship cars though. I'd suggest getting quotes from both as a quote costs you nothing then choose from there.

Brian

Glad you and your family are enjoying the house and your stay in PR, I was getting a little worried there.
I bet the relatives and friends are jealous.

Wow, Brian, you've accomplished so much in a short period of time on your property.  Congrats, again!

For anyone -- House insurance:  http://www.ssspropiedad.com - 787-749-4600 cost about $528 for an insurance value of 200,000 called Casa Cubierta. Covers Fire, Huracanes, Earthquake, additional coverage available for vandalism, flooding , damages to a third party, also there is even a plan to help with cost of electric, plumbing repairs but I do not have any info on that.

The site has a special that gives you 35% off from the posted above cost, not sure how long the special will last. So you can save about 150 from above average cost.

"His roots go back to royalty in Spain."

If he proclaims this about himself and anyone gives it one shred of respect, that's the problem right there: he has an inflated ego and has not earned the respect people give him.

Your experience has given me hope for our potential move to PR. We live in Maine and are looking to move as soon as we can. We plan to put our house up for sale in the Spring, pack up the kids and the dogs and head to our new forever summer island. I have been looking through Zillow for weeks now and have found very few properties where the agent responded to my contact. My guess was that they were all out at the beach and enjoying the sunshine, mostly because that is what I would be doing...

We have found many homes that are in our price range but all of them need work, lots of work. I am pretty handy but have never worked with a concrete structure before. This being said, I have no idea what the cost would be to complete a house that is standing but unfinished (no glass in the windows, no flooring, no kitchen or bathroom materials etc...) How did you find the costs involved in your work compared to TX?

I also have a really dumb question for anyone out there... why are there bars or metal grates over every opening on every house? Is the crime really that high or... critters?...reptiles?...storms?

Thanks!
Jen 

HI JenRyan,
You did not specify who you are direction the first question to.

As to bars on windows and doors, it is to protect from people breaking in and stealing your property. There are a lot of people without a job that still need to feed their family and some their drug habit. But, don't let that scare you, break ins are not that common. Mostly crimes of opportunity.

From my experience thievery is more common in Puerto Rico if you leave yourself open to it. The rejas or bars allow you the security in a place where glass windows are not used as much. It is also a sign of prosperity as the rejas are not cheap. Now they make glass jalousie windows with the rejas incorporated into the window itself. With more people using airconditioning these windows are more common in new construction

Thank you for the info ReyP. I had a feeling that this was going to be the answer but didn't want to assume. Hopefully soon I can get the information on "good Carlos" and start our journey.

JenRyan wrote:

Thank you for the info ReyP. I had a feeling that this was going to be the answer but didn't want to assume. Hopefully soon I can get the information on "good Carlos" and start our journey.

Check your private message for his info.

Mrkpytn wrote:

From my experience thievery is more common in Puerto Rico if you leave yourself open to it. The rejas or bars allow you the security in a place where glass windows are not used as much. It is also a sign of prosperity as the rejas are not cheap. Now they make glass jalousie windows with the rejas incorporated into the window itself. With more people using airconditioning these windows are more common in new construction

Yes the security windows are a lot prettier than the rails and quite a few security doors are now very fancy looking and decorative, serve the same function as the "Rejas" but look so much better.A house without any protection left alone for a while invites curious eyes. Regular US sliding windows are not very common except in second or third floors.

Almost a year later and I'm still combing through all of your posts...you who have gone before and blazed the trail!  We are hoping to come to Vieques this fall, a permanent move.  I'm collecting tons of info and making a workbook for us of how to move to PR, and start a business.  So much to learn...thank you all for your help.  Anyone use Crowley to move a car inside a shipping container?

Very exciting, Rey!  I hope all goes well with your wife's surgery and that you are able to close on your timeline.  Will you live in PR fulltime?

Ann

annabfalter wrote:

Very exciting, Rey!  I hope all goes well with your wife's surgery and that you are able to close on your timeline.  Will you live in PR fulltime?

Ann

Yes the plan is to do that, only two things are her ankle operation in Aug/Sept and in March house goes on the market, once that is done we wait for someone to buy it and we head to PR on a permanent basis.

I guess I am going to have to raise the price I was going to ask for my property. The house across the street is asking for 44k more than what I had in mind, neighbor house is listed but no for sale sign yet and yesterday there were like 4 couples looking at it. Been on the market for a week only. I am upping mine when I go sell if that one moves fast.

ReyP wrote:

I guess I am going to have to raise the price I was going to ask for my property. The house across the street is asking for 44k more than what I had in mind, neighbor house is listed but no for sale sign yet and yesterday there were like 4 couples looking at it. Been on the market for a week only. I am upping mine when I go sell if that one moves fast.

It is a seller marker right now. Low demand in properties nationwide.

Low demand = sellers market???

Maybe the other way around?

I think he meant high demand, not low. Apparently there are more buyers than properties in the market in the states, good time to sell.

PR is the opposite, plenty of inventory, few buyers. So it is a big buyers market.

Well, I hope that's true.  Selling our house in CT this spring.

Brian,
since now almost a year since you have moved to PR how do you like it compare to TX,
also do you think it was better move to Playas De Tijuana compare to PR?
what are the average rent for SF homes little closer to Ocean but not on the ocean in PR if you have survayed area.

Regards,
Nikhil

Brian,

Can you please send me the contact info for the "Right Carlos", your attorney, and anyone else you used in the process that you would recommend.  We will be looking at property in June in the Rincon, Aguada,  Aguadilla area and appreciate any help with contact info.

([email protected])

Gtlkritz wrote:

Brian,

Can you please send me the contact info for the "Right Carlos", your attorney, and anyone else you used in the process that you would recommend.  We will be looking at property in June in the Rincon, Aguada,  Aguadilla area and appreciate any help with contact info.

([email protected])

Same Carlos I gave you.

Hi Nikhil,

We absolutely love living here. There are some amenities that we do miss since moving from Texas but that's just part of the experience.
We could easily move back to Texas if we wanted to but the thought hasn't even crossed our minds.

I'm not familiar with the other area that you mentioned so I can't offer any help there...sorry.

We purchased our home so I'm not an expert on sf rentals but from what I have seen, rents here would be substantially less expensive than affluent areas in Texas. I've seen 3 br/2 bath homes with ocean view around the $1k-1,500 per month range. The best deals, in my opinion, aren't listed anywhere. You have to just drive around & look for "se vende" signs.

Good luck with your move, wherever you choose!

Brian

Hi Gtlkritz,

I have sent an email to you with the contact info.
Those are great places to look! You may also consider looking in Anasco, Isabela & Quebradillas.
Good luck to you & hope your transition goes well!

Brian

If anyone is looking to build, a 1000 meter lot on my street just came up for sale. It has an amazing ocean view sitting on about 250 foot cliff overlooking the sea.
I believe they are asking $150k.
Let me know if you'd like the phone number off of the sign.

Brian

150k for 1000 sq meters, ouch.

I guess it goes back to location, location, location.
The way I look at it is someone can build a $100-150k house and have a brand new home on quiet cul-de-sac street with a breathtaking ocean view for $250-300k.

Actually a friend of Marina's is looking hard at it as she wants to move close to us in the next couple of years from Texas.

What may make sense for some may not for others.

Brian