October 25, 2023 • 27 mins
Welcome to episode #5 of RealtyCast Global – a global connection to all things real estate, hosted by Hugh Gilliam, president of Global Property Pros.
Imagine basking in the Caribbean sun, not on a fleeting holiday, but in a home you can call your own. Our guest, Randy Chavers, a seasoned real estate expert, makes it sound not only possible but lucrative. He shares the intriguing journey of his recent property investment in the Dominican Republic, unfolding the region's undeniable charm and potential for profit. Replete with geographical splendor, a thriving economy, and a strong tourism sector, the island beckons investors from around the world. And guess what? Randy even gives us a sneak peek into his purchasing journey in Puerto Plata!
The show doesn't stop at property investment, as Randy also illuminates the digital wave sweeping across the Caribbean. He talks about the availability of Wi-Fi, the rise of convenient communication channels like WhatsApp, and the prevalence of English, making it an ideal remote work destination. For those wondering about local amenities, Randy's first-hand account of the quality schools, medical facilities, and dental care stands testament to the comforts of Caribbean life. And if you're playing with the idea of tapping into the Airbnb rental market, our episode wraps up with insights on tourist preferences and the allure of the Dominican Republic's North Shore. Step into the world of Caribbean real estate with us, and you might just find your next big investment.
Visit blog.realtyhive.com for more details on this episode.
About the Guest - Randy Chavers:
Randy Chavers has 36 years of experience in real estate as an agent, broker-owner, managing broker for major franchises, and executive-level positions in real estate-specific Internet companies.
Unique skill set combines award-winning performance in brokerage operations management with practical application of Internet strategies for real estate agents and brokers.
Former Managing Director for Coldwell Banker Island Affiliates, a major franchise covering all Caribbean Islands and Western Atlantic including Bermuda. Licensed Real Estate Broker in Georgia and Florida.
About the host - Hugh Gilliam:
Hugh Gilliam co-owned a national transportation company, created a land development business, and worked as a general contractor in residential and commercial construction for over two decades. Hugh also co-founded an international distribution company and successfully negotiated and contracted with 135 sales representatives in the United States, Canada, France, Brazil, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Today, Mr. Gilliam is affiliated with RealtyHive, LLC where he serves as Director of International Real Estate and President of Global Property Pros. His duties include involvement in commercial and residential transactions, plus promoting marketing systems and lead generation platforms.
For real estate professionals looking to take their business to the next level, check out Global Property Pros!
He is also co-founder of the luxury digital magazine, DOORWAYS INTERNATIONAL, powered by RealtyHive, which serves as a platform for Brokers and Buyers throughout 70 countries.
Hugh's Designations Include:
- Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist
- Certified Distressed Property Export
- Certified International Property Specialist
- Certified International Investment & Immigration Specialist
- Transnational Referral Certificatio
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hugh Gilliam (00:01):
Welcome to RealtyCast Global, where we
bring insights and advice fromtop professionals in the global
market.
Join us for a journey ofculture and real estate from
countries across the globe.
I'd like to welcome my friend,randy Chavers this morning to
our podcast.
We're going to talk about theCaribbean, specifically the
(00:25):
Dominican Republic.
Recently, randy's purchased acondo in the Dominican Republic
and I want us to go through theprocess and find out the reasons
he purchased in the DominicanRepublic and a little bit more
about his research.
Randy, welcome, thank you, I'mglad you're here today, happy to
(00:47):
be here.
And before we begin, what abouta little bit of information
about your background and whatyou've done in the real estate
industry over the last 30 years?
Randy Chavers (00:55):
Oh sure, well, actually it's about 36.
So aging myself here.
But yeah, I started out inFlorida and got in the business
and opened an office afterworking for Century 2.01.
For a while I ran that officefor about nine years Then went
(01:16):
off and got involved in variousthings with when the dot-com era
was starting, so late 90s, Iworked for homestotcom and a
couple other things in realestate, specific spaces, online
for digital.
But to bring us up to today,which is the important part, the
last seven years I've beenworking with Kohlbanger Island
(01:37):
affiliates.
I was the managing director.
The owners were based in GrandCayman Island.
They had the master franchisefor Kohlbanger for all of the
Caribbean islands, which isabout 32 countries.
We were in about 16.
I recently departed from islandaffiliates for other
(02:00):
opportunities, but during thatseven years I had a great
opportunity to explore all theislands, or many of the islands
down there, including Bermuda,which was part of the master
franchise, though it's really inthe North Atlantic, not the
Caribbean, and so it was a greatexperience and I enjoyed it
very much so after working inthat area, the Caribbean and
(02:26):
being involved with thedifferent islands there.
Hugh Gilliam (02:29):
What made you choose the Dominican Republic to
invest your livelihood in, asfar as your money for the future
, and by a condo?
Randy Chavers (02:39):
Well, there were a lot of things that I had as
criteria, and so every time Iwould go to an island, I would
really think, well, would I wantto purchase a place here, and
what are the opportunities?
What's the pricing?
Well, as anyone else would, oneof the reasons and we have a
visual, I think that shows a mapof Hispaniola, which is the
island that Dominican Republicis actually in.
(03:01):
It covers two-thirds ofHispaniola and it's about give
you an idea for comparison, it'sabout twice the size of New
Jersey and it covers two-thirdsof the island.
So it's next to Cuba.
It's the largest island in theCaribbean.
In fact, it has the highestmountain in the Caribbean.
(03:23):
It's about 4,000 feet, and theweather up there is very cool.
It's about 75 degrees every dayversus the coastline.
So very, very large island.
And in any of these places, oneof the things that I became
aware of immediately was theneed to be near an airport, for
(03:43):
a variety of reasons, not onlyfor my benefit, to be able to
travel back and forth easilywith direct flights, which there
are many that go into the areathat I chose.
The area that I chose is on thenorth coast of the Dominican
Republic and there are two majorairports that service that
particular area.
It's called Puerto Plata, isthe province, so the province of
(04:06):
Puerto Plata has aninternational airport in Puerto
Plata, which is about 15 minutesdrive time from my condo, and
then it also could be servicedby the airport in Santiago, and
the airport Santiago usually wasabout an hour and 15 minutes
(04:28):
away, but now they've built anew road there that gets you
from Santiago to Puerto Plata inabout 25 minutes.
Now that's not only importantfor me, getting to and from, but
also in considering who yourclient's going to be.
You want to be able to.
If you're buying an investmentproperty, you want to be able to
(04:49):
have great exposure to as manyrenters as possible, and so the
benefit of the Santiago airportis twofold, in that not only
does a lot of those flights comedirectly out of the northeast
and on a number of airlines, andalso Santiago is kind of the
(05:09):
for them.
Porta Plata is the beach frontthat they like to go to on
weekends, to take a long weekend.
They'll go down into the areaand so and that's proven to be
very attractive, in fact.
I just a couple of notes hereas far as the projects are going
on, they're the.
The Dominican is the fastestgrowing country in Latin America
(05:32):
.
This past year it's had anincrease of a gross domestic
product in the order of about4.5%.
So we're looking at a strongeconomy and a stable government,
again highly popular withtourists.
It has the highest number ofvisitors this year in the
history of the DominicanRepublic, with more than 661,000
tourists by air and 250,000 bycruise ships.
(05:55):
So no visas required to getthere, so that's easy.
And a really important thing onthe investment side of it to
address your question, is thatthe prices there are probably a
fifth to a fourth of what theycould be on like in Bermuda or
Grand Cayman or some of theother islands.
So the services are really good.
(06:15):
The tourism is excellent.
It's dramatically developing.
So that was that was the as abig picture for why the
Dominican Republic?
Those are some of the answers.
Hugh Gilliam (06:25):
So that was a big draw actually to get you there
into the Dominican Republic.
What about?
What about if we have someoneyou know in the United States
that wants to retire there orjust have a second home or an
investment property just to haveas an Airbnb or something like
that?
Is that possible in thatspecific area that you purchased
(06:48):
in in that complex to have anAirbnb?
I mean, can you operate it asan Airbnb?
Will they manage people comingin to spend time there, or is
that excluded?
Randy Chavers (07:01):
No, absolutely.
We have a Muse, airbnb, andsome of the some of the other
services are similar to that,and there is the benefit of the.
The location that I have isthat one of the things I wanted
was like gated security, 24 hour, man, 24 hours.
That it was that had an onsitemanagement company, which this
(07:24):
this property does.
It was a.
It's about a five minute walkto the beach, as you'll see in a
in a photo in a moment thatwe'll have.
It's got a huge pool and it'sand there's a very nice
restaurant that's onsite next tothe pool that's open till quite
(07:44):
late.
So it's got every amenity youcould possibly want and, with a
homeowner's fee, is about $120 amonth for my unit.
Hugh Gilliam (07:53):
Well, that's not bad at all.
What about?
What about a residencyrequirement, like a visa?
Randy Chavers (08:01):
Yeah, there's no visa required to get into the DR
presently.
I mean you can come from the U?
S and and and go there.
You're allowed to buy propertyjust as any other citizen than
the Dominican would be, orresident.
There's no prohibition againstforeign ownership.
It's a bit of a differentexperience when you're actually
doing the purchasing because ofcourse here you know, we use a
(08:22):
lot of times we'll use titlecompanies to like in Florida, in
particular in the in theDominican they don't really have
title companies, they have you,you just the process is usually
you want to find a good rep,reputable real estate broker,
and then associate also or gettheir referral as to for an
attorney and the attorneyhandles the whole process.
(08:43):
The actual purchasing processis about seven steps and so but
it is quite different if you'vegone through 70 or 80 pages in a
closing document in the U Sdown there it's just a few pages
and so it it kind of peoplefind that a bit alarming
sometimes because they don'tthink everything is covered, but
(09:04):
it is and they have a very.
They have an excellent systemof recording properties so that
they can do searches forownership and you receive a
certificate at the end of thetransaction.
Hugh Gilliam (09:19):
So it's quicker than what we experienced here.
I think you said earlier nottoday, but to me earlier that
the contract consisted of onepage.
Randy Chavers (09:29):
That's correct.
The initial part of the of thesale is just a letter of intent,
more basically, what we wouldrefer to as a letter of intent.
But in terms of the retirement,to address that further, almost
(09:50):
several of the countries infact I think there are about 10
countries that may include someof the European ones as well but
several of the islands haveretirement programs.
Panama, for example, has whatthey call the Pansianado program
, the pensioners program, and sodoes the Dominican.
You can apply for residencythere and you have to be able to
(10:14):
approve income of $1,500 amonth.
I think is what it is currently.
Hugh Gilliam (10:19):
So that would that be the fast track.
I keep hearing about the fasttrack residency in Dominican.
Is that what you're talkingabout?
Randy Chavers (10:28):
There are actually several different sorts
of programs.
There's an investment visa,there's a retiree visa, and that
we probably can't cover in thescope of the conversation today.
But any attorney who's familiarwith residency can give you the
different options and it's avery attractive way for people
(10:48):
to go down there and live veryinexpensively, probably at about
a third of what you could livein the US.
So it's becoming the newFlorida, if you will.
Hugh Gilliam (10:58):
Well, it seems like in something you did maybe
a year ago for the InternationalReal Estate Federation, you
gave a scale showing the numberof baby boomers that are
actually retiring per day, andit was pretty astounding the
number.
Randy Chavers (11:14):
Yeah, there are, and I'm not sure this is not an
updated number, but as of acouple years ago that you're
referring to, there are 10,000people a day turning 65.
And about 48% of those peopledon't have a large amount of
money and savings to get themthrough and they're pretty much
going to depend on socialsecurity.
And one of the attractions hereis that you do have a very
(11:39):
significantly lower cost ofliving and you have access to
all these wonderful places, likeone of the things.
To go back to the particulararea that I purchased in, it's
about 10 or 15 minutes from abeautiful park with all sorts of
rainforests and swimming andcaves and what have you, and
(12:02):
that park is about 30 squaremiles, so there's that amenity.
It's also about 15 minutes fromCabaretta Beach and the other
cool thing is the publictransportation.
You can catch a bus that comesevery 10 to 15 minutes to the
(12:23):
area and it's 50 cents so youcan go to Cabaretta.
Now, cabaretta is famousbecause it was the place where
kite surfing was invented and itis really basically the kite
surfing capital of the world.
And at night they have allthese beautiful couches spread
(12:46):
among the palm trees and theyhave little shops all along that
face the beach and people gothere and have a drink and relax
, and it's a wonderfulexperience beautiful lights and
what have you.
Hugh Gilliam (12:58):
So during your experience with the entire
Caribbean, and especially duringthe pandemic period, did you
see a lot of younger peoplemoving into those areas that
could operate out of their homewith their computer?
I mean people moving from theUnited States and other parts of
the world into the Caribbean.
(13:20):
Did you see that?
Randy Chavers (13:22):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely, and it was
interesting.
There are a lot of expats whoremote workers, many remote
workers who like to go downthere and they can do that, and
people wonder if, like everyrestaurant that I've been to in
the area has Wi-Fi.
All right, so that's a big deal.
And everybody uses WhatsApp isthe communications channel of
(13:45):
choice.
So if you're going tocommunicate with anybody there
and they're just on their phonesconstantly everybody, so it's
not a you know, you're notsomeplace where there's sheep on
the runway.
I mean, it's sophisticated andyou can operate digitally for
whatever period of time iscomfortable for you.
Hugh Gilliam (14:03):
What about the English language there in the
Dominican Republic?
Randy Chavers (14:07):
It's fairly common, but it does help to know
some.
You can get by, but itcertainly helps to know Spanish
and say that for any country inthe Caribbean that is Spanish
based.
So just a few words is veryhelpful and very appreciated,
and the people are very patient.
They're lovely folks, sothey're very, very patient with
(14:29):
you.
Hugh Gilliam (14:29):
You mentioned two things.
You needed a good realtornumber one and an attorney
Correct One to find the propertyfor you and sort of walk you
through the procedure, andnumber two, someone that can
close it and make sure you haveownership at the very end.
So in doing that, I've heardthat taxi drivers, I've heard
(14:51):
that people just on the streetcan approach you and talk about
buying a piece of property orsomething within within that
country.
Yes, and did you see any ofthat when you were visiting or
when you've been in thosedifferent Caribbean countries?
Randy Chavers (15:07):
in almost all of them.
You know we kind of joke thatif you want to be a real estate
agent in many of the countries,that if you have a buy a bicycle
, on the business card to a cellphone, you can be a realtor or
a real estate agent, not arealtor.
Hugh Gilliam (15:21):
So and I know the NAR has realtors in those
countries and your cold wallbanker happens to be part of
that organization that's one ofthe one of the national
association of realtor.
Randy Chavers (15:35):
So there is a code of ethics that you and I
are very familiar with.
Hugh Gilliam (15:39):
Exactly.
Randy Chavers (15:41):
And they adhere to those code of ethics.
So, yes, that's why it's a bitstill of the Wild West, so, but
there are some very capableprofessionals there, both in
real estate and attorneys.
You just have to do your duediligence and make sure that
you're picking the right one.
Hugh Gilliam (16:00):
Politically, you said it's solid, yes.
And what about education?
People that do want to moveinto that area and they have
children, and children need tobe schooled.
I know they can dohomeschooling and things like
that, but what about educationaloptions there?
Randy Chavers (16:18):
There are many.
In the case of many of theislands, you have the option
between a lot of private schools, which is predominant, I think,
and for most people, parentswhere they want to send their
children.
But one of the things that I'drecommend for anyone is that, if
you're wanting to do some ofthe research on specifically on
(16:39):
that, there are some great sitesonline that you can.
There's an English speaking oran English paper, for example,
called DominicanTodaycom, andthey have a.
They have a specific sectioncalled the expats corner, and
these are people who are verygenerous with their suggestions,
(17:01):
recommendations, referrals, andit's a great place to go to and
to get current news, to findout what roads are being put in,
what is the path of progressfor what's for things that are
going on in the DominicanRepublic right now.
Hugh Gilliam (17:20):
One quick thing about hospitals, doctors,
medical attention, what about?
Randy Chavers (17:24):
that that was a real awakening for me, probably
as much as anything, is thatmany of these countries are
really heavy into medicaltourism and I can tell you from
personal experience.
I was having a toothache andthis was in the Dominican, in
the Porta Plata area, and myfriend who had helped me the
(17:46):
real estate broker that I workedwith on this on this condo
suggested that I go see hisdentist.
Well, I went to see his dentistand explained everything, spent
about 30 minutes very newequipment, very, very, very nice
, clean area and after the 30 or45 minutes I spent with her,
she made recommendations and Iasked for the bill and
(18:08):
converting it from fromDominican dollars, it was our
pesos, it was about $8.
And I said, well, I can't parkin Atlanta for $8.
So, yes, to answer yourquestion, generally both the
medical care, dental care, areexcellent and infinitely less
expensive than what you can findin the US.
Hugh Gilliam (18:31):
Okay, I appreciate you sharing that with us.
What about?
You chose the North Shore and Ithink we have a photo of the
building that we're going toshow shortly that you bought the
condo in, yes, so tell us alittle bit more about the North
Shore and about what touristsare looking for when they come
to that specific location.
Randy Chavers (18:52):
Well, it has that particular area.
It has some of the mostbeautiful beaches in the world
and so you're very close to that.
Again, the pricing like in thecondo that I purchased and the
actual purchase was four yearsago because it was a
pre-construction, so it tookthem and, of course, part of the
construction process wasinterrupted by COVID, so that
(19:18):
made things a bit more difficult.
But, like I said, it checkedall the boxes because it had the
great pool.
It has a restaurant right there.
It's within walking distance ofall kinds of little shops.
There's a grocery store,there's a pizza place you can be
to in a five minute walk andyou can be to the beach in five
minutes.
(19:39):
It's also near, like I said, theparks.
There's incredible parks.
So if you like the outdoors, ifyou go hiking or snorkeling or
whatever, you have thatopportunity.
There's the kiting.
There are several small citiesthat are wonderful that are
nearby, one called Sassua andCabaretta and others.
So it and also, like I said,being near the airport two of
(20:01):
them and there's also a hugeport there, for that's they're
increasing the size, actuallydoubling the size of the port,
so it's getting tremendoustourists that are coming in from
both the cruises, the cruiselines and the airport.
So for an investment.
It's fantastic because you'vegot such a volume of people
(20:23):
coming through there all thetime you mentioned you had a
management company.
Hugh Gilliam (20:26):
That's correct and tell me what they do for you.
Randy Chavers (20:30):
Everything, and it's wonderful for me because
they do all the marketing, theytake care of all the cleanup all
the well, literally everythingand so the major correspondence
I get with them is if somethingneeds to be replaced, that's
(20:50):
above normal.
I've only had to replace onething in the last couple of
years.
That was a small expense andthey handle all of it and just
send me the how much money Imade that month.
So it's.
So is the return on theinvestment pretty good?
So far, it's running aroundeight to 10%.
That's good.
(21:11):
Yeah, so that's great.
Yeah, I've been very happy withit.
Hugh Gilliam (21:16):
So with that management fee, they're managing
bringing people in that'scorrect To rent.
They're making sure thateverything is clean.
They have cleanup services andthings like that Correct.
If you have a broken hot waterheater or something like that,
they're going to replace it andsend you the bill.
That's correct.
They're going to just wake upin the middle of the night and
(21:37):
worry about something that wentwrong.
They're covering all the basesFor that service.
What would be the percentagethat they charge?
Randy Chavers (21:46):
You can pretty much expect 20%, and again
that's when you consider nothaving to have the concerns that
you just discussed and the factthat it is.
They do a great job of doingthe marketing and filling it up
as many days as possible duringthe month.
I have no argument with that atall, and many of your better
(22:08):
services are anywhere Columbiaor Panama or wherever you go.
You're looking around 18 to 20%.
Hugh Gilliam (22:15):
So how much time have you spent at your condo?
Randy Chavers (22:19):
Sadly, I haven't been able to spend any time
there since because I've beenvery busy with work, and then
there was COVID and what haveyou.
So I just I rent it.
I plan to go down there againin the next couple of months and
actually stay there with one ofmy sons.
I'm really fortunate.
I'm really fortunate, that'sgreat.
Hugh Gilliam (22:35):
What about the culture I mean in that specific
area?
What do you experience there interms of the culture of the
people?
What's going on around thatentire island, and have you been
involved with any of that, orhave you had time to get
involved with the people not theexpats, but the people that are
(22:55):
there?
Randy Chavers (22:55):
Yeah, and that's one of the beautiful things
about my favorite story is thata friend of mine suggested.
He says you're going to have tocome up with this farm and I
want to introduce you to afriend of mine.
So we went along and we stoppedin this little town and he goes
oh, we get out of the car here,and I said okay, and there was
(23:16):
a gentleman waiting for us withthree horses and the only way to
get to this location was byhorseback or a motorbike, which
I chose not to do dirt bike andso we went up there and he was
pointing to.
He says Meet Emilia.
You know there was all hisfamily lived in all around this
area.
We went up and we ate thisincredible food.
(23:36):
Which an interesting point tothat.
Everyone that I've spoken withwho's an expat, who's moved down
there from the US, they saidyou know, I moved here and I
lost 40 pounds or 50 pounds orsomething like that, and it's
sort of like the food just growseverywhere, like when I was at
that farm.
You just pluck things offcherries, off trees.
(23:57):
And so they've had, they'vealways had organic food.
It's never been a differencebetween organic and produced by
a company.
It's a very healthy lifestyleand people are very friendly and
lovely and helpful.
Hugh Gilliam (24:14):
So not a lot of preservatives and additives.
Randy Chavers (24:16):
No, which is really nice To say the least.
Hugh Gilliam (24:18):
Yeah, for sure that's great.
What about your wife?
Has she been there?
Yes, she's seen it.
Randy Chavers (24:28):
She saw the condo .
This was post COVID when wewere down for a wedding, and so
we spent a few days there andshe'll be going back down and
hopefully we'll be staying atthe condo here soon and enjoying
some of that.
I'll be going down therewithout work.
Hugh Gilliam (24:43):
That's going to be a pleasure.
Randy Chavers (24:45):
Yeah, it's going to be a different experience to
be on an island and not have towork all day and end of the
night.
Hugh Gilliam (24:51):
What about your children?
You said you're taking your sondown.
Have they seen it?
They have not yet.
No, so it's going to be asurprise.
Randy Chavers (24:59):
They were a bit late on getting their passports,
and so we're waiting on that tohappen, and then I'll be taking
them down individually.
Hugh Gilliam (25:06):
We know that the people in the US make up a great
part of people moving into theCaribbean.
What about from Europe?
Do you have people moving fromEurope into some of those
Caribbean islands, not justDominican Republic but other
islands?
Randy Chavers (25:21):
Absolutely.
In fact, I think the some ofour maybe 40 or 50 percent of
our renters are Hungarian Really, or they're from Eastern Europe
.
So it's very international anddifferent cities have different
make-ups in terms of where, like, there's a town that's east of
(25:43):
us about an hour called LosSerenes, and it has many French
and Italian expats live thereand they and everyone who moves
there seems to want to open arestaurant for their particular
kind of cuisine.
Hugh Gilliam (25:57):
I'm sure.
Randy Chavers (25:58):
Yeah, so it's a, it's a.
It's a very international fieldthere.
It's always exciting andinteresting to meet people.
That's fantastic.
Hugh Gilliam (26:06):
Well, listen, our time's almost up, but you've.
You've given us great insightto an individual that truly did
what you wanted to do, and thatwas to find a property outside
the United States.
You had your mind on futureretirement.
You bought that property fouryears ago and you've had an
income stream every ever sincethe day it was completed.
Randy Chavers (26:29):
So that's fantastic.
Hugh Gilliam (26:30):
We're going to have you back at some other
point in time.
We'll talk about other casestudies, people that you've been
involved with throughout theworld, because you've got a huge
background of investments andthings like that directing
people to certain investmentsaround the world.
So we appreciate that, thattime today that we've had, and
we look forward to the futureand bringing you back.
Randy Chavers (26:52):
Thanks you?
Hugh Gilliam (26:52):
I'd be delighted.
Thanks for being here mypleasure.
Thanks for joining in ontoday's episode of RealtyCast
Global.
Make sure to subscribe to thepodcast to be notified when new
episodes air.
Welcome to RealtyCast Global, where we
bring insights and advice fromtop professionals in the global
market.
Join us for a journey ofculture and real estate from
countries across the globe.
I'd like to welcome my friend,randy Chavers this morning to
our podcast.
We're going to talk about theCaribbean, specifically the
(00:25):
Dominican Republic.
Recently, randy's purchased acondo in the Dominican Republic
and I want us to go through theprocess and find out the reasons
he purchased in the DominicanRepublic and a little bit more
about his research.
Randy, welcome, thank you, I'mglad you're here today, happy to
(00:47):
be here.
And before we begin, what abouta little bit of information
about your background and whatyou've done in the real estate
industry over the last 30 years?
Randy Chavers (00:55):
Oh sure, well, actually it's about 36.
So aging myself here.
But yeah, I started out inFlorida and got in the business
and opened an office afterworking for Century 2.01.
For a while I ran that officefor about nine years Then went
(01:16):
off and got involved in variousthings with when the dot-com era
was starting, so late 90s, Iworked for homestotcom and a
couple other things in realestate, specific spaces, online
for digital.
But to bring us up to today,which is the important part, the
last seven years I've beenworking with Kohlbanger Island
(01:37):
affiliates.
I was the managing director.
The owners were based in GrandCayman Island.
They had the master franchisefor Kohlbanger for all of the
Caribbean islands, which isabout 32 countries.
We were in about 16.
I recently departed from islandaffiliates for other
(02:00):
opportunities, but during thatseven years I had a great
opportunity to explore all theislands, or many of the islands
down there, including Bermuda,which was part of the master
franchise, though it's really inthe North Atlantic, not the
Caribbean, and so it was a greatexperience and I enjoyed it
very much so after working inthat area, the Caribbean and
(02:26):
being involved with thedifferent islands there.
Hugh Gilliam (02:29):
What made you choose the Dominican Republic to
invest your livelihood in, asfar as your money for the future
, and by a condo?
Randy Chavers (02:39):
Well, there were a lot of things that I had as
criteria, and so every time Iwould go to an island, I would
really think, well, would I wantto purchase a place here, and
what are the opportunities?
What's the pricing?
Well, as anyone else would, oneof the reasons and we have a
visual, I think that shows a mapof Hispaniola, which is the
island that Dominican Republicis actually in.
(03:01):
It covers two-thirds ofHispaniola and it's about give
you an idea for comparison, it'sabout twice the size of New
Jersey and it covers two-thirdsof the island.
So it's next to Cuba.
It's the largest island in theCaribbean.
In fact, it has the highestmountain in the Caribbean.
(03:23):
It's about 4,000 feet, and theweather up there is very cool.
It's about 75 degrees every dayversus the coastline.
So very, very large island.
And in any of these places, oneof the things that I became
aware of immediately was theneed to be near an airport, for
(03:43):
a variety of reasons, not onlyfor my benefit, to be able to
travel back and forth easilywith direct flights, which there
are many that go into the areathat I chose.
The area that I chose is on thenorth coast of the Dominican
Republic and there are two majorairports that service that
particular area.
It's called Puerto Plata, isthe province, so the province of
(04:06):
Puerto Plata has aninternational airport in Puerto
Plata, which is about 15 minutesdrive time from my condo, and
then it also could be servicedby the airport in Santiago, and
the airport Santiago usually wasabout an hour and 15 minutes
(04:28):
away, but now they've built anew road there that gets you
from Santiago to Puerto Plata inabout 25 minutes.
Now that's not only importantfor me, getting to and from, but
also in considering who yourclient's going to be.
You want to be able to.
If you're buying an investmentproperty, you want to be able to
(04:49):
have great exposure to as manyrenters as possible, and so the
benefit of the Santiago airportis twofold, in that not only
does a lot of those flights comedirectly out of the northeast
and on a number of airlines, andalso Santiago is kind of the
(05:09):
for them.
Porta Plata is the beach frontthat they like to go to on
weekends, to take a long weekend.
They'll go down into the areaand so and that's proven to be
very attractive, in fact.
I just a couple of notes hereas far as the projects are going
on, they're the.
The Dominican is the fastestgrowing country in Latin America
(05:32):
.
This past year it's had anincrease of a gross domestic
product in the order of about4.5%.
So we're looking at a strongeconomy and a stable government,
again highly popular withtourists.
It has the highest number ofvisitors this year in the
history of the DominicanRepublic, with more than 661,000
tourists by air and 250,000 bycruise ships.
(05:55):
So no visas required to getthere, so that's easy.
And a really important thing onthe investment side of it to
address your question, is thatthe prices there are probably a
fifth to a fourth of what theycould be on like in Bermuda or
Grand Cayman or some of theother islands.
So the services are really good.
(06:15):
The tourism is excellent.
It's dramatically developing.
So that was that was the as abig picture for why the
Dominican Republic?
Those are some of the answers.
Hugh Gilliam (06:25):
So that was a big draw actually to get you there
into the Dominican Republic.
What about?
What about if we have someoneyou know in the United States
that wants to retire there orjust have a second home or an
investment property just to haveas an Airbnb or something like
that?
Is that possible in thatspecific area that you purchased
(06:48):
in in that complex to have anAirbnb?
I mean, can you operate it asan Airbnb?
Will they manage people comingin to spend time there, or is
that excluded?
Randy Chavers (07:01):
No, absolutely.
We have a Muse, airbnb, andsome of the some of the other
services are similar to that,and there is the benefit of the.
The location that I have isthat one of the things I wanted
was like gated security, 24 hour, man, 24 hours.
That it was that had an onsitemanagement company, which this
(07:24):
this property does.
It was a.
It's about a five minute walkto the beach, as you'll see in a
in a photo in a moment thatwe'll have.
It's got a huge pool and it'sand there's a very nice
restaurant that's onsite next tothe pool that's open till quite
(07:44):
late.
So it's got every amenity youcould possibly want and, with a
homeowner's fee, is about $120 amonth for my unit.
Hugh Gilliam (07:53):
Well, that's not bad at all.
What about?
What about a residencyrequirement, like a visa?
Randy Chavers (08:01):
Yeah, there's no visa required to get into the DR
presently.
I mean you can come from the U?
S and and and go there.
You're allowed to buy propertyjust as any other citizen than
the Dominican would be, orresident.
There's no prohibition againstforeign ownership.
It's a bit of a differentexperience when you're actually
doing the purchasing because ofcourse here you know, we use a
(08:22):
lot of times we'll use titlecompanies to like in Florida, in
particular in the in theDominican they don't really have
title companies, they have you,you just the process is usually
you want to find a good rep,reputable real estate broker,
and then associate also or gettheir referral as to for an
attorney and the attorneyhandles the whole process.
(08:43):
The actual purchasing processis about seven steps and so but
it is quite different if you'vegone through 70 or 80 pages in a
closing document in the U Sdown there it's just a few pages
and so it it kind of peoplefind that a bit alarming
sometimes because they don'tthink everything is covered, but
(09:04):
it is and they have a very.
They have an excellent systemof recording properties so that
they can do searches forownership and you receive a
certificate at the end of thetransaction.
Hugh Gilliam (09:19):
So it's quicker than what we experienced here.
I think you said earlier nottoday, but to me earlier that
the contract consisted of onepage.
Randy Chavers (09:29):
That's correct.
The initial part of the of thesale is just a letter of intent,
more basically, what we wouldrefer to as a letter of intent.
But in terms of the retirement,to address that further, almost
(09:50):
several of the countries infact I think there are about 10
countries that may include someof the European ones as well but
several of the islands haveretirement programs.
Panama, for example, has whatthey call the Pansianado program
, the pensioners program, and sodoes the Dominican.
You can apply for residencythere and you have to be able to
(10:14):
approve income of $1,500 amonth.
I think is what it is currently.
Hugh Gilliam (10:19):
So that would that be the fast track.
I keep hearing about the fasttrack residency in Dominican.
Is that what you're talkingabout?
Randy Chavers (10:28):
There are actually several different sorts
of programs.
There's an investment visa,there's a retiree visa, and that
we probably can't cover in thescope of the conversation today.
But any attorney who's familiarwith residency can give you the
different options and it's avery attractive way for people
(10:48):
to go down there and live veryinexpensively, probably at about
a third of what you could livein the US.
So it's becoming the newFlorida, if you will.
Hugh Gilliam (10:58):
Well, it seems like in something you did maybe
a year ago for the InternationalReal Estate Federation, you
gave a scale showing the numberof baby boomers that are
actually retiring per day, andit was pretty astounding the
number.
Randy Chavers (11:14):
Yeah, there are, and I'm not sure this is not an
updated number, but as of acouple years ago that you're
referring to, there are 10,000people a day turning 65.
And about 48% of those peopledon't have a large amount of
money and savings to get themthrough and they're pretty much
going to depend on socialsecurity.
And one of the attractions hereis that you do have a very
(11:39):
significantly lower cost ofliving and you have access to
all these wonderful places, likeone of the things.
To go back to the particulararea that I purchased in, it's
about 10 or 15 minutes from abeautiful park with all sorts of
rainforests and swimming andcaves and what have you, and
(12:02):
that park is about 30 squaremiles, so there's that amenity.
It's also about 15 minutes fromCabaretta Beach and the other
cool thing is the publictransportation.
You can catch a bus that comesevery 10 to 15 minutes to the
(12:23):
area and it's 50 cents so youcan go to Cabaretta.
Now, cabaretta is famousbecause it was the place where
kite surfing was invented and itis really basically the kite
surfing capital of the world.
And at night they have allthese beautiful couches spread
(12:46):
among the palm trees and theyhave little shops all along that
face the beach and people gothere and have a drink and relax
, and it's a wonderfulexperience beautiful lights and
what have you.
Hugh Gilliam (12:58):
So during your experience with the entire
Caribbean, and especially duringthe pandemic period, did you
see a lot of younger peoplemoving into those areas that
could operate out of their homewith their computer?
I mean people moving from theUnited States and other parts of
the world into the Caribbean.
(13:20):
Did you see that?
Randy Chavers (13:22):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely, and it was
interesting.
There are a lot of expats whoremote workers, many remote
workers who like to go downthere and they can do that, and
people wonder if, like everyrestaurant that I've been to in
the area has Wi-Fi.
All right, so that's a big deal.
And everybody uses WhatsApp isthe communications channel of
(13:45):
choice.
So if you're going tocommunicate with anybody there
and they're just on their phonesconstantly everybody, so it's
not a you know, you're notsomeplace where there's sheep on
the runway.
I mean, it's sophisticated andyou can operate digitally for
whatever period of time iscomfortable for you.
Hugh Gilliam (14:03):
What about the English language there in the
Dominican Republic?
Randy Chavers (14:07):
It's fairly common, but it does help to know
some.
You can get by, but itcertainly helps to know Spanish
and say that for any country inthe Caribbean that is Spanish
based.
So just a few words is veryhelpful and very appreciated,
and the people are very patient.
They're lovely folks, sothey're very, very patient with
(14:29):
you.
Hugh Gilliam (14:29):
You mentioned two things.
You needed a good realtornumber one and an attorney
Correct One to find the propertyfor you and sort of walk you
through the procedure, andnumber two, someone that can
close it and make sure you haveownership at the very end.
So in doing that, I've heardthat taxi drivers, I've heard
(14:51):
that people just on the streetcan approach you and talk about
buying a piece of property orsomething within within that
country.
Yes, and did you see any ofthat when you were visiting or
when you've been in thosedifferent Caribbean countries?
Randy Chavers (15:07):
in almost all of them.
You know we kind of joke thatif you want to be a real estate
agent in many of the countries,that if you have a buy a bicycle
, on the business card to a cellphone, you can be a realtor or
a real estate agent, not arealtor.
Hugh Gilliam (15:21):
So and I know the NAR has realtors in those
countries and your cold wallbanker happens to be part of
that organization that's one ofthe one of the national
association of realtor.
Randy Chavers (15:35):
So there is a code of ethics that you and I
are very familiar with.
Hugh Gilliam (15:39):
Exactly.
Randy Chavers (15:41):
And they adhere to those code of ethics.
So, yes, that's why it's a bitstill of the Wild West, so, but
there are some very capableprofessionals there, both in
real estate and attorneys.
You just have to do your duediligence and make sure that
you're picking the right one.
Hugh Gilliam (16:00):
Politically, you said it's solid, yes.
And what about education?
People that do want to moveinto that area and they have
children, and children need tobe schooled.
I know they can dohomeschooling and things like
that, but what about educationaloptions there?
Randy Chavers (16:18):
There are many.
In the case of many of theislands, you have the option
between a lot of private schools, which is predominant, I think,
and for most people, parentswhere they want to send their
children.
But one of the things that I'drecommend for anyone is that, if
you're wanting to do some ofthe research on specifically on
(16:39):
that, there are some great sitesonline that you can.
There's an English speaking oran English paper, for example,
called DominicanTodaycom, andthey have a.
They have a specific sectioncalled the expats corner, and
these are people who are verygenerous with their suggestions,
(17:01):
recommendations, referrals, andit's a great place to go to and
to get current news, to findout what roads are being put in,
what is the path of progressfor what's for things that are
going on in the DominicanRepublic right now.
Hugh Gilliam (17:20):
One quick thing about hospitals, doctors,
medical attention, what about?
Randy Chavers (17:24):
that that was a real awakening for me, probably
as much as anything, is thatmany of these countries are
really heavy into medicaltourism and I can tell you from
personal experience.
I was having a toothache andthis was in the Dominican, in
the Porta Plata area, and myfriend who had helped me the
(17:46):
real estate broker that I workedwith on this on this condo
suggested that I go see hisdentist.
Well, I went to see his dentistand explained everything, spent
about 30 minutes very newequipment, very, very, very nice
, clean area and after the 30 or45 minutes I spent with her,
she made recommendations and Iasked for the bill and
(18:08):
converting it from fromDominican dollars, it was our
pesos, it was about $8.
And I said, well, I can't parkin Atlanta for $8.
So, yes, to answer yourquestion, generally both the
medical care, dental care, areexcellent and infinitely less
expensive than what you can findin the US.
Hugh Gilliam (18:31):
Okay, I appreciate you sharing that with us.
What about?
You chose the North Shore and Ithink we have a photo of the
building that we're going toshow shortly that you bought the
condo in, yes, so tell us alittle bit more about the North
Shore and about what touristsare looking for when they come
to that specific location.
Randy Chavers (18:52):
Well, it has that particular area.
It has some of the mostbeautiful beaches in the world
and so you're very close to that.
Again, the pricing like in thecondo that I purchased and the
actual purchase was four yearsago because it was a
pre-construction, so it tookthem and, of course, part of the
construction process wasinterrupted by COVID, so that
(19:18):
made things a bit more difficult.
But, like I said, it checkedall the boxes because it had the
great pool.
It has a restaurant right there.
It's within walking distance ofall kinds of little shops.
There's a grocery store,there's a pizza place you can be
to in a five minute walk andyou can be to the beach in five
minutes.
(19:39):
It's also near, like I said, theparks.
There's incredible parks.
So if you like the outdoors, ifyou go hiking or snorkeling or
whatever, you have thatopportunity.
There's the kiting.
There are several small citiesthat are wonderful that are
nearby, one called Sassua andCabaretta and others.
So it and also, like I said,being near the airport two of
(20:01):
them and there's also a hugeport there, for that's they're
increasing the size, actuallydoubling the size of the port,
so it's getting tremendoustourists that are coming in from
both the cruises, the cruiselines and the airport.
So for an investment.
It's fantastic because you'vegot such a volume of people
(20:23):
coming through there all thetime you mentioned you had a
management company.
Hugh Gilliam (20:26):
That's correct and tell me what they do for you.
Randy Chavers (20:30):
Everything, and it's wonderful for me because
they do all the marketing, theytake care of all the cleanup all
the well, literally everythingand so the major correspondence
I get with them is if somethingneeds to be replaced, that's
(20:50):
above normal.
I've only had to replace onething in the last couple of
years.
That was a small expense andthey handle all of it and just
send me the how much money Imade that month.
So it's.
So is the return on theinvestment pretty good?
So far, it's running aroundeight to 10%.
That's good.
(21:11):
Yeah, so that's great.
Yeah, I've been very happy withit.
Hugh Gilliam (21:16):
So with that management fee, they're managing
bringing people in that'scorrect To rent.
They're making sure thateverything is clean.
They have cleanup services andthings like that Correct.
If you have a broken hot waterheater or something like that,
they're going to replace it andsend you the bill.
That's correct.
They're going to just wake upin the middle of the night and
(21:37):
worry about something that wentwrong.
They're covering all the basesFor that service.
What would be the percentagethat they charge?
Randy Chavers (21:46):
You can pretty much expect 20%, and again
that's when you consider nothaving to have the concerns that
you just discussed and the factthat it is.
They do a great job of doingthe marketing and filling it up
as many days as possible duringthe month.
I have no argument with that atall, and many of your better
(22:08):
services are anywhere Columbiaor Panama or wherever you go.
You're looking around 18 to 20%.
Hugh Gilliam (22:15):
So how much time have you spent at your condo?
Randy Chavers (22:19):
Sadly, I haven't been able to spend any time
there since because I've beenvery busy with work, and then
there was COVID and what haveyou.
So I just I rent it.
I plan to go down there againin the next couple of months and
actually stay there with one ofmy sons.
I'm really fortunate.
I'm really fortunate, that'sgreat.
Hugh Gilliam (22:35):
What about the culture I mean in that specific
area?
What do you experience there interms of the culture of the
people?
What's going on around thatentire island, and have you been
involved with any of that, orhave you had time to get
involved with the people not theexpats, but the people that are
(22:55):
there?
Randy Chavers (22:55):
Yeah, and that's one of the beautiful things
about my favorite story is thata friend of mine suggested.
He says you're going to have tocome up with this farm and I
want to introduce you to afriend of mine.
So we went along and we stoppedin this little town and he goes
oh, we get out of the car here,and I said okay, and there was
(23:16):
a gentleman waiting for us withthree horses and the only way to
get to this location was byhorseback or a motorbike, which
I chose not to do dirt bike andso we went up there and he was
pointing to.
He says Meet Emilia.
You know there was all hisfamily lived in all around this
area.
We went up and we ate thisincredible food.
(23:36):
Which an interesting point tothat.
Everyone that I've spoken withwho's an expat, who's moved down
there from the US, they saidyou know, I moved here and I
lost 40 pounds or 50 pounds orsomething like that, and it's
sort of like the food just growseverywhere, like when I was at
that farm.
You just pluck things offcherries, off trees.
(23:57):
And so they've had, they'vealways had organic food.
It's never been a differencebetween organic and produced by
a company.
It's a very healthy lifestyleand people are very friendly and
lovely and helpful.
Hugh Gilliam (24:14):
So not a lot of preservatives and additives.
Randy Chavers (24:16):
No, which is really nice To say the least.
Hugh Gilliam (24:18):
Yeah, for sure that's great.
What about your wife?
Has she been there?
Yes, she's seen it.
Randy Chavers (24:28):
She saw the condo .
This was post COVID when wewere down for a wedding, and so
we spent a few days there andshe'll be going back down and
hopefully we'll be staying atthe condo here soon and enjoying
some of that.
I'll be going down therewithout work.
Hugh Gilliam (24:43):
That's going to be a pleasure.
Randy Chavers (24:45):
Yeah, it's going to be a different experience to
be on an island and not have towork all day and end of the
night.
Hugh Gilliam (24:51):
What about your children?
You said you're taking your sondown.
Have they seen it?
They have not yet.
No, so it's going to be asurprise.
Randy Chavers (24:59):
They were a bit late on getting their passports,
and so we're waiting on that tohappen, and then I'll be taking
them down individually.
Hugh Gilliam (25:06):
We know that the people in the US make up a great
part of people moving into theCaribbean.
What about from Europe?
Do you have people moving fromEurope into some of those
Caribbean islands, not justDominican Republic but other
islands?
Randy Chavers (25:21):
Absolutely.
In fact, I think the some ofour maybe 40 or 50 percent of
our renters are Hungarian Really, or they're from Eastern Europe
.
So it's very international anddifferent cities have different
make-ups in terms of where, like, there's a town that's east of
(25:43):
us about an hour called LosSerenes, and it has many French
and Italian expats live thereand they and everyone who moves
there seems to want to open arestaurant for their particular
kind of cuisine.
Hugh Gilliam (25:57):
I'm sure.
Randy Chavers (25:58):
Yeah, so it's a, it's a.
It's a very international fieldthere.
It's always exciting andinteresting to meet people.
That's fantastic.
Hugh Gilliam (26:06):
Well, listen, our time's almost up, but you've.
You've given us great insightto an individual that truly did
what you wanted to do, and thatwas to find a property outside
the United States.
You had your mind on futureretirement.
You bought that property fouryears ago and you've had an
income stream every ever sincethe day it was completed.
Randy Chavers (26:29):
So that's fantastic.
Hugh Gilliam (26:30):
We're going to have you back at some other
point in time.
We'll talk about other casestudies, people that you've been
involved with throughout theworld, because you've got a huge
background of investments andthings like that directing
people to certain investmentsaround the world.
So we appreciate that, thattime today that we've had, and
we look forward to the futureand bringing you back.
Randy Chavers (26:52):
Thanks you?
Hugh Gilliam (26:52):
I'd be delighted.
Thanks for being here mypleasure.
Thanks for joining in ontoday's episode of RealtyCast
Global.
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