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Dude! Honestly move to Southy Florida, Texas or even Costa Rica. Unless your from the Island and lived thier for more than 4 years...don't go thier to start a dream business. It's the worst place to start your business. Of course if you have the big million dollars cash to spend...then go for it! I know I've been thier. I'd made more money in the States and in Latin America than in my old little corrputed, political-social economic issues, rush hour traffic island. It's great for vacation, visiting my relatives and 5 generations for anestory ruins in the cemetary. Good Luck!
I would recommend contacting T and L Realitry (787) 863-4419 they are located in Fajardo, PR ask for Tammy she will help you find a rental. There are some good rentals at DOS MARINAS in Fajardo check them out. Fajardo is home to the marinas i.e. Villia Marina, Sunbay Marina, Puerto Del Chico Marina, Puerto Del Ray Marina and they have dive shops, boat charters and catamaran services. Just remember hurricane seanson June 1 and runs through 30 Novemeber. For transporatation, I would recommend a small car or truck, gas is about the same as in the states 1-3 cent difference and it is sold by the liter. Good Luck with the move and let me tell you something PR is a beautiful island and it just as beautiful on the west coast so if you can get around it is a great place to be and retire.
I went there with my dad, who is from the island, and uh... yeah, the driving is awful. I can count at least 7 "imminent death" driving situations, mostly caused by people cutting us off before an exit.
Many people are rude there, too. For instance, there are highway tolls and one lane may ask for exact change while another doesn't. People will drive into the exact change lane because it's shorter, with NO change mind you, and then they'll get OUT of their car and walk to the adjacent lane and ask the lady for change. It's inconsiderate and it holds up everyone. I've seen it happen many times.
And another time we were at the McDonald's drive-thru trying to place an order and a lady in a red convertible pulls in behind us blasting reggaeton music VERY LOUDLY. The employee couldn't hear anything so we had to place our order at the window. She was just laughing the whole time talking on her phone, yelling at us to hurry up. Of course she turned the music down when she had to place her order.
In retrospect, it's actually pretty funny. But I don't think I can tolerate many more incidences like that. And I wasn't even driving.
Hehehe. Yeah, driving sucks here. One of the main reasons I want to get out. People are usually very inconsiderate when driving.
Aorre, I know what you mean about the toll, I've seen it happen a couple of times myself. People always wait till they get to the basket to check if they have enough change.
And the streets are no help whatsoever. Try to drive in a straight line and 30 minutes later you will be left only with the steering wheel on your hand, because the rest of the car has been falling off because of all the craters you drove over.
The driving "sucks" because of two reasons, and none have to do witht the "culture" of the people.
1) The streets and highways are smaller than in the US (no emergency lanes on highways and lanes are smaller too). Why? I dont know, the world isnt all a replice of the US, this is also one of the most densely populated places in the world, probably top 10, so that doesnt help either.
2) The police dont give tickets. They never ever pull anyone over for speeding, for lane turning without putting a signal, and for other stuff like u-turns. So, its really not a crime, and its so custom that if they come to the US they would think the police either have nothing to do or are super abusive. Parking, almost never ever will u get a parking ticket. Never in front of your house, and usually you can park wherver the hell you want, and people do. I do think the gov. would make a ot of money if they simply enforced the laws like the US does, in ticket revenue fro driving and parking, but, they dont, and thats the way it is here.
The toll thing is an exageration, Ive never seen it happen or heard of it happen. It maybe has happened and you saw it, but I will only beleive you saw it just once, and it rarely happens, I cross tolls daily.
Potholes, cmon, are you kidding me? I lived in places in the states where theres plenty of potholes, even worse than in PR. So please, just stop your offensive behavior.
Traffic. Not bad. You are nuts to think traffic here is bad, or you are from a small town in the states. Traffic here is much lighter and quicker than in very large cities in the US, and by the way, PR metro area is a very large city with 4 million people that are crammed like sardines (like NYC) because of the density, so if you are surprised by the fact that there is traffic and not open roads all day, then yeah....
Opening a business in PR is a gold mine. Why? Cause people here have money. On average, not as much as people in the states, but more than any spanish speaking country on earth, including spain, and better than most countries on earth, putting us on par with Latvia and Poland, PR has abetter economy than Italy. If you really want to sincerely compare economies worldwide, lets say theres 152 countries (I think around there), PR is in the top 50. which is great, thats top 1/3rd. Its completely developed here. You can google search it, its a report listing countries by the World Economic Forum or soemthing official like that.
Theres not a lot of competition here given the amount of people and potential customers youd have, compared to say a very large american city. PR is not such a hotspot for immigrants like the US, especially business immigrants like the US. Most immigrants go to US for business reasons really, and unless from a spanish country, immigrants dont come here as much as to the US, for many many reaosns like size of the US and not wanting to learn Spanish and well for a lot of reasons. But thats a good thing, cause the big chains, though they are a lot of places, it is nowhere near the way it is in the states, so a new business can thrive. Rent is cheaper here, cost of living is cheaper, everything is cheaper, and those who say its not, its only for certain types of food, though eating out is cheaper, and for the food its only about .20 cents more, and dpeends again on where in the US your comapring it to, cause compared to the 3 largest cities, its still cheaper in PR.
PR is loud. yes it is. its too densely populated to be quiet. Almost all houses touch each other wall to wall, with small to no sidewalks, and no alleys.Small lanes on the streets, with no emergency lanes, and you get noise. You can hear soemthing thats across the street because its really like as if it was on a sidewalk in the states, the distance wise. Car music, the police dont enforce the noise limits, so some young kids play music, but it is nowhere as common as you people make it seem, so whatever.
THis place is like its own country really. No city or state in America has such a unique "culture" like Puerto Rico does. Im not saying puertoricans either, cause there are many many non puertoricans living here. More than any census report tells you becuase they dont mark where they are from. There are so many people from all over the world, that it is in fact very diverse. The thing is, you cannot tell becuase puertoricans themselvses, whom are the majority, by I would say 90%, (whites in America are 75% I beleive, for comparison purposes) well, PRcans are diverse, they are black and white and brown, so you dont know if its really and indian from india, a black person from an african country, and italian, spaniard, arab, south american, or what. The only one you can really tell is Asian because of the eyes, and soemtimes PRcans have Asian eyes too so its also hard, or tall european ancestry caucasians like the majority of white americans, and thats also not even that easy to tell. So maybe if they are firs tgeneration by their accent, but their kids that gew up here, you wouldn know unless you hear their name and last name, and really, PRcans dont care one bit where people are from, they are the least racist, least zenophobic, least prejudice people in the world by far. THey are truly 100% colorblind to the point that every one that goes to the states is in shock and awe and cant beleive that theres actually a difference between races. And vice versa, most people on earth cant beleive how PR is such a colorblind nationality blind palce, it is a paradise in this respect, a utopia that the rest of the world should imitate in this regard.
Ill be around, so follow my posts by clicking my name if you want to hear me on PR.
Notepad, I'm sorry if somehow I offended, not the intention. I was born and raised in San Juan and have only left the island for vacations. And I have to say I can't wait to leave.
Most jobs outside Metro (Metropolitan area) are hard to find, at least jobs which allow you to spend and save enough to make it worth; thus you end up commuting into Metro, which is quite a hassle. As I'm sure you know traffic in Metro is a pain and even if you know every nook and cranny of the streets you end up stopping quite often.
Streets in Metro are poorly kept. Not that you are driving on a dirt road of course, but you are always bumping into something on the road and are spending money on new tires, breaks, axles, etc. Owning a car is a hassle as well.
About the toll, I've seen it more than I would like. Always on the receiving end of the finger if I dare to honk the driver.
efrenb
Of course theres some traffic, its 4 million people very densely packed. The metro area is a very large city. NYC, Chicago, and LA have way worse traffic.
THe streets are kept pretty well, again, just like any other major city in the US. Theres potholes in all of them, and all cars require a lot of maintenance. THeres not one single dirt road in all the metro area, so dont even use that word trying to make it sound like its liek that, its not even close to that, its been urbanized before even LA. Owning a car is a hassle? What is wrong with you?? What do you want? Take the damn bus or train, which isnt popular here, but it is available. But its more of a hassle, jsut liek the train or bus in LA, its easier to own a car there too, and Houston .
The toll I have never seen that happen. You got the finger for honking? Everyone everywhere can give the finger when honked at, not just in PR. Geez.
You cant wait to leave? Everyone that grows up somewhere that has never left, like you, cant wait to leave wherever they are. Its called not wanting to be a townie. Its called wanting to see the world, see other things. PPL who grow up in NYC and never left want to leave, so it has nothing at all to do with PR, its all human nature, its all you, not PR.
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