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How do you handle security for your Mexican home when you are away for so long?
With absentee owners here, we have a service for about $40 a month that does a monthly cleaning ($20) and keeps the fans and a/c going enough to not cause mold. They also handle renters for a percentage (20% I think). We are in a gated community condo so it's OK but lone houses do have security problems.
Insurance on our U.S. home had to be changed when we told them it would be vacant. Read your policy carefully as we did not realize burst pipes weren't covered and got a flood we had to repair on our own. That really sucked after 30 years paying premiums with no claims!
We had a house-sitter for the U.S. place last year, but no prospects this year and it is proving difficult to even get someone to irrigate.
Yes, billpay is a tad different that e-bills. E-bill are sent to businesses' bank accounts. Billpay you can use to send a check to anyone for anything....send your niece a birthday check, for example. It's simply a physical check mailed to them (you provide the name and address), it does not electronically send funds from your acct. to another bank account.
We applied when we were physically in Arizona and used that mailing address (we always had a house in US while we had a house in MX). But I know people in MX who told us they applied via the US consulate in Guadalajara by phone, and it went smoothly. I know many who have deposits to their MXN banks...however, if they do, they get a letter every year which they have to fill out and say their info is the same. But my understanding is that they all use a mail fwding address (in Laredo) for these letters.
Is this through your bank or a credit card? It would sure make life easier than trying to deal with mailing checks from afar. I'd never heard of this kind of bill pay.
As for medical care, we do wonder about it. But its only $80/couple here for the national plan. We could return to the U.S. if able and get Medicare but I'm not signing up for Part B so that's iffy. One of our neighbors is on dialysis so I figure if they can get that done, most major stuff will be covered. But I don't know for sure yet. Most ex-pats here pay out of pocket for the cheaper stuff at a private clinic as its affordable here. To avoid lines and waiting....
In our rural home in the U.S. we were just as far from medical care as we are here. So that part is not much different.
We use it at both Bank of America and SunTrust. It's universally available....attached to checking account. In addition to mailing checks, you can also send payments to smart phone emails....I'm not that savvy.
Here's Sun Trust overview (same rules at Bank of America). I highlighted the reasons we use it.
Pay bills from one secure website with one password Save money—no more stamps, checks or envelopes Pick the payment date that works best for you—like payday Make payments to any Company or Person with a U.S. mailing address Choose the amount and frequency—choose one-time, recurring or auto pay options
Get electronic versions of your paper bills with eBills and eliminate the biggest cause of fraud
View payment activity—up to 24 months of payments or six months of eBills
Protect against unauthorized transactions and late fees with the SunTrust Bill Pay Guarantee
Set reminders for bills and eBills Reduce paper clutter and manage your finances more efficiently
We use it at both Bank of America and SunTrust. It's universally available....attached to checking account. In addition to mailing checks, you can also send payments to smart phone emails....I'm not that savvy.
Here's Sun Trust overview (same rules at Bank of America). I highlighted the reasons we use it.
Pay bills from one secure website with one password Save money—no more stamps, checks or envelopes
Pick the payment date that works best for you—like payday Make payments to any Company or Person with a U.S. mailing address
Choose the amount and frequency—choose one-time, recurring or auto pay options
Get electronic versions of your paper bills with eBills and eliminate the biggest cause of fraud
View payment activity—up to 24 months of payments or six months of eBills
Protect against unauthorized transactions and late fees with the SunTrust Bill Pay Guarantee
Set reminders for bills and eBills Reduce paper clutter and manage your finances more efficiently
Thanks for this. I have B of A credit card but not checking account. I'll see if my bank has it or if the credit card does. That would eliminate a lot of hassle. I imagine there's a fee for this?
What do you plan to do or what do others here who domicile out of the US (or its territories) plan to do about medical care and/or health insurance. I know almost all US insurers won't cover your medical expenses if you have permanently relocated to another country....not sure how it works if you use the "183 day" thing but I'd assume you'd run into trouble if you had a serious injury or medical condition and it was while you were living out of US. As someone else said, Medicare also stops so do you pay out of pocket??
Not only that, are you comfortable with medical standards in 2nd or 3rd world areas?? Has anyone considered the prospect of emergency heart surgery, involved in a bad accident, quick access to professional medical services, etc.??? I know many expats return to the US for serious medical conditions/planned operations but what if you can't? How do you address it and how will it be paid for???
As long as there is a JIC certified hospital in the area ( i have two nearby) you are assured better quality treatment than you can get in the USA (except for the few well known names).
You can by private medical insurance that is much cheaper and better coverage than you can get in the USA.
Where I live I can get "Gold Standard" coverage for $260/mth (age 63) and cheaper if I wanted a deductible.
Thanks for this. I have B of A credit card but not checking account. I'll see if my bank has it or if the credit card does. That would eliminate a lot of hassle. I imagine there's a fee for this?
Do any of you live half the year in the Caribbean and half the year at home in the US? If so, how do you do it logistically? Hubby and I are looking ahead to retirement and we think this is what we will want to do. We LOVE the Caribbean and travel there frequently for our vacations.
Let me know what you think of this rough plan: when we are ready to retire, purchase a small home outright in the USA in a low property tax area and live there 6 months of the year (warm months). For the other 6 months of the year, rent in the Caribbean and if we want, try a different locale every year. The thinking behind this approach is...we can have one place that is "home base" (i.e. the home in US) that we own, and where we can keep our stuff and have one steady place that is ours. We can rent it out (if we need to) the 6 months we are in the Caribbean (VRBO, AirBnB, etc.) to recoup some money. And then we can find long-term rentals in the Caribbean for our 6-month-a-year stay. We've thought of buying in the Caribbean, but realize we'd rather have the flexibility to move around and travel to different places every year if we want, than to commit to owning in one place. Plus, we have discovered from our travels, that places in the Caribbean change a lot. You might fall in love with a place only to watch it become overdeveloped and lose its character to the point that you no longer like it. We would hate to be stuck with a property in that situation and have to sell.
We're currently renters, but were previously homeowners for 20 years, so we know all that homeownership entails. We actually prefer renting, but I think when we retire, it might be more cost effective for this retirement scenario to purchase a relatively low maintenance home outright (like a townhouse with little to no yard), and if the property taxes are low, overall expenses can be kept pretty under control.
What do you think of our ideas? This is for a bit in the future as we are in our 50s, but we are socking away lots of money for retirement and I think we will be able to afford to do this.
BTW, we are a childfree couple, so have a bit more flexibility in our lives than most people.
Did you ever make the move?
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