Move to Puerto Rico (rent, mover, how much)

[faffy09]

When I visit Puerto Rico I get the impression that the pursuit of money / material things is not as heavy as in the states. I see people who still find value in life itself. How influential is American culture? (Hopefully not...) Am I seeing things with rosy glasses? - I am inquiring about the folks who do live decently well in PR. I know much of the population is below poverty.
Finding places to live / work is not as easy as if one needed to do so up here.. any recommendations? As in locations and websites. Craigslist and Monster did not have much, is this simply the case?
Any chance anyone is in the finance industry?

Thanks for sharing.

[espizarro]

Originally Posted by faffy09

When I visit Puerto Rico I get the impression that the pursuit of money / material things is not as heavy as in the states. I see people who still find value in life itself. How influential is American culture? (Hopefully not...) Am I seeing things with rosy glasses? - I am inquiring about the folks who do live decently well in PR. I know much of the population is below poverty.
Finding places to live / work is not as easy as if one needed to do so up here.. any recommendations? As in locations and websites. Craigslist and Monster did not have much, is this simply the case?
Any chance anyone is in the finance industry?

Thanks for sharing.

Hi there,

Yes, you are right. I no longer live in PR but indeed we there still find value in things that get us closer, to become friends, pals, and to have a nice time- from family festivals to going outdoors and have a nice time, you can read more in my thread

Aspects of Puerto Rico every potential mover or tourist must know

But as you see in the same thread link above, there are things that you must be aware. Puerto Rico is far from being the paradise it should be- that is why we are more here in the U.S. than there are there. No jobs, a level of safety that is unacceptable, and overall a mediocre-to-unacceptable quality of life- expensive cost of living vs. low wages, perhaps you can move down here to Florida and go there occasionally as it is pretty cheap from here and you can be there in two hours-three hours from airports in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, WPB, Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and hopefully soon from Fort Myers too). Or if you don't like Florida for its humidity you can try Georgia (Atlanta).

But living in Puerto Rico is totally different from traveling there. You may end up quite upset. But definitely not with its beauty or what you described. People overall are nice but things are not easy in the so called island of enchantment. 1,136 murders during a year in a 100 x 35 island with 3.5 millions... not good.

[efrenb5]

PR's still value family and friendship, but it is decaying. Don't look at PR only for that though.

Check out espizarro's thread. It is dead on about many issues in the island. This is coming from a born and raised PR still living on the island and looking to move out.

I don't want to burst your bubble, but living here is not a dream at all and there can be many hardships.

[faffy09]

Thanks for the feedback, and direction to espizarro's thread. No bubble to burst here. I am trying to make obtain an accurate understanding of living on the island. I am curious though.. I see some threads stating the cost of living is higher, where as others say it is not. I have seen many that indicate food is much less expensive. Maybe it is all relative?
I am not looking for a corporate job, that's what I want to get away from. So many users seem to think PR is shrinking, not growing. Would anyone be able to direct me to some true statistics?

Espizarro, might you have a suggestion of where in FL? As stated, I don't want to be a slave to the 9-5 (please don't interpret, I am an incredibly hard worker / motivated individual. This is why I want out of corporate. You can't be rewarded or succeed in office politics. We are all just cogs in the wheel) but one can't earn enough income to pay the bills if the necessities are at a high cost.

[aab7855]

I bought as local as possible at the grocery store and it was fairly cheap, but imported stuff is going to kill you. My diet was so repetitive...rice and beans, chicken, salad, avocados, fresh fruit. Healthy as all get out though. You can eat these same items in plate lunches or get empanadas for cheap, but sit-down restaurants were often just as if not more expensive than the mainland.

Basically gas was the same as the US, groceries could be more or less depending on what you want and how much imported food you eat, rent was way cheaper, utilities way more expensive. Even if you are spending less month to month, chances are you are making much less doing the same job you would in the US. I was very impressed with how many people carried themselves like comfortable, happy middle class folks even if their income was technically "working poor". The pace of life is different in PR, and at times I felt more at ease, but it's a stressed place. It's hard to have 16% (or so) unemployment in a place and such bad wages and expect people to just deal with it.