BEWARE THE DYSFUNCTIONAL EXPAT

What is the psychological profile of the typical expat living in developing countries?
I am not a professional psychologist.  My analysis below is just my opinion from what I have observed living in Panama and now the Dominican Republic since 2006.

My statistics are not for accuracy, but for now lets stick to the 80/20 rule.  In my opinion, 80% of retired aged expats are normal and 20% are dysfunctional. The opposite is true, with some exceptions, for young expats, where I see 80% of expats under age 50 dysfunctional and 20% normal.  Although what my wise friend James S. said is true, that many of us have left our homeland because we are the adventurous ones, the outspoken ones, the rebels, the "odd balls", I write this article to go deeper into expat behavior.

  By dysfunctional, I mean they have psychological problems that have affected their ability to work or socialize "back home" and have now sought refuge in an exotic country to try and escape their problems.  These problems could include personality disorders, inability to socialize in a healthy way with family and friends, inability to keep gainful employment back home, drug, alcohol, gambling or sexual addictions or other antisocial, self-destructive behavior.
I believe that, from my observations, 80% of retired age expats are normal.  After all most retirees come to developing countries to live the beach life because it is affordable.  Santa Barbara, Miami, and San Diego are much too expensive to live compared to most tropical spots in developing countries.  However, 20% have come to escape their life back home for the reasons I describe above.  They don't have any real family or friends back home anyways, so its better to just pick a new place to live and start over.

  The young expat is where dysfunctional behavior is much more prevalent.  My observations - in Panama City and Sosua/Cabarete - bring me to conclude that most young expats are dysfunctional.  PTY (Panama City, Panama) is a truly international city with high growth and a healthy economy.   Business and industry there is vibrant and diverse.  I know a lot of normal, healthy young expats there, so I would say that because of the many reasons a young expat would live in PTY, the percentage of normal young expats is higher than my current home, Sosua/Cabarete, Dominican Republic.  A lot of international companies are setting up shop in PTY so there are more reasons for young expats to be employed and productive there.
  Quite the opposite scene in Sosua/Cabarete.  This area has been ranked the #8 best beach cities to retire in the world by Kathleen Peddicord, publisher at Live & Invest Overseas, which in my opinion is THE resource for offshrore living (along with International Living).  I came to live here because in my travels I found this beach community to be the prettiest for the least amount of money.  Any other place as beautiful cost more to live, and any place cheaper wasn't worth living there.

  This is the first time I lived in a place that was not a big city.  I have lived in New York, Boston, Las Vegas, San Diego and PTY.  Beach living is different.  There are no tall office buildings filled with white collar employees or business tycoons. Its tranquil, peaceful, relaxing... beach life.  But here I see about 80% of the young expats as dysfunctional.  Drug or alcohol problems being the #1 issue.  It appears as though a lot of young expats came here to escape something.  Problems back home, criminal behavior, etc.  The 20% that are normal are productive and have hobbies that keep them busy.  One job I noticed in PTY and DR is computer programmers.  These guys/gals can work from anywhere, so they chose to work from a tropical country where the cost of living is super cheap and they can have a great lifestyle and save more of the high income they earn, which includes tax benefits (low or zero income tax).  The typical young expat is also transient.  The very likely will not stay in one place very long.  Some do this to explore new experiences, like me.  Others do it because once again its time to escape from the demons that have followed from back home.
These are my observations.  Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL CANCELLED WITHOUT NOTICE!!!

Today is the first day of school in the Dominican Republic. This was supposed to be a special day for my girlfriend, Geraldine, mother of Oasis, who is almost 3 and going to school for her first day ever. We took pictures all morning, and when we arrived to The Sofonias School in Puerto Plata, there was nobody there. We saw a female guard behind the gate of the school, and she informed us that the school is closed today - the first day - without warning or notice to the parents, but that it would be opened for sure tomorrow.
This is the type of inconsiderate incompetency that you have to deal with when living in a third world country.

Sex Tourism Hypocrisy in the DR

If I were emperor of the Dominican Republic, I would declare Sosua to be the Sex & Pot Tourism Capital of the World.  Instead, the incompetent hypocrite morons who run this country have declared war on sex tourism in their fake-believe moral obligation to "clean up".  These self-righteous elitist idiots pretend that they care about everyone concerned, from the rich to the poor, natives to tourists, children to elderly.  They are self-serving liars, and the evidence is below.

The DR has been a sex tourism favorite for decades, and Sosua has been the town of choice for men to come and enjoy the tropical beaches by day and ladies at night.  Over the years there have been pretend, failed, incompetent attempts to destroy this business in Sosua, which has always accounted for a significant portion of its economic activity.  The aftermath of those foolish attempts have never resulted in anything positive.  Instead, tourism goes down, hotels and restaurants are empty and not only are the girls out of work and income, but so are the Dominicans who work at hotels and restaurants.  Sure, the expat retirees who own property in Sosua are happy because they falsely believe that eliminating the sex tourism in Sosua is better than organizing it.  They want to blame the fact that there are 40 properties for sale for every buyer on the prostitutes.  Morons.
These idealists make believe that it is possible to completely change the identity of a small beach town in a poor third world country.  Its practically impossible.  Take away the auto industry and Detroit is a shithole.  Take away the military bases in small California towns and they turn into wastelands - and NEVER recover. Because its amoral to gamble, lets also take away gaming from Las Vegas and turn it into a Christian retreat center.  See what happens.

For the dreamers that falsely believe that Sosua can become a clean fun family-oriented vacation haven - GET REAL.  I bet anyone any amount of money that 10 or 20 years from now Sosua will NEVER become a successful destination for your family-happy tourism. That war has been won already by the all-inclusive juggernaut in Punta Cana.  Sosua can't and never will compete for that business.  Can Sosua become just a non-tourist residential town?  Probably, but why throw away the baby with the bath water when there is a solution?

Lets imagine for a minute that my dream came true; Sosua: Sex & Pot Tourism Capital of the World.  Just like Las Vegas eliminated its street girls and New York City's 42nd street eliminated its street girls.  Lets take away the low-class seedy bar-street hooker environment that has defined Sosua, and lets create an organized industry like Amsterdam's red light district, Las Vegas and New York's escort industry.  Nobody - not even me - wants the eye sore nightlife scene of fat ugly hookers in neon miniskirts galavanting in the streets and bars. You don't see that in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, or New York anymore, but the sex tourism industry in those places has skyrocketed since the days of street walkers.  Sosua can easily create a red light area with upscale bars & Pot Cafes (just like Amsterdam) and leave plenty of space for clean, family fun for residents and tourists, the same way Amsterdam and Las Vegas are sex tourist hot spots, but they also have plenty of things to do and amenities for the non-sex tourist.
Why include Pot?  Simple.  Make Sosua a unique Caribbean destination that offers what no other place on the western hemisphere has: TROPICAL BEACHES, LEGAL SEX & POT.  Colorado just legalized recreational use of marijuana.  It is already a BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY in that state in LESS THAN A YEAR!  Hello? How would you like to see poor beach town Sosua become RICH???  If you tell single men from the US, Canada and Europe that they can come to Sosua and smoke all the weed and have sex with gorgeous girls LEGALLY in tropical beach paradise -it would create an economic gold mine that would even make the Asian destinations like Thailand and Philippines jealous.

As of today, my dream is far from reality.  The hypo-Christian politicians (hypocrite Christians) want to crucify the girls that were born in this poor country (probably without a dad or an abusive one) given no education while they were children and no job opportunities while they are adults.  Then there are the anti-prostitution/sex tourism moral supremacists who do not live in reality and pretend they have the answer to all of God's questions.  I hear nonsense like, lets eliminate prostitution so Sosua can be clean and then we can get the girls jobs in hotels so they don't have to sell their bodies.  Idealistic idiots with no clue about macro economics.  Lets also train them to become mutant ninjas and rocket scientists since there is an equal demand for those as well.  Maybe we can hire the girls to save the marsupials, cure cancer and eliminate poverty in Africa too.  I have not heard ONE anti-sex-industry pundit come up with ONE logical, reasonable, realistic solution.  Fantasy world dreamers who refuse reality and pretend they got morals.

Last month was the latest maneuver of corrupt incompetency by DR politicians to kill sex tourism, which by anyone's calculations, is a majority of the economic activity in Sosua.  Authorities charged Robert "Bob" Anechiarico, US citizen and owner of Rumba's Bar (one of the two most popular bars in Sosua) with promoting sex tourism in the Dominican Republic.  The charges are outright bullshit.  Bob owns a popular bar that tourists come to drink, eat and watch sports while the working girls come to see if the guys would like company for the evening.  Bob does not sell or promote sex at his bar; he makes a lot of money just selling the food and drinks to the guys that come in.  This bar has operated exactly the same for years, yet all of a sudden, Bob's legal business is now illegal without any changes in the laws, just outrageous allegations that killed his business.
Last night, about one month later, I drove through Sosua center.  It was dead.  No activity like there used to be.  No guys, no girls.  The dreamers and politicians are promising that soon families will fill up Pedro Clisante and we will all live happily ever after.  Meanwhile the hotel, restaurant, tourist workers starve to death because there are no customers until the promise is delivered.  It never will be.

I see this incompetent corruption throughout Latin America, but especially in the Dominican Republic.  Do the morons who run the Dominican Republic - do they think about the consequences of taking Bob's business away?  How is a gringo investor supposed to feel confident about starting a business in the DR when at any given moment, the corrupt authorities can just allege that you are a criminal and take your business away like they did to him?  The DR just told every foreign investor:  IF YOU INVEST HERE, WE CAN TAKE YOUR MONEY & FREEDOM WITHOUT CAUSE, NO RULES NECESSARY.  WE WILL JUST ACCUSE YOU OF SOMETHING AND KICK YOU OUT.

I came to the DR with dreams, good ideas, money to invest and plans to build a life here.  My experience and the evidence tells me that I may not have calculated all the risks involved in making an investment in the DR.  I have not yet made up my mind, but if I was smart, I'd pack my bags and head to Asia.
Asians don't demonize sex the way western culture does. They don't see the sex industry as amoral or sinful. This is one of the many reasons why they are a superior race to Latin Americans.  Yeah, I said that (Asians have a higher application of education, savings, spirituality and work ethic than Latin Americans, with a deeper, richer more diversified culture base).  If you want to debate me on this, you will lose, but this is not the subject of this post.

Best Priced Beach Front Condo in the Tropics! Playa Ventosa C-2 Cabarete, Dominican Republic Real Estate

I have lived outside the US since 2006, mostly because I want to live ocean front or beach front without the price tag of San Diego or Miami.
I first lived in Panama, in an ocean front sky rise condo.  Then I wanted more.  I wanted not just ocean front, but beach front.
So I looked around.  Panama, Belize, Ecuador, the Caribbean.
Long story short, the average price for a beach front luxury condo is about $200/square foot in "developing countries".   As you know, its about 4 or 5 times that in the US.
Do your own research.  You will find out the same thing I did.  If you want a 1,500 square foot 2 bed 2 bath beach front condo, it will cost you about $300,000.  How would you like to pay only $139/sq ft ???

BEST PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT LUXURY BEACH FRONT CONDO IN THE TROPICS

PLAYA VENTOSA, UNIT C-2

CABARETE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

$239,000 USD

1732sq.ft, 2 BED, 2.5 BATH FURNITURE INCLUDED!

THAT'S ONLY $139 PER SQUARE FOOT!!!

Playa Ventosa Condos are the nicest luxury condos for the money on the whole north coast, but MY UNIT is the CHEAPEST OF ALL AVAILABLE.  If you go to the web page, www.playaventosa.com you will see that the cheapest one they offer is $304,000.  My unit includes furniture and is priced to sell fast at only $239,000.  Call me in DR at 849-917-6228 or email me at frankieamorfati@gmail.com  - Frankie

200 meters east of Janet's Supermarket, 15 minute walk on the beach to all the premier bars and restaurants on Cabarete Beach. 

10% Real Estate Cartel Fee Kills the DR Market

The standard commission a real estate agent charges to list a seller's property for sale is 10% on the north coast of the Dominican Republic (fees in Santo Domingo and other parts of the island are closer to "normal").  This is, on average, DOUBLE what other markets charge.  I am from the US, and I was a realtor in Las Vegas a while back.  The full service fee in the US ranges from 5-7%.  But there you get superior service, in particular because of the MLS system.  With MLS, you list with one broker, and the broker lists the property for all other brokers to see, and should any broker find a buyer, the commission is split according to the agreement.  Simple, efficient.  Good for everyone - the buyer, the seller, the agents.

I spent the past two years in Panama.  The standard fee in Panama is 5%.  This is the standard fee in most countries you want to buy/sell real estate. Although there is no MLS system there, I mention Panama to compare how other "developing countries" offer their real estate agency services.
I hope I don't have to explain simple mathematics here.  The difference between 5% and 10% is the difference between good deals, bad deals, and no deals.  Its the difference between an efficient market and an inefficient one.

Most real estate markets in developing countries that depend on foreign investment from the US, Canada and Europe have been slow the past few years.  Even Panama, with its hot economy and #1 ranking as best country to live & invest outside the US, has a slow real estate market for high end (aka "gringo" approved) properties. (The low/middle market in Panama is actually on fire right now, but that's a different story).

The north coast Dominican Republic has had a depressed economy for a long time now, and the 10% Real Estate Agency Cartel Commission Rate is killing an already dead market in the Puerto Plata, Sosua, Cabarete, Cabrera areas.  Don't try to negotiate this fee with the big name brands like Century 21, ReMax or Coldwell Banker.  If you even TRY to suggest 9%, they will spit in your face and blacklist you from ever doing business with them again. (That might be a lil exaggeration, but you get the point - there is NO NEGOTIATING the 10% fee.  None.)

Lets say you are smart or lucky and you buy a property for $300,000 and it goes up 10% which is a great return over a few years.  So now its worth $330,000, but you sell it through a DR Realtor.  After they take their fee, how much profit did you make?  Well, lets see... the realtor gets 10% of $330,000 which is $33,000 so you get only $297,000 so even though the price of your house went UP TEN PERCENT, you LOST MONEY - to the tune of $3,000 but your real estate agent MADE $33,000!
At 10%, the buyer loses, the seller loses, and the agent wins huge.  The buyer loses because the minute he/she pays $300,000 the value of the property already dropped 10% - the realtor's fee. So now even if the buyer now wants to sell at the same price, his net return is only $270,000.

I am trying to sell my condo in Cabarete.  I am using the best agents I have come to know through referrals and research.  This article is in no way a shot at them personally.  They are doing their jobs as real estate agents.  They did not set the cartel fee at 10%.  People more powerful and greedy than the agents that are listing my property for sale made that decision.  In fact, some of these agents will tell you they agree with me about how this excessive fee kills the market, but they wouldn't say it in the presence of their broker. When I was a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Private Client Services, I had to remind many of my clients why my fees are much higher than my competitors; I added value.  If this were not true about lots of products and services, then we would all buy the cheapest car, bread, or beer.  We pay more when something is worth it.
As good as my friends in the real estate business are here in the DR, I am having a very hard time finding the justification in the DOUBLE RATE sellers have to pay here for the SAME EXACT SERVICE.  Lets face it.  All a real estate agent does is posts pictures and summary of a property on their web page and hope that somebody calls to inquire about it.  Just like the internet made travel agencies obsolete (now you can book your flights and hotels online instead of through a brick & mortar travel agent) so too can a really good FSBO (for sale by owner) web page make "full service realtors" obsolete.

Cabarete's Anti-Tourism Program

You have worked hard to earn your vacation.  You land in the Dominican Republic, head over to your hotel in Cabarete, change into your swimsuit and b-line for the white sand beach and turquoise ocean.  Ahh... paradise! You grab a mojito at one of the many fantastic bar/restaurants right there on the beach, and lay down on a lounge chair to absorb the tropical sun.
Relaxation.  Finally.
Then it begins - the end of your vacation of peace and tranquility as you dreamed about.

About every 5 minutes, one of the 40-plus vendors sanctioned by the marketing geniuses at the Ministry of Tourism in the DR come to relentlessly harass you.  They put a wooden box of worthless trinkets in your face and ask you to buy a voodoo necklace or cheap bracelet nobody wants, so you decline.  They persistently offer the box to you again, so you have to repeat, "no thanks, gracias".  You put your head back to rest.  A few minutes later you take a sip of the mojito, only to find another baby-blue shirted "official" vendor at your side, with the same box of junk the last one showed you.  You say no, twice, again.  This goes on for pretty much the entire time you are on the beach trying to relax and enjoy your tropical vacation, because, after all, every one of the 40+ men and women selling the same exact box of jungle jewelery has to make sure that you say "no gracias" twice each.

Who's brilliant idea was this to send an army of professional vacation-wreckers to disturb people on the beach?  I will tell you who.  Some incompetent moron in the Ministry of Tourism for the Dominican Republic deliberately made this decision to completely disregard the peaceful, relaxing vacation experience of the tourist - the very bread and butter of their economy - and implement this anti-tourist program.  In addition, if you go to sit down at any one of the restaurants on Cabarete beach, you will have no shelter there from the entourage of ordained trinket peddlers.
I bet NOBODY who works for the Ministry of Tourism in this country ever asked the customer, the tourist, if they like being relentlessly harassed by their minions.  I bet NOBODY in the Ministry of Tourism ever figured out that this harassment DISCOURAGES TOURISM to the area, not encourages it.  I bet anyone who wants to that the vacationers that come to Cabarete beach go back home with a bad taste in their mouth about this.  Many don't return specifically because of this harassment, and even worse, they tell their friends not go go to the Dominican Republic because you will get bombarded with aggressive venders while you are eating at a restaurant or lounging at the beach.
If the idea is to put these men and women to work, I have a better idea.  Instead of having them sell unwanted worthless taboo trinkets, put an empty server plate in each of their hands.  Have them go around taking drink orders. 50 peso (apx. $1.20) tip automatically included in the bill for each drink.  These men and women will make a lot more money, and the harassment will be reduced/eliminated because everybody on the beach wants a pina colada or Presidente.

President Medina should fire the morons who put this harassment plan into place.  Replace him/her with the person that runs the Venus Pool Bar at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

When you are on vacation in Las Vegas and head over to the Venus Pool Bar at Caesar's, you are treated like an Emperor.  There, instead of having venders try to sell you worthless necklaces, they have world-class cocktail servers and "grape girls". These grape girls are dressed in toga-like swimwear in the Roman empire theme, and they come over to your lounge chair and sit next to you.  As you are laying down, they hand- feed you frozen grapes.... drop them right in your mouth, like you are the king of the universe.  As many as you want.  For free.  NOW THAT'S MARKETING!  That is the Las Vegas vacation experience at its best.  Of course, if you don't tip that grape girl 5 to 10 bucks for that emperor experience, you are a cheapskate loser and I hope you go home broke.
The DR can do the same thing.  Take its people's talents, resources, and put them to work CREATIVELY - in a way that helps the customer's experience AND enhances employment opportunities.
The point is, the people that run this country, from the President to the Minister of Tourism, are not in touch with what the foreigner wants to experience when they vacation in the Dominican Republic. If they had even a little bit of a clue, they would have shit-canned this anti-tourist harassment program before it even got started.  But it has been going on for years. That says it all.  They put out their own one-track minded agenda such as "lets show them our culture" instead of sitting down with as many tourists as possible and asking them what experiences, what amenities, what things to avoid, etc to enhance the tropical paradise vacation.

Who knows, maybe after the President and Minister of Tourism read this, if they don't have me killed they will hire me as a consultant to figure out real ways to improve the Dominican vacation experience and eliminate the old bullshit that has been going on for way too long.

What changes would you propose?  Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Propane Fuel in the DR 4 Your Car!

Living on the north coast in the Dominican Republic is a dream come true.  Soon I will post a valid argument for why the DR is the best and only place any gringo/expat should consider living in the Caribbean. However, the DR is not perfect.  Paradise, yes. Perfect, not.  One of the things I am getting used to is the sticker shock I get on items that are priced well above what I would pay in the US.  Gasoline, alcohol, cars and electronics - just to name most of the important products.
Fortunately, many of these price premiums can be mitigated or even eliminated if you are like me and value your money.  One way to reduce the cost of gasoline/fuel for your car is to install a propane gas conversion system.  The installation cost in total is about US $1,500.

Another solution is to buy an economy car like a Kia Picanto.  I rented one of these for two weeks and although the price of gasoline is a whopping 232 pesos regular (US about $5.50) and 245 premium ($5.79), the Picanto gets more than 35 miles per gallon. So to get good gas mileage, you have to either have a small 4-cylinder vehicle like a Picanto, or, convert your 6/8 cylinder to propane, which costs 107 pesos (apx $2.50/gallon).
I purchased a Nissan Murano 6-cylinder SUV that normally gets up to 20 mpg on regular gasoline.  But the advantage was it already had the propane conversion.  If you are a good negotiator, you can get a good deal on almost anything in the DR, real estate, cars, electronics, etc.  Propane yields a little less range, but not much, as I proved to myself this morning with a test drive.
First, I emptied the propane tank completely.  I drove it on gasoline (when you convert you still have both gasoline and propane) to the propane gas station.  I put exactly one gallon of propane.  The tank went empty at 29.1 kilometers (about 18 miles).  About 23 of that was highway, the rest city.
Follow the math.
29 kilometers = 18 miles = 1 galon propane = 107 pesos = apx $2.50
Propane costs about 45% of gasoline or less (see prices above).
So getting 18 miles per gallon on propane is the equivalent of getting 40 miles per gallon on gasoline.
Hence, you can drive a more powerful, perhaps luxury vehicle with the fuel cost of a Picanto.

This is one way to eliminate some of the price premiums in the Dominican Republic.  As for alcohol, the only solution I have to reduce this cost premium is to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption.  I will post soon on the solutions to some of the other cost premiums.  In general, the things that you NEED in the DR, such as housing and food, are much cheaper than most countries.  The things that you WANT (imports, luxuries, etc) are more expensive, if you don't do any research or care about the price of the things you buy.  I do, so I will report on ways to solve that problem.

Until then, Happy Holidays from drgringo!