Monday, September 6, 2010

Is Moving to Mexico the Right Choice for You?

It rained last night. These horses were in my yard and the street by my house.
People often e mail me asking about rentals in this area. I don't have a car. I don't get around that much except by walking or the bus. I am not in the rental business. I am just one person writing a daily diary. I have put several inexpensive motels on my blog and some other rentals and rental agencies. Sometimes people just don't go back far enough in my blog to find this information.

I love to meet people here. I welcome you with my friendship but I just don't have the time to walk around town looking for rentals for people. And also, what if you don't like this place or the rentals? I don't want to ever feel responsible for misleading anyone. I write on my blog almost every day. Everything I know can be found on it if you take the time to scroll back and read it. Here is another rental agency: Rental Locaters info@rentalloctersmx.com   Toll Free 866-775-9389 or U.S. phone 512 704 6831.

I live a very simple lifestyle. Most people wouldn't like to live the way I do. So any advice is based on my experiences and it may not suit you. One thing that the speaker, David Truly, talked about at Open Circle on Sunday was the kinds of people who make a success of moving to a foreign Country.  Several surveys were done and this is the result.

It has nothing to do with MONEY..... Number 1. Education. People with higher educations are more likely to move to another Country to live. Number 2. People who have moved around a lot. Only twenty percent of Americans move further than fifty miles from where they live when they decide to retire. It is the restless ones who move away. And number 3. People who don't like to follow the crowd. They take off the beaten track vacations. They don't like packaged tours or cruises.....   I thought those were interesting statistics. I fit into all of them. I am an over educated rambler and I hate anything prepacked or preplanned by anyone but me. I can't stand anyone telling me what to do or how to live. I always thought of these as liabilities but now I see they are assets for the life I have chosen.

David also said that about forty percent of people who move here move back to the States or Canada within a year or two. He blames the real estate agents for bringing in people and not showing them the realities of living here. This is not the United States or Canada or any other first world Country. You have to be very flexible to live here. You have to put up with many inconveniences.

When I come back here, it is always hard for me to get used to putting the toilet paper in the bag by the toilet and not being able to drink the water. And the frequent loss of electricity can be bothersome too. I am just getting used to sharing my space with giant cockroaches and sometimes scorpions.  Frequent large holes in the sidewalks and streets can be dangerous. No insurance here to pay you off. You are on your own. Mexicans love loud music. Many times it goes on all night along with barking dogs and fireworks. If you love a certain food only found in markets in the States or Canada, you will pay a fortune for that food in the grocery stores here, if you are lucky enough to find it. But I quickly adjust to all these things because  I am in love with Mexico. Love is blind.   So I am not an objective observer.
There was a lot to think about at that lecture.  I always say, come here first and stay a few weeks or months before you decide to move here. You may not like it. What I love, you may hate. Don't burn all your bridges right away. And always remember that the biggest piece of this puzzle is YOU. You bring yourself with you and you see the world through your eyes. Remember that saying, No matter where you go, there you are....... So again, please don't ask me to provide the answers for you. I can only show you MY answers. You have to come here and see things for yourself. Find your own answers. Then you will know they are the right ones----FOR YOU.......

16 comments:

  1. Hello Pat
    Welcome back to Ajijic...It's me Peter from Chicago again...I thought I would put a plug in here today for a duplex I have available right now for rent for $500.00 it is in the subdivision of Mirasol with easy access to the Bus stop..It offers 2 Bedrooms, all on one floor, fully furnished home, in a gated community, great location. Walk 1 block to public transportation, Ajijic & Chapala, modern kitchen with all appliances, washer and dryer. Bright and light living room combo, decorative tile floors, off street gated parking. Rent includes water , taxes and association fees. Tenant pays elect, telephone, internet connection and maid.

    Feel free to call us at any of the numbers found in the tour or e-mail us at Call Mirna Segura ...Vonage # 877-613-5985 or Ajijic Fax #376-766-1272 or #376-766-1716 or 376-766-2415 Call Elia USA# 630-621-3208 or Elia in Ajijic at 376-766-0981 e-mail us at EliainAjijic@aol.com or rentals@prodigy.net.mx

    Click on this link to see more pictures of this unit. http://vt.realbiz360.com/MLS-218241.html

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  2. Hi Again Peter. Perfect response to this post. Sounds like a great deal. I have noticed that rentals are going up rapidly here. That is a great price. I will tell my friends. Do you have a couple of photos to send? I will put them on the blog. Patricia

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  3. Yes I will send pictures of this unit in the morning...

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  4. Hi Pat, Good post, I found the statices interesting, I don't fit into them at all. I don't think one should blame real estate agents on people moving back to the states, like you said everyone should come for a visit first with their eyes wide open, stay awhile, see if it's what they want then move. I think people move back to the states for all kinds of reasons, and if 40% go back that means that 60% stay! Cheryl

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  5. pictures have been e-mailed...check them out.

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  6. Hi, Pat. Glad to hear you are back home. As always you've written a very honest article about what you know and feel about MX. Everyone's experience will be different, and those who have little or no experience with people of differing nationalities, cutoms MAY find it hard to adjust, depends on the individual... Now my 1 big ? - why does the toilet paper go back in the bag ( why did the chicken cross the road)? Hope to be there in OCT and hope to find a economical rental...! Sylvie

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  7. Hi Sylvie, Thanks for writing. Contact me when you arrive. There are many new places here where you can flush down the toilet paper and even drink the tap water. But the older places don't have good enough sewer systems to handle the paper. You have to be one of the wealthier people in Mexico in order to have those things that everyone takes for granted in the States. Patricia

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  8. Hey....Great Blog

    I really like this blog, its very interesting

    You can check out mine too and you can leave your comments there...


    http://www.glamourrentals.com/

    http://glamourrenatals.blogspot.com/

    Thank you!

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  9. Thank you Miami Glamour, I will check out your blog. Patricia

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  10. Patricia : i've just come upon your blog through a link on the LCS website and am so glad to have found it. i have a couple years before retirement but am also a single woman who loves dogs. i am a librarian. i read with interest about the discussion you were involved in regarding why people move lakeside and that approximately 40% leave. i've read so many positive comments about living lakeside but am also aware that lakeside living is not for everyone. i wanted to be more informed about why those who leave do so and have not had much success in locating this information. in your discussions with others perhaps this topic has come up and i'm interested in knowing more. do people leave because they miss friends/family? they cannot adjust to a slower/simpler lifestyle? they cannot find items/products/services they are accustomed to? the cost of living is not as inexpensive as they anticipated? the cultural differences are too much for them to assimilate? they have been victims of property and/or personal crime? i would appreciate hearing your perspective on this. i am going to subscribe to your blog because it strikes me as being forthright and honest as well as pretty objective. may i ask how long you have lived lakeside? thanks Patricia. now i'm going to go and read some of your other blog entries.

    nancy
    elk grove, calif.

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  11. Hi Nancy, Thank you for reading my blog and writing to me. Your question is very interesting and you have already hit on the major answers. I can't think of much more. Maybe they miss their Grandchildren? Or they like things to be more like the States? All the stores the same. Or they didn't like walking on cobblestones? People often fall here and break bones. Or black outs or two day brown outs. I just had one of those. Or the huge cockroaches and scorpions? Or they didn't like the social structure here? Lots of very wealthy people here. Educated and mostly liberal but sometimes it is hard to get to know them. Or they had problems with the maids and gardeners? That happens often here. I am sure I missed a lot of other reasons. I have heard of people coming here and three days later they have bought a house, etc. Maybe they were too impulsive. Didn't like the neighborhood? Maybe it was too noisy here? Too unstructured? Thank you again for writing. Patricia

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  12. Hi Patricia : thanks so much for your response. you have provided me with additional food for thought and i'm sure that keeping up with your blog entries will provide me with a good peek at everyday life in Ajijic. thanks again.

    nancy

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  13. Hi Nancy, Thank you for reading my blog and responding. It is nice for me be heard. Patricia

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  14. Patricia,
    Please know that you are always read, "heard" and missed! So glad to see you are in "full recovery" from the visit to Portland.
    Your excellent photos and writings are the closest thing I have to being there, thus they and you, are very dear to me. Looks like a few more bachelors are trickling into Ajijic!
    Has our friend Don from Wisconsin shown up yet? If so tell him I said hello!
    Que le vaya bien,
    John

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  15. Hi John, Thanks for reading my blog and writing. No, I haven't seen Don from Wisconsin. If I see him, I will say hello for you. Your friend, Patricia

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