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Selling Your Property in the Dominican Republic

Posted by support_st73kid7 on March 9, 2021
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Downsizing, upsizing, looking for something new, or any reason in between, if you’re considering selling your Dominican Republic property and we’re ready to help you.

You have a number of decisions to make. One of which is the best option to help you sell your property by reaching potential buyers who could be interested in your property. Many vendors will opt to list with a local Estate Agent in the hope that they will attract a purchaser and negotiate a deal. The problem, in the Dominican Republic, is that unlike the USA, and other countries, the real estate market is totally unregulated.  Anyone can call themselves an estate agent with no experience or expertise. Many prospective buyers are well aware of this and are hesitant to contact an agent and would prefer to make contact with an owner and negotiate the purchase directly.

Apart from how to sell your property the next most important decision is what price you can expect to achieve?  The saying is that the market price of anything, and that includes property, is what a willing seller is prepared to accept and a willing buyer is prepared to pay. You might think that a locally based Estate Agent is going to be your best advisor as far as a market price is concerned.  After all, he will have similar properties listed and, hopefully, will have had recent sales that indicate what a buyer is prepared to pay for a property similar to the one you wish to sell.

Unfortunately, that is often not the case! You might find that the agent has not sold a similar property for quite a long while, if ever. And the general lack of base data on property in the Dominican Republic makes it very difficult to place a true value on anything. Whether that is the price per sqm for land, construction costs, installation of utilities, or any other basis on which a value can be used.

Even if you do find a similar property that has been sold recently there is no guarantee the the “price” it was advertised for or the final price paid is accurate.  This is particularly true for condominiums where the sale of one unit can effectively set a net value for all similar units in the block. No one wants to see the market value of their property decline and it is not unknown for officially recorded prices to be inflated to ensure that the “perceived value” of the properties is maintained.

Real Estate Agents who are close to the owners of other similar properties are often reluctant to recommend a viable sale price in order to not upset other owners.  And, if they have recently sold a unit at an above realistic price, they will not want that purchaser asking why they paid so much if another unit is offered at a much lower price.

The bottom line really is how much you, as the vendor, are willing to accept to enable a sale.  This might depend on a number of factors. Do you need to sell quickly? If so a price below the generally advertised price is your best option.  How much did you pay when you purchased the property may be another factor. What do you propose to do with the funds realized from the sale? If you have another property you want to buy balancing the importance of the speed of sale to enable the purchase of the other property could be a deciding factor. If there is no real urgency to sell a more competitive price may be appropriate but possibly with an owner funding option to avoid waiting for a buyer to obtain a commercial mortgage.

Really, you as the owner and vendor can just as easily decide what is the correct price for the property you want to sell.  A little research will quickly show you what other owners, who also want to sell, have their properties listed for with local or even international estate agents.  The point to remember is that in setting their price they are including their agent’s commission, which could be anything between 5% to 10% in the Dominican Republic.  If you are selling direct you don’t have that cost to take into account so you can set your price at a far more competitive level and still walk away with more of the net proceeds in your hand.

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