Housing websites

Your two best choices are
a) to drive around the neighborhood you are interested in and look for "Se Renta" signs.
b) This web site: http://www.clasificadosonline.com/Rentals.asp - However most people never take down their ad so some may be old.

I assume you have decided on a particular town and housing type (House/Condo). There are 78 towns.

Thank you RayP!

It is very reasonable to assume that but I actually have not. I figured I can get a better feel once I drive around.  Eventually, I would like to buy a house with a bunch of land or farm. That said, my wife is still somewhat on the fence about moving to PR and I'd like to accommodate her preferences. She would like to rent a condo with beach access and onside pool and all that. So that is what I will be looking for. I also would like to stay within 1 hour or less from the airport/city if possible. Seems like everyone is talking about Dorada but I think this one of the most expensive areas. Any suggestions or  recommendations anyone?

Aguada is a nice place between Aguadilla and Rincon. Only maybe 20-30 minutes from BQN airport in Aguadilla. Lots of beach front condos in Aguada as well.

From SJ airport and less expensive, I would recommend  Rio Grande (same town as El Yunque), Luquillo, and Fajardo. All are beach towns with several condos, most of them with pools and a view of the sea. Been beach front is not that great of an idea look at all the damage and problems from the storm. Being 3-5 minutes by road or bike is a good compromise. With a pool going to the beach is less important as you can cool off 12 times a day. All of those towns also have farming areas and are also close to farm areas in Ceiba, Naguabo, and Humacao.

As to distance to the airport, the farthest one would be Fajardo which is 45 minutes away. However unless you need to go to the airport once or more times a month, I would not be too concerned with distance.

All the towns I mentioned are on the east coast of the island and the town of Fajardo is the gateway to Vieques and Culabra islands which belong to Puerto Rico. It is also the gateway to the rest of the Virgin Islands. Not that it matters a lot unless you like boating, Scuba and Snorkeling.

It is important that you know what you want and settle at least in the region of where you may want to buy in the future.

Here is a link to a map that shows where each town is and if you select a particular town you can get some (old) statistics and information of each town and the population, but because the data is from the same time you can easily compare one town over another. http://welcome.topuertorico.org/exploring.shtml

My guess is that the housing market will be in free fall as soon as things come back on line.    A mass exodus from PR will develop as soon as planes and boats can take people to the states.

If you think it is a buyers market now, give it a couple months.   If your willing to deal with a damaged house, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that bargains will abound.

Not that I recommend bottom feeding, but the financial predators will smell blood in the water.     

Agree with Sitka but with some concerns.

Do you want to buy a house where you now know can be flooded with 4-6 feet of water inside or do you want to consider a shell of a house that was partially taken apart by a storm or a mud slide?

Unlike in the US where they are required to tell you everything, that does not happen often in PR.

Some people in Condos had their windows blown out and some of the landlords were too cheap to get a generator to operate the elevator in a 21 floor building. Imagine going up 21 floors on foot to get home everyday in 90 degree weather.

Me, I would be very careful what I buy if I was in the market and talk to the neighbors.

Yes there will be perfectly good houses / condos in great locations at a very good price, but not sure how many.

Laughable. Other then Sitka's advice to newbie Cram1 from "SJ,SJ" where ever that is w/ 3 posts since 1 day ago, who is obviously playing games with the board, the responses are a farce with a capital F.

Please read members Justpeachy's posts from the last few days who is struggling in the real SJ, or maybe read the news. There is no water, no electric, people are dying in hospitals for lack of power, everywhere in PR, people can't communicate, cannot get cash from ATM, the PR Governor has declare a the whole island as a Disaster Zone.  Hurricane Maria has brought PR to its knees for months and months to come and begging for world help, yet you fall for this spoof poster who knows there aren't going to be apartments or houses on the market for months and months. 
***

At this devastating time in PR when the entire island hasn't had water or electric, people in condos are walking 2o stories because elevators don't work, can't flush their toilets, can't get cash from ATM, waiting 8 hours in line for 5 max $20 in gas, *** Read good member's JustPeachy's posts from the last few days.

Thanks for all your advice. I am actually in the real estate business on the mainland so I am not really afraid of challenging real estate, it's where the profits can be made.  Of course, I don't know the market, I don't have contractors, my Spanish is poor, etc. I'm not sure if I would start another real estate investment business in PR.

Right now I will just be looking at rentals. Are there any neighborhoods I should avoid?

It may be nice to have someone local I can talk to and can guide me in the right direction while I am in PR. Does anyone have any suggestion?

Are you all (RayP, SpecialKev, Sitka, 35th) located in PR now? I've talked to some old friend and the situation does seem to be very bad and the news is not exaggerating. That said I am not convinced that here aren't going to be apartments or houses on the market for months and months. Would you all disagree with me?

Anyway I'll be in PR in November and will have to see myself.

We are not currently on the island. We had to move back stateside for a couple of years to take care of some family things, but we still intend on moving back in the next 2 years or so.

The current state of the housing market is probably weird right now. A lot of wooden houses have been destroyed. If those were being rented to locals, now they are off the market. Fema is able to provide money for temporary housing but only for a month or three, so that will go away fairly shortly and anything rented under the Fema program will return as an empty place in the short time. Higher priced rentals like you probably want are aplenty as only so many can afford them during normal times. Just a guess on my part is that some of those higher priced rental units may go back in the market as some of those people may scare from PR and not renew their leases specially after spending several months without electricity. I think in 6 months we should be able to get a better picture of where the market is heading.

I expect to be in the island come summer, have to sell my place in the states first and winter is not a good time to sell.

cram1 wrote:

Thanks for all your advice. I am actually in the real estate business on the mainland so I am not really afraid of challenging real estate, it's where the profits can be made.

Now you have me confused.  Are you looking for properties to rent, or are you looking for investment properties, rental properties to buy?  If the latter, I'd recommend looking at the bank foreclosures.  There are plenty of them, and doubtlessly more to come.  Cash is king everywhere, but especially with island real estate.

RE:  Forclosures

Inspect them carefully and figure out how much money you will need to invest to make them livable.  We looked at several foreclosures in basic neighborhoods that were absolutely stripped and the banks still wanted a fortune for them.  If you can do a lot of work yourself, fine, but otherwise, I'd say no.  Especially if your Spanish is not good.

I am in the rehab business in the the sates but I now have a crew fixing things, I obviously do not have that it in PR at this time. I am just looking for a rental but I may eventually buy, and maybe buy a foreclosure.

Sitka wrote:

My guess is that the housing market will be in free fall as soon as things come back on line.    A mass exodus from PR will develop as soon as planes and boats can take people to the states.

If you think it is a buyers market now, give it a couple months.   If your willing to deal with a damaged house, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that bargains will abound.

Not that I recommend bottom feeding, but the financial predators will smell blood in the water.     

I stumbled on this post this AM. I have been posting to the "Heavy Heart" thread and commented on this very issue there. I'm at the stage where housing costs are getting beyond me, so looking to scale back. You'd be hard pressed to find mainland rentals in a decent neighborhood, even for studios, under $1K. I was considering Mexico, Colombia (expats have driven up COL in places like Medellin, Cali, Cozumel, Cabo, and the list goes on) and PR. Of these, PR (pre-Maria) had, in many places, the most reasonable prices, possibly because of the exodus that had been going on. I'm not a bottom feeder, but my thinking is that you're right --- market values, along with rentals, may well plummet with owners, sellers looking to at least break even. I don't consider myself a bottom feeder -- these would be large-scale developers scooping up land. I'd be taking advantage of the situation, but also becoming a taxpayer, and fixing up may be workable.

With the amount of criminality in Mexico and the aparent lack of control of said criminality, I personally would not consider Mexico at all but that is just me.

Seoulguy,

Are you a US citizen?  If so, moving to PR is a possibility.   If that is what you wish to explore, take an extended trip to the island, drive all around and see the whole island.    If you see something you like, go after it.

We looked seriously at buying in Mexico; Cabo (good marlin fishing), San Carlos, etc.  But as the old fisherman in the bar warned me..."this is Mexico, don't invest more than you can afford to walk away from!  They can take it away from you in a New York minute."  So, we landed in PR.

But, I recommend you wait until power and water are restored to most of the island .  Could be months.   

Sitka wrote:

Seoulguy,

Are you a US citizen?  If so, moving to PR is a possibility.   If that is what you wish to explore, take an extended trip to the island, drive all around and see the whole island.    If you see something you like, go after it.

We looked seriously at buying in Mexico; Cabo (good marlin fishing), San Carlos, etc.  But as the old fisherman in the bar warned me..."this is Mexico, don't invest more than you can afford to walk away from!  They can take it away from you in a New York minute."  So, we landed in PR.

But, I recommend you wait until power and water are restored to most of the island .  Could be months.   

Seoulguy just comes from my days teaching in Seoul and Pusan. I'm a U.S. citizen who has "been around." Live in Tucson. Over the last eight years in the same house, neighborhood has turned bad around me. So, I need to get out. AZ turned into the "Me first-you last" state, no civility.
As to knowing, PR, last time I lived in PR was somewhere in the 90s on a street called, I believe, Buenos Aires, in a nice guesthouse in Ocean Park (under water now, I guess).  Using the "way back machine", I first travelled to PR from NYC, which is where I began my teaching career, in 1968, Xmas time.  A few more trips and then I decided to move. Lived on a street called Calle Aguadilla, about one block long, in the Condado (straight shot from the old Condado Beach Hotel) right on the lagoon and later in RP and HR.  Taught at Colegio Universitario Sagrado Corazon in Santurce.  As to Mexico, you've got the problem of fideicomiso (probably misspelled) whereby you basically lease the land, but if you build, you can lose big. So, I expect the metro area to begin (underscore "begin") to come back by next summer, and I expect IV, Ocean Park and the Condado to come on line first. Maybe that's where they'll spend the $29B package that went to Congress today.

And as to crime in Mexico, never was a victim and travelled all over from the Mex Riviera to DF to Oaxaca to Acapulco, but every scam known to mankind is, indeed, practiced. I got by because I am fluent in Spanish and over the years learned to "detect" some, not all, of them.

Sitka wrote:

My guess is that the housing market will be in free fall as soon as things come back on line.    A mass exodus from PR will develop as soon as planes and boats can take people to the states.

If you think it is a buyers market now, give it a couple months.   If your willing to deal with a damaged house, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that bargains will abound.

Not that I recommend bottom feeding, but the financial predators will smell blood in the water.     

I've checked this one twice this week: http://www.clasificadosonline.com/Rentals.asp.

Same price spread -- just low-balling from $600 to $800 Metro area. First selection was 465 units; today it was close to 800.  These aren't dumps. Many were rather elegantly furnished apartments, but also homes, and 3/2s. I don't see how they have power or missed getting trashed in the storm. Am I missing something here, or is Sitka right and it's already starting to fall?