Looking for a property or lot July 11 thru 19

Where in PuertoRico are you planning to look?....Also everyone is saying that the economic situation here is so uncertain it might be better to rent a property for a while rather than invest...you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of a big investment. I have been watching property values decrease steadily for the year and a half I've lived here full time.

I would be retired and not really looking for a job, my monthly social security is going to be more than what many working people in the island make in a month, plus I have my IRA that I can draw on. The taxes are a pest, but I can handle it.

I do not consider the property an investment, it will be a comfortable place to live until I die of old age and my ashes are scattered into the sea (I was born and raised in PR, I am fluent with the language, spoken and written). We also like to entertain and spend a lot of time by the pool and cook outside.

I plan to buy cash, so later price fluctuation makes little different for me, I do not plan to sell it. But I am definitely looking for a good deal when I buy, no need to over pay, the more the prices drop and the more motivated the seller, the better for me.

Where to Live:
Almost anywhere in the Island (except Metro Area) but within 10-15 miles from a swimmable beach. We are looking for something away from the neighbors, we don't want to hear or smell when they flush, also looking for privacy. So a little "Campo" may be nice. I do prefer the East coast, but I can drive farther to visit my family from time to time. We have a car that will be shipped to PR plus I will probably buy an old pickup truck to haul stuff.

Areas in East priority list:
Rio Grande, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba, Humacao, Las Piedras, Yabucoa, Maunabo

West and south areas:
Cabo Rojo, La Parguera, Guanica, Hormiguero, Mayaguez, Anasco, Rincon, Aguada, Aguadilla

North West
Isabella, Hatillo, Arecibo, Barceloneta

We are considering a fairly flat lot of at least 1/3 acre or a house that meets our needs, see below:

What we are looking for in a house:
1)   House separated from Neighbors, so most “Urbanizaciones” will not do, we like privacy and reasonable quiet.
2)   House in good shape, well maintained.
3)   Fairly good size flat lot, about 1/3 or more acre, we plan to build / extend the back of the house for a covered area for a bar, outside grill / kitchen and a large pool (18' x 36') plus sunbathing area. We also would like additional space for our dogs to do their business and space to plant a few fruit trees.
4)   House needs to be a minimum of 1200 square feet, 1500 or more even better.
5)   3-4 bedrooms, 2-3 full baths, large kitchen, living room, dining room.
6)   Well-build house, we want no issues with self-built houses like bad wiring, crooked or uneven floors, etc.

If any of you know some realtors or sellers let me know. Like I said looking for a LOT/Parcela or House.

Thanks

HI, my suggesting will be to talk to people around the areas you want to move to. Usually the houses for sale in the interior part of the island are "promoted" by word of mouth. I have seen plenty of houses for sale in FB under clasificados for different groups. We have a house build last year in Sabana Grande, the area is very quiet and safe. I can say for our experience, the process is long and you have t be patience. It took the lawyer over 6 months to deliver our land tittle and the permits took another 3-5 months. Over all, we love the way the house turn out, but we wont do it again!! LOL

Good Luck!!!

I would do that, check the area for private for sale signs and even realtor ones and knock on the door. I would check the realtor ones also because the house may not be moving and seller may want to cancel contract and sell privately for less than the realtor is asking.

I am unsure of Sabana Grande as it may be farther from the Sea than I want, but the peace and quiet and good neighbors sounds very attractive. Also likely houses and parcelas are cheaper. I will keep it in mind.
Thanks

As a suggestion, on any house you may want to purchase, make sure to consult with a lawyer. In the island, the lawyer will take care of the paperwork to register the land on your name and will make sure the land is clear of any liens. Make sure to get the lawyer involve BEFORE you give any money. The are a lot of properties that have inherence issues, you do not want to be in the middle of that.

We enjoy the area, is very quiet and we are 15-20 minutes from the beach. We are planning to be back there in September for a week.

adlin20 wrote:

As a suggestion, on any house you may want to purchase, make sure to consult with a lawyer. In the island, the lawyer will take care of the paperwork to register the land on your name and will make sure the land is clear of any liens. Make sure to get the lawyer involve BEFORE you give any money. The are a lot of properties that have inherence issues, you do not want to be in the middle of that.

We enjoy the area, is very quiet and we are 15-20 minutes from the beach. We are planning to be back there in September for a week.

Absolutely on the lawyer.
Maybe your lawyer was at the beach most of the time. 
It should not take that long for a title, the title is either clear or a mess and in that case the sale should stop and you should be advised. Negotiations can then stop or resume with the other parties involved. Weird.

If you are only 15-20 minutes from the beach, then I have to consider Sabana Grande. I do like "El Campo".
Did you build your house and how much did it cost to build?
Is the house a standard PR square box or does it have angled roofs, over 1200 square feet of space, how many bedrooms, walking closets, number of bathrooms,etc?
Does it have any of the features that are common in the US mainland?

I am trying to get a sense of the cost of a modern house in PR in case I purchase a parcel.

Well, the lawyer was my dads "friend" so he took his time to get it done.

As to the house, we build a 34' x 45' home. we decided to make it 2 bedrooms since we will be by ourselves. the second room will be used as an office, full concrete with modern windows and arches on the balcony and entrance. All the windows and doors are in glass hurricane and burglar proof. bathroom is big (12'x7') with dual shower and oversize shower area. House is wired in every room for cat5-6 and electrical connections for A/C in the roof and wired for electric plant, pluming connections for solar water heater as well as in line. We spend about $80K total, we could had spend less, but we wanted more electrical connections and bigger windows (house have 4 bay windows) overlooking the valley. I have the house wired for security system and camera monitoring.

This included fence and finishing touches( tiles, cabinets, painting).

You can buy a house for less, but we already had the land and we wanted the master to be a good size (16x19), with an open plan concept.

If you decided to build in the west area, I can send you the info on the contractor we use. He was very honest and keep us informed all the time. We did a writing contract and paid him in MO without any issues. Unfortunate, he does not speak a lick of English, so you will need to know Spanish. LOL

I am fluent in Spanish, spoken and written. Wife is not.

80k sounds fairly good to me. If I decide to go west I will let you know. Sounds like a great place. Congratulations.

Everyone:

In PR the most popular method of constructing a home is to use cinder blocks and concrete floors and roof.
Apparently there is a new method that is based on foam boards that produce insulation to noise, insulation to heat, are much lighter than concrete blocks and are fire resistant, earthquake resistant and Hurricane resistant up to 225 Miles per hour. I checked the web site and it really looks promising, has anybody seen this? Any opinions?
Here is a write up: http://www.caribbeanlandandproperty.com … ethod/2014
Here is a link to a brochure: http://issuu.com/grupocarmelo/docs/brochure_gct

To me it sounds very interesting and I may give them a call.

I will think the main issue will be finding contractor that will work with the new material. Concrete and masonry constructions are the normal in the island. Beware of contractor that will tell you "yeah I know how to do that" and then find out he is experiencing with your house. You will find very hard to sue and recover your money since a lot of contractors in the island are not bonded. It is only required to have workers insurance and usually the owner is responsible for this. The island weather is "moderate" and in some places (up in the mountains) A/C is not needed. I wont spend the extra money in insulating a house in the island, but that is my opinion.....

adlin20 wrote:

I will think the main issue will be finding contractor that will work with the new material. Concrete and masonry constructions are the normal in the island. Beware of contractor that will tell you "yeah I know how to do that" and then find out he is experiencing with your house. You will find very hard to sue and recover your money since a lot of contractors in the island are not bonded. It is only required to have workers insurance and usually the owner is responsible for this. The island weather is "moderate" and in some places (up in the mountains) A/C is not needed. I wont spend the extra money in insulating a house in the island, but that is my opinion.....

You are right about the average contractor and worker not being familiar with it, thanks for the advice.

I was not aware that contractors are not bonded, are some bonded in PR? I rather pay more and not have a mess from a contractor screwup and the contractor does not have resources to fix the issue correctly. That was very important!!!!

I was looking into this technology for several reasons:
1) Ease of creating almost any style and shape of house, roof angle, less need for supporting columns so the layout could be more open.
2) Savings in the time to construct
3) Saving in the number of workers
4) Noise insulation
5) Ease to run pipes and electric inside the walls, with switches at the entrance of the room or wherever I want them.

Overall it sounds good but the contractor and workers must have done several houses with the technology, not experiment.

One thing I can't figure out is how do you hang anything on the wall, like a TV, cabinets and stuff. It does not seem to use any studs, so nails and screws would seem to go into a fairly thin layer of concrete with a foam behind. I have to call them and figure out the pros and cons and the cost.

Thanks for your input, I appreciate that.

ReyP wrote:

I was not aware that contractors are not bonded, are some bonded in PR? I rather pay more and not have a mess from a contractor screwup and the contractor does not have resources to fix the issue correctly. That was very important!!!!

Hey ReyP.  Very few contractors anywhere are "bonded" and typically those saying they are "bonded" are referring to a bond that their state or governmental body may require to be licensed. It is often a nominal amount, say $1,000 at most.  When a surety bond is required, it is issued on a project-by-project basis. Even in the U.S., only public projects over a specified minimum are  required to be bonded by applicable law. (It is called a "Miller Act" bond in U.S. for federal projects and most states have their own bonding requirements for state and local public projects.)  This bond is issued by a surety authorized to do business in the jurisdiction and provides the financial guaranty of the surety that the contractor will complete the project, including pay all subcontractors and suppliers. 

Private owners can require the contractor to post a performance bond and payment bond (typically, one bond) for a private project but it is uncommon these days because the owner has to pay the cost.  Even the largest private project owners simply manage their progress payments, withhold retainage (typically 10%) and make sure the contractor delivers lien waivers and evidence of payment to subcontractors and suppliers at each payment interval. The cost of course depends on the financial wherewithal of the contractor as the surety determines in its underwriting process as well as the financial strength of the contractor's principals, who almost always have to sign personal guaranties to reimburse the surety for any losses, and the contractor's performance history.  So, you can certainly require your contractor to "post" a bond, but many simply won't have the means to do so.  Cost-wise, start with 10% of the contract price as a budget and go from there.  Good luck. If you do require a bond, you must insist on it being furnished with the signed agreement and before any work is performed and the bond itself should be signed and often have a seal of the surety and delivered to you to hold.  Due diligence would also dictate you verify the authenticity of the bond and the authorization of the surety to conduct a surety business in P.R.

Also, most contractors in PR are small family owned, unless you go with the big corporations and they're expensive. To us our contractors was referred by word of mouth. He is a local guy with a small crew but every one we spoke with told us he was honest and responsible. I have no complains and will recommend him to everyone.

The big companies won't be flexible as a local guy will. And believe me we did plenty of changes during the construction. Specially since coming from the mainland and been used to different standards here.

I never dealt with construction as you can clearly see, but when I was doing consulting 4 years ago I had to carry a one million insurance policy in case I screw things up. That insurance was only 700 a year and it would have been cheaper if I was a well established company.

I guess things are different in PR and the construction industry. I will check with a lawyer as a simple and small mistake could cost ten of thousands to set right once the concrete sets. Having to break the roof, the floor or a wall to correct the issues can be extremely costly since I do not like to live with the mistake. That is why I am doing a custom house and not buying a house that somebody else made years ago.
Thanks, you opened my eyes, I will definitely investigate.

I would not mind paying the insurance if it can provide me peace of mind that I will not have tens of thousands of correction work because somebody read the house plans upside down.

ReyP wrote:

I never dealt with construction as you can clearly see, but when I was doing consulting 4 years ago I had to carry a one million insurance policy in case I screw things up. That insurance was only 700 a year and it would have been cheaper if I was a well established company.

I guess things are different in PR and the construction industry. I will check with a lawyer as a simple and small mistake could cost ten of thousands to set right once the concrete sets. Having to break the roof, the floor or a wall to correct the issues can be extremely costly since I do not like to live with the mistake. That is why I am doing a custom house and not buying a house that somebody else made years ago.
Thanks, you opened my eyes, I will definitely investigate.

I would not mind paying the insurance if it can provide me peace of mind that I will not have tens of thousands of correction work because somebody read the house plans upside down.

ReyP:  Insurance does not cover contract breach in the manner you're hoping.  So, if the contractor takes some or all of your money and walks away or does an incomplete or defective job, you are still not protected in the sense that some insurer is going to finish your house or fix the problems. The insurance a contractor buys (e.g., commercial general liability) covers insured claims against the contractor for, say, bodily injury and property damage, caused by the negligence of the contractor.  Liabilities assumed by a contract are not typically covered.  Regardless, this insurance coverage is NOT a substitute for a performance bond ensuring you of completion.  You don't need a lawyer; you need an insurance broker to explain the difference between suretyship and insurance coverage.  Good luck.

Adding to this in PR you must have workers insurance thru ARPE in order to get the necessary construction permits. This is usually obtained by the property owners so in case you have to fired a contractor the insurance is yours for the project.