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In fact many, if not most, of the American Ex-Pats I met assured me that they did not just pack up and move there. They vacationed there first to see if they liked the place. Then they tested the waters by taking an extended 6 month stay, followed by a 9 month stay the following year and so on.
These Americans were intelligent and reasonable people ... not reckless or uninformed. They did their research.
That's the best way. We tested the waters in MX for almost 2 years before buying a house. When we had to move back to the US after 5 years to care for my FIL, we made a tidy profit on the sale of our MXN house. We flew and drove all around MX....we went to a new city or area every 2 or 3 months.
Now that we are back in Ajijic with the new house, we are busy remodeling. The house is new to us, but old hacienda style. I redid the kitchen with all new counters, cabinets, sink, tile up the walls with murals, top of the line stainless 4 door fridge; 6 burner stove and high end quiet SS inside diswasher, new light fixtures, etc. Total cost including all appliances, materials and labor: 3,800 USD equivalent.
We love our little village; we are a block from the largest lake in MX (have a great view from our mirador). This area is popular with the middle and upper class of Guadalajara who own lake houses for weekends. They along with the expats are able to support a large variety of international eateries (we are foodies and quite well served here). We can walk to at least two dozen above-average restaurants. With the exchange rate of 17.8:1 today, we eat dinner out almost every night.
I just hopped on a plane and spent three weeks in Lima and I was sold. That was almost 15 years ago. In that time, I got a new wife, got a new life, had two son's and made a bunch of money in RE. I could not have planned things this well! After spending the first 15 years of retirement, drinking,gambling,snorting,womanizing, while also pis**ng away a lot of money in NYC, I decided I wanted something more adventurous! Who would have thought, I would get married, have a family, immerse myself in the amazing history and culture of another country. It has been some of the best years of "my charmed life" to date!
Is not for everyone and certainly not for those expecting it to be just like the US. But there are advantages and disadvantages you must weigh it out, research it just as if you were moving from California to Mississippi
Is not for everyone and certainly not for those expecting it to be just like the US. But there are advantages and disadvantages you must weigh it out, research it just as if you were moving from California to Mississippi
Mississippi!?!?!?!?!? Jeezy peezy, anywhere in Latin America is better than Mississippi
I thought for decades that I would retire to Cabo San Lucas, or maybe Costa Rica. Instead, I retired to Maui and love it. Health care became more important to me as I neared retirement. It's not as accessible here as it is in Oahu (or the mainland) but so far, so good.
A condo on the California Coast would cost far more than my beachfront condo here. I just got out of the ocean about 15 minutes ago and will probably go back in later today. This morning I watched a pod of dolphins swim past my place, and all winter long I see cruise ships go by. The water is warm and the locals are friendly. It's like being on vacation year-round and I absolutely love it!
No doubt the cost here is higher than in Central America, but to me, the tradeoffs are worth it. I was underwhelmed after visiting Costa Rica and would NOT want to live there. Same for Mexico, Peru, etc.
I couldn't do it. I like the US, our way of life, its history, and the general culture. I would always feel like a foreigner living in another country and I would be afraid of political instability. The only place I might be able to do it would be my ancestral country in Europe, since I still have some family there and I know the language and customs. But even that would be a big change for me.
Amen.
Except for the ancestral country part. My father was born in Sweden, my grandparents only spoke Swedish at home, and I still have family there now. I was born and raised in a heavily Scandinavian area of Minnesota, so the leap to Sweden would not be a huge cultural shock.
But still, the U.S.A. is my home. I'll visit, but never retire in Sweden.
I have been working and living overseas since the 80's in:
1- Puerto Rico
2- Bermuda
3-Japan
4- Italy
5- South Africa
6- Oman
7- Yemen
8- Israel
9- Georgia (the country)
10- Mexico (currently)
I have visited and worked in a host of other countries as well, too many to list. I personally found eastern Europe to my most liking. The COL, the food, the geography, the people, etc..... Everybody should put Tbilisi on their "to do" list!
English is widely spoken there, they love Americans, and they treat visitors quite well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jjqy6sSdBc
But......, the USA will be my retirement spot, and my wife is on board 100%. Give me that high desert/mountain Arizona! Then I can tour the states I have not been to yet from there.
Godspeed and happiness to those that choose otherwise though. I get it, I just wont be joining you.
Last edited by snebarekim; 08-01-2017 at 07:57 PM..
My friends just moved to Bulgaria. They bought a waterfront one-bedroom condo on the Black Sea for $60K. She said it's an upscale new gated community with most of the residents from Britain and Germany. If she wanted to leave in a smaller town in older community she could've gotten it as low as $30K.
Property tax is 0,15%, HOA $50 a year.
She went to a private clinic to check out her thyroid. She paid $15 for the Endocrinologist's visit, $10 for blood work and $2 for the thyroid medicine. They are expecting to get a permanent residency in 6 month and will be covered by local "Medicare".
I think I can see myself retiring in Eastern Europe on the Black or Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately, I have no chemistry with Latin America.
If you're the high-achieving, restless type with workaholic tendencies, with all that freedom driving you insane, then what? Yes, you get to that point: I have to get a job! Any kind of job! Just to get out of the house for awhile! So you even apply for a dishwashing job at a local restaurant, and? Will they hire you as an American?
I made 12 trips to Central/South America between 2004-2009, eyeing the possibility of becoming an ex-pat, and even talked to some of them.
One ex-pat in Otavalo, Ecuador, leaving behind 4 grown children in the U.S., no husband, there all alone. She gave me some words of wisdom if contemplating moving there, and she warned about having too much freedom on your hands, and best to have a plan.
Her plan: she opened up a restaurant/bar in Otavalo, as she knew herself too well, all that freedom would have driven her insane. She rarely even breaks even on her venture, at times losing money, but it gets her out of the house every day.
Another ex-pat, 48yo, retired contractor from Atlanta, found he couldn't deal with all that freedom, and with the reluctance to hire foreigners for work, he became a contractor in Otavalo, and keeps busy building apartment buildings and houses, with no desire to make a profit.
And yes, if you have good Spanish speaking skills, you could always work as a volunteer.
I'm 67YO, and still working 3 nights a week, and live in fear of what I'd do with the other 3 days of not working. In Latin America, desperate, I might grab some sacks and pick up trash along roadways?
If I were to take the plunge, I'd more than likely be the one-foot-in-one-foot-out type of expat and that would take me to either Ensenada, Rosarito Beach or Tijuana. And wash your brain of the brainwashing about Tijuana as there's some very nice, livable areas of Tijuana. With this approach, I could even traverse across the border a couple days a week and find some work in the San Diego area.
Any number of ex-pats in Rosarito own businesses, but that has no appeal to me whatsoever!
I've investigated housing in the Tijuana/Rosarito area and I'm always shocked at how expensive it is, particularly if you wish to live in one of those gated complexes along the Toll Road between Tijuana & Ensenada. The $100-120k sale of my townhouse in Las Vegas wouldn't buy me much down there. I'll be down there next month and have another talk with the RE agent "friends" there and if they can come up with a screaming good deal, I might reconsider.
Tijuana has an outstanding 5-star medical tourism hospital there, called Angeles Hospital, with top-notch specialists, which draws a number of Canadians for hip/knee replacements, as well as others. I've been there before and will be seeing a specialist there next month.
Last edited by tijlover; 08-01-2017 at 10:58 PM..
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I was underwhelmed after visiting Costa Rica and would NOT want to live there. Same for Mexico, Peru, etc.
