In-Country Experts - British Expat Forum

Hi DR Addict (or any others who wish to contribute)

My wife (Tracey) and I are looking around for a suitable country to retire to. We spent nearly 5 years in India and 18 months in Spain, both on semi retirement, We are now back in the UK beavering away to save our pennies to make a full time retirement feasible. I have read your articles and all sounds very much like India in terms of the pitfalls etc.

One big prob with India is the visa situation as they are simply not geared to people retiring there. It is all a bit of a lottery and typically requires return to the UK every 6 - 12 months and no guarantees. The other is the property purchase side of things is at least but probably far more pitfall prone than DR (I have not met any expat there who has not had problems).

When we were in India we settled in an old colonial hill station at 7,500 feet so the weather was just like the UK only without the extremes - almost ideal but a bit damp at times !

What are the best candidate areas in DR to have a bearable climate ? and what would be expected ?

I guess you may have asembled a "pack" of useful info over your years to send to the newbies ? If so perhaps you could email it oakmast@hotmail.com

As you say anyone intending to consider any country needs to rent a property initially for quite a time as there is a world of difference between a visit and actually living there ! Is there any guide to rents that are attracted / estate agents on the web (if like India anything on the web bears no relation to the actuals as they are trying to get mad foreigners !)


many thanks

Pat

Hello Pat,
Sorry for the delay in responding - I have been doing 'One or two Other things' getting ready for Christmas!!

Over the years doing this 'RELOCATION ADVICE' stuff, I have found that the personal approach is the only one I enjoy. The help/advice I might offer to one person will normally be totally different to that offered to another (even when their circumstances might be very similar).

As a starter, go to my website (www.casabush.org) & have a read through some of the guff in there. You can also go on to www.ginniebedggood.com & read HER articles to give you a little more feedback on the country. (She tells me her book is still available in the UK if you feel like buying a copy! 8) ).

Once you have done that, please contact here again or use the address on my web page (if you want to keep things more private). I don't guarantee a 24 hour response but I should be able to reply to your questions within a 72 hour time-frame!!

What part of the West Midlands are you from? Me, .......... I'm a 'Bear & Rugged Staff' Man!! ~ Grahame.

oakmast wrote:Hi DR Addict (or any others who wish to contribute) One big prob with India is the visa situation as they are simply not geared to people retiring there. It is all a bit of a lottery and typically requires return to the UK every 6 - 12 months and no guarantees. Pat

At least this is no problem at all in DR. It's easy to get legal permanent residence, and not that difficult to get citizenship if you really want it.

Hi Grahame

Happy New Year to you and Ginnie.

Currently living in Kingswinford, West Mids and also near Chepstow (the former during the week, the latter at weekends).

Many thanks for the links which I browsed. It all brought back a lot of happy memories of our time in India - e.g. our nice new electric cappuccino machine from the UK put in a sink of water for washing etc etc lol.

Yes we certainly wish to integrate with the local community, we did so in India, joining and becoming very active in the local rotary club there.

I guess a few simple queries to start lol !

1. What is the average rental for say a 2 bed villa with pool on long term (1 year) in a coastal. area I guess maybe in a gated community to start as that might be easier in the early days ?

2. Climate is our main concern. I presume that most expats congregate in the coastal regions. I suspect that the hill areas might be cooler ? If so are there any areas that you might recommend which we might consider longer term moving to?

Many thnaks

Pat

Happy New year Nostromo,

thanks for the link

Happy New Year

Pat

Ahhhhhh, Kingswinford ............... Those were the days of cold morning rises, tail-jams, road rage & 2 hours to travel 65 miles to an appointment!! I used to call on an Insurance Broker in Kingswinford but as that was when 'GOD' was just a boy, I would think he (the broker - not God) has moved on a bit since then!!

Rental of a Coastal 2 B/R villa with pool would be from about US $750/1,000 per month. In a GATED community this would most likely increase to US $1,500 per month but with maintenance/security charges might be as high as US $1,800 per month. To the basic rental cost in any area you need to add a further US $300 for Gas, electricity, water etc. Torre Alta, Costambar, Cofresi are areas around Puerto Plata that might meet your needs, Perla Marina, El Choco, plus about 5 more in the Sosua area might be more to YOUR liking.

For a cooler climate, Jarabacoa just south west of Santiago would be worth looking into. It is far less 'touristy' than Sosua & even Puerto Plata but with this goes a fall off in some amenities. You could also investigate Costanza which is up in the HIGH mountains (7,000 - 9,000 ft a.s.l.) where I am informed they even have FROST during some winters!! As there is no golf course up there yet, it is not an area I have visited!!!

Location is a very personal thing but in my opinion you would be advised to start in an area where Ex-Pats can give you the assistance needed to get to know the country, the culture, the 'dos & don'ts' for living here. Armed with this information you can then go visiting ad nausea other localities you think you might prefer. This process could take a couple of years whereas some do it a lot quicker because 'something just clicks' with them when visiting a locality &/or a property.

You are doubtless doing your google searches & looking at various Estate Agent facilities in the DR - feel free to ask for a character assassination of any of them if/when you find something that appeals to you. As anywhere in the world, there are some BAD/rogue Realtors here & also some very GOOD ones & it is always best to know which is which when looking at their properties ..... rental OR purchase!! With the BAD ones, having the right questions to ask about security, amenities & future building plans always helps you weed out the answers you need.

Hope this helps & has given you a lot more areas to investigate on the WWW. What did we EVER do before Internet came along???

Regards ~ Grahame.

Grahame,

Thanks for the info I will google away on those areas and let you know when I have pinned things down a bit more.

Yes the thought of a gated community is not too pleasant my only idea with that is the initial transition to DR would be easier although certainly longer term we would want to be in a non estate type location.

Yes traffic has not improved - Mondays up at 5 a.m. to avoid the worst of the traffic getting up there ! Occasionally I have to travel from Kingswinford to Tipton - can be 1.25 hours in rush hour - mad!

Many thanks

Pat