@Rebecca Cramer Hi Rebecca, I'm a boricua myself and live in San Juan. This thread is awesome and has a lot of useful information. I would like to add what I have learned myself since I first started on this real estate journey.
First, if you think Rincón is a hot spot for tourists in the island, San Juan is lava volcano. It's the capital, it has the biggest shopping malls, close to a lot of beautiful beaches, it has the main airport, old san juan, etc. Wanted to make this clear because I have seen a lot of people in bigger pockets talk about the west side like it's the main tourist area and this is false. If you want the best and most secure area to invest in Puerto Rico, it's San Juan. If another hurricane hits, it will be the first area to recover.
Second, we have been in a recession since 2007. Our economy is NOT growing. People are leaving. Yes, even more people will leave in the near future than they did right after the hurricane. Jobs are scarce, minimum wages are too low to live a decent life, a lot of people are losing hope, the government has corruption problems (but hey, a lot of other places in the US have also done a poor job with public money)... That said, real estate prices are at the lowest they have been for years in most areas. If it will continue to go down, it won't be that much. Is it a good time to invest buy and hold? Yes, if you know what you are doing and have experience with Puerto Rico first hand.
Third, Airbnb is growing and has a lot of options. If you are doing it well, you are making good money right now but this may not last long. A lot of other people from the states (richer than most puertoricans) have come to PR after the hurricane and are buying real estate by the boatload for Airbnb. It can quickly become oversaturated. I would go for a property that can be both airbnb and a long-term rental in the San Juan area to be safe. Check out the site airdna.com. In my area, airbnb's are booked 50% of the time. In my personal experience, where I rented one room of my rental (landloard allowed), I had to reject people so me and my girlfriend could have a break from it. The demand right now is big and everyday I see more tourists in the island. Have a back up plan just in case.
Right now I'm purchasing my first property in San Juan with a 203k loan. It's a big house 6 rooms and 3 full bathrooms and a garage with 1 room and full bathroom. It also has a swimming pool, very rare for the urban area where the property is. Reason for this it's that the previous owner had bought 2 different lots and made it 1. I got offer accepted for $97,500. Everybody that knows the property tells me that it's so cheap it's free compared to the times before recession where they were asking for $250,000. It's walking distance from beach and close to highways that can get you anywhere in the island in less than 2 hours. I saw at least 20 properties before this one and can tell you it's a unicorn. You will have to know puertorican market to catch these types of unicorns because you will get outbidded in a second
That said, come to Puerto Rico and see for yourself. You will learn a new culture that mostly speaks spanish and is part of the US. Everybody knows a little english and will help you with a big smile (we're pretty nice). You will find other tourists and americans enjoying the island and the heat you need for your winters. I will gladly tour you around if you come (just so I can see future potential deals for myself :P). I have hope that the US will NOT abandon Puerto Rico and it's US citizens and that it will be a better Puerto Rico that what it is right now, that's why I'm investing.
Hope you can take something useful from this. Best luck on your journey.
PS. Documenting your real estate story on instagram and social media platforms is the best you can do in 2018, congrats on taking those steps!!!
