As to your #8... quality of homes:
If you are from the US, you will be pleased to find out that most homes are all concrete block (CBS) construction and that in most cases the roof is poured concrete too... so it's unlikely to fly away as seen on TV in places like Florida. If however, you are from Europe, you will soon be discontent to find that most homes are nothing much more than just a painted raw construction, there is no inner or outter insulation (yes, it's not cold... but it's hot and humidity is an issue)... some basic technology and/or knowhow is dearly missing, most typically as to limit humidity from the ground to migrate up the walls, to mention ONE of the prevalent problems many homes here suffer. Poor planing is an issue too in many cases... and all that independent or price or value of many homes found here (on the North Coast at least). You will find that Million Dollar homes many times have the exact same shortcomings than a 150K home... they're just bigger, the bathrooms and finishing materials may look nicer and location may be a major part of the price difference, but the building technology or lack thereof is often very much similar or the same. Thus many homes need constant re-painting (specially around footers inside) because of humidity problems which could easily have been avoided. Or home owners have to find out that while water service is present, it's intermittent creating the need for a water tank for which no space was planed for. Same for AC compressor units and bad ventilation designs. Quite frequently you may find out too late that your "development" gets visited by a river every now and then... or that the home has been build on a spot lower than any water escape way... (watch out for garbage remains hanging in shrubs!) and don't you think these homes have been specifically built to bug "gringos", Dominicans too (no, not only poor ones) happily construct homes in areas which have a strong history of flooding without even adding at least some hight to their new homes (check out Sosua Bajo, La Maranata etc...).
This is not to paint an ugly picture of local real estate, just to caution you and whom ever it may concern... planing is not a national sport here. Like most everywhere, there are specific problems that need to be taken into account and sadly it does not seem to be part of the national culture to do that. One coming from a different part of the world needs to invest a lot of time and effort to catalog these issues first and then only plan and build accordingly or scrutinize possible investment objects as to their aptitude under the local circumstances.
... J-D.
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