Selecting a Home in Mexico
There have been countless blog posts about finding a home in Mexico and I really don’t want to duplicate information. Besides, my only claim to expertise in this matter is that we did it recently - October 2019.
For those of you who have been following our adventures, feel free to skip this next paragraph as I will briefly summarize our situation.
Lydia and I have been visiting the Yucatan for the last 22 years, both as vacationers and business owners. We have traveled the white roads and the paved roads for our online publication Sac-Be.com. Our first love down here is the little tourist town of Akumal, which is governmentally part of nearby Tulum. But while we have great friends, both expat and Mexican, in Akumal, we’ve long known it was too small for us to live in. Several years ago we thought that Tulum would be our choice, if we ever decided to move. Today, not so much. Playa is too big and the single resort communities too limiting. So when we spent 6 weeks in Puerto Aventuras we decided that this was it.
By trying the place out for an extended period of time (6 weeks last winter), we found we liked it much better than we thought we would. Next we decided to look for a long-term rental. Once again, this was not something dictated by our innate sense of caution - neither one of us possesses such a quality. But rather, we couldn’t sell our house fast enough so we had to rent. Thank God. Buying property in Mexico is not like buying in the U.S., for a host of reasons. Chief among them is that it can take much longer to sell, and when you’re our age, if we had to move back to the U.S. for say medical reasons, we could be in a world of trouble. So though we had every intention of buying in Puerto, we are very glad we didn’t.
So if you’re going to rent, I suggest you start with at least a 6-month lease. That makes you a resident instead of just a vacationer or a snowbird. And as importantly, 6 months will allow you to experience different seasons. Though we still have not gone through a full low season, having spent the last 28 years in Charleston, we understand the impact of heat and humidity. We started with a 6-month lease and have just signed a 2-year extension.
Typically when you rent long-term, you will also be liable for electricity (CFE) and Internet. In a condo, gas (if applicable) and water are often included in your rent. If you rent a house those costs are more likely to be paid by you. There has been a lot written about the steep cost of electricity in Mexico. All I can say is that it depends on where you’re moving from and how much you use down here. We have fans going all day and use our bedroom AC unit at night. For that, we have been paying about 1100 pesos every 2 months (less than $25 US per month). This is significantly less than we paid in Charleston, even factoring in the reduced size of our new home. However, if you air condition more of your space and/or run it during the day, you can expect to pay a whole lot more, as low usage is subsidized by the government. Once you break through that level, watch out.
What about the physical location of your new home? In Puerto Aventuras there are a variety of location/view options from golf course to canal to marina to beach to the central commercial area. When we spent time here last winter we decided to prioritize location vis-à-vis Centro. How close would we be to restaurants, shops and the beach? But now we understand that physical location related to breezes is equally, if not more important. Once again, we lucked out. We are right on a canal, great for breeze and view, and within easy walking distance to everything. But if it hadn’t worked out the way it did, we could have always moved after 6 months.
I know when Lydia and I first decided to make the move we got so excited we actually made an offer on a small 2 bedroom condo on the beach. It seemed to be a great price and what the heck, we’d certainly be able to sell our house in a matter of days. Fortunately, the condo’s owner didn’t want to wait for us to sell and so went in a different direction. We subsequently discovered that his other direction fell through and that the price he wanted wasn’t as great as we originally thought. Plus the place was too small and the HOA fees, because it’s on the beach, were pretty high. And, as the months passed, and we learned more and more about the local real estate market, the whole idea of buying began to look less appealing. After all, we were cash poor and property rich in the States, why start the same way in Mexico?
So my advice - and it’s probably not worth the electrons generating this piece - put yourself in position to be flexible. If you’re retired, but not overly comfortable, opt for cash over the “joys of ownership.”