Villa Rental

Hi,
My wife and I are considering moving to the DR in the future but will aim to rent a villa first for the mth of Nov2012.  Our budget is $1000-$1200/mth and we would like to be in/around Cabarete.  Does anyone have suggestions on booking one?  Also...if we eat locally what would we need to budget for weekly groceries?  What about a car rental?  Medical Insurance for the month?  Other expenses?

We also want to look for volunteer work while we are down there (i.e. hospital, orphanage, etc).

Is it also worth a trip to one of the main cities?

Thanks everyone,

Gord and Nancy

Gord and Nancy,
Yes you can find a villa for that amount but you will also find that most rentals and properties in Cabarete are Condos with few villas. For a villa you will end up closer to Sosua which is about a 5 min drive to Cabarete. We in fact live between the two towns but closer to Sosua.

Grocery budget is hard to say but if you eat local brands and not imports your grocery bill will be about 40% less then in the US.

Car rental from a local firm and not a "national brand" will run about $300-400 a month for a older used model but usually reliable depending on who you use. Make sure you get the full insurance package including "casa de Conductore". This will prevent you from going to jail in case of an accident

You will not be able to get health insurance for a month so keep you home insurance in force.

Other expenses: phone, eating out and entertainment, gas, depending on your rental agreement maybe electric, cable and internet.

If you want to volunteer one place is Monkey Jungle http://www.monkeyjungledr.com/site/ We run a free medical and dental clinic for the local poor and uninsured every Saturday.

Hope this info helps. Let me know if oher questions

Bob K

Thank you Bob.

Any suggestions on where to look for villa?  online somewhere?

How do you find living just outside Cabarete/closer to Sosua vs right in the towns?

Regards,

Gord

Just came back from Sosua, had a great rental at Sosua Garden condos, extremely well groomed gardens and grounds, looks like a resort, big pool, nice people, very well kept and furnished apartments..you can have laundry done clean dry and folded and returned within 4 hours for $3 US.  everything is within walking distance...great supermarket..buy local name brands and way cheaper than US eggs were under 1 dollar US for a dozen broccoli was under 50cents pineapple was 95cents...we ate our several times american breakfast(2 eggs potatoes bacon and toast) for two with coffee and a diet coke(my caffine) was 400 pesos so with tip about 10 us for two, two can eat dinner or lunch out for around 600 pesos  exchange rate was 38.8 on the US dollar. Hope this helps any questions please ask  we plan to move to the Sosua Cabarette area and this was wonderful
;)

P.S.  electric, cable and wifi included in these rentals. Looking to volunteer please contact 3 Mariposa Montessori school ask for Sarah tell her Mary from Michigan sent you.  They are always looking for volunteers for projects and working with the adorable little children

We enjoy living outside of town as it is much quieter and Sosua is 5 min by car and cabarete is 10 min away.
You might look on www.tripadvisor.com an search under vacation rentals Puerto Plata, Sosaua and Cabaerete. There are lots of rentals listed. This is one of the places we list our condo rental in Cabarete and get lots of "hits" on this site.  There are lots of listings.
You might also look at www.casalindacity.com for villa rentals. This community is also between the two towns.

Let me know if this helps.

Bob K