California 2 Puerto Rico

Rincon gets hot in the summer, and although the upstairs of our house is quite nice regardless of the temperature outside, our offices downstairs needed Air Conditioning. So, sweating it out in front of my computer I started researching what brand I should buy as well as where I could buy split unit Air Conditioner units, have them installed professionally and have them maintained down the line as they get older. This ruled out many of the ‘handy man’ guys around town that are capable of doing the work because I want to be able to call a business and say “help!” instead of track down a ‘handy man’ that may or may not feel like dealing with a former job. I also wanted to get a warranty on both the installation work and the units themselves.

After calling around and asking around, I had the job narrowed down to a few local businesses. I narrowed my choice down even more by price point, brand names and professionalism.

The Air Conditioner Units I wanted were the new Inverter type units. They save over 30% in electricity than their predecessors and considering Rincons Electric Bills just went up 30% last month, that is quite a bit of savings. I also wanted to get units that were strong enough to cool all of downstairs when all three splits were run simultaneously.

After research and due diligence, I decided I wanted to buy the Daikin brand split units.

Our two offices and the spare bedroom/gym are about 12ft wide by 18ft long with 10ft ceilings. Our great room downstairs (between the offices) is 40 feet long by 20 feet wide. I decided that the 24,000 BTU split inverter units were the right ones for the job. Keep them turned low for the offices and once we finish up the media room and new entrance downstairs, we’ll be able to keep it all cool by cranking the units in the three rooms with our interior doors open.

The company we used for the job was Aguada Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. They were here when they said they would be, installed everything professionally (centered, sturdy etc) and gave us a 5 year warranty on the installation and the split units and compressors.

If you are researching for an Air Conditioning company that services Rincon, use the business I used, they were rock solid on all levels. Tell them Stefan from www.ca2pr.com sent you to them and they will give you a discount AND give me a finders fee.

Here is their contact information:
Aguada Regrigeration and A/C
• Office Telephone Number: (787) 868-3936
• Cell Phone Number: (787) 614-0412
• Alternate Cell Number: (939) 640-3693

I’m testing out a new blog toy (a poll plugin), so here is a question for all of you Rincon, PR locals: Who has the best food in Rincon, Puerto Rico? (You can add your favorite restaurant to the poll, if it is not already listed!)

Can it be? Is Rincon really getting a Health Food store? Well, you know how it goes in a small town, rumor has it that the owners over at Fresh Mart in Aguadilla are opening up a similar store here in Rincon. Usually, when I hear that kind of talk, I wait until I see it to believe it because there is always all kinds of talk going around small towns about all the great new things on the way…and often times they never get here.

Yesterday, Summer and I drove past the old furniture store on the 115 (next to the Western Bank Financed construction project) and I am now a believer. I noticed some construction going on in the building the past couple of days (guys moving block and mixing concrete) and yesterday we saw the Fresh Mart crew walking around the inside.

Summer and I are stoked! It would be great to have a natural foods store in Rincon. The Fresh Mart in Aguadilla also has very healthy prepared meals that they server daily. Oooooh, I am so excited. Does anyone have any more information on this deal?

It seems so long ago that we were trying to get a mortgage for this house that it is hard to believe it has almost been a year since we were approved. It really was a very difficult task getting our mortgage from a Puerto Rico bank. You see, because the house was under construction, no bank would give us a traditional mortgage. They all wanted to give us a Construction Loan (if at all) which would have racked up a 17% interest rate along with hazard insurance, progress reports to the bank and check lists which we would be required to complete on the monthly basis. It was serious stuff, and as this is our first construction venture, we weren’t ready for that type of commitment.

After much research, dozens of phone calls and emails, we got in touch with a Puerto Rico mortgage company which would grant us our loan (traditional, 30 year fixed rate at 6%) but they had a few stipulations to ensure we finished our house and didn’t take the money to the Bacardi factory in San Juan and drown out the noise of our newly purchased generator with rum. They required us to give them about 20% of the homes value in an interest baring CD account with them that they would hold for two years (we make the interest, but our money is tied up) and another 12% as collateral that we would finish the construction to their specifications. It was a bit of a shady situation, but after 6 months of trying for a mortgage (with impeccable credit and a large amount of money saved) we decided if we wanted to buy the Sector Vargas property we were going to have to trust the Puerto Rico mortgage company that would sell our mortgage to Banco Popular as soon as we closed the deal and they made their commisions.

Well, after giving the bank most of our cash/savings, we had to spend our present income on completing the house. This gave us a monthly budget (which we somehow managed to exceed on the regular basis) to complete our bathrooms, kitchen, flooring, electrical, plumbing, excavation etc. Well, come January, we had to hold off on dumping money into the house so we could pay taxes (we are both business owners so the tax man is always a bit of a mystery to us until our fiscal year is done).

Because we exceeded our monthly budget, I spent a good portion of my tax savings on the house, and realized that in order for me to make my taxes on time without penalty, the bank was going to have to issue us our Certificate of Occupancy which would lead to a refund of our initial deposit (about 12%). Summer knew we were going to make it just fine, but we hadn’t finished all of the required items on Banco Populars Popular Mortgage to-do list so I started going into the bank about a month ago telling them that the economy isn’t what it was and that I shouldn’t be required to complete all of the things they want me to do to the house. I talked them into sending an inspector out to the house, and with some well placed barking dogs, the inspector saw everything he needed to see to approve our Certificate of Occupancy!

Banco Popular / Popular Mortgage issued me a refund check on Friday, ten days after approving our Certificate of Occupancy.

I’m currently back in San Diego for work and one thing we’ve taken for granted, when living in California, is how awesome the grocery stores in California are. The Vons’ and Ralphs’ are pretty nice, but nothing compares to Trader Joes, Henrys, Boneys and Bristol Farms. Here are some snaps that I took of the Bristol Farms in La Jolla, California:

They even have Vicious Cookies!!

Look at all that amazing produce! The local grocery store in Rincon, Puerto Rico (the Econo), pretty much sucks. The produce is horrible, the meat is bad and they run out of shit for long periods of time (who runs out of bagels for 5 weeks?!). I do understand that being on an island means that items need to be imported, but come on…It took me 2 days to ship my computers from California to Puerto Rico. Why can’t you keep bagels in stock?! Or yummy produce?! Sigh…

If there is one thing Puerto Rico isn’t lacking, it’s coffee. The hospitality industry in Puerto Rico is completely different than the California Starbucks on every corner of the city we moved from, but none the less, you can get decent coffee in every bakery. It is served local style in a small styrofoam cup.

If I decide to get a coffee at the bakery, I always get a Cafe con Leche; Half espresso and half hot creme. Not that there is anything wrong with the small cups of coffee the Rincon Panadaria’s serve, but sometimes you really feel like a full American Size Cup of Coffee and powering through four little cups from the bakery just isn’t going to cut it. Some would say go back to the U.S. if that’s what you want. I say, go to Surfs Up Coffee in Rincon. It is located on the 115 about a mile towards Mayaguez from the Econo Grocery story (that is, a mile in the opposite direction of Puntas, The Lazy Parot, Marias, The Calypso and Dog Mans Deli). Look for the sign (see below). The coffee is epic and the owners are really cool.

Surfs Up Coffee serves delicious coffees, espressos, cappuccinos, smoothies and my favorite daytime drink; frozen mocha coffee. If you get there early in the morning, you can also get muffins and toasted bagels. Yum. Tell Justin and Sarah we said hello!

Rincon Coffee Shop - Surfs Up Coffee

Coffee Done Right at this cafe in Rincon Puerto Rico