Rising Real Estate Prices

[Harmony]

"What is your history in the DR Harmony? How much do you know about this country? What is your experience in Real Estate? Have you been involved in R.E. in the DR or other places?"

Escott,

I have been a financial advisor with major firms in the U.S. for over thirty years. Past president of two bank affiliated subsidiaries. Have invested in real estate in six countries in addition to U.S. Helped form two REITs. Only lost money on one piece of real estate. That was in Angola Africa which still looks attractive to me. Have only been to the DR twice, a month each. I think the DR is a great place but the economy/political situation has major problems which have to be resolved.

I would rather not get into a tirade about why I feel as I do. I recently sold two pieces of real estate and placed the funds into gold and silver. Maybe I'm being reincarnated as your mother. No disrespect.

Harmony

[Escott]

Originally Posted by Harmony

"What is your history in the DR Harmony? How much do you know about this country? What is your experience in Real Estate? Have you been involved in R.E. in the DR or other places?"

Escott,

I have been a financial advisor with major firms in the U.S. for over thirty years. Past president of two bank affiliated subsidiaries. Have invested in real estate in six countries in addition to U.S. Helped form two REITs. Only lost money on one piece of real estate. That was in Angola Africa which still looks attractive to me. Have only been to the DR twice, a month each. I think the DR is a great place but the economy/political situation has major problems which have to be resolved.

I would rather not get into a tirade about why I feel as I do. I recently sold two pieces of real estate and placed the funds into gold and silver. Maybe I'm being reincarnated as your mother. No disrespect.

Harmony

Gold and silver? Hee, you could have been my mother
She did bonds ONLY.

That is as interesting as watching paint dry. I would rather lose my money in Real Estate and have been in the game. I love dirt. Love touching it, eating it and making love to it.

I have a little experiehnce with Reits. Those are the only stocks I have bought in the last 4 years to buy and hold. Starting to sell them out now. Cycle for interest rates are changing.

You bought R.E. in Angola? You sound like a guy with gigantic cajones.

Unlike you I have kept my circle of investments close. In NY I only bought real estate in one county. I bought and sold 50 pieces of real estate and retired nicely at an early age because of this. My main income comes from holding mortgages on the last 10 properties at 8-8.5% based on 30 years with 5-7 year balloons or straight interest only and then payment.

In the DR I have only invested in the Sosua/Cabarete area. I find it difficult to become an expert on a whole country or even a whole state and also find management difficult when all the property is in the same town.

I have been only accumulating properties and havent sold any in the DR. I think that there is going to be a great upside compared to NY in the late 70's or post 9-11 upstate NY when the NY'ers either fled or purchased and escape property. I think the best time to buy is when things seem the bleakest. All the cards are on the table now. We even expect the old government to obscond with all the paper clips before they leave office in less than a month. I also see tourism on the rise and US citizens discovering the DR.

Before 9-11 I was one of the few Americans in Sosua. Not the only gringo by far but there were loads of Canucks, Brits and other Euros but no Americans till recently. Prices have doubled just about on the North Coast from Sosua to Cabarete in the last year and a half.

If you do a search under Jazzcom (my old handle) I was preaching NOT buying R.E. in the DR for years. I even did speadsheets supporting my views by showing how many bottles of Presidente's you would make if you listened to me and rented and not bought here.

I changed my mind about 1.5 years ago and have been explaining that away since. I got knocked around a bit but history will show you that my predictions were spot on.

You were in insurance?

Scott

[Harmony]

"You were in insurance?"

Scott,

I was (still am) primarily in stocks & bonds. As for Angola, I was in diplomatic corps at the Consul General in Luanda. Had a lovely place over-looking bay and beyond that the ocean. Thought the civil war was coming to a close and with all the oil it would get better. It was Portugese colony. Well, the war got worse and things turned to "s _ _ _". It's cooling down again now.

Maybe we can get together the next time I'm down for a Presidente.

Harmony

[Escott]

Would love to. I am on the North Coast and my number is 223-1178.

Let me know when you are coming because I go to the states every couple of months. I held mortgages and need to pick up money because I get broke Will be in NY most of October with family thing and a High School reunion and not return till about the 25th.

[gjsuk]

It was a tiny lot with a crappy house on it and I wasn't in love with it. Matter of fact I didn't even like the place. Sat right on the road with NO privacy. Not much potential either.


The above was posted towards the end of last year by one of this forums resident real estate investment experts who has over 30 years real estate experience allegedly.

The crappy house sitting on tiny lot in question was sold then for $80,000, after extensive renovations this property has sold in recent days for $375,000.

Would guesstimate this guy doubled his money in a little over 6 months.

Not much potential there then?

[Escott]

hahaha, I put an offer on the property and would have bought it but I didn't like it. I definately would have made money on the property because that is what I do.

Exactly what is your point?

Do you know how much they put into the project?

Someone in Cabarete with the first name of Paul said I got screwed on the deal but there were plenty of other deals to put money in and still are. I don't have to make every deal.

I don't think that anyone who knows the deals I have made will say I have made any bad deals. Most of the people in the R.E. investing game are doing well since the area has been taking off. At that point it wasn't screaming like it was after.

[johne]

Originally Posted by gjsuk

It was a tiny lot with a crappy house on it and I wasn't in love with it. Matter of fact I didn't even like the place. Sat right on the road with NO privacy. Not much potential either.


The above was posted towards the end of last year by one of this forums resident real estate investment experts who has over 30 years real estate experience allegedly.

The crappy house sitting on tiny lot in question was sold then for $80,000, after extensive renovations this property has sold in recent days for $375,000.

Would guesstimate this guy doubled his money in a little over 6 months.

Not much potential there then?

Just curious as to your interest in this and why second guessing another's decisions is important to you.Do you have an agenda that somehow I'm missing?( ie: "allegedly") Just curious because real estate is my business and Scott is a friend of mine with a whole lot of experience and I learn from him all the time. Scott is the man!!

JOHN

[Paul Thate]

Originally Posted by Escott

Someone in Cabarete with the first name of Paul said I got screwed on the .

I was that Paul.

The finer details were.
You were screwed because your real-estate agent allegedly did not show the offer you made to the seller. This was the reason why you did not get the property. You ask for the cost of the improvement he made .? My guess not more the 60 or 70 thousand .Giving him a profit of over 200 000 dollars.
While that was my neighbor from hell the way he behaved I must congratulate him . He did a fantastic deal, in no more then 6 months. What a return on investment. Actually He had a vision.
Maybe this person should be our resident expert instead of you.
Plus I thank him for it. Based on that deal I have now a proven value for
neighborhood houses sold. It now values my house.

I PM ed all this info to you. You could and probably have confirmed the validity of all my statements . But for personal reasons choose to ignore them.
But you continue you advertise the services of this person. That's wrong, morally wrong.

When I brought up these facts a while ago Robert , the owner of this board
criticized me severely. He accused me of attacking you but he allowed you to continue to advertise for this un ethical person.
Without verifying my or your statements. This was unfair to me and more so
unfair to his readers.
I have been living here in the DR , have been an owner for over 8 years.
I learned how to live here over the years the hard way and probably made many mistakes.
But I learned I have many experiences that many forum readers could benefit from.
But I was criticizing the innercircle and that seems to be a NONO .
You however lived here a few years only at best or even part time and still have an lot to learn.

This was the reason why I lost interest in posting to this forum.

When you mentioned my name in your post I was forced to respond.

By now it seems clear that if you are not a member of the inner circle
Scott, Ken , Rocky, Larry, AZB etc one will be silenced if it does not suit
the agenda of the inner group.

Many of the old members stopped posting for this reason.
It even created a new forum..

It seems to me that a little open mind from the owner would have saved him some trouble .
And we would still have a united board with members that respect each others.

Look at the fighting that seems to go on.
And Scott it seems you are in the middle of it all.
You do not do your friend Robert any favors or any of us readers and contributors.
Take some time of learn to be pleasant and get some local experience.

[Ken]

Hey, Paul, if you have a bone to pick with Scott, leave me out of it.

Regarding the supposed "inner circle", that's a laugh. At least if there is one, I am not part of it.

If we all dropped out because we were offended by something, who would be here to answer the legitimate questions of the newcomers.

[gjsuk]

Originally Posted by Escott

Exactly what is your point?

The thread is about rising real estate pricing is it not?

I was told about the purchase the other day and recalled your comments about the property.

Doesn't it validate the majority opinion that North Coast real estate is booming even on crappy houses with not much potential?