Las Terrenas was the place to invest back in the '80s.

Right now, it is plagued with a total urbanistic chaos, a jungle of proztits and motocoños, bad roads, traffic jams (could anyone believe it), pollution of all kinds, European prices, unsafe streets, corrupt police and authorities.

Sounds familiar. It's reached the age of Dominican modernity.

"Sounds familiar. It's reached the age of Dominican modernity."

LOL


A sad but nevertheless accurate description, Walter.

I am living in Las Terrenas in Samana. Since almost 8 years now. When i came here, correct, everything was unorganized, sandy roads, etc. Now the entire village has brand new infrastructure everywhere. Its a good place for living in my opinion. Perhaps somebody has other thoughts. Its like that.

Best thing is to come and see yourself. Perhaps it fits you, perhaps not. And when coming down, visit other places as well. Take a look at Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Cabarate and Barahona.

If its not Las Terrenas, the entire province is a beautiful spot. To enjoy one of the many beaches, private, hidden or public (with private i mean difficult to get!), the mountains with oceanview, hidden beachbars in Playa el Valle or Rincon beach.

About corruption: its everywhere in the world. Taxes in european countries for example... are the legal or illegal....

These polls, indices and rankings are notoriously arbitrary and lacking credibility - like this country's top Blue Flag Beaches ranking for permanent, properly equipped and trained surf life-savers. No one on Dominican Today has seen even one, ever.

What a load of seflserving BS!

International Living is for EXPAT fugitives who needed to find a place to hid their money! They favor Banana Republics where you can find enough lawlessness to blend in.

If you are an Investor and a normal person there is no better buy than in the USA at the momemt and you don't have to worry about fake Titles, Embargo Asaltos and fugitive neighbors hiding from INTERPOL!

True synapse,
You can pick up a beautiful ocean-front apartment in Miami cheaper than a property in Las Terrenas. The Miami property market will recover sooner or later. The Dominican tourism market will plummet, if it is not doing so already, despite the government spin.

Too far from Santiago. All I need is a few weekends in LT and I am good.

Until the Dominican Government fixes the title issues with the properties specially in the Samana province buying real estate there implies a serious risk.
Yes Samana in my opinion is a paradise even if it lacks the basic urban planning of any good city. Las Terrenas is a beautiful town plagued by europeans running amok in their 4-wheelers without any respect for the locals

All the South of France jailbirds are living in Las Terrenas. It seems that they control this town too (police). One of my friend there (Manu) had/ has a tourist trip business, they called the police to denounce him as an Haitian LOL. Rincon is the nicest beach I saw in the DR. Samana (peninsula) is really a beautiful place

.....

Rainman, complains "Las Terrenas is a beautiful town plagued by europeans running amok in their 4-wheelers"
We stayed there a few weeks ago (yes we have a 4-wheel car) - the beach is still okay but the town is a mess. Still, Europeans should not "run amok" - that is a privileged reserved for locals. You can pick the 4-wheel drives driven by Dominicans - they will stop in the middle of the road for a chat, and can't hear you tooting from behind over Aventura at 95 dB blasting from their distorted sound-system.

Too much cigar smoke in that town.

The LT area is an interesting place. Crime is bad. Over the past 5 years crime has gone from petty theft to murder. Home invasions are now frequent (break-ins when people are home) and the threat of bodily harm with machetes and guns are common. This is a small town so the per capita crime rate here must make Detroit look safer. The latest is either police officers or ex-police officers (they have uniforms and guns) pull over cars in Santo Domingo airport area and steal your property or demand money to let you go. I know of 3 events in last 60 days.

Just remember the basics.Seventy percent of the nation's population earns less than 15,000
peso's per month ($375)and 60% of this number earns 10k peso's or less. It is a poor and corrupt country. Think about living in a poor section of your city except it will cost much much more here and that is what you could expect here.

If you like a wild west/frontier kind of place then this is for you. It is not a proper place to raise kids

Is there any proper place in the DR to raise kids?

chillinout,
It is getting worse in our area too. Armed robberies even in broad daylight are becoming common. A woman who attempted to flee on a motorbike was shot dead. I predict inflation will take off after the election, regardless of who wins, but probably worse if Hippo returns the the throne. The country is living on borrowed money. What happens when that runs out?

"The town performs well in terms of value for money, as well as the predicted rental income derived from any beachfront property."
Really?
Don't forget to deduct 20% agents fee for collection of the rent and 2% of the capital value in property tax to the government, every year.
Then if squatters move in you need to pay them to move out again, I'm told.