Life Transplanet

I’ve heard about the new law, the Impulso Vivienda or Puerto Rico Housing Stimulus, that Governor Fortuño recently passed. Basically it sounds like they are trying to spur growth in the housing sector by encouraging more construction and more sales of existing houses. It seems the thinking is similar to the U.S. mainland use of the tax credits to spur more home buying.

I am not sure how much CRIM, sellos y estampillas (property taxes, seals and stamps) normally cost, but it sounds like with this program they will be waived for a period of 5 years if you buy a house between September 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011! 

We’ve received conflicting information about property taxes in Puerto Rico and housing in general. It’s hard to find accurate information as every person we talk to has a different interpretation. Some people have even told us there is no property tax!? In any case, it sounds like good news for people like us who may buy a Puerto Rican house within this time period.

To read more about this new law check out this Caribbean Business article or this blog post.

Today’s Spanish tip is about colors: los colores. (Lohs Coh-lor- res)

We use colors to describe many things. Here are the colors in Spanish and English. Many of them are gender specific when describing an object. For example, to say: ‘the black dog’ it is ‘el perro negro’, for ‘the black chair’, it is ‘la silla negra’. Rosa and Naranja are exceptions because they are also objects in and of themselves (rose and orange). So for a masculine pink object (is that an oxymoron?), it would be rosado. For example: the pink telephone: el teléfono rosado. The orange shirt is ‘la camisa naranja’ but the orange hat is ‘el sombrero anaranjado‘.  The ones that don’t end in “a” or “o” like verde, azul, café, you don’t have to change, unless it is plural. The blue tables: ‘las mesas azules’, the green knives?: ‘los cuchillos verdes’.  

Rojo=red
Gris =grey
Azul =blue
Negro =black
Café =brown (actually means coffee)
Rosa =pink (or rosado)
Verde =green
Blanco =white
Naranja =orange (or anaranjado) naranja is also the name for the orange fruit, just like in English. Except in Puerto Rico (and maybe elsewhere), where the fruits are called chinas.
Morado -purple (I’ve also heard púrpura and violeta)
Amarillo -yellow (Now you know the meaning of the Texas city!)

(For some reason, in this image the colors of the words do NOT correspond)

There is also a very famous song sung in most Spanish-speaking countries called ‘De Colores’. It’s a very pretty song. Plus it sings about chickens! How great is that?! The commonly sung lyrics are here for you to enjoy. The translation to English is not great (I’m not sure who did it), but you get the idea at least.

 Now you can ask for “De Colores” when you go to a Mexican restaurant and there is a Mariachi band.  

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and Happy Anniversary to my parents!

Sparklers were the extent of our fire works

Speaking of anniversaries, I was just reviewing some of the old posts from this blog and realized that we just passed another anniversary of blogging! Our very first post was on June 28, 2008! It’s funny reading it now, because I remember that I had no idea what hosting and writing a blog would be like, let alone all the technical aspects of it (thanks to Britton for working most of those out…). The content of the post is basic and used mainly as a test, but it still reflects many of the summer posts here we’ve written about life in Greeley -messing around in the greenhouse, spending time outside, enjoying the hot weather.

However, we had no idea what would happen between then and now. I figured we would be living in PR by now, but a few twists and turns in life and here we still are. And actually we have had some great opportunities pop up that we just couldn’t turn down. The cost benefit analysis of some of the investment and work opportunities here outweighed our immediate and strong desire to move. And while the date has been pushed out and out, we are getting more and more ready to be able to move without too much of a worry once we arrive. These last two years have been creating a great launching pad for us whereby we might not even HAVE to work in the traditional sense of wages for hours of our life.

It looks like my job will be saved and I will continue working past August 1 which is overall definitely good news in the sense that losing a job is always really stressful and it will give us more time to save money and invest. On the other hand, it also keeps us here. Britton says we have to know when to get out. Kind of like in poker -know when to hold them, fold them or walk away.

We are definitely emotionally and mentally ready, but financially I think we want to be prepared for the worst -no job, no income generated there, not understanding fully the system and also dealing with isolation away from our family and friends support network.

We have another investment in the works right now, and when it goes through I’ll blog a little more about it. Another step. That’s all you can do, just keep moving forward. Having goals (like for us moving to Puerto Rico) helps you to know which way to go, but you just have to keep moving forward.

Britton and I have been having a lot of hardcore discussions that get to the heart of “what do we want to do with our lives?” Then we laugh and think, do other people have these strange conversations as often as we do? I have no idea, but I know that we’ve been having them a lot lately.

While our plans and ideas can change on a dime if an opportunity pops up (like a property with acreage in Colorado or a smokin’ deal on another rental), we think we have some semblance of a plan. So here goes. I think we are going to stay in Colorado working and saving for as long as possible (with the uncertainty of my job, that is one of the unknowns) until we have saved up enough to pay off another of our rental properties. At that point we believe we will be more financially secure. With all the news coming out of Puerto Rico talking about lack of employment and the consolidation of most of their banks into Banco Popular we think this would be wise. Plus, if everything, including housing prices, drop through the floor in Puerto Rico we’ll be better poised to  jump on those opportunities.

So we’re not sure still on the exact ETA, but we do have an exact number in our head of how much we need to save up. And in this lanscape of unknowns, something exact is comforting.

We are getting another roommate here in Colorado and we really think we could make something similar (like a guesthouse) in Puerto Rico work out once we have our safety net of outside income locked in. We like meeting new people and know how to run rentals, so we think this would be ideal. Heck, if we can get people that want to live with us in Greeley of all places, you’d think Caribbean paradise would be a snap! So, onward and upward we go. Slow and steady and all that.

Before we left for Puerto Rico almost a month ago already, Britton and I thought for sure we would come back with answers and a definite path. Unfortunately, we just have more questions than answers. No one at work knows what will happen after August. I’ve put my resume out there to a few places both here in Colorado and Puerto Rico but haven’t really heard back. Britton hasn’t heard too much about working remote in Puerto Rico even though I know he’d do great at that.

We are just kind of stuck. I am beginning to think maybe the larger place in Puerto Rico could work as a business/home, but we would still like a backup plan for income. If I didn’t lose my job in August and we worked for another 6-8 months we would be in better shape for that. We really just don’t know. And it’s frustrating. Because I like to move forward. I like to be busy and dream and make plans. And it is difficult when it could go any way, really. We could stay or go. We could go somewhere else. We made this video before we left, but it could just as easily be made today for all it’s helped us in our decision making process.

But I have to remember that I’ve been in this place before. It is not unusual. I didn’t know what to do after college, or after grad school, or after getting married. I worried about where my life was going. Sometimes I think you just got to keep trying but not worry so much. Things tend to work out as they should. My life has been great so far and with Britton in it, it has become even better. We balance each other. He pulls me down to earth when my head gets too lost in the clouds, and I pull him up when he is weighed down by the pressures of the “real world”. I think, and he helps to do. I think every team needs a little of both. A thinker and a doer. And a doer who occasionally does the thinking and a thinker who occasionally does the doing. A dreamer and a practical realist We are a team and I think in that way we don’t really have to worry too much. We will be just fine. Wherever this journey called life takes us.