Palmas del Mar

Msarroyo74 wrote:

...but t we are not sure about the communities there and if it's family oriented.  My concern is that it may be a snowbird community with not enough substance for families?  Since I really don't know much about the area; I wanted to get some feedback from anyone that may be familiar with Palmas.

Palmas is a huge gated community and inside there are smaller gated communities.
Many properties are owned by people who use it for vacations, be it for themselves , family members, friends and paying renters.
The area is huge and there are many communities. I would suggest that you plan to come over and spend some time there to see for yourself how it is and try to find a community that suits your needs.

Msarroyo74 wrote:

Pediatricians
Hospitals
House help (babysitters)
Park
Recreational activities
Furniture stores, clothing stores.

Hospitals, there are a couple in Humacao but I wouldn't recommend any of those (and I live in the area..)
Medical care on the island is (very) different from what you're used to. You may want to read this thread about health care: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=359991
The best hospitals are in the San Juan metro area, a 45 minutes drive  -- two hours during rush hour -- from Palmas.

There are a couple of small stores inside Palmas (Palmanova Plaza) but for groceries and clothes etc. you may want to go to Plaza Palma Real in Humacao, a strip mall with JC Penny's Walmart, Marshalls and other stores.
For a better choice you'd have to go to San Juan (Plaza Las Americas).

House help would be easy to find, there's a Palmas magazine where people offer their services in the classified section.

Recreational: Palmas has great beaches, a golf course, a marina, a tennis club and more. Check the website www.palmasdelmar.com or even better, spend a couple of weeks there before you make your decision to move final.

Thank you Gary!  We are planning to go in October to make a final rental decision.  We visited the island in May and spent some time in Dorado, Condado and Rio grande.    Dorado is a out of range at the moment and Condado is not really a place for us.  We took a drive to Palmas to visit the school.  Could not really tell much from the community; other than many homes and gated area.  Not many people outside did not see many people at all.  Maybe it was too hot to be outside...

Any thoughts in Guaynabo?

Msarroyo, we have been looking at Palmas del Mar as one of several possibilities for retirement, full time, not snowbird.  One of your comments piqued my interest.  You said you did not see many people at all.  I have looked at a gazillion pictures or more and always remark that I never see anyone in the pictures.  Not around the pools, not on the beaches.  That made me think that it is an area with lots of families, folks going to work and kids in school.  Or it's a ghost town.  But such a pretty ghost town.

just limin wrote:

That made me think that it is an area with lots of families, folks going to work and kids in school.  Or it's a ghost town.  But such a pretty ghost town.

Palmas is pretty, absolutely. I don't think that there are many people living full time, at least not in the couple of communities where I've been every now and then. A friend of mine used to live in 'Monte Carlo',  a street close to Palmanova Plaza. Some houses there were abandoned and in a bad shape. Not a lot of people were living there full time. In the weekends it was different. (this is two years ago - my friend moved back to Holland in the mean time).
He told me that the financial crisis hit hard in Palmas. He rented a furnished 3- story 4 bedroom house with pool  for $1,200. The 'normal' rent would have been close to 3 Grand. The golf course was in a bad shape in those days but that changed.
Another community (I can't remember the name right now) where we've been a couple of times to hang out with a cousin from Chicago seemed empty on weekdays.

From what I hear many properties are either owned by people who rent it, most of them are communities with beach access. Then there are communities where most properties are owned by people who use it as a weekend getaway.
Of course there are also people living full time in Palmas but how many and in which communities I don't know.

For us Palmas is a place where we go out every now and then. There are some good jazz concerts in long weekends, a couple of nice restaurants.

Msarroyo74 wrote:

Any thoughts in Guaynabo?

In Guyanabo you will more easily find a community with young families. You would be closer to hospitals, shopping malls etc.
Assuming that one of you is going to work on the island and, again assuming, that that would be somewhere in the metro area I would think that Guaynabo would be a good choice to live.

Hi Msarroyo74!

Apparently there's plenty of activity in Palmas del Mar resort area.  I found this facebook page that is quite informative about the people and activities there:  facebook.com/seepalmas

There's also a website that has lots of videos, and lots of info about the Palmas Academy:  seepalmas.com/

I moved to Palmas Del Mar in June of 2013 and absolutely love it! During the week and most weekends it is very tranquil and quiet. There are some busy times but those are limited to the Jazz Festivals and the Holidays. As for medical care I go to San Juan where the care is much better and it is only about 50 minutes away. The shopping as one said is in Humacao in Palmas Real and you can go Grocery shopping at Ralphs. The school from what I understand is spectacular and lots of kids move on to bigger and better things from there. Enjoy your trip in October and I am sure you will love Palmas as much as I have. I will never go back to the Northeast to live.

Just moved here and love it so far. Beautiful, quiet, friendly/helpful people and lots of amenities/things to do.

Scott and Blukieduug, thanks for posting.  Your enthusiasm about Palmas Del Mar gives me more reason to consider it as a retirement home.  I read the Facebook page daily become more and more excited about our future.  I hope you don't mind a couple of questions.

Do you have any knowledge of the long-term rental inventory?  This is the way we plan to go, even though we have a house we will be selling first.  At our age it makes more sense, especially if we have to relocate quickly for some reason.

As far as you know, do some of the condo complexes have more year-round residents than others?  Do some have fewer children than others, or are there complexes that are specifically 55+?

Thanks for your input or that from any other.

Gerie

Gerie,

There are quite a few long-term rental options. We looked at a lot of different things before settling on a house in one of the more traditional-like neighborhoods, but there are developments that are condos, villas, two floor, three floor, apartments, lots of different options. Let me know if you have any questions; and we spoke with a couple realtors and the best to talk to is Ricardo Casillas with Casillas Realty, in my opinion. He speaks English perfectly and grew up in the area here and knows it very well and works a lot with finding long-term rentals for people.

Hello!
This is my first post here...we just moved our family to Palmas Del Mar (just over a week ago) after living in a temporary rental in Guaynabo for the past 2 months.

We looked EVERYWHERE for a good place to settle. Dorado wasn't very appealing, Condado was too difficult with a toddler & family pets, Guaynabo was almost a possibility. We found gorgeous homes for rent in the San Francisco and Torrimar areas.

In the end, we found a home in Palmas to rent for a year with an option to buy, It's only a little more than what we were paying for the home in Guaynabo BUT we can see (and walk to) the beach from our home. It's stunning!

We found only a few of the more desirable homes available for rental long term (ocean access, pool) as they are mostly used for vacation rentals. There are a lot of golf course homes for rent, condos on the water, townhomes, etc.

So far, the area seems pretty lively. You can see lots of people walking their dogs and zipping around in their golf carts. From what I hear, the real estate market is picking up here and lots of people are moving to this area. Several multi-million $ properties near us have sold in the last few weeks.

Coming from Miami, we are getting used to how slow it is here, it's more like living on vacation! People are very friendly and it seems like getting together at each other's homes is the thing to do. So far, we haven't been very impressed with the restaurants!

Hello,
We are moving at the end of December and we have been debating as to the place we could settle in.
I have 3 small children.  Only 1 old enough to go to prek.
Have you found daycares in the area.  I'm also moving from Miami.
We had looked at home in Dorado and Guaynabo but was concerned about schools and just plain everyday living in Palmas. 
Healthcare, stores, entertainment, etc...
Would love to hear more from you and how things are going there.

I have an (almost) 2 year old. From what I hear, medical care is best in San Juan (50 mins away) but I'm also in the process of scheduling some pediatrician appts close by. I did visit a dr in the Guaynabo area myself and was very pleased with the quality of care (but come prepared to wait a long time for your appt)

There is a great Montessori school here in Palmas as well as a day care. They are fantastic compared to the schools I was looking at in downtown Miami and I'm excited to have my son there. They teach music at a very young age as well as English/Spanish.

Since I've been on the island, I've used a babysitting service for temporary childcare and have been happy with it for the most part. (nanniespr.com) I'm looking for a full-time nanny at the moment and having a hard time. Sites like Care.com get me very few applicants who are remotely qualified. The babysitting service offers a placement service for a fee ($1200) which I've been reluctant to pay. I think the best bet will be to go speak with people in person at the Montessori school because no one does things online here.

Overall, I think Palmas is wonderful for children. It's the kind of place where you feel safe letting kids ride bikes as they please. Residents all drive very carefully and it's easy to get around by golf cart.

Entertainment? So far, we have been disappointed. The jazz fest last weekend was mostly overrun by teenagers from the local schools.  There's an event this weekend we are attending, La Buena Vida Festival. Hopefully it's more fun!

Which real estate agent did you use?  I just moved out of New York and am living in my condo in Arroyo, PR.  I am considering moving to Palmas. Thanks in advance.

I used several. I recommend them all, as they are all now good friends of ours.
Ricardo Casillas & Liz Colon: - casillasrealty.com/
Rudy from Rudy Realty: - rudyrealtypr.com/


Good luck on your search!