does anybody own property in tijuana ...a future thought (rent, house, find a job)

[robert14x]

hi i was curious about this....i mean i was told its always smarter to use your american dollars to own property outside the land....when i seen the real estate prices it did spark some interest the houses are 2-3 times cheaper....cant we own in the restricted zones....like tijuana.......i was thinking of buying a small house cash down the road....but i am currently living in illinois....how could i go about this down the road....with lack of great spanish....i know spanish would help alot....but are there any options....maybe the whole work in cali and live in TJ....i mean if i was able to own the house upfront nothing but utilities is all i would have to worry of right?

[echo42]

OK, looks like you may go all in on this TJ thing. Good for you. Change is good. I would recommend renting for a year or two. Learn the lingo, meet the people. Find a good lawyer. Get everything set up. I know there are ways to own via bank trust (fideocosimio) but that is something down the line. First things first-find a nice place to rent in tj, see if you can stand the food for weeks at a time, see how this girlfriend thing plays out, find a job, get your sentri. Then it may be time to think about buying something.

[NYSD1995]

you can rent property in MX for 2500/yr. Live down there and then decide to buy. TJ is a scruffy border town even by Mexico standards.

[broncosilly]

When can non Mexican citizen own Mexican land.......did I miss this? Do some homework and look at the history when Americans paid for land and it was taken from them by the Mexican government and they lost it all.
Has this changed?..........am I out of touch?

[cruitr]

I just met an old guy (older than me) in my bank line who has lived in Ensenada with his 2 sons for many years. He's a retired Air Force vet. He lives on his 20-year Air Force enlisted pension and social security. That's it. He says he lives like a king in Ensenada. According to Hank (I think that's his name), there's a huge American retiree population in Ensenada.

He pays cash for his basic medical care in Ensenada. For major medical care, his son's drive him to TJ. He then rides the trolley up to the VA Hospital in La Jolla.

Hank tried retiring in San Diego and couldn't afford it. That's when he explored Mexico and wound up in Ensenada. For US tax purposes, he's a Christian missionary. But he admitted to me that he hasn't been in a church for many years.

I guess Ensenada is Option B for me and my wife if we run out of money.

[RosieSD]

You might want to ask the moderators to move this to the Mexico forum. You're likely to get more advice about buying property in Mexico there than in a U.S. forum.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/mexico/

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by cruitr

I just met an old guy (older than me) in my bank line who has lived in Ensenada with his 2 sons for many years. He's a retired Air Force vet. He lives on his 20-year Air Force enlisted pension and social security. That's it. He says he lives like a king in Ensenada. According to Hank (I think that's his name), there's a huge American retiree population in Ensenada.

He pays cash for his basic medical care in Ensenada. For major medical care, his son's drive him to TJ. He then rides the trolley up to the VA Hospital in La Jolla.

Hank tried retiring in San Diego and couldn't afford it. That's when he explored Mexico and wound up in Ensenada. For US tax purposes, he's a Christian missionary. But he admitted to me that he hasn't been in a church for many years.

I guess Ensenada is Option B for me and my wife if we run out of money.

Hank has a source of income not dependent on a job in San Diego, though, right? He isn't commuting to a job in San Diego every day.

Ensenada would be a heck of a commute to a job in San Diego every day.

Plan B for my husband and I would probably be somewhere in the Mohave, not Mexico. No ocean, but no need to wait in lines at the border.

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by robert14x

hi i was curious about this....i mean i was told its always smarter to use your american dollars to own property outside the land....when i seen the real estate prices it did spark some interest the houses are 2-3 times cheaper....cant we own in the restricted zones....like tijuana.......i was thinking of buying a small house cash down the road....but i am currently living in illinois....how could i go about this down the road....with lack of great spanish....i know spanish would help alot....but are there any options....maybe the whole work in cali and live in TJ....i mean if i was able to own the house upfront nothing but utilities is all i would have to worry of right?

PROCEED with caution....!!!!!

[20yrsinBranson]

Please explain the statement.."2-3 times cheaper". This makes absolutely NO SENSE. Whenever.you multiply something you are going to come out with a higher figure.

[Willy702]

You cannot directly own anywhere on any border of Mexico or coast. You will definitely need to do a lot of homework before trying this.