Newbies spending the winter in Vallarta

Hi, your question is hard to awnser. My wife and I (70 & 65) after travelling during 10 years with an RV decided to rent. So we first rented via a friend of a friend a condo in PV (pictures only)  bad choice and add to pay in advance and not in pesos and 6 months cancellation notice!!!

Finally, it took 3 winters to finally find our paradise (La Peñita de Jaltemba), payable in pesos all included small complex 7 apartments of 1 or 2 bedrooms built in November 2015 (prices from 10000$ to 14000$ pesos per month for 5 or 6 months rental terms cheaper year round) owned and operated by a mexican family very well maintained.

So, my advice to you is visit, visit and explore make offers during your 3 months you are already booked. Also make sure that you can cancel with a maximum of 90 days notice with full refund, do monthly payment, one month deposit and in pesos, rent from a Mexican owner is cheaper.

Areas that require a vehicule, are often in more tourist areas like New Vallarta but you are closer to golf course which are quite expensive I heard, once again visit, ask questions then decide. Same with fitness gyms, ours is 250$/300$ pesos per month.

Also, your question in regards to renting a vehicule is a very personal choice. My wife and I never rented one. We have always used local transports and intercities buses and walk a lot. We will be moving permanently in Mexico next October and have no intention to buy a vehicule. We always travel during winter from La Peñita de Jaltemba to PV, Melaque, Compostela, Guadalajara or other places by local transports but others do tours.

Finally, my wife and I never go to big stores  (Walmart, Sams nor Costco), we buy local fresher and cheaper. 

Buena suerte, GyC.

I don't have direct information about living there, like mexicogc, but I have visited there and found the taxis to be very dependable and willing to go the extra mile to help you.
Renting a car in a town you don't know could mean a lot of driving around wasting gas. I had a car, but parked it and used taxis instead. Uber could also be available. It's illegal here and in Merida because they don't pay the required taxes, but who knows what arrangements PV may have made. mexicogc has provided good insight.

Have a wonderful trip.

Thank you so much. We pretty much decided to book the uber-villa for the three months and do as everyone suggests and I instinctively know to do, which is to get boots on the ground for the next rental. Great idea to pay in pesos. My husband is so locked into having a swimming pool, so that limits our choices and bumps the price up, of course.

I have traveled all over the world, mostly on the cheap, so I don't mind the adventure of local transportation. My husband has much less experience and more trepidation about such things. He will learn once his wallet is impacted enough by taxis and big box stores versus buses and local mercados, lol.

Hope to meet up in Mexico!

Thank you for the advice. All we can learn in advance is just so welcome! I am all for local transportation and local mercados. It will be good to have the first three months of luxury (at a greatly discounted price, I might add) to scout around for something for the rest of the winter and maybe longer, if we decide to get a residente visa. We are not snowbirds (had enough of the RV lifestyle before I met my husband). Muchas gracias, hope to stay in touch on the forum and maybe see you in Mexico!

So , about the pool (Piscina) or (alberca).
I have one , because it came with the house. The maintenance will very likely be your problem, and your cost. Some people you can hire know what they are doing, many more do not.
The cost for them to care for your pool is about the same..150-200 pesos for their time. all other costs and chemicals are on your peso not included. A container of 3 purpose ( three chemical) tablets is 700-1000+ pesos depending on the container size. As you can see it can get expensive.

I inherited someone who did not know the job , his solution was to dump the pool water in the street and refill, he also thought the chemicals went into the filter and the float so he filled both which explains why we kept running out of chemicals. Then of course the chemical tablets blocked the filter causing the pump to over heat.

That should give you an idea of what having a pool is like.

I figured as much about the pool maintenance being the problem if you have a private pool. Therefore, at the moment, we are looking for apartment or condo complexes with a community pool. My experience with pools in third world countries (mostly Asia) is not good, but my husband has yet to learn why. Thanks for the advice. Heeded well.

Taking care of the chemical side of a pool isn't rocket science.  It's always the cleaning that I hate.  I would find somebody to just come and clean it.  Then learn how to balance the chemicals yourself.

No you are right it isn't james, but it still costs quite a bit. And my original "cleaner" felt cleaning was dumping the pool in the street. Bad job, or good job it still costs a fair amount of money.
We are also talking about many people who may not be able, or feel able to manage a pool. No one really wants to do the cleaning part