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    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
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    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
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    From Outside North America:
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    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

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    Overseas Havens Reports

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    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
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    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

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Live and Invest Overseas
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Home Countries Dominican Republic

The Historic Past And Bright Future Of Santo Domingo, DR

What If You Could Have Invested In Panama City 15 Years Ago? Here's A Second Chance

by Kathleen Peddicord
Jul 07, 2021
in Dominican Republic, Travel
0 0
A boat in the sunset in a beach in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Alamy/Giovanni Guarino Photo

Portugal, France, and England turned him down… so Christopher Columbus decided to give Spain a try.

Buoyed by their recent victory against the Moors and looking to expand their influence even further, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were more receptive to Christopher’s proposal than their European counterparts had been. The Spanish royals agreed to sponsor Chris’ sailing expedition.

They were betting on Columbus being able to fulfill on his promise to find a shorter route to Asia, making Spanish trade with that region easier and more profitable. Chris’ patrons had visions of silks and spices dancing in their heads, but nobody… including Columbus himself… could have imagined where his journey would actually lead.

He thought he’d landed in India. In fact, Columbus had discovered an island he would name Hispaniola.

Four years later the Spanish crown doubled down on its investment in Christopher and sent his brother Bartholomew to meet up with him. Bartholomew was named governor of the territory and charged with building a city representative of the Spanish colonizers that could serve both as the Spaniards’ base in the New World and as a staging post for further explorations into this uncharted territory.

That city, called Santo Domingo de Guzmán, became home to the first palace, the first customs house, the first hospital, first cathedral, first university, first library, even the first pharmaceutical business (marrying the medicine the colonizers brought from Spain with the natural healing techniques of the Indians they met upon arrival) in the Americas.

The Columbus brothers and their cohorts were bound and determined to make the land they’d discovered as much like the land they’d set sail from as possible. That approach had its downsides, of course, but much of the architectural legacy that New Spain strategy led to remains… and makes Santo Domingo stand out among all the cities the Spanish colonizers would go on to build in these parts over the decades and centuries to follow.

Indeed, Santo Domingo could be called the birthplace of the New World. To this launch pad, Spain sent a series of conquistadors, each of whom leveraged the city the Columbuses had built to give their exploratory journeys increased chances of success. From Santo Domingo, Pedro de Alvarado set sail and discovered Guatemala and El Salvador… Hernán Cortés found Mexico… Francisco Pizarro González conquered Peru… Pedro Arias Dávila located Nicaragua… Vasco Núñez de Balboa led the Europeans to the Pacific Ocean… and Ponce de León happened upon Puerto Rico and Florida.

The oldest city in the Americas is today an awfully nice place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Each time I return I’m happy to note more cafés and restaurants with more sidewalk seating… more shops… more boutique hotels occupying the centuries-old buildings… and more tourists to keep all those going concerns going.

Centuries ago, Spain used this city to launch a golden age. Today, Santo Domingo is playing a key role in Dominicans’ efforts to launch a new phase for their own country.

The New Panama City

Across town from the spot where Christopher and Bartholomew hung out the landscape is increasingly dotted with new condo towers, mega-malls, five-star restaurants, and multiplex cinemas. Walking around this part of town I’m reminded of Panama City 15 years ago… when Panama first began pushing for real and sustained economic expansion and a place on the world stage.

Panama’s capital from a decade-and-a-half ago is unrecognizable alongside current-day Panama City. Massive land reclamation projects, hundreds of high-rise towers, top-tier brand-name hotels, and monumental infrastructure projects have reshaped this city entirely. I don’t know if Santo Domingo will undergo as radical a transformation over the coming 15 years, but I can tell you from conversations with key players in the country’s government that growth is the battle cry.

The increased services and amenities and improved infrastructure and overall standard of living that the current investor-friendly climate is fostering are great to see. However, when I’m in town, it’s not in the new Santo Domingo that you’ll find me… but in the old town… where strolling musicians serenade and al-fresco dining is de rigeur.

My preferred perch is a café on the grand Plaza de España. I enjoy watching the passing show of children chasing each other around the cobblestones and tourists consulting their maps and taking selfies in front of the palace from which the Spanish managed and administered the New World.

If the Columbuses could see this place now.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Dominican Republic'christopher columbusKathleen Peddicordsanto domingo
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Top Countries

  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Panama
  • Belize
  • Colombia
  • Cyprus
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Montenegro

Best For:

  • Health Care Abroad
  • Retirement Living
  • Cost Of Living
  • Investing in Real Estate
  • Establishing Residency
  • Gun Ownership
  • English Speakers
  • Safety
BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

  • Living & Retiring Overseas
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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

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Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

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  • Titles on living and investing around the world

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