The Dominican Republic use to be an economical place to take a vacation, it was even less expensive than Florida. However that has changed, it has become outrageously expensive and I will tell you why. Currently, the Dominican Republic is in a real estate bubble.
Everyone is in the real estate game now, because lets face it, that is the only way to make money in the DR, besides being a crooked politician or a narco. So these real estate agents and developers have convinced everyone in Santo Domingo and throughout the country that they can get a loan and buy and apartment, and that is exactl what people aredoing, they are taking out loans to buy properties at very high rates, think north of 12% with very little down and they believe they can charge upwards of $2000, 3000, 5000 per month for a 600-700 sq foot apartment that cost little more than $100,000 to build.
Some of these apartments are okay, perhaps even luxurious, well decorated and with comfortable beds. Take for instance one of the gems of the Santo Domingo, Regatta Living 2, it has a roof top pool, a bar, sauna, etc. Guess what? On the weekends a group will rent a room and you will show up to the pool on Saturday night and there will be 10 prostitutes out by the pool with their “boyfriends” and there will be yelling and fighting in the hallways at all hours of the night. And this building, though it is some what luxurious, is not sound proof, in fact even from an upper floor disruptions can be heard throughout the night. And please avoid cooking, because the granite or stone backing can come right off of the wall, because the consturction quality is not great and several hundred pounds of stone are just glued to the wall.
So everyone, let’s take a step back from Santo Domingo and the Dominican Republic, it is not a place to invest and for vacations we should be even more selective at the prices that are being charged in the Dominican Republic.
