Looking for a house to rent.

Dear Kirk

It’s a pleasure to note that you classified Mauritius within the civilised part of the world. It is, indeed, a right classification.

It’s reassuring that you indicated that you “will miss the monkeys in my mango tree”, as otherwise, I would have believed that they were not real ones, but rather some natives there who are just “monkeying” around!         
   
For sure, the Government is trying to assist foreign investors by simplifying and speeding up procedures related to starting a business.

For sure, Housing Agents are a rare breed, who enjoys world notoriety on a worldwide basis for charging exaggerated margins, and Mauritius is surely no exception. I believe that, save the staff, the owners surely believe that they need to live a most comfortable life at the expense of “poor” house seekers.

Whilst, wireless connection is becoming more and more popular, I would, as a simple user without expert knowledge in this field, say that at times, it is quite erratic or the connectivity is quite low, thereby defeating the high capacity, and ... exorbitant price.

I would rather advise that you look for some residence/office next to Port-Louis – some 15 minutes away, such as Beau-Basin, Coromandel, etc.

One friendly advice would be not to go through locals rather than agencies, despite this alternative taking a little bit longer, as the saving is worth it! 

Regards;)

Vayid

Hi Canadian Nomad,
welcome to Mauritius, I had visited Brazil 2 years ago  . I stayed in Rio on the Copa beach and had a time of my life specially the Samba music and dancing. During the one week I stayed there , I never saw a unhappy or stessful face. I saw children to the elderly including the beggers all happy. I was suprised besides all problems how people can be so happy.
What I am trying to say is that when you see a country on TV or go on visit things are colourful. When you leave everything and settle down you see the harsh reality. Mauritius is an excellent country to live in but before you move here do your homework since you are investing your hardearned money and please do read all the post as all information is given in the previous posts.

All the best to you.
Cheers
Terence

Thank you for your reply,Vayid.  Unfortunately a sporatic internet connection will throw off my plans of coming to Mauritius at all.  I make video games for a living (online, educational sometimes, but always no gore) and need a stable internet connection to do business.

Does anyone else out there know of any stable internet providers? or are they all not so good.  Particularly I am looking for connectivity with Emtel, but any feedback on any internet providers would be helpful.

Take care,
Scott Kirk

Hi Scott,

I'm an American living in Mauritius. I'm finding Mauritius a wonderful place to live, do business and raise a family. I've been here for 2 years and have obtained business permits, resident permits, and lots of knowledge.

Regarding housing. I went door to door in Grand Baie, Mont Choisy and Pointe Aux Canonnier for several weeks. I was able to get a good size, two floor, three bedroom, three bathroom house with garden for $500 a month in one of the most affluent neighborhoods. If I went through a agency you can figure almost double or 2 1/2 what I pay. So, it is better to be here and find a place than over the net. If you need temporary housing for 1 or 2 months I can help arrange. Regarding internet, Emtel leases all lines through Mauritius Telecomm. I would recommend getting 2Mb line from Mauritius Telecomm for about $200 a month. The north is very wired for internet access.

Good Luck,

Paul

ADSL: Available through Mauritius Telecom/Orange, other offers are resellers. To get it started, it may take 4-6 weeks because of slow customer services for new phone lines.
It used to be the only way to get a real flatrate because all other services are limited.

3G mobile broadband: Offered by Orange and Emtel, good quality, but no real flatrate available, the limit per month is 10 GB (Emtel) or 5 GB (Orange), after this you pay for every MB.

Wimax: Nomad offers this service for several years, it is said to be unreliable but it may have improved. Emtel Wimax is new and they don't have a limit either, but it's expensive as mentioned.

I'm based in the North and I use Mauritius Telecom ADSL as standard connection and Emtel 3G mobile broadband as backup and for mobile access.