Which towns to stop at and which to avoid ?

Hello CWO 3 military retired

Welcome to Expat.com

While waiting for members to bring you some information, I invite you to browse through the different categories in our Mexico Forum so as to gather some useful information, about everyday life to cost of living and more.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

Hi I have read your advertisement here in Expatblog, and I tell them I'm at your service I live north of my Country in the city of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, if you could help with something like I will.

I apologize about the confusion. What I meant was can a couple from the US move to the Playa or Cancun area and live on $5000/mo USD the same way an upper middle class family lives in the US. Is $5000USD/mo enough to live in a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house close to or on the beach. Have 2 cars. Eat out several times a week. Have A/C, cable, internet, etc. go shopping, have a maid 2 times a week. Basically how much does $60k to $70k a year USD get you in Playa and Cancun?

Thank You

The two car thing will drive costs up. Would you try to bring yours? If so check on car import issues. Check rollybrook.com for the most recent information. We have all of the things you mention except the maid comes in once a week not twice, only one car, and we have a pool. We usually come in under $4,000 when we are not traveling.

Parking and garages can be an issue also. 2 car garages are not common in Mexico, and the property cost will reflect that.
It sounds like an exploratory trip would be a very good idea for you. The only way to really assess options is to actually be here for at least a couple of months. The people of Mexico function on a face to face basis. Everyone seems to have a cell phone but trying to get a meaningful dialogue going on line is not very likely .I know one person who will text and she was raised in the U.S.

While you can live comfortably in Cancun or Playa on the amount  you mentioned, I'd recommend you look a bit further south. Akumal is a very pleasant small town, as is Tulum. Even Puerto Aventuras (if you like a gated community) is recommendable, or any of the small beach communities between Playa and Akumal. Paamul if you're a diver. If I were ever to move to the east coast again, though, I think I'd probably opt for Bacalar, a beautiful little town on a lake, wth an increasing number of expats, not far from Chetumal. As it is, I live in the mountains 50 miles up from Veracruz port, and enjoy living without air conditioning in Coatepec, where even the tourists are from Mexico!