Real Estate

Welcome to the forums. There is no MLS honey, it's the wild wild west when it comes to real estate and buyer beware!

Thanks...seems like.  I'm from Texas so the wild wild west is like home to me.

Thirty years on the north shore, Sosua/Cabarete area. A great source of information & an honest business man. He is my first choice in real estate. Not your normal pushy, get the sale type of guy.  Mike McDermott. 1-829-678-2975    whatsapp     e-mail   [email protected]   expat references galore, just request.

There is a Canadian in Cabarete that sells Real estate- Prestige Realty. Name is William (Biĺ) Osterman.  Contact info is: [email protected]; www.prestigedominicanrealty.com; 809 935 0809. He also owns a small hotel called Casa Blanca. Seems to be a straight up honest guy. We have stayed at his hotel only twice but dealt with him for real estate. Just another potential contact...

Just sneaking in a hello to Brian & Josefina. Always speak to many people for the names of good agents. Real estate has no rules. Longevity is usually a safe indicator of honest service for locals & expats.  There is another good one in Sosua.  I mentioned him before.

Real Estate in DR, especially in tourist areas, and its differences from the USA is a whole big topic.

To answer your question, no, there are no RE companies selling the listings of other companies. MLS here works differently. In the USA, a property normally has one listing agent who gets a commission independently from whether he closes the deal or some other agent. Here in DR, a property is listed with as many agents as the owner would like. The owner signs a non-exclusive property listing contract with each of them so there is no connection between different agents. Each one works and sells on their own. That's why you can see a house with several For Sale signs from different real estate companies.

Another important moment is that many agents here work without any license, not to mention, there is no difference between a broker and real estate agent/salesperson. Whereas MLS requires an agent to have a license to be able to list a property. Besides, there is no distinction between a buyer and seller agent, it's normally one person who does both.

All that said, you can figure out now why there is no MLS in the Dominican Republic. But I'd not agree it's wild wild west, things are just different. And people use different tools.

thanks for the info.  It makes a lot of sense as I used to be a RE broker.  Hope to be there soon.

There is no licensing. There is no conflict of interest.  A realtor can act for both parties!  Everyone is a real estate agent and most have no idea what they are doing!!!

It is BUYER BEWARE!!!