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Our Story

Built by people who know Samaná

A decade on the ground in Las Terrenas — backed by decades of combined real-estate and legal experience — now powered by AI to help every buyer make informed decisions.

Why we built Evalua

The problem: market opacity

Dominican Republic real estate has no MLS. No centralized pricing data. No public transaction records. Agents represent both sides of the deal. Asking prices are routinely 15–30% above fair market value, and an estimated 40–60% of properties carry some form of title complication. International buyers — especially first-timers — have no way to know if they're getting a fair deal or walking into a costly mistake.

The solution: data-driven transparency

Evalua makes the opaque transparent. We built the tool we wished existed when we started out in the Samaná market. Paste a listing URL and get what no agent will tell you: how the price compares to market data, what the property can actually earn as a rental, what CONFOTUR saves you in taxes, and whether the title situation should concern you — all in under 60 seconds.

Tropical sunset ocean view from Samaná hillside

A decade on the ground in Samaná

Our founder has lived and worked in Las Terrenas since 2016, and the team behind Evalua brings decades of combined real-estate and legal experience to the peninsula. We've watched the market evolve first-hand — from a quieter expat enclave to a thriving international investment destination.

That history gives us something no algorithm alone can provide: ground truth. We know which neighborhoods retain value, which developers deliver on promises, which legal structures actually protect buyers, and which "deals" are traps. That knowledge is baked into every analysis Evalua produces.

2016

On the ground in Las Terrenas

Our founder settled in Las Terrenas and began building and operating in the Samaná market — work that created lasting relationships with local attorneys, surveyors, and property managers that remain active today.

2016–2024

Building the market picture

Systematically tracked listing prices, rental performance, and development activity across the peninsula, and grew a referral network of vetted local professionals — the raw material behind Evalua's benchmarks.

2024–2025

Evalua is born

Combined our market database with AI analysis to create a tool that does in 60 seconds what used to take weeks of local research. Launched publicly to help every buyer — not just those with local connections — make data-driven decisions.

10+
Years on the ground in Las Terrenas
70+
Data points per analysis
<60s
To analyze any DR listing

The team behind Evalua

Evalua was built by people who know what it’s like to buy property in the DR without reliable data. Our team combines deep local market knowledge with technical expertise to give every buyer the information advantage that used to require years of on-the-ground experience.

Marvin D., Founder of Evalua

Marvin D.

Founder

Belgian-born and based in Las Terrenas since 2016, Marvin has spent 10 years building and operating across Samaná’s real estate market — from eco-villa development to a peninsula-wide referral network. He works daily in Spanish, French and English with foreign buyers, developers and local operators, and built Evalua to turn ground-level market knowledge into something a buyer can actually price a decision on. He knows where the gap sits between asking price and real value in every micro-zone.

Quentin N., Co-Founder and Technology at Evalua

Quentin N.

Co-Founder & Technology

Quentin brings 30 years in European real estate, with a specialty most agents avoid: properties with unclear legal status. Across dozens of transactions in Brussels and Ibiza, he built a discipline of reading title, permit and regulatory risk before it becomes a buyer’s problem — the same signals Evalua now surfaces for Samaná. He is the practitioner’s eye behind the analysis: which red flags cost money at closing, and which are noise.

Víctor P., Legal Advisor at Evalua

Víctor P.

Legal Advisor

Víctor is a Dominican attorney practicing since 2002, with a law degree from UASD and master’s degrees in tax planning (INTEC) and international trade (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). He spent nine years inside the DGII — the country’s tax authority — and specializes in tax, administrative and real estate law: the fiscal and regulatory layer beneath every foreign purchase. He teaches at the Escuela Nacional de Abogados of the Colegio de Abogados de la República Dominicana and is an active member of CONACI.

Evalua is built and operated by a Samaná-based team of real estate and data specialists. Our articles and analyses are produced with AI-assisted drafting and reviewed for accuracy against verified market data, Dominican government sources (DGII, CONFOTUR, Catastro Nacional), and on-the-ground insight from the Las Terrenas market.

For legal, tax, and transaction-specific questions, we work with licensed Dominican professionals — and we always recommend that buyers confirm details with their own attorney and accountant. Everything we publish is general information, not legal, tax, or investment advice.

Our data sources

Every Evalua analysis draws from multiple verified data sources. We believe in transparency about where our numbers come from — it's the only way to build trust in an opaque market.

Short-Term Rental Intelligence

Short-term rental performance data: average daily rates, occupancy rates, and revenue estimates by city and property type. Updated quarterly.

Dynamic Pricing Data

Dynamic pricing intelligence and market trend data. Helps us validate revenue projections and understand seasonal pricing patterns.

Proprietary Property Database

Our proprietary database of Samaná-area properties with verified price/m² data, built through years of active participation in the Las Terrenas market. The backbone of our comparative analysis.

Global Property Guide

National and regional benchmarks for rental yields, price appreciation, and transaction costs. Used for cross-market comparisons.

Government & Legal Sources

DGII (tax authority), CONFOTUR registry, Catastro Nacional, and Central Bank exchange rates. Official data for tax calculations and legal status.

Live Listing Data

Real-time analysis of DR real estate listings across major platforms. We extract 70+ data points from each listing and validate them against our benchmarks.

Why you can trust our analysis

Every analysis includes a data completeness score — we tell you how much data was available
Market benchmarks from verified, named sources — not black-box estimates
We show the math: price/m² vs. market average, yield calculations, cost projections
We flag risks: title status hints, overpricing signals, low data availability warnings
We don't list or sell the properties you analyze, so the analysis isn't a sales pitch — and a referral introduction, if you want one, never changes a score

See for yourself

Try a free analysis on any DR listing. Judge the quality of our data by the results.

Analyze a Property