Looking for a 2/3 bedroom apartment to rent for a year!

Hi Kaya,

You should put this ad in the housing in Dominica Republic section.

Thank you and good luck,
Christine

Greetings, I'm living in Santiago. There are many choices in terms of homes and apartments here. Prices and value here is great. If you need a good realtor please inbox me and I will give you a recomendation

Yes Santiago is a great place to look for  long term housing. Again the best way is to show up,  rent an air bnb for a couple weeks. Then  go to the neighborhoods and start walking. Boots on the ground is how to find affordable housing!   

Online is mostly  the more expensive and tourist housing.  They pay to advertise so most  owners wont do that.  Walk the areas and note  phone numbers,   and have someone call and enquire! 

Realtors - a word of warning. They will show you only what they have as a listing. They will (general rule) not show you what you want to see.  You need to be assertive in finding what you want.

Hey!
Great thank you for the reply.
I will inbox you

Kaya

Hey Christine!

Thank you for the advice and I'll do so

Kaya

Excuse if I seem to play down your idea of relocating to Santiago or Moca or Espaillat, but if you don't know someone in those areas and don't speak Spanish fluently, this isn't a good idea in my opinion.

There are nice parts of Santiago for sure, but also some less pleasant neighbourhoods, and rather like Santo Domingo has it's vices and you need an understanding of the place. Cibao towns are another matter and alone without good language would be an extreme challenge. There are some nice towns in the Cibao at first glance, but make no mistake these towns all have drug problems and delinquency as do many towns throughout the country so you need knowledge.

My advice to anyone coming to DR on a single basis for the first time without a strong understanding of the culture, peoples and language would be to start in an area where there are like expats and help for the uninitiated and build your knowledge from there and then plump for one area or another to live. Travel around is always good advice to get to know the country.

Whats surprises many newcomers to DR is how big is the country and travelling from north to south east to west will take you a lot longer than you think and across very varied geography and through differing communities. Many expats never get much beyond their chosen homes which in many cases are in the tourist hot spots.

Those of us that have been here a long time have started in some place, often with a partner, and lived around the country and understand the challenges and have adapted. But that took time and plenty of travel.

Just saying, and your challenge will be all the more difficult being a young lady in a very macho society.

All good common sense advice.  Well said.

Hi!
Thank you for your reply to my post, I really appreciate your time and input 😊

Firstly, I'm already acquainted with some people there.. yet, as someone who is currently independent, I still need to locate things and discover things for myself in respect of housing, employment, friendships, things of interest and in general Network / get to know people - which this platform (Expat.com) is for and what I'm doing

I get what you mean re the 'machismo ' mentality within DR and in general the Caribbean/ Latin America. I'm sure it can get overwhelming for some at time!

Yet, already coming from that culture it's nothing new. Having being raised in a household of 3 elder brothers, an "old - school" traditional Jamaican father, a multitude of cousins that seem never - ending and having already lived abroad previously (on my own with no assistance with only a pocket Italian book for the first 2 months until I learnt to speak the language from the street, watching TV and from interacting with people) ; I'm hoping I should find the transition not too hard.
Yet any rips/ suggestions or personal insight/ stories are all welcome

Feel free to suggest any more Tourist / expat friendly areas which you think from your own experience or knowledge may be better.

Re learning the language, I'd agree it's a must considering the vast population don't speak English!  So yep,  I'll continue to learn it.
Fingers crossed for all!

Thanks again for your reply and taking the time to offer advice, I'll take it all on-board 😊

K

Thank you for the reply!  It's appreciated and I'll most likely do that with a budget in mind of what I would like to pay per month etc

Thank God I bought new sneakers recently! 😜
Guess I'll have to pack the heels away until I settle there!! 

Wishing everyone a great day today

K

On the positive side having read the OP's other posts and profile, it may be best to reach out to international schools in DR first, to find and find employment and with that work permit and take it from there.

Here is a few links for international schools which are mainly in Santo Domingo:

https://www.international-schools-datab … to-domingohttps://www.expat-quotes.com/guides/dom … public.htm

I believe in addition there is now an international school in Punta Cana.

I do believe your fluency in Italian and Arabic will be beneficial too. There is a large community of Italians in both Las Terrenas and the La Romana/Bayahibe area. There is a significant community especially in Santo Domingo of ethnically related  Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinians living in DR. (one of the leading presidential candidates is of Lebanese background).

Let me ask about residency. You say you need to look for employment.  Without residency you will have seriously limited options.  A work visa will require a job and sponsorship and the visa must be applied for.from there. 

If you have residency then you will have options.  The job search may be an excellent reason to choose Santiago.  Jobs in tourist areas are more limited.

Thank you for your reply!

I'm initially applying from the UK re employment and applying direct to Schools and other such positions which I'm interested in or are qualified for.

It's still in early stages so I'm pretty calm about it all. But because I'm quite an organised person, I thought it better to start to search from now.

I think that you may have already uploaded a post on 'residency '?? Unless I'm mistaken 🤷‍♀️ I'm currently browsing any relevant posts on here (which are all very good may I add!) so I'll probs take some notes down on the visa  residency process and the different avenues to go down such as sponsorship via work or family or known person etc etc.

It's great just learning all of the necessary ins and outs prior to taking the leap anyway!
I'm assuming that seeking work (or good employment)  may be something similar to seeking a house in the sense that I may simply need to be there in order to have better options.??

  Yet, whilst I'm still residing in the UK, no harm in applying from my home country and doing the best I can prior to any kind of move 😊

Thanks for the advice / tips regarding Santiago

Thanks for your reply and for the links, that's really helpful 😊

I'll definitely check them out and apply accordingly

Wishing you all a great evening

K

Your timing is good as schools will be hiring for August/September classes.

And schools do sponsor work visas!

Thank you 😊🤗

You may want to check ARNBNB  as the rates drop drastically when renting long term . They are all furnished and include utilities .  I  dont know your budget but for example around the N coast you can find places by the beach from 400 to 600 a month