Welcome to our Puerto Rico Pura Vida bulletin 2 update. My fascination and focus for 2020 is to find a home and property in Puerto Rico for an eco-community and wellness center. We are eager to connect with like-minded people who share our values, virtues, and visions for a healthy lifestyle and investment haven. My recent due diligence trip to Puerto Rico was in October 2019 and thanks to Frankie Mirandes and Steven Siegel it was very informative and productive. Wow, a lot has happened since that trip.
Hurricane Maria hit PR hard in September of 2017 and my trip showed that while there was a lot of damage and destruction many important lessons were learned that were long overdue. The vast majority of the damage was repaired and removed and PR looked very inviting again. Recently there has been a string of earthquakes and aftershocks in January 2020. As a result, many people are sharing their concerns and worries about my ideas to buy land, invest in housing, and even live part-time in Puerto Rico. My wife, family, and friends are asking me questions and wondering if my thinking is clever or crazy. Therefore let me share some of my research regarding Puerto Rico to determine if it is a paradise or a problem island.
Earthquakes, Storms and Volcanoes
First, it helps to put the news and reality in perspective. If you know anything about the well-known Ring of Fire and tectonic plates, you know there are many areas around the world that are affected by earthquakes, storms, and volcanoes on a regular basis. Chile, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Japan, Mexico, and the western US are all regularly being affected by these. In spite of the many dangers and risks, life goes on because living there is a great choice 99% of the time and once the decision is made then you adapt and make the best of things. If you cannot deal with earthquakes, storms, and volcanoes than good luck finding an alternative place to live where you don’t have to deal with some other downsides and negative issues like cold weather, droughts, economic issues, government instability, or taxation.
I have contact with about a dozen homeowners in PR and reports indicate none of them have suffered serious damage or distress to the point of wanting to leave or sell. Yes, there have been some challenges with broken glass, damage to exteriors, electrical issues, water leaks, and additional disruptions in electrical power and sometimes access to water. However once the crews are able to work, the problems get resolved. Hurricane Harvey appears to be a worse disaster affecting more people in the Houston area than Hurricane Maria in PR. Even after Hurricane Ike and Harvey, I do not see many people leaving the Houston area to relocate to other cities. The same can be said about earthquakes in California.
Almost all risks can be properly managed today with foresight, ingenuity, and planning. As long as you know the construction challenges and real risks in advance it is possible to build, design, live, and plan for the vast majority of issues that may occur. There appears to be considerably more mold damage and danger in apartments, condos, homes, and offices in the US affecting people than the danger of losing a home in Puerto Rico from earthquakes or hurricanes.
From a buyer’s perspective and economic point of view, when things look gloomy the prices seem to drop much lower than when everything is bright and sunny. Contrarians can find many nuggets of golden opportunity when things look darkest. Right now many buyers are finding incredible deals in Puerto Rico for beautiful property near a beach rather than in California, Florida, Hawaii, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia where prices are climbing and crazy. Word in the business sector in PR is that many developers, hotels, and investors are moving money to PR. Act 20-22 is a big incentive for many businesses and investors.
Many investors feel Puerto Rico is still a better place to invest and live than other parts of the Caribbean or Costa Rica, which is why I am selling my property in Costa Rica and looking closely at PR. While condos near the beach in Florida, Hawaii, and Texas look appealing, there are many pricing, tax, and weather issues to consider. While PR has similar weather issues, it seems to offer many lower-cost options with higher potential, profit upside, and bonus values to consider.
As you can imagine there is a lot more homework to be done on future due diligence trips. The key is to look for quality construction and make sure that backup systems and redundancy strategies are in place. Most of the damaged homes and structures we see in the news photos are of buildings that had preexisting conditions and problems caused by less than qualified contractors with inferior construction, design, materials, and workmanship. A combination of California and Florida building codes with a qualified builder should help ensure a safe structure.
My next trip will allow me to do more first-hand research and see whether PR still makes sense for investing and living there.
Puerto Rico – Pura Vida
Overall there still appears to be many reasons to consider Puerto Rico for investment and living. PR offers many benefits like affordable living and homes, beautiful beaches, Caribbean Sea, US territory, important infrastructure, laidback lifestyle, services and stores, healthcare, medicare, tropical paradise, VA hospital, and warm weather. After looking at many island choices, only PR seems to meet all the criteria most people are looking for. The Act 20-22 tax incentive offers additional benefits and big bonuses.
We are in the market for a small home near the beach in an eco-friendly community located in a tropical paradise. Additionally, we seek an ideal property of 100+ acres with clear title, electricity, water, and one quality house on it for our retreat and wellness center. We feel Puerto Rico is an ideal location near the US and offers many bonus features similar to Hawaii but more accessible and affordable.
Passion for People & Planet
The passion and purpose of Morningstar NEWS is to condense hours of research down to two minutes of education, information and inspiration for a healthy lifestyle and mindset. Please help us find other fans of PR and share your ideas to guide us to success. Who do you know that fits our PR Paradise Project?
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