Moving from WA state to San Juan, PR for Grad School. Many questions!

Hello mlb03:

I may be able to offer some suggestions with questions 1 and 2:

-We had tremendous success with a real estate agent when looking for a rental.  She was super-efficient, knew lots of people and was able to take us to different places in metro SJ.  Until you are here for a bit, driving around can be somewhat tricky, but she knew all the places.  Eventually, she found us an apartment in Old San Juan, the exact building we were looking for.  If you can PM me (not sure if you have to contribute a certain number of posts before you can PM), I'd be happy to give you her office's contact info.

-When we were looking for rentals, there seemed to be considerably more units furnished than unfurnished. 

-Setting utilities up were interesting - you can scroll through some of my previous posts to get an idea of how things went for us.  How's your Spanish?  One of the most helpful things was having one of my wife's co-workers (who is from PR), help with setting things up.  We had to go down to several offices in person, and he was of tremendous help.

-Same thing with internet - it seems that each area is different, so it might be helpful to ask around.  You can read through some of my experiences with Liberty.

Sorry I can't help with the others - best of luck with your move!!!

Thank you, trekrider. I have looked through your previous posts- all very helpful. It sounds like it may take a while just of sitting in different offices to get everything we need set up!

Just a couple of comments in no particular order:

1) Even though the distances may seem small, traffic can be paralyzingly bad in San Juan at times. Since Centro Medico is a stop on the Tren Urbano, which is a very clean, safe, and timely metro rail line in San Juan, you might consider driving to a metro station parking lot (in some cases parking is free) and then using the Tren Urbano to get to campus.

2) With regard to safety walking at night, Old San Juan is very safe, including at night, as are Condado & Isla Verde; however the different neighborhoods have very different things to offer, so you should do your research. Ocean Park (inside the gated area) is considered safe, but the streets are poorly lit and quiet at night. Miramar is also a good area that is pretty safe at night. Note that it is generally considered unsafe to go on the beaches at night.

3) If your husband has his primary care physician in WA and will just be traveling back & forth 2 weeks there and 2 weeks here, etc., he probably does not need to get an insurance plan in PR; however any medical services he gets in PR will probably be considered 'out of network' and he will have to submit for reimbursement. He should obviously check with his insurance company to confirm.

4) JetBlue is the best airline for going to & from PR, IMO, but to Seattle I don't know if they offer many flights or are price competitive. There is basically a dedicated terminal for JetBlue in San Juan and if you have Mosaic status you get to skip the bag line.

Housing - we used an agent to rent a furnished apartment.  We have 2 dogs and I walk them on the beach as there is no fenced/secure area to let them run.  We live on a gated street so it is safe after dark, but if we didn't I wouldn't take them further than the first patch of grass.  I would assume dog is fine unless they say so - tons of dogs here!

Time - we had our landlord keep all the utilities in her name and we paid her for the first month while we got everything transferred. That way we weren't without. otherwise, they wanted to turn it all off, schedule a time, then turn it all on... did not work for us!

Car leases available - no. The way they do leases here is basically to buy a car and then sell it back. There are no leases like in the US. Best to find someone TRUSTWORTHY to buy a used car from (take them with you to register etc before handing over $). We ended up buying new. Faster.

Health insurance - we have MCS, cheaper than in the US, good coverage to PR but only emergency care in US mainland.

Banco Popular is the most popular bank here (no pun intended) but we just use our US bank and did not open an account here.

Good luck! We love the beaches and the people here.

Anolis: Thanks for all the thoughts- very good to know that the train runs by Centro Medico. When my husband and I visited, we stayed in OSJ and I did not feel safe at night/would not have gone out on my own. I wonder if different areas of it are better.

Thanks also for the tips about health care and flights! JetBlue doesn't come up in my searches for the cheapest flights but I think they must be bigger on the east coast.

Suzanne: You must live right on the beach then? Are you near San Juan or somewhere else? I'm thinking I will have to use an agent as well. We may do an AirBnB or VRBO for the first month so that we can see our options in person.

Good tip for having the utilities in the landlord's name at first. And bummer about the car leases just seems like such a hassle to sell again in a few years! But I will need one for school as I will be traveling between many different hospitals and probably at odd hours. I will probably end up doing as you did and buy new- or buy used from a reputable dealer rather than from an individual.

From what I have seen, health insurance is much cheaper than we pay in the states. I am waiting to see if there are any student prices offered through the school.

Thanks so much for your help! I am excited to move because as you said, the beaches and the people were AWESOME when we visited!

mlb03 wrote:

When my husband and I visited, we stayed in OSJ and I did not feel safe at night/would not have gone out on my own.

Although, of course you should always be vigilant at night in all parts of San Juan, OSJ is one of the safest areas of the metro area. There are some nearby areas (la Perla, obviously, and Puerta de Tierra) that are not safe and should be avoided either at all times (in the case of la Perla) or at night (in the case of Puerta de Tierra). Obviously, it may 'feel' different from what you are used to, but it is in fact very safe. OSJ is very touristy, however, so although you probably won't be robbed (literally), you may not be safe from getting ripped off

Still you have to be careful, also in OSJ. A friend of mine who has been living there for 20 years or so sat in his doorstep in clear daylight doing something on his iPad. Two young men ran by, one grabbed the iPad, the went 'round the corner, hopped in a car and they were gone.

Gary wrote:

Still you have to be careful, also in OSJ. A friend of mine who has been living there for 20 years or so sat in his doorstep in clear daylight doing something on his iPad. Two young men ran by, one grabbed the iPad, the went 'round the corner, hopped in a car and they were gone.

I believe it, unfortunately.

mlb03, yes we are on the beach in condado/ocean park. Even here I would not go out after dark without my husband/friends. Just this week in the paper they are circulating a pic of a rapist who has struck twice within blocks of me. It's city living, just like I wouldn't walk around in DC or NYC is a sparsely populated area after dark.  Good luck with the move. In spite of the many challenges of living here, it's a great experience and we are soaking in every last bit.