Looking to buy a house in Santiago-Need Advice

[domenico]

Im planning to buy a house in Santiago, i checked real estate agencies and saw that alot of the houses on the listings were in Gurabo. Gurabo seems to far away from the center and im looking for a home closer to the center. Any advice as to whether Gurabo is a good area to invest in?

[PICHARDO]

Invest? Are you buying to rent? Flip?

[domenico]

hey PICHARDO, once again you come to help, appreciate the info. Well im looking for the home that af ew years from now i will be living in. Im a typical dominican, the one who buys a home goes there for a few months and comes back to new york to work lol. Well i want a house in a growing area near the center. There is a place i went to when i was in Santiago called Urb. Fernando Valerio which is like a middle class area near the center with nice decent size homes. Im looking for houses up to 3.6 million around that area off the Avenida Dumit. I might rent it, but not right away. And no flips i dont got time to deal with repairs, i want a house ready to move.

[PICHARDO]

Plenty of houses for sale in that area alone!
If I may point out a better ratio of value for your dollars, you may want to sink your money into a home in the Jardines or Reparto Universitario (right across the reparto del Este).

I saw at least three homes in the Universitario going for 3.5 to 5 mil, and many others in the Jardines from 3 to the sky.

It all depends on size and constructed sq meters...

The area around Dumit is nice but keep in mind that many new constructions there aim to the less affording segment of people...

Have you try Urb. Thomen? Some good deals there last time I checked!
Set your price firm and don't be afraid to "thin" their prices a lot to fir your budget, since a good 99% is over blown to what they would want to get; not what they'll really sell the home for...

I got a home for ex in La Espanola for quite a discount, the owner wanted 9.5 mil and I offered 6.5. We agreed on 7.3 at the end (some 8 months later).

Take your time to buy that home and in return you'll get a decent value for your money.

[domenico]

PICHARDO, eres un maestro de verdad, jajaja gracias por la informacion. Im gonna be there from july 21st to sept 1st and im basically gonna try to aim for 3.5 million. Negotiating will be easier cause ill be paying in full . Do you know any good used car dealers there cause im looking for a Jetta TDI 50mpg on diesel

[Chip]

I live in Gurabo and it is about 15 to 20 min to the Calle del Sol. (3 miles or so). There are many good house to be had in this area for that price, albeit maybe one floor. You need RD4.5 and up to get a good two story.

Don't buy anything in Los Jardines for less than RD8M, and besides that according to one longtime resident(Hillbilly 40+ years) a lot of the area is being converted to commercial use.

They are also building nice Condos in this area and they are running between RD1.6 to 2.5 with up to 3 bdr, fulltime security, limited access and plentyful parking.

[PICHARDO]

Paying cash is not something new or rare in the DR. As a matter of fact almost 90% of home sales are carried that way. Banks in the DR lend a measly amount of the total paid for any home, when they opt to loan you the money. At the rates they offer, most people buy cashiliiin' better.

Used car dealers are a dime a dozen, but if you really want to buy a non-lemon, aim to visit the long established dealers unlike the mini dealers all over the place.

If I may: Wait a bit longer to buy a car in the DR, at least 6 moths. By that time most dealers would have sold enough inventories, so to take advantage of the lower taxes on imports that should impact the used car market to bring prices even lower.

Diesel? Not a great idea... Diesel motors are too much of an expense to fit a gas system to (if possible at all).

They way gas and diesel is going, gas will be the only choice for the regular non-millionaire folk...

[domenico]

hey pichardo, i added you on msn, i wanna find out more about the houses that you seen.