Real Estate in Ajijic

I sometimes look at the real estate books that are put out by the various agencies here. Selling houses is big business in this town. At times I have thought of going on one of their tours. I never seem to get around to it. Maybe one day I will go and take photos of the beautiful homes for sale here. There are many of them. I get to live in some of them anyway as a house sitter. The advantage of being a house sitter instead of an owner is that I live for free. Sometimes I even get paid to live in their mansions and I have a maid and a gardener. I am there for a few weeks and then move on to another one before I have time to get bored. I don't have to pay any of the bills or worry about repairs or problems of any kind having to do with owning a home. I am free.

But the other day as I was walking to my new house sitting job I saw an interesting house for sale in the neighborhood. I am living in West Ajijic now. I like it out here. It has a rural feel but it is just a short walk into town or a bus ride. The buses come by every fifteen minutes. So I became interested in this house for sale. My mind was going around and around. If I were to buy something here then I would have an investment that would only go up in value as time goes by. After all, they are expecting from 35,000 to 45,000 people to move in here within the next few years. What an opportunity!

The house was small and on a short side road. It was butted up against many other small Mexican type homes. The house across the street was blasting out ear splitting Mexican music. It had to be a Mexican neighborhood. The worn out curtains were drawn so I couldn't see inside. I noticed that some of the tiles on the roof needed replacing and also some of the plaster was cracked. This place really needed work. My next thought was, Maybe it would sell for a reasonable price and I could gradually fix it up and make some money.

But what was a reasonable price? I was thinking they would be asking around 60,000 dollars and I could offer 40,000. Times are hard now and things aren't selling quickly. Maybe I had a chance. I looked it up on the internet. It was advertised as being in a quiet neighborhood. (Right, it would only be a quiet neighborhood if you were deaf.) I called the agent. He said it didn't have a yard or any patios. But there was an indoor fountain. (An indoor fountain? Was that supposed to give you the feeling of being in a garden?) That put a damper on my plans. I don't think I could stand to live in a small place without any way to get outside besides on the street with the loud music. He said they would be willing to take less than they were asking.

Well, what were they asking? I had forgotten to look at the price when I saw it on the internet. He said, 145,000 dollars. That is American dollars, not pesos and did I want to see it? I thought about that. I was sure they wouldn't be willing to negotiate it down that 100,000....... So I said, No, don't waste your time. And I put the idea of buying in Ajijic out of my mind again. Just as well. I have none of the house owning worries and I get to live in beautiful places. I am still free. It was probably a blessing that the house had 100,000 dollars too much on the price tag.