I'm Sending 100,000 Tourists to THIS Dominican Town

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Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips on moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• The Town That Needs 100,000 New Visitors

• Lesson Learned on Real Estate Investing in DR

• Merry Christmas from Punta Cana

On January 22, I’m hosting a networking mixer in Santo Domingo to benefit a local charity that puts underpriveleged kids through GREAT schools in Dominican Republic. In order to join me for an outstanding night of connection and fun, you’ll just need to donate $50 to 2nd Mile Missions by clicking on this link and we’ll email you the location and information. If you can’t attend but want to send a friend or family member in Santo Domingo, that’s ok too!!

I’m Sending 100,000 Tourists to THIS Town

“You’re making prices higher for everyone”

“The point of a hidden gem is for it to stay hidden”

“Colonizer!”

I get all of the above and more simply for existing in DR and even more for being a fairly prominent creator in DR.

And I hear it.

Not because it insults me or makes me feel bad.

But because I really try to understand all perspectives.

Case in point - my existence here makes things more expensive. That is truth. It’s not something I fully appreciated initially but it’s real! I see it. I know the people it’s impacting.

When I travel to a place like Punta Rucia, I love how quaint and quiet it is. How it’s not the tourist trap that Punta Cana or Puerto Plata are.

As far as being a colonizer - those people can go F themselves.

It reminds me of how the word ‘fascist’ was tossed around by people who have no idea what it actually means. Colonzier’s take political control. No thanks! I’d prefer just to make it too expensive for people.

Waiting for the email correcting me on ‘colonizer’. I refer back to two paragraphs ago and would recommend you save it.

Last week, my family traveled to Las Galeras.

It’s a sleepy hidden gem of a town that’s not too expensive for locals or anyone that goes for that matter.

Sounds amazing right?

But then people started talking to us.

• The housekeeper to my wife in Spanish

• The Airbnb manager to both of us

• A photographer who spoke English and recognized me

• Restaurant owners and employees

They all had the same struggle.

There’s not enough tourists.

Like it or not, tourism is the industry in the Dominican Republic. Locals with money don’t want them (because they don’t need them). Locals without money absolutely want more.

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A few of these folks were practially BEGGING me for more promotion once they understood what I did just so they can feed their families.

It got me thinking…

Some of us just want these areas to remain pristine, untouched hidden gems. And I TOTALLY get why — believe me!

But there’s a level of selfishness to that for sure!

We want our 3-5 days a year spent in this hidden gem to be exclusive and quaint and quiet. While locals struggle to buy food and keep a roof over their heads.

Even worse, there are those that say pushing people to a place like Las Galeras is hurting the locals, infringing on them.

Tell the locals that .. you’ll find they don’t agree with you.

Most of those folks live and exist where there’s income to support a life and they feel they’re standing up for an image of a local Dominican who just wants to have a simple life. But agian, they’re wrong,.

Look, not EVERY local wants tourists to boost their economy - but most do.

And regardless of more of less of a tourist economy in an area, there’s a positive and negative to both.

What I learned from these folks is they’re faced with two decisions:

1. Keep it pure and untouched which makes it cheap! But they can’t make money - OR - 

2. Bring in tourism and investment that will increase the prices for them, but will also bring money for them to provide for themselves and their families

The clear message I got was they overwhelmingly prefer number 2.

Let me be clear, I have no intention of tallyign 100,000 tourists for Las Galeras - but would it be the worst thing for those people if that happened?

There’s an oversaturation point for sure. Punta Cana is an example of providing a ton of opportunity but also a ton of challenges for locals.

But again, locals move to Punta Cana and Bavaro for the opportunity because it seems to outweigh the downsides associated.

That said, I immediately created a reel on Las Galeras because my heart wanted to flood these amazing people with enough business and money to support them for years to come and I’ll admit I was THRILLED that 62,000 people have viewed it and 2000 people shared it.

I hope it brings abundance to that town and its people.

And I hope you consider it next time you’re in DR.

My FULL intention is to support this amazing country that produced my incredible wife and therefore gave us 2 beautiful kids.

My FULL understanding is there’s no such thing as a perfect solution.

My FULL focus is on directing the money the world wants to spend on their vacation destination into the pockets of the Dominican people to whatever extent I can (with love to my friends in Mexico, Jamaica, Turks and elsewhere).

This is one way that I try to give back an I’m unapologetic about that!

Lesson Learned on Buying Real Estate in Dominican Republic

I hate being proven right, but I just was again.

When investing here, I’ve repeatedly said there are some things you can do to protect yourself from making a bad investment.

No one can promise you perfection, but there are steps.

Yesterday, I was messaging with someone that is struggling with a property they purchased in a well known development in Punta Cana.

Long story short, they’ve run into massive delays, lack of communication and other major issues that have left them wanting to sell.

Tough to do with a problem property in a market where there’s a TON of construction and development!

My immediate question was whether or not they followed my number one piece of advice when investing locally…

“Did you invest with a realtor or directly with the developer?”

Let me be clear - there are plenty of great developers you can invest directly with and you’ll be fine. Better than fine!

But there are others that aren’t even doing anything below board, but they’re disorganized or underfunded and struggling to keep up.

A GREAT local realtor knows the players and the game.

By GREAT, I mean full time, dedicated and experienced in this market. I require that any realtor I work with lives in the market along with doing NOTHING else other than selling houses and apartments.

This person went direct to developer and therefore, doesn’t have the support of a realtor as intermediary.

If you’re looking to buy in Dominican Republic, you can’t go to Zillow or an MLS system.

Each broker promotes it’s own projects and when you have great brokers on your side, you are shown the deals they have the most confidence in, and more importantly, their silence can be DEAFENING with what they won’t promote.

Good realtors promote good properties but their north star is where they make money.

GREAT realtors promote good properties but their north star is the relationship and reputation - NOT the transaction.

In other words, every realtor is selling so they will show you the stuff that fits your criteria where they also make the most money.

But the GREAT ones don’t sacrafice the relationship for the dollar.

I always remind people that I can refer you realtors that I’ve built relationships with but will always disclose two things:

1. If you decide to work with them, they will pay me a percentage of commission when you close

2. More importantly, talk to them and see if they fit YOUR criteria. Do your own due diligence, trust your gut. Just because someon refers you a realtor doesn’t mean they’re right for you and my desire is to bump into you after you’ve made a purchase and see the joy in your face, not the stress over doing something you don’t feel great about!

My recommendation is simple - work with a local experienced full time agent. You’ll increase your chances of feeling confident in your deal if you do!

Merry Christmas From Punta Cana

I took the time to piece together a compilation of all the goings-on in Punta Cana this Christmas.

I hope it gives you a glimpse of life around the holidays.

It’s a quick video with the goal of just leaving you smiling while you watch!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are gearing up for your best year ever in 2025! Thanks for being a part of this experience and I’m wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!