Just for fun, here is a new song I found inspired by Rincon Puerto Rico. Pretty fun listen and entertaining lyrics. Disfrutar!

And i was rolling back down to Rincon, Puerto Rico’s the land where i have my fun
the bars down on the shoreline, ring a bell take a shot coconuts and rum
surfing all through the day, and we party into the night
and the best thing about this ragga town is the girls with the ass so tight
and i
I ain’t coming home, kick back don’t invade my style
turn up the reggatone and bone, till my prohecies reserect its one on one

And i was rolling back down to rincon, Puerto Rico’s the land where i have my fun
the bars down on the shoreline, ring a bell take a shot coconuts and rum
surfing all through the day, and we party into the night
and the best thing about this ragga town is the girls with the ass so tight
and i
I ain’t coming home, kick back don’t invade my style
turn up the reggatone and bone, till my prohecies reserect its one on one

In 2008 we attempted to purchase a property -a finca- in Lares, in the central part of Puerto Rico. It is from that experience and our current experience buying our house in Rincon that we’ve learned that buying property in Puerto Rico is not exactly what you might expect stateside. We own five properties in Colorado as well (rentals and our house) so we do know about that process as well. In some ways buying a property in Rincon Puerto Rico is quite similar to in the states, and in others, it is very different. Here are some of those similarities and differences.

 At our property in Rincon

Similarities:

• Puerto Rico is part of the United States and so Federal regulations do apply to housing.

• Most banks/mortgage lenders require the same paperwork: application, appraisal, survey, etc

• You need a contract to buy/sell

• The deed/title proves you own it. In Puerto Rico you own property basically just as in the states.

• You will have a closing and they will give you the keys. It is very informal with less paperwork compared to the states

• You can work with a real estate agent or with the seller in “for sale by owner”

• Closing with “cash” instead of a mortgage is less hassle

Differences:

• Puerto Rico does it DIFFERENT. Puerto Rico has its own government and housing stimulus packages and requirements that differ
• You can’t use a mortgage lender in the states. It must be a Puerto Rican lender.
• The paperwork may be in Spanish (or it may be in English)

• There is no MLS -Multiple Listing Service. This makes it very hard to search for a property in Puerto Rico.

• Because there are so many people who sell “by owner” and because there is no MLS, you will be doing a lot of calling and setting up appointments to see houses instead of doing them all at once

• Puerto Rico’s title laws do NOT guarantee a spouse (especially a woman) will inherit the property if the other spouse (the man) dies so this must be considered or explicitly stated in a will or other legal document

• Notaries in Puerto Rico MUST be a lawyer. Basically you will need a lawyer at some point in the process if you are planning to buy a house in PR

• The negotiation is generally not written out. In the states all offers need to be written. In PR, in our experience, only the contract and final paperwork was written out

• Many houses, especially outside of San Juan or out of a subdivision are “non-conforming” in one way or another. This may make it difficult to buy a house with a mortgage. In our attempt to purchase the Lares property they found that the access road to the house was non-conforming as it went over a river. Other things could be if the septic tank is not accessible or even if the house is made out of wood like ours in Rincon. There are “non-conforming” houses in the states as well, but there seem to be a lot more in PR.

• People buy houses with cash a lot more often than in the states. This is to avoid a lot of this red-tape.

• Property tax is very low and sometimes nothing at all in Puerto Rico, especially for people with only one property that they live in (as opposed to a vacation home).

These are just a few examples of differences in buying a house in Puerto Rico as compared with the states. As for us,the property deal in Lares fell through for a few of these reasons. We were attempting to purchase it with a mortgage, but it not only  had problems because it was non-conforming but also because the title was not filed correctly. With the Rincon property we determined that it would be best to get a personal loan from the states (a 401(k) loan) instead of getting a mortgage to avoid a lot of the hassle and since we knew we might be given some grief over one of the buildings being wooden. We did get a lawyer because 1) you have to for the paperwork and 2) to make sure everything was titled correctly.

Overall, buying a property in Puerto Rico can be somewhat of a challenge if you’re used to the way things are in the states, but it is really not too bad and in some ways it’s actually better/easier. In any case, we are so happy we did and we can’t wait to get back to our home in paradise. If you’d like to check out our property, here are some pictures and videos.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to being not only a member of this online Rincon Life community but also in “real life” Rincon as well. See ya on the beach! -Cassie

So I’m excited that I have a new guest blogger to add to our list! Cassie from LifeTransplanet has been kind enough to accept my offer to contribute to the RinconLife blog world and we’re excited to have her!

As I mentioned in some earlier posts, I would really like to turn the RinconLife blog into a community of voices from around Rincon and that means getting lots of different points of view.    Cassie and her husband Britton are originally from Greely, Colorado (shout out to Colorado!) and we originally connected through this blog.  We met them in person here last winter as they were in Rincon finalizing the purchase of their new house here on the island.  Cassie and Britton secured their house here and are in the process of getting the wheels in motion for a full-time move.  I’m expecting that they’ll have lots to share about their experiences buying a house in Puerto Rico, the process of getting ready for the move and lots of tips on relocating to Rincon.

So!  Check out more about LifeTransplanet on their bio here, or visit their blog www.LifeTransplanet.com to see more about their life in Colorado – and keep an eye here for their first blogs on RinconLife.com

*** If you’re interested in becoming a contributing blogger to RinconLife.com, contact us!***

Luckily for the West coast of the island, Irene hit San Juan and then veered a bit north, getting the East Coast and the North Coat of the island a bit of a whopping. All of us here in Rincon PR didn’t get hit NEARLY as bad as we expected and although it’s been crazy raining and windy for about 3 days now – and.. of course… no power and sometimes no water… that is all to be expected. There’s not a lot of downed trees, not a ton of flooding and not a lot of debris in the streets or around town (I speak only for my immediate vicinity in Rincon). Everyone was gearing up pretty good with storm shutters and boarded up windows, but we were pretty happy that we didn’t really need them after all.

Irene wreaked some serious havoc on Necker Island – causing a huge fire that burned Richard Branson’s mansion to the ground, and she’s now looking like a Cat 2, maybe a Cat 3 as she heads toward the East Coast. As we lick our wounds here and pray for the power to come back on, we can only hope that the storm doesn’t pummel anyone else in her path… fingers crossed but unfortunately it looks like it might whallop a few more places before she dissipates.

From Cabo Rojo we were headed to the bioluminescent bay at La Parguera. We took a shortcut on the 303 & 305 which was a beautiful drive. Most of the drive was through open fields and rolling hills, looking out over the South coast. There are very few other places I’ve found in Puerto Rico that truly feel ‘rural’ – with few houses and lots of open space, so it was a beautiful trip.

If you have a day to explore, I highly recommend taking a trip on this route. Check out the map below for details — some of our favorite stops along the way include Buye Beach, the seafood stands on Main Street in Boqueron (you can also rent jet skis in Boqueron or Combate), Bahia Sucia (Bahia Salinas is a really pretty resort right there) and the bioluminescent bay at La Parguera. Take it as a flexible day and take the time to stop at many of the local food and fruit stands along the way for a bite and a Medalla- that’s some of the best part of the experience!

*** I’m trying to figure out a “scenic route” for the way back, other than just heading North on the 2 – I’m sure this will include heading into the mountains through Maricao and maybe Adjuntas, but this is TBD….. ***

View Larger Map

Good thing was we got back just in time that I didn’t miss the first Rincon paddleboard yoga class!  What started out as kind of a joke on Facebook – after we saw our so talented friend Summer (www.ca2pr.com) doing a headstand on her paddleboard (showoff!  hahaha – just kidding Summer), miss Yoga Shannon took the ball and ran with it and a couple weeks later we have an instructor from San Juan (Rachel) hosting a class here in Rincon.

Paddleboard Yoga is kind of the next new “craze” in yoga (or in paddleboarding) and is really just a way to mix up your practice of both and make everything a little more challenging.  Needless to say it really challenges your core, and I can already tell that I’m going to feel it in my arms tomorrow!

It was a beautiful morning and we headed out from the balneario in Rincon.  There were about six girls in the class and it was a first for all of us, so the good thing was that you didn’t feel like too much of a goober if you bailed off your board a time or two.  About a 1/2 hour into the class, the wind and current really picked up, so we found ourselves constantly drifting out toward the marina which was kind of funny – but it just meant we got a better workout paddling our way back to where we started about every 20 minutes or so.  I do have to say that after attempting a headstand a couple of times and a few other inverted poses I was on the verge of getting a little seasick!  Just concentrated on the horizon and it went away, but I wasn’t expecting that!

All in all it was super fun and we’re all hoping that maybe Rachel can come over once a month or so to host the class.

Here’s a little video to give you a taste — THANK GOD no one was videoing us! hahahaha – wouldn’t have been nearly as pretty.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ReviewPhotos-g264369-d561879-r16853653-Tres_Sirenas_Beach_Inn-Rincon_Puerto_Rico.html#18019517

Now we’ve got a tropical storm heading our way, Ms. Emily! From the looks of it, we’ll be dealing with some rain.

I’ve fully stocked all of our supplies:
candles
lighters/matches
canned goods (hooray for peas!)
water jugs
Happy Hurricane Party!

If you’ve never had a dog in the tropics, then you might not think about it, but coconuts make awesome dog toys. The newest addition to our family (‘Mini’ as we call her – poor thing never got a more creative name) can be a bit of a chewer, which, obviously, can be quite annoying.  BUT, she loves to shred a good coconut and it will keep her busy to hours.  It can get messy sometimes, but it’s always better than loosing a new pair of flip flops.

You have to find one that is already cracked in half, with plenty of the fibrous stuff ready to pull off.  Find a good one and she’s off!  And best of all they are FREE.

Here’s a little video of Mini going nuts over the nut (haha) at a beach in Rincon.

Without a doubt, when our friends come to visit Rincon Puerto Rico, they always ask where they can get a good Cubano sandwich. Although many of the local bakeries offer a Cubano, none of them blew us away until we hit up the Panaderia Boricua in our neighborhood of Rio Grande. I’m not a big meat eater and a Cubano is not something I would normally order, but I have to say, every time we go to the bakery I regret it if I get anything else (not to say the rest of their sandwiches are bad, but the Cubano is damn good!). We’ve gotten all of our friends hooked on this place and if you REALLY want to splurge, get a couple of their cream-stuffed donut holes for dessert (insane!). Needless to say, I would probably weigh 900 lbs if I hit up this place too often, but if you’re craving something that will really fill you up – go for it. The sandwich is full of all the normal Cubano fixings: pork, ham, lettuce, mustard, pickles – grille on fresh baked bread. For a real heart attack get it ‘con todo’ with mayo AND butter (a little overkill for my taste!).

A lot of visitors probably don’t head up the hills towards Cruces or Rio Grande if they’re just in Rincon for the first time or for a short stay. To get there, look for West Coast surf shop in the Rincon plaza and take the REALLY little road that heads up the hill. (It looks like a one-way but it’s two way) Keep going for about 5 km or about 10 minutes and just keep an eye out for the bakery on the right. It’s pretty hard to miss it. If all else fails, you’ll end up taking the 414 all the way to Aguada, in which case you can head back the way you came or just head South on the 115 back to Rincon. It’s a cool drive anyways and good for visitors to experience some other neighborhoods.  Check out some more of our recommendations for restaurants Rincon PR.

yum yum!

If you ever want to be a guest blogger on RinconLife, just email me and ask!  Odds are wed love to hear what you have to say.