Buying from abroad, in five steps
A plain guide for people in Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Dominican diaspora. It is not legal advice and not an offer.
Get the reservation in writing
Before you pay a reservation or sign a promise of sale, get the seller’s legal name, the unit, the price, the delivery window, and what happens to the fee if the project stops. Read the Spanish document, or have a lawyer in the Dominican Republic read it, before you send money. A brochure is not the contract.
Send the deposit only to the named holder
Send the deposit only to an account that belongs to the trust company named in the contract, or to another holder the contract names. Do not send it to a personal account. ObraCierta does not hold funds. If you are abroad, your bank may ask extra questions about an international wire. Keep the receipt.
Deposit protection with ObraCierta is coming soon: a licensed trust company would hold the money and release it one stage at a time. It is not in place yet.
Understand the trust
A fideicomiso is a trust. A licensed trust company administers it. A trust is not, by itself, a promise that the building will be finished. The plan, still coming soon, is that a trust company holds the buyer’s money and uses it to fund each next stage once an independent inspection confirms the previous stage is complete. The developer would never be more than one stage ahead. No trust company has signed with ObraCierta yet.
The next stage is funded after the previous one is confirmed
The plan, not running yet, is that an independent inspection confirms the previous stage, ObraCierta records that finding, and the trust company then pays for the next stage from the buyer’s money. No project is in that pilot. Planned Drone or satellite updates are not live.
Prefer not to do this yourself? ObraCierta checks this for you, free.
Close with a lawyer in the Dominican Republic
Closing is the title transfer and the payments still due. A lawyer in the Dominican Republic should handle it. ObraCierta is not your closing agent, not your broker, and not your lawyer. Budget for legal fees, transfer costs, and the time it takes when you are not in the country.