Arriving in San Juan in January... looking for realtors and used cars

I will pm you a realtor and he can recommend a car dealer. I need your full name so I can let him know to expect a call from you.

Could not Pm you for some reason here is the realtor info.
His name is Carlos Torres (787) 527-3324
Let him know what you want and your budget
Send me you full name so I can let him know you will be calling

My recommendation is to find a realtor who lives in, is well-established and knows the neighborhood where you want to purchase. Realtors there are very protective of their listings, and often won't share them with other agents outside the area.

And be prepared to do a lot of work on your own. Don't rely on any realtor to do anything but show your property.

Rey likes to push Carlos, for the referral fee, I'm sure.

No fee,  i get nothing. He is a buyer agent not a regular agent, I do it because the people here need someone reliable that works around all those seller agents. Believe what you want

I like the idea of a buyer's agent, Rey. My husband and I haven't contacted Carlos yet, but we will soon. We've just booked a place to stay for 9 days in February and hope to begin our serious search for a home then. We appreciate your help.
Nan

I don't know how a buyer agent can make it in PR, since there are so many pocket listings--- even if he were able to know and show all the markets on the island.

Everyone sees things based on their experience and values.

Carlos negotiates with each seller agent a percentage and makes arrangements to get the keys or code needed to enter the property, he invites the seller agent to come but will show the property as long as he has access. Only properties that meet the needs and budget of the buyer are shown. He also canvases the area for unlisted properties and speaks with the owners to see if those properties are a match for the client. He was my real estate agent and have some of the members of this forum also as clients.

Carlos works for the client not the seller and assist with other matters that will make life easier on the buyer such as car dealers, insurance, banking, points of interest, stores, schools, etc. He is single and he has enough clients to make a living and his number of contacts and new friends grows with every client and every home search.

*** By the way, I do not get pay for my work here in the forum either, I get the satisfaction of helping someone move to Puerto Rico in the least painful way and hopefully make a new friend. We are each motivated by different things.

You SHOULD get a referral fee. It's way harder to find buyers than sellers, especially in PR. I was a buyer's agent and gave referral fees on every referral I received upon close of escrow.

It was offered, I turned it down, i did not want a conflict of interest with this forum.

Rey,

We appreciate all your information and the help you provide. I think that regardless if someone on the forum gets any type of compensation or not,  the information is always helpful. It is up to YOU to decide if you going to blindly follow that info or do your diligent assignment to validate the information.

As it had been expressed here, there are many ways you can find services and information. We are here to give our perspective and experience based on our personal knowledge.

I wish everyone good luck and hope you use the information provided by our members to help you make the experience more enjoyable.

Thanks Adlin,
About a year ago I foresaw comments like that about pushing a realtor because of a fee, so I decided that I was not going to take a fee since trust is more important than a few bucks.

Sometimes it is not easy to be the lead of the forum but I continue to march forward because I know what it was like to migrate to a strange country and a lot of people need mine and the members help to successfully make the jump.

In my regular job and here in the forum, trust is prime.
Thanks for your support.
Rey

I certainly appreciate all the regular members input and suggestions.  A big Thank You to you all!

Nan,
Me and my girlfriend arrived here oct.this year and had been reseaching homes and coming back and forth for a year to look at homes. We found a fannie mae foreclosure near arecibo three bedroom two baths with a detached apartment.near a nursing college. Original asking price was $60,000 after negotiations we got it for $21,500 needs minor work.keep your eye on clasifacodos and another site called point2homes pr. My advice is unless they have a actual price listed on a home dont approach the owners yourself.all locals assume your donald trump and have loads of money.you wont get any where that way. For the longest time while searching for homes here I would approach homeowners with se vende signs on there property and almost every time the magic asking price would be either $100,000 or $200,000 lol.good luck and dont jump on the first house you see here.theres over 6,000 plus homes in foreclosure.take your time.

Ive gone through dozens of agents in my search ...not real motivated as they are in the states from my experiance.however the one I did find helpful finally is named dasnell 7874733773. Has been great and bilangual if you dont speek spanish. Give her a call shes familiar with area property and you can tell we refered you.our names are EUgene and Karen.good luck

Thank you so much for the great information. After our 10-day visit in February, we  plan to come back and rent for 6 months to a year and take our time as we house-hunt. We would love to have a small house with a separate apartment or casita for visitors. My husband is very handy, so we don't mind making some repairs. In February, we will look for a rental. It sounds as if you got a great deal. I hope everything is going well for you.

That is an awesome deal, Karma, congratulations and hope all is going well with you!

You have to know what you are doing to get a place back in shape after a year or more of neglect. The single most common issue is filtration or roof leak, the second most common issue is vandals stealing everything including the wiring and plumbing, windows and doors and all major appliances. Know what the repairs will be before you buy.

Some old houses were put together by people that had no floor plans and no real idea what they were doing. Things are a lot of time not up to code, beware.

I will suggest talking to a local contractor guy. He can advise you and tell you aproximate how much will cost the repairs. On our rental house we were able to negotiate a good price and after some repairs we are renting it and getting our money back. Right now the house appraised for almost double we purchased. I won't advise to purchase with the intention or re selling, market is bad to sell in the island. My goal is to invest on some rentals and live out of the income, if and when the market improves I may sell them and make a good profit. Either way we are keeping them, we can leave them to the kids in the future.

Thanks and you are sooo right.ive looked at literally hundreds of houses on the island and have seen plenty of crazy stuff done to homes. Luckily I have a construction family background and some knowledge. The house didnt need much the electrical was in question to me so to be safe im having a trusted local contractor rewire the whole house and apartment for $2,400.

Renting initially is a good idea I believe ....thats what we are doing until we located a home. We tried flying back and forth the past year and look ....but you really need to be here I believe to house hunt. We found a nice building at a dead end street maybe 45 seconds to the beach. $500 a month turnkey because we didnt bring any big items with us. Been here a couple months and love the area.just could not find affordable housing in this area for our budget. It's near rincon a town called aguada by the beach. Great people.

Yea money well invested, who knows how good is the grounding?
Also too many outlets in a single circuit, etc.

May want to look into installing solar later and save on electricity which is super expensive and getting worse, prep for at least a generator if not solar.

I have 11 years as a tourist here and just moved here.one mistake I made was buying a car from a guy on clasificados. Was a nightmare.I sid not know he needed to go to whats called dtop or dmv with me to sign over the title. Also make sure what is called labels here match on any vechicle you buy.it's actually the serial numbers or vin number to the dash and hood and doors etc. If they do not match police inspection station will confinscate the entire vechicle and your out your money.assuming the vechicle has stolen parts is why.luckily all mine matched. But had to get a lawyer and several trips to dtop or dmv and long lines starting at 530 a.m. .keep in mind when shopping for a vechicle here they do not consider any blue book value on anything thats out the window..theres plenty of dealerships here as well just negotiate and dont over pay.

Yes the electrical looked a little suspect so im having a trusted contractor in the area rewire the whole house and apartment. I installed solar myself at a home I owned and my bill went from $190 a month to about $35 . I plan on installling it here as well once I get settled in. Waiting on a closing date and have to drive to san juan to do the closing.

Going great except my girlfriends been sick most of the time weve been here with chickenguayna I believe no antibiotics for it and can last weeks or even months.wear plenty of repellant when outdoors.theres alotta of adjusting your body may go through ince here.unlike as a tourist .

Oh, no, sorry to here that.  Drink lots of fluids and yes, repellent use!

Anyone know a reasonable electrician ??? Thought I had one he said he was a general contractor and gave me a estimate for repairs of $2,400 which was a deciding factor in me buying the house I bought in december. Now he brings in who he calls a electrician he knows and he says he cant do it for that. He quotes me $3,800 wow . Does anyone know a honest electrician interested in some minor repairs without me having to sell a kidney or finance my home??
It's so ridicioulous ive even looked into flying a guy in from the states to do the work.seems theses contractors want to do one job and make enough to live off for the year. I understand theres the local rate and of coarse the gringo rate as well. But seems crazy theyd rather not work at all unless they can rape you.any suggestions please

My son may be interested, I can give you his number in PR and you can discuss it with him. He speaks English.

In San Juan? I have a handyman, has changed lights fans wiring for me if you want. Very reasonable, not much english

What is him number?

Oh great can you give me his info. My house is in arecibo