Cap Cana · Punta Cana · Bayahíbe · Samaná
A small desk handling a short list of houses, estates and apartments on the east and north coasts. We check the title and the Confotur certificate before a property appears here, and see a purchase through to registration.
Current listings
Five properties are on the books at present. We have been round all of them and checked the title and the Confotur status.
Off-market
Twelve further properties are withheld from public listing, usually at the seller’s request. Viewing them requires a signed non-disclosure agreement and evidence of funds.
Approach
We are a small desk. One adviser takes a purchase from the first viewing through the notary and the Title Registry, and is still the one you ring afterwards.
The deslinde and the Confotur certificate are checked before a property is shown to anyone. If the survey has not been registered you will hear it from us on the first call.
Whoever shows you the house takes it through the notary and on to registration.
Names and figures stay inside the file. Off-market sellers list with us on that basis.
Rental management, staffing and maintenance go out to firms we have used ourselves and can vouch for.
Tax status
Law 158-01 exempts qualifying tourism developments from most property taxation for fifteen years. The certificate attaches to the development rather than to the owner, so it travels with the title when the property changes hands.
For fifteen years from the date on the certificate you pay no 3% transfer duty on purchase, no 1% annual property tax, no tax on rental income and no capital gains tax when you sell.
A property purchase of USD 200,000 or more opens the investor residency route. Filing normally takes three to six months once the paperwork is in. We introduce the immigration lawyers; the application is theirs to make.
Well-run short lets in Punta Cana and Cap Cana have been returning 7–10% gross. September and October are thin. The figures below assume professional management.
Enter a purchase price to see the tax a Confotur-certified title avoids over fifteen years.
An illustration at current rates, assuming full occupancy of the exemption period. It is not tax advice; confirm the figures with a Dominican tax adviser before you rely on them.
Nearby
The four corridors we cover are within ninety minutes of an international airport. These are the places our buyers use most.
Services
Four things buyers ask us for most often. Each is delivered by a firm we work with regularly, and billed by them directly.
A Dominican firm runs the title search, confirms the deslinde is registered and the property is free of charges, and advises whether to hold personally or through a company. They draft the promise of sale and attend the closing. Registration at the Title Registry takes four to eight weeks.
The firm we use handles recruitment and payroll for household staff: cook, housekeeper, gardener, driver. Most gated developments include perimeter security. On a standalone plot you want a monitored system and a caretaker living on site. We arrange both.
Punta Cana takes direct flights from most of Europe and the eastern United States. For private aircraft, the FBO at PUJ handles the arrival. Berths at Cap Cana and Casa de Campo are leased annually and are usually the constraint.
Management companies take 20–25% of gross rental revenue and handle listings, guests, cleaning and maintenance. Hurricane cover is a separate policy and worth reading closely. Expect quarterly statements.
Buyers
We had looked at Cap Cana twice before and walked away both times, on both occasions over the paperwork, which by then we had half decided was simply how things were done here. This time the title search was finished before we flew out. The discrepancy in the survey came from them rather than from us, and we had got used to being the ones who found that sort of thing.
Bought the marina flat to rent out. I asked for the previous owner’s occupancy figures and got them. The last agent I dealt with never did answer that question.
Samaná was not in our list at the beginning. We went there only because they insisted. The registration took seven weeks and not the four we were told, but they explained this to us while it was happening.
Contact
We ask three questions, then your details. Replies go out within one working day, in English, French or Spanish.
It helps to know the area, the budget and whether the property is for your own use or to let. If you already have a shortlist from elsewhere, send it over and we will tell you plainly what we think of it.
Three steps, about a minute
An adviser will reply within one working day. If it is urgent, say so in your reply to the confirmation and we will call instead.
Process
From first enquiry to registered title is typically three to five months. The slow parts are the survey and the Title Registry.
A call comes first, to settle the area and the budget, and whether the place is to live in or to let. Five to eight properties follow, off-market ones included, faults and all.
Week 1Two or three days on the ground, usually four properties a day. We drive; the developers do not. You will also see the roads, the supermarket and the hospital, because those are what decide whether a house works once you are living in it. Plan on being tired by the end of the second day.
Weeks 2–4You sign a promise of sale and 10% goes into escrow, conditional on the title search. The lawyer confirms the deslinde, the absence of charges and the Confotur certificate. Withdraw if anything fails and the deposit returns.
Weeks 4–8The closing itself is a signature before a notary, the balance transferred and the keys handed over. The Title Registry then issues the certificate in your name, four to eight weeks and occasionally longer.
Months 3–5Dominican firms run the title searches, the Confotur compliance and the holding structure. They bill you directly at their own rates, and we tell you what those are before you instruct anyone. They are also the ones chasing the Title Registry afterwards.
We introduce two or three management firms, all taking 20–25% of gross revenue for listings, guests, cleaning and maintenance.
For plots, and for refurbishing what is already standing. Salt and wind load make coastal construction a trade of its own, and drainage is where a cheap contractor will cost you.
Immigration lawyers file the investor residency applications. Three to six months is normal, and they are blunt about the awkward cases.
