In any effect, it’s been making me cranky and mean. I can’t even be in the house between 4 – 7 in the afternoon without wanting to kill someone. We just moved houses and our new place is set on the hillside where we get BLASTED with sun as it starts to set. (5 more feet and we’d have a killer view, instead we’ve got no view, just rays). We’re also kind of nestled into the hillside so there’s not much wind. Although there hasn’t been much wind anywhere lately. And don’t even THINK about turning on the oven. Forget about it. Sandwiches and cold salad for dinner for the next four months. That should go over well.

Anyways, it’s just a vent about being constantly sweaty and mean. Makes you want to come over and visit, right?! hahaha. It’ll change soon enough!

So, our friends over at Casa Verde have informed us that we have to officially change any references to ‘Casa Verde Surf Lodge’ to ‘Casa Verde Hotel’.  This all stemming from an alleged copyright infringement by the ‘Surf Lodge’ in Montauk, NJ.  Now, I don’t want to give those guys any free publicity, but I think this is all a bit outrageous.  How can you forbid everyone in the world from using the term ‘surf lodge’?  That is like trying to copyright the term ‘villa’ or ‘condo’.  Casa Verde is being MUCH more accommodating than I can say that I would be. I think it’s CRAZY, but I’ll respect their wishes.  I’m a really stubborn and hard headed person when it comes to other people trying to tell me how to run my business and there’s no way I’d back down from a fight like that.  But, maybe CV is just more mature than I am   hahaha

From a marketing perspective though, you have to admit that Surf Lodge is SO much more marketable that plain old Hotel.  I’ll be pushing for it to at least be called the ‘Casa Verde Surf Hotel’.

A quick search on ‘the google’ returns tens of properties with Surf Lodge in the name. Are they trying to sue all of them?

The same search also returns a pretty hilarious article about their conduct in local court. Pretty quality:

http://easthamptonstar.com/?q=News/2012202/Surf-Lodge-Strikeout

No offense to everyone from Montauk, I’ve heard it can be really nice up there, but man, lately I’ve met a feel real pieces of work from there. Is it something in the water?

But, back to my main point.  As we were reminiscing about how great it was, of course, one or two jabs on Rinco come up – but I just had to say, you guys: “If it was easy to live here it would be another New Jersey by now”. We have to pay the price of some little annoyances (you know, power, water, internet, annoying permit and genearal craziness) in order to live here.  If it was really that simple to be here, everyone would be and we’d be in another coastal town just like the States.

It’s the truth.

The remodeled bar at the surf lodge. Just imagine being belly up with some tacos. Doesn't look like the new furniture is in this pics. We'll post more with people which is more fun anyways.

Last Thursday night we hit up the opening night of the new Casa Verde Surf Lodge Surf Hotel. Everyone in town has been pretty stoked to see what the new property looks like and how it’s all going to shake down with the new ownership.  The Surf Lodge Surf Hotel is in the old Bunger’s Inn, formerly Club Bon Accord.  I remember seeing Bon Accord for sale after one of our trips out here and thinking that it was such a great property if someone only had the money and the vision.  Bon Accord had done a really modern, upscale, Euro thing, but that didn’t really seem to jive with Rincon.  But, alas, seeing as I don’t have $100ks+ plus lying around it wasn’t going to be me to turn it around.

And then, new owners took over and made the spot Bungers Inn.  It didn’t do too bad for awhile, but they fell victim to what I see a lot of owners do around here – without a clear vision for the property, they were overcharging for the rooms (trying to attract a better class of clientele) and overcharging for the food (without getting a proper chef in there) so sales slacked… then, to pump it up they hire a bomb bar manager and bar staff and the place starts rocking late night.  But – what does that do to your clients paying upwards of $200 a night per room when they have the derelicts of Rincon roaming below wasted at 4 am?  Yeah. It just doesn’t work.

So after a few sad seasons empty, Billy and Tiffany, the owners of the next door Casa Verde Guesthouse and Rock Bottom Grill took over.  They’ve been waiting for permits all winter after giving the place a good spit shine and now the doors are open.  They kept a lot of the clean, modern feel, but warmed it up with Caribbean touches to make it feel a little more like Rincon. The lined the metal bar and bar area with cool engraved & burned bamboo, added some quality black and white surf prints, repainted, re-furnished and brought in new staff.  They’ve got a great bar manager and a tested kitchen staff who I think can do good things in there.  Plus, Casa Verde already has a name for itself next door and that will only help spread the word.

So, back to opening night…..
We headed over with the kids because there’s a great pool on-site.  Sophia got to swim with her buddy Dante while mama and friends ordered half price frozen Margs and $1.50 Medalla.  Then they have $1.50 chicken or beef tacos which were super tasty.  They were Happy Burger style (RIP) which means the soft corn shell was pan friend with parmesean, but not quite as greasy as the HB ones.  Cheap. Tasty. and a Pool.  Pretty much that’s all you need to keep us happy around here, we are pretty simple people.

There was a good crowd and the bar and a good crowd of parent’s chasing muchkins around so all in all I think it went well for them. It looked like the Happy Hour crowd departed around 7 but I heard it picked back up later.  Might have to do a repeat this week….

Back in January we heard that the space above La Paz was going to be open for rent and Stefan came to me with a plan: COWORK. After checking out other successful co-working environments in cities like Philadelphia and Austin, we were amp’d about the idea of bringing this new and innovative concept to Rincon.

Luckily, the owner of La Paz is super cool and willing to support local business and offered to work with us on rent for a few months so we could get our feet under us and get running.

Hence, we now have The Cube. A real co-working space in Rincon. And, as far as I (or anyone else) can tell, the ONLY co-working space in ALL of Puerto Rico! (How cool is that?)

The Cube has three private offices in the back which we are renting from $225 – 275/mo as well as shared community space in the front, equipped with desks for monthly, weekly or daily use. Right now rates are $65/mo for 10 – 4 daily usage or $100/mo if you want a key to the space and 24-7 access.

In addition to Stefan and I, we have Sarah Rosario from All Events PR in the back office and Amanda Simpson from foodporndaily.com out front with us. Stefan’s copywriter Meghan stops by time to time and when our internet is out Justin will use the space on behalf of Rincon Vacations. We’re really working on getting the space styled out (on a shoestring budget mind you!) and getting more traffic in there. We’re aware that the summer is going to be pretty quiet but hopes are that next season we can get it cranking with more daily and weekly use from visitors.

We also just set up a conference table in one of the private offices that is great for small meetings or if you need to get a group together.

Anyways, check it out at www.coworkpr.com – if you’re moving to town and you work online or if you’re going to be in Rincon for a short amount of time but need space to check emails and get a few things done, stop on by. Daily hours are 10 – 4 and we’re located above La Paz Yoga on Carr 115, two doors down from Playero Surf Shop.

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….. ***

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