Samaná first, Excel second. Why I’m Turning Down Buyers Who Just Buy to Rent

Samaná first. Excel second. Sounds like a terrible strategy. Doesn’t it?

At Samana Group, we are turning down buyers who want only one thing: an investment apartment they can list on Airbnb and rent as aggressively as possible. Not because investment is bad. Not because renting is bad. And certainly not because developers have suddenly stopped liking sales.

I am doing it because we are not merely constructing units. We are building a community. And if every home is purchased only as a financial product, the community will disappear from the project sooner or later.

There are two very different types of buyers

The first buyer comes to Samaná, falls in love with the region, and decides to make it part of their life. This may be their second or third home. They may spend three or four months here each year and rent the property when they are away. The rental income helps cover maintenance, management, and part of the acquisition cost. That is perfectly reasonable. We welcome this buyer.

The second buyer begins with a spreadsheet. They are not particularly interested in Samaná. They may never have visited the region, and they have no intention of spending meaningful time here. They want projected occupancy, average daily rates, and maximum yield. To them, the home is not a home. It is a hotel room with an individual title deed.

That is the buyer I am prepared to lose. My rule is simple: fall in love with Samaná first. Open Excel second.

A collection of rental units is not a community

When too many properties in one development are bought exclusively for short-term rental, you do not create a residential community. You create a fragmented hotel without a hotel operator.

The neighbors change every four days. Nobody knows who belongs there. Owners optimize for occupancy, furniture replacement costs, and online reviews, while permanent and seasonal residents absorb the noise, turnover, and loss of continuity. Ironically, this can also become a bad deal for the investors themselves. If every apartment is sold using the same rental-income story, every new owner becomes a competitor to every existing owner. Supply grows faster than genuine demand. Occupancy comes under pressure. Nightly rates fall. Then the beautiful projections presented during the sales process begin to look like what they often were: Excel wearing lipstick. A developer can sell out quickly this way. But he may be creating an oversupplied rental market—and transferring the commercial risk to hundreds of individual buyers.

The evidence is more nuanced than either side admits

Short-term rentals are not the source of every housing problem, and tourism is not the enemy. The Dominican Republic depends heavily on tourism, and the country received a record 11.6 million visitors in 2025.

But there is a meaningful difference between an owner occasionally renting a home they use and an absentee investor permanently removing a residential property from residential life.

A major US study found that growth in Airbnb listings increased both rents and property prices, with stronger effects in areas with lower owner occupancy. The OECD is more cautious and correctly notes that the scale and causality differ between destinations. Short-term rentals usually amplify existing housing pressures rather than create them alone.

Research on second homes also gives us an important lesson: they can benefit local economies, but their value depends on owner behavior. A study in Portugal found that the positive economic effects were linked to how frequently owners visited, how long they stayed and how much they invested and spent locally. A 2025 study across eight Alpine communities reached a similar conclusion: the contribution of second-home owners depends on their actual “inhabitant footprint,” not simply on what address appears in their passport.

So I am not pretending that every second-home owner is a local hero. An empty trophy villa contributes very little. The point is repeated presence, participation and a real relationship with the destination.

Why owner-users are better for the region

Someone who returns to Samaná every year behaves differently from a one-time tourist or an invisible investor.

They return to the same restaurants. They hire local gardeners, cleaners, drivers and contractors. They recommend businesses to friends. They notice whether the beach, forest and roads are being cared for. They build relationships. Their spending is repeated rather than accidental.

Most importantly, they develop a reason to protect the place. That does not make them Dominican, and it does not give them moral authority over the local community. But it makes them participants rather than financial spectators.

A healthy destination needs a mix: local residents, full-time foreign residents, seasonal owners, hotels and responsibly managed rentals. What it does not need is every available home competing to become the next anonymous Airbnb listing.

Why this is also a better business model

Turning down buyers sounds commercially naive only if your definition of business ends on the day of the sale. We are building for decades, not for one sales quarter.

Owner-users buy both financial and personal value. A pure investor judges the purchase almost entirely by yield. If an 11% projection becomes 8%, the investment thesis has failed. An owner-user may still receive a reasonable return, but also receives months with family, friendships, experiences and a place to return to. Rental income reduces the cost of ownership; it does not have to justify the home’s entire existence.

Owner-users also tend to care more about maintenance, landscaping, security, services and long-term governance. That creates a better-kept development, a stronger reputation and ultimately more resilient property values.

Controlled rental supply can also produce better results for the homes that are available. Fewer competing listings can mean healthier occupancy and nightly rates. Maximum theoretical rental inventory does not automatically produce maximum actual returns.

Finally, this approach reduces regulatory and reputational risk. Cities from New York to Barcelona and municipalities across France have tightened rules on dedicated tourist apartments. Whether every regulation works is debatable. The direction of travel is not. Communities eventually push back when residential districts turn into unregulated hotel zones.

Will cost us sales?

This policy narrows our market. Some buyers will go to another developer who promises a bigger yield, fewer restrictions, and a suspiciously obedient future. That is fine.

If someone has not visited Samaná, feels no connection to the region and wants only the highest possible rental return, there are thousands of investment products around the world designed for exactly that purpose.

We are designing homes for people who want Samaná to become part of their lives. They can rent those homes when they are away. They can protect their capital. They may generate income and reduce their annual ownership costs. I am not asking anyone to abandon financial common sense.

I am asking them to buy for the right reason. Because developments become communities only when enough people actually want to be there. And I would rather sell more slowly to people who love the place than sell quickly to people who love only the spreadsheet.

Samaná first. Excel second.

Marek Zmysłowski Blog