New members of the Puerto Rico forum, introduce yourselves here – June to December 2017

Hello Guys,
I have been a lurking member for awhile.  I am a nurse here in the states and also own a candle making company. I have been wanting to relocate for years now and finally have the chance now. I have cleaned up my credit and tried to do as much as possible financial wise to make the transition smooth. My husband is a native living there already. I also have a five year old that I would love to have grow up in the culture. I am open to all suggestions anyone may have. Im a little nervous but know if I stay i will go completely insane where I currently live. I have visited numerous times with my last time I ventured out on my own. I can agree with some things Ive read here. Im still convinced this is where I need to be and really ready to take the dive.  I keep hearing there are no jobs. I dont know if my family is just being negative or dont want me to go. I know there are many obstacles. I can always go to Florida to travel and work as I do now. Thanks everyone.

Job situation is bad in PR, maybe you should consider moving your candle business to the Internet so you have a steady income. You sounds like you are pro the culture and have visited before, your husband is in PR and you want to raise the kids in the culture.

I ask, what is keeping you from coming over?
What are your fears?
Analyze that, then comeback with questions for the members.

PS. Welcome to the forum and hope PR soon.

Welcome to the forum! Have you try the VA hospital system? As a nurse, you may be able to find a position in the VA hospital in the island.

Thanks! Have been here a little over a week. First part vacation - now we're getting settled and on to work (we're able to work remote).

Thanks for the note, would love your thoughts on expats in Condado.

Travel nurse?  My wife is an RN.  We're still in the continental 48, but our understanding is that jobs, even for nurses, are scarce.  The VA system is about your only choice unless you speak Spanish (or should I say Boriqueno).  Salaries for RNs are also low relative to the mainland.  Travel nurse may be the way to go, if you are willing and able.

Hello All!

I am a 29-year-old (well in a couple of weeks) wife and mother. We visited Puerto Rico for a short 4 day trip a year ago and fell in love but the idea/discussion regarding moving to the island just happened last week! I am Cape Verdean and my husband is Puerto Rican, born and raised in the USA. He has family in the western part of the island. We both can understand Spanish and can speak enough to get the job done.

Currently, we both work full-time, I'm Social Worker and he's a Mental Health Counselor. I have been taking night classes for the last year to fulfill prerequisites for a second BS degree in nursing and would love to find a bilingual program on the island.

We have hopes of making the move in the next year or so but there are so many things to think of like school for our 4-year-old, housing- which includes renting out our property while we are in PR, moving our belongings and most importantly jobs! I have been looking at the Mayaguez area as a good location for us but from my research, it seems like the only bilingual program for nursing is at UMET in Bayamon so we may be looking at the San Juan/Dorado area.

Any advice would greatly be appreciated!

Welcome to the Forum Encarteiro.

The main advice is to land the job before coming here. Unemployment is averaging 15%, some places is 7 some is 24%. Bilingual or Spanish only will get most jobs unless the job will deal only with English speaking and of those jobs there are few.

Without a job it would be a big financial mistake to take the jump. All other stuff is workable.

I agree. I wouldn't even consider the move without an income source while living there. I am hoping to find a 100% remote job but I am having a hard time as most require one to be in a certain state or region.

Thanks so much Rey for replying back. I am working hard to get the online sales going. I think the only thing holding me back is my thoughts of the what if's. I am trying to plan as much but I believe i may just have to take the leap. Again thanks so much.

Nurses are being recruited out of the island by Texas and Florida. So spots should exist. Pay would probably suck big time, not sure how well your candle bins does but I would suggest keeping it up.

Nursing positions are scarce -- certainly scarce relative to employment opportunities on the mainland.  As hospitals trim costs, nursing positions are sacrificed and workload rises (and patient care suffers).

A couple of years ago my wife and I had a conversation about nursing positions with an administrator at Mayaguez General.  What a kind lady to spend the time with us!  Her point was that positions were scarce and that positions at the VA clinics were most highly sought after, though required fluency in English.  Salaries for RNs in PR hospitals started at around $15,000, while VA positions paid $45,000 which is more in line with mainland salaries.  Nurses worked 8-hour shifts at Mayaguez Gen, and could expect to see 8 patients.  On the mainland, floor nurses typically work 12-hour shifts, and are often capped at 5 patients.

Salaries and positions will certainly vary with experience and certifications.

Hello Everyone.  I've been reading the forum for a few months now, but finally got around to joining. My Wife and I are closer to deciding that Puerto Rico is our next home so it seemed like a good time.  My wife and I and our 2 cats have traveled a lot and lived in Belize for 2 years, and Italy for 3 months (as long as they let you stay on a tourist Visa).  I work online, and my wife has a Photography Etsy Page hobby / business.  We've only visited Puerto Rico once, but we love the Caribbean and are looking forward to getting back to it. 

At the Moment, we are leaning towards the East side for easy access to the Ferry to Culebra, Vieques and even St. Thomas.  So any advice on the Liqullo / Fajardo, to Palmas areas would be more then welcome from members that may live on that side (or anyone else).

We are Spanish Challenged, (read not much at all ;-) )  but want to learn more when we get there.

Mike & Mary

Hello! My name is melissa and I am seriously thinking about moving back to PR. I lived in rincon/mayaguez from 85- 90. I went back to rincon last year after being away for 16 years and fell in love with it all over again. I would like to start planning n preparing for this new venture. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thank you
Melissa Perez

wila5303 wrote:

Hello! My name is melissa and I am seriously thinking about moving back to PR. I lived in rincon/mayaguez from 85- 90. I went back to rincon last year after being away for 16 years and fell in love with it all over again. I would like to start planning n preparing for this new venture. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thank you
Melissa Perez

Hi Melissa,
We share last names. I left Puerto Rico 43 years ago and plan to return next summer and this time for good.

Welcome to the forum and hope you return soon to Puerto Rico.
My first suggestion is to go ahead and do searches on the site, there is plenty information to get you started, after that make a new subject/thread to ask your questions. A thread per subject works best so we discuss one type of situation at a time such as schooling , where to live, etc.

We are here to help

MnMExplorers wrote:

Hello Everyone.  I've been reading the forum for a few months now, but finally got around to joining. My Wife and I are closer to deciding that Puerto Rico is our next home so it seemed like a good time.  My wife and I and our 2 cats have traveled a lot and lived in Belize for 2 years, and Italy for 3 months (as long as they let you stay on a tourist Visa).  I work online, and my wife has a Photography Etsy Page hobby / business.  We've only visited Puerto Rico once, but we love the Caribbean and are looking forward to getting back to it. 

At the Moment, we are leaning towards the East side for easy access to the Ferry to Culebra, Vieques and even St. Thomas.  So any advice on the Liqullo / Fajardo, to Palmas areas would be more then welcome from members that may live on that side (or anyone else).

We are Spanish Challenged, (read not much at all ;-) )  but want to learn more when we get there.

Mike & Mary

We have several member in Condado, Isla Verde, Rio Grande, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba (me), and Humacao. So you will have people to hang out with.

Welcome to the forum, I'm also a newbie too. I live minutes away from Dorado area. Great to meet you all!!

Welcome... another newbie here, trying to keep my wits about me while we plan our move to PR early 2018!

Hello,
My name is Ellen.  I'm a piano teacher and gardener.  My boyfriend and I have been visiting PR for the last 4 years and each time consider moving.  We love Luquillo, Aguadilla, and Utuado.  Totally different places, but each amazing.  We have had considerable issues when looking to even see homes.  We've contacted through Clasificados, Point 2 Homes, and individual agents.  After reading two articles on expat.com about the process, I'm hoping to have more luck at the end of August.  I think in total we've seen 4 places through the years.  2 were contacted and 2 others were random.  It has been difficult to get responses.

Any insight on how specific my inquires should be would be helpful. Still hopeful to find a place, and looking forward to learning more through you all's experiences.  Thanks.

ellenbunch wrote:

Hello,
My name is Ellen.  I'm a piano teacher and gardener.  My boyfriend and I have been visiting PR for the last 4 years and each time consider moving.  We love Luquillo, Aguadilla, and Utuado.  Totally different places, but each amazing.  We have had considerable issues when looking to even see homes.  We've contacted through Clasificados, Point 2 Homes, and individual agents.  After reading two articles on expat.com about the process, I'm hoping to have more luck at the end of August.  I think in total we've seen 4 places through the years.  2 were contacted and 2 others were random.  It has been difficult to get responses.

Any insight on how specific my inquires should be would be helpful. Still hopeful to find a place, and looking forward to learning more through you all's experiences.  Thanks.

The problem is not that a Real Estate agent wont help you, they will,  the problem is the distance between a town to another. For example from utuado to aguadilla and luquillo on house hunting could go for about over a 4 hr drive on way before finding a home and some agents will not return your calls not because they don't want to help, is the distance and the time consuming of the nature. In the contrary in the states is a few minutes of distance or an 1hr away to locate a property. Puerto Rico is small but in driving distance is a looooong drive.

It depends on your lifestyle. My wife family are from Utuado, is very tranquil area if you like the country side, hearing the lil insects, coquis, in december it drops down to the 60's, and driving over an 1hr to get to the mall.

Now, Aguadilla and luquillo is more to the cost and pretty much close to the main road. I've work with different customers and my last customer from NY had a similar petition just like you, it wasn't an easy task but she found her dream home minutes away from the beach. If need assistance, I'll gladly help you!!

ellenbunch wrote:

Hello,
My name is Ellen.  I'm a piano teacher and gardener.  My boyfriend and I have been visiting PR for the last 4 years and each time consider moving.  We love Luquillo, Aguadilla, and Utuado.  Totally different places, but each amazing.  We have had considerable issues when looking to even see homes.  We've contacted through Clasificados, Point 2 Homes, and individual agents.  After reading two articles on expat.com about the process, I'm hoping to have more luck at the end of August.  I think in total we've seen 4 places through the years.  2 were contacted and 2 others were random.  It has been difficult to get responses.

Any insight on how specific my inquires should be would be helpful. Still hopeful to find a place, and looking forward to learning more through you all's experiences.  Thanks.

Your biggest problem is that those places are far appart. Most realtors will not drive 4 hours one way to show you 1-2 houses then drive back another 4 hours with traffic. To then do it again the next day. Select a town or two that are very close to each other then find a realtor in one of the towns. His trip will be 20-30 minutes and he will be in much better mood.
Decide on one area.

Also get prequalified before you ask a realtor to take you places.

Thanks for your reply. I may not have not been clear in what I was asking advice for. We have been contacting different seller agents in each area (it's always the agent listed with the property).  We are not expecting any one agent to travel the island to show us all the properties we are interested in. 

More specifically, what type of detail(s) would make an email attractive enough to increase the likelihood of a response from the agent?

Thanks again!

ellenbunch wrote:

Any insight on how specific my inquires should be would be helpful. Still hopeful to find a place, and looking forward to learning more through you all's experiences.  Thanks.

Are you pre-qualified for a loan, or do you intend to make a cash offer?  If so, be certain to inform the listing agent of such.  He or she will want to know that you are serious, and not some tourist wasting his or her time.

If you are in the market for a property selling for less than $150,000 the agent might not be willing to invest much time.  It seems to me that many agents would rather hope to make a single, million-dollar sale than make six sales at $150,000.  If your housing needs are modest, your indication of pre-approval or cash in hand will help even more.

**Edit:  Oops, Rey beat me to it.  Great minds, and all that....

I always advice people to come and rent a place for 6 months to a year. This allows you to really decide if PR is for you and also settle on where in the island you want to be. Agents are a lot more responsive if you are currently living in the island because you are not just coming for a week or two on a wild house hunting trip and then head back to the states.

Being in the island the agent can contact you when he has something on hand and show it to you quickly and efficiently. This way he does not feel he is wasting his time and you can take your time finding the perfect place.

To make the letter more attractive, you need to show him that you are committed to make a purchase now not on the 3rd or fourth trip and that you have the means as Warner said.
Rey

I dont plan on working as a nurse there. I have been one for about 20 years so the pay here is great. Like I said before I am already traveling so traveling back to work will be no problem. One thing I love about our field is that we can sign up for contracts. Ive checked the wages there on the island.

This was the only way I was thinking plus I love to travel.

Interesting because here we work supposely on paper 8 to 12 hours and end up being more hours from being short staffed..this is a great read and lots of info here thanks guys

Hey all,

Newbie here!  My wife, Loren, 15-month-old son, Rivers, and I will be moving to PR from Charleston, SC in spring of 2018 and I've already been enjoying the down to earth info on these forums...so thanks!  I'm a full-time audiobook narrator and Loren is a hair stylist.  We're both avid sailors (Rivers already has about 1200 ocean miles under his belt) and are moving to PR to enjoy Caribbean sailing year-round, live a slower pace of life, hopefully get full health insurance coverage again (being self employed and above the income level for government assistance, our premiums are simply not doable for us here in the states), and enjoy a lower cost of living (primarily due to selling our home here to pay off a lot of debts, then renting for a lot cheaper in PR, eventually buying).  Looking forward to chatting with you all and hopefully meeting some of you next year!  Incidentally, we're coming for an explorational/research visit August 28 - 31 and are primarily looking at the eastern end of PR - Luquillo, Fajardo, etc. since those marinas offer the best location for sailing the VI's.  Oh yeah, and we'll be sailing the boat down once we're settled - probably the offshore "I-66" route in case anyone has ever done it and has any stories to relate.

Eric

EricDove wrote:

Hey all,

Newbie here!  My wife, Loren, 15-month-old son, Rivers, and I will be moving to PR from Charleston, SC in spring of 2018 and I've already been enjoying the down to earth info on these forums...so thanks!  I'm a full-time audiobook narrator and Loren is a hair stylist.  We're both avid sailors (Rivers already has about 1200 ocean miles under his belt) and are moving to PR to enjoy Caribbean sailing year-round, live a slower pace of life, hopefully get full health insurance coverage again (being self employed and above the income level for government assistance, our premiums are simply not doable for us here in the states), and enjoy a lower cost of living (primarily due to selling our home here to pay off a lot of debts, then renting for a lot cheaper in PR, eventually buying).  Looking forward to chatting with you all and hopefully meeting some of you next year!  Incidentally, we're coming for an explorational/research visit August 28 - 31 and are primarily looking at the eastern end of PR - Luquillo, Fajardo, etc. since those marinas offer the best location for sailing the VI's.  Oh yeah, and we'll be sailing the boat down once we're settled - probably the offshore "I-66" route in case anyone has ever done it and has any stories to relate.

Eric

You'll find great info and meet well minded people that are willing to share there experience and knowledge.


In my Real Estate adventure I get to meet the most wonderful people that I now consider as friends and one of them own a boat business in Fajardo maybe you could get in contact with him.  From all the decks in the island in my opinion fajardo is the prettiest of all.

Well EricDove, welcome to the Forum and PR soon, I would suggest talking with one of our members, Frogrock. She has friends that have a sail boat in Fajardo and she and her friends take trips to the Virgin Islands from time to time.

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site and wanted to say hello.  I wish I had found this site years ago, it's without question the best resource I've come across and I haven't been a member for 24 hours yet!

Anyways, I'm ellenbunch's boyfriend (she posted a few times above), and we are very excited about the prospects of making a move to the island.  Thank you for all of your responses to our questions thus far, it's really cool to know that such a friendly community exists here.

I look forward to talking with some of you soon!

passandstow wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site and wanted to say hello.  I wish I had found this site years ago, it's without question the best resource I've come across and I haven't been a member for 24 hours yet!

Anyways, I'm ellenbunch's boyfriend (she posted a few times above), and we are very excited about the prospects of making a move to the island.  Thank you for all of your responses to our questions thus far, it's really cool to know that such a friendly community exists here.

I look forward to talking with some of you soon!

The members from this forum are absolutely very helpful. Great to have you guys here!!

passandstow wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site and wanted to say hello.  I wish I had found this site years ago, it's without question the best resource I've come across and I haven't been a member for 24 hours yet!

Anyways, I'm ellenbunch's boyfriend (she posted a few times above), and we are very excited about the prospects of making a move to the island.  Thank you for all of your responses to our questions thus far, it's really cool to know that such a friendly community exists here.

I look forward to talking with some of you soon!

You and ellenbunch are both welcome, hope we can help you two make the transition.

Moving from SF Bay Area to the west side of la Isla next month, the wife is calling it a family sabbatical lol

Jyee wrote:

Moving from SF Bay Area to the west side of la Isla next month, the wife is calling it a family sabbatical lol

Good to hear, the west side does remind me of California.

Jyee wrote:

Moving from SF Bay Area to the west side of la Isla next month, the wife is calling it a family sabbatical lol

We may be moving to the west side, as well. Hopefully, next month we will be able to go check out Aguadilla, Isabela, Rincon & Arecibo areas. Been to going to PR my whole life but never been past Arecibo so I can't wait to check it out! Best to you and your fam on your move there.

Jyee wrote:

Moving from SF Bay Area to the west side of la Isla next month, the wife is calling it a family sabbatical lol

Welcome to the Group.l and to the island!!

Thank you !!!! The west side is peaceful and the south as well

Hi Everyone, we are looking to relocate our company to PR for obvious tax purposes. We are from SoCal and looking for a town that has great beaches, food, and things to do for our daughter.  Our daughter is not in school for a while so we dont need a place that has good schools yet. Looking for recommendations so that we can fly out there and check it out.  Thanks.