Excellent advice Buck. There are several gringos on the Island who have done very well but they have been here for a while, worked hard, and were lucky. There are many other gringos, most no longer here, who have lost a ton of money buying real estate and trying to go into business here.

Advice-- It ain't easy! Laws, politics, regulations (or lack of) will be tough to maneuver. I know some very smart people who were extremely successful in the States who left a lot of money down here. That unfortunately is a familiar story.

It is this way in most any country in the Caribbean or Central America. In the 90's I decided that I was going to be a developer in Puerto Rico. I had a vision of a retirement community built on a mountain side maybe with a view of the ocean. Luckily a friend put me in touch with a very nice Puerto Rican attorney who was involved in construction and such. We had dinner together and at the end of the night he told me that he would welcome me as a client, but he finally said to me, "I like you, on your own the locals will eat you alive when you try to compete with them." The only way that it may be possible is to find a local partner but that is a mine field in which you will be the point man. His final advice was, enjoy our Island and people. Buy a residence if you would like but do your investing in the USA. I think that was excellent advice which I decided to follow.

Jim
Formerly from somewhere on a beach in Belize