Rick,
There are many good realtors and most have a bilingual agent. I just bought a house here last year and allow me to give you some pointers you may already know, but I learned the hard way here.
An empty house is an open invitation to thieves, anywhere in the world. I took all my life savings and bought a house in the beautiful Puerto Rican cloud forest mountains. A dream house if you like simple living. Had mature plantains, avocados, oranges, coffee and many other goodies growing there. I visited the realtor, toured the house and property, then went back to the states to arrange the purchase. This house was empty, and it was a foreclosure, but the realtor assured me it would be safe. She claimed she had contractors maintaining and watching it. cutting grass etc.
When we came down three weeks later, first we went to the house before closing and got a shocking surprise. During the three weeks it took me to arrange all the sale papers, the house and property was unoccupied. In spite of the "contractors" watching it, When I came back to my newly purchased house, it had been thoroughly and methodically robbed.
All the plantains, avocados and ripe oranges were taken from the trees.. Then came the house. All 16 of the new tinted glass hurricane windows and all three metal doors and wrought iron doors were gone. The really strange part was that it was not vandalized. They were carefully removed, indicating that professional construction people had stolen it. The thieves had even written the size of all these items on the wall.! Next came the electrical wiring. Every inch of wiring had been pulled out. The cookstove and refrigerator was gone. All of the plumbing pipe was carefully taken out, and all three chandeliers were taken.
The only thing left was the window screens, all 16 of them, stacked neatly in the great room.
We still wanted the house, and the realtor was very sympathetic, and we worked out a new contract, the price reduction nowhere near the cost of repairs. She did have a handy man come out and board up the windows, but we had to buy the wood.
We still did not own the house, we could not trespass on it so we took another week to work out the new contract. Then we sadly finally went to our home. The gate was open, and "contractors" were there. Blowing leaves off the driveway. We checked the house again and now the screens were gone! We confronted the contractor. At first he was not happy to see us, and did not believe we were the owners. He called the realtor and was told we own it.
Since they had been to the house frequently, we asked him if he had noticed anything unusual. Had he not noticed the windows and doors were gone? and call the realtor? This theft must have taken some time. It was not noticed ? Did he know where the screens went? They were here a week ago. He said he didn't have them, just look in his truck
We took their company name down. They hurriedly left. I called the realtor again, the police, talked to the neighbor, but our house was out of sight of the road, which also made theft easy, but all in vain. Nobody knew anything, and nothing could be proven. We did not have the thousands necessary to repair it all at once, It would take weeks, or even months. When we went to buy replacement windows, we told the dealer what happened, and he did not bat an eye. He said it was definitely a contractor theft.
So we rented an apartment and I stood guard over the house as we gradually repaired it. I got a rescue dog.a pit bull to keep watch. I am an old Hippie, being anti-gun, and anti-violent. So I just keep it well lit with the new wiring. and don't leave it unattended. I hope someday to have a surveillance system online.
RICK! If you plan to buy an empty house, or if it will be empty during the transfer, make arrangements with the realtor for a dependable, accountable house sitter. even if you have to pay. Do not leave it unguarded for a moment during the buying process!!!!
A maintenance contractor will know where the empty, foreclosed, and isolated houses are located, and there are many of them on the island, and some of them are darn nice houses. To wash his hands, he just simply sells the information to the network of thieves.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
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