Samana Peninsula

Thank you Steve........Love DR......

The best advice is to rent first, live in the area for a few months before deciding to buy anything. Many have come to Dominicana with great hopes and ideas, and left after losing a lot of their savings. It is most definitely a beautiful island but not for everyone.
Best wishes for 2015!

Good advice

Bob K

But it isn't Dominicana,  it's Dominican Republic......

Boy did not even catch that. Dominica is a whole different island.

Bob K

Actually there is only one (Republica) Dominicana, so in Spanish everyone knows it refers to the country unless you are talking about people and then it refers to a Dominican woman, "una dominicana", no caps.

And this is in English so we try to keep the names straight.  At times we do get people on these threads talking about Dominica.  And Dominicana isn't what we call this place regardless of whether it is proper spanish. I just want to prevent confusion!  Really the easiest is the DR.  Simple.

No one would understand a gringo saying "DR" while on this island but they sure would recognize the word "Dominicana", so everyone better get used to it. This is a Spanish speaking island with a Spanish name and it is shortened, just like in English we commonly talk about the "States" instead of the United States. A simple reality ALL gringos must accept whether you like it or not!

Back to the subject, I would also suggest to rent first, stay couple months and maybe even coupe times a year as we did it before our move. Rent a place and pretend you are living here. It's a completely different experience than being on a vacation. We also wanted to buy a house and I am glad we didn't. We stayed for couple years on the north coast (where we almost bought a house) and then started driving around the island a realized that we prefer to live in a different part. If you buy right away, you are "stuck", so before you make a decision, travel around and see what area is the best for you. Everybody likes different things and this country offers many options. Good luck!
Denise