An Insight Into The Dominican Republic Housing Market by Simon Hall

An Insight Into The Dominican Republic Housing Market by Simon Hall is now available in the "Buying Island Property" section at: http://www.realtyofthecaribbean.com

Simon mentions in his article that in the Dominican Republic there is absolutely no regulation of the real estate industry. There is no government requirement, no examination board, no tests, no check-ups, no audits not even an MLS (multiple listing service) system. The only way to verify the quality of the agent that you might choose is either through their experience and the length of time that they have been in business, by referral, or by sticking with one of the major global names.

As an example, I work for a global brand and I consider myself very fortunate to do so. We have many individuals contact us on a monthly basis asking to work in our office, and all the sales agents that work in my office know that their performance is being monitored, and not just at grass-roots level but all the way up through the entire organization. If we assume that a buyer decided to buy through a recognised “brand” name, and something went wrong, then to a certain extent there is the chance to make a formal complaint against the agent and or his company. Consequently you can ask yourself if a multi-million dollar branch of one of the big companies is likely to try to sell something that is bogus or illegal to you as an individual. The chances are that they would not.

Things to look for when dealing with any real estate office are: Check who answers the ‘phone – Is it the agent? Are you dealing with a one-man-band? Look for an office address – Do these people work from home?

You can read the full article as well as Simon's other article "The Real Estate Market on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic - 1st Quarter Report" at http://www.realtyofthecaribbean.com/