Moving to PR

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Rey, hopefully, you won't have to spend another winter in the states.

Yes if i can help it no more winters. The good thing is that I am still working, paying SSN, adding to 401k, etc. so if things are delayed, no problem other than the winter which I hate.

Hi guys - I realize this is an old thread but I hope you will see it.  My partner and I are under contract with a house on Vieques and have finally received the inspection report (PM me if you want my full rampage and 2 cents worth on the inspection itself).... but it did reveal termite damage.  Feeling very in the dark here...does anyone have any recommendations for pest/termite inspectors and also termite remediation?  Thank you so much! Diane

Termites are just about everywhere, most any untreated wood will come under attack.

Assuming the damage is not critical here: get a local exterminator and have them give you an estimate. You may also need a person to make repairs to the property depending on what has been affected.

Termites get on anything like books and photo albums besides wood, so you want all of that out. Before you move your stuff, have the place fumigated.

Also look for their hive and have that removed and all trails to ensure they are all dead.

Make the elimination a purchase requirement!!!!

Have the whole house check and fumigated. If they're in the house wood it means the wood is not treated and you will have to keep fumigating. Make sure you exterminate all insects and replace the damage wood. They are normal in the island, most people will build with treated wood because of that reason.

If you decide to buy the house, buy TEMPO, it's sold at most agrocenters in the mainland. We used to eliminate some colonies on our trees and it kill them quick.

I hate winter too and I am from new York and winter already started in late august and ends by july 4th. so iu must move. winter is any time the night low drops below 62 degrees. says puetro rico has only few days of winter when air blasts comes down from artic

I moved into my Puerto Rico house. Expensive to move in since real estate tricked me say house will be furnished with everything you need. Sent him the check .gave me no stove no bed no dressers no tv. Me got stuck paying again 4600 dollars on credit years to pay. I got here I could not cook no place to sleep no place put my clothes no kitchen table. When you said just come down and house needs nothing. Me scammed again. Plus cost 2000 dollars just for trees and bushes. They were none. So hard to pay. Talking about expensive

How did others afford to move if house has no landscape
Just to buy your plants costs like 2000 dollars. Then your grass seed at 10 bucks a lb. As you so expensive to move here
Plus 400 dollars for brake pads. Tv about 900 dollars.tvs came down in price used to be 5000 dollars for a screen. Now struggling to pay the nursery bill. In new York grass seed is 3 to 4 dollars a lb.here it's 10 a lb times 40lb expensive grass. What do you do then. Your stuck paying 500 dollars for seed and it better grow.that bill no clue how it will be paid. How are others paying all these move in costs.10 dollars a lb is the bulk price
1200 dollars to fill a hole. Talk about expensive 67 dollars a yard for dirt. New York it's 22 a yard here it's not even good dirt. Just clay.these costs were not expected on my list of items needed

When you move, you do a little at a time, there is grass, it may be mostly weeds but there is cover, you get one thing done then the other. You also have to compare prices, sometimes you are asked to pay gringo prices so shop around.

As to flowers and other decorative plants, if you make friends with the neighbors you can get some for free and you can compare prices and buy where they look real healthy and give you the best price. You can plant a few at a time and by 5 years down the road you will likely more some around and rage them before you are done with the look you want.

Tseweam wrote:

I moved into my Puerto Rico house. Expensive to move in since real estate tricked me say house will be furnished with everything you need. Sent him the check .gave me no stove no bed no dressers no tv. Me got stuck paying again 4600 dollars on credit years to pay. I got here I could not cook no place to sleep no place put my clothes no kitchen table. When you said just come down and house needs nothing. Me scammed again. Plus cost 2000 dollars just for trees and bushes. They were none. So hard to pay. Talking about expensive

Ummm sight unseen not the best way to rent or buy. Most houses for rent in PR have no refrigerator, no stove, no furniture of any kind, that is the norm. Some are fully furnished but that is not super common. When renting a place, you will need to buy or ship furniture, buy a washer, refrigerator and stove with the eye of moving them to the house of your dream and enjoy them in the mean time.

In contrast to Spain, where most flats are furnished, Puerto Rican rental properties are typically not furnished. There are exceptions and the advertisement usually prominently identifies furnished properties.

I see how expensive it will be just for plants for a yard few 1000s .already at 1600 dollars and not even up to flower beds.figuring costs about 5000 dollars just for plant materials .by time you get all the flowers bushes and trees bought. Certain plants are expensive like Norfolk island pine agaves and palms. You may not believe that the pine is cheaper in New york as a house plant. Plus orchids going to cost HUNDRENDS. Been running out of money. Now I am looking on roadside for cactus to take cuttings to root. And still need 10k to get my items here

How are most paying these nursery bills when moving down here
It's another big moving expense. Then 1000s to furnish a home. Then how most doing it if don't have 1000s for a nursery. Just add up flower beds at 5 dollars per flower. Takes a lot for a bed. Then your orchids to attach to trees at 10 to 20 a piece times how it takes. Then your ground covers too .HUNDRENDS of dollars for grass seed. Few gallons of round-up. Lawn fertilizers  topsoil  weed killer for lawns. Crabgrass prevented. Then your mulch at 1200 a year to buy to prevent weeding. Wonder how everyone pays for all of this.thats what it costs every year to not have to pull weeds in flower beds. You must apply wood chips every where
How do they get weeds down here if costs that much a year to mulch it to avoid weeding

You guys are a lot richer than the average person in the island. Most pull weeds by hand and do their grounds over the years not in a month.

ReyP wrote:

Well we gave up on the Ceiba house we were planing to purchase.

The plan was to sell some stocks and use the money to buy the house cash. However there were a lot of delays (since July) due to the seller realtor and a problem with the land measurements being incorrect. I finally got a message earlier this week that the issues with the title have been ironed out and the property has been registered with the correct numbers. Since the market has gone down over 20% since my initial offer in July, I told them I was not buying the house since I would need to sell 20% more shares to get the same amount of money.

Here are the new plans:
We have decided to go ahead and look for a plot of land instead, this will give us the freedom of building a brand new house with a pool and in a modern style using modern construction (phone lines, Internet, cable TV connections in every room, flexible tubing), big balcony, pool and surrounding area that matches the house and tile, etc. Depending on what we decide, it is likely to cost us 80-120 for the construction, permits, and taxes. So for about 200K we can have a very nice place in an acre of two of land and build with the options the wife wants.

I contacted by friend that is a realtor (Carlos) and asked him to look for plots of lands in the 1 to 2 acres size. I also contacted my brother to ask his wife, she and her sisters have about 20 acres between them in an area I like, they will contact me later with prices. I don’t like dealing with family and business but it is an option.

My realtor friend called me that there is a plot of land about 2 acres in size, right next door to the Ceiba house I was planing on purchasing. we are familiar with the area so that one gets a golden star. The 2 acres are selling for 65K which I find very reasonable.

I told my realtor friend that we will be arriving in 2 to 3 months, to have 4-5 properties (lots) that meet my needs to see. I told him they need to be in the area of Fajardo, Ceiba, Naguabo or Humacao (most of upper east coast).

I really like just getting the land now and build whenever I decide to go to PR, besides …. the money I get from selling the house in MA, I can use to build the house in the new plot so I don’t have to touch the stocks if at all possible.

We plan to rent for about 6 months while the house is build and we will be there to supervise the work so there are no costly mistakes.

So we will be in PR in 2 to 3 months looking at some lots.
Rey

Update: we went with the land in 2016, late 2019 we cleared the land, removed about 12 trees, cut into the mountain and we build 2 flat areas, one huge one 15 feet above the second one that will hold my house but is big enough for 4 houses, and the second one 15 feet below our house to in the future build an Airbnb unit or 2. The land is 1.7 acres in total.

We are waiting on the architect for the final plans and the permits to start construction, if all goes well construction should start by the end of January 2020. House will be 2 floors about 1400 square feet each with a huge balcony in the top floor and 2 bedrooms. The master bedroom, kitchen, dining and living room will be downstairs. A pool in the front, about 36 feet long 4.5 feet deep, with an L shape, the short end enters the middle of the house in appearance, but in reality the section inside will be a jacuzzi. The pool area will have a building that is a bar. The house also will have a 2 car wide car port. If all goes well we should be able to move in by May at the latest
The completed house will have 3 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms.

That sounds wonderful! We looked at a house in Cieba and put an offer in ( I may have posted about it some time ago). The house was a great deal but I was nervous about the purchase. Needless to say the owner initially rejected our counter offer but quickly accepted it with the exception we allow her to stay 30 days past closing due to her illness! We walked away and a month later Maria hit. It let me know why I was feeling nervous and that it was not the right time for the move anyways as we were still up in the air about bringing our daughter at the time. I really love the area though.