House in Rosarito, looking for advice

mohoxrevolution wrote:

Hello all,

Some background: My wife and I are 27y/o from the Midwest, she is a Mexican Citizen with residency in the USA (here since 8 yrs old) and I am a born US citizen, Pakistani by origin with basic conversational Spanish down.

My wife's grandmother in Mexico is selling a small 1BR house with a larger lot around it, in Rosarito. It is in "Benito Juarez", near Federal Highway 1. She is selling it for $50,000 and it's something I'm possibly interested in buying from her. I should have more than $50k saved by the end of the year, and currently am saving at about a rate of $10k/year (to give an idea of what kind of impact this would have on my finances). Another option may be to give a high % down payment, and pay the rest off gradually.

I'm wondering if this would be a good investment opportunity given our background and other information mentioned.

In short, I would like to know what people from the area (especially American expats) think:
1) Is it a good place to live? In terms of safety, proximity to important things, etc.
2) Is it in a good place to possibly rent out as a vacation home?
3) Being that we live fairly far away, is there any risk of squatters seeing an empty property and causing problems?
4) Being that we are fairly far from retirement, is it worth getting and holding onto now, in hopes that value will grow in the future, or even just be a good place to retire? Of course, the answer to #2 would affect this question.

I don't know what other information or questions to include in order to determine if this is a good consideration to make, so please let me know if you have more questions, or if you have any information I didn't ask about.

Thank you!

That's a very complex set of questions.

I would suggest you visit her grandmother and see for yourself I can say it is a popular area and renting out property should be successful.  Practically anywhere is safer than the U.S. currently, so what do you mean about safe?  For a city in Mexico Rosarito is fairly safe, at least much safer than the cartel areas. Squatters are a risk in any vacant house anywhere , so you would want to have an agency watching the property. Just come and look.

The house you are referring to is about 1/4 of a mile from the beach so you could possibly rent it out as a vacation rental. You need to see the area and the house.
Depending on the house the price seems very reasonable for the area.
Once you have seen the house you can go online and see what other homes in the general area are selling for. Then as far as squatters go you can contract with a realtor to rent out and manage the property. If you are going to rent it out as vacation property you will need someone to care for the property and clean it once it becomes vacant.

Bottom line is you need to go look.  If you need to talk with a real estate agent we are using Ken Huseman at Baja123, in Rosarito.  His wife works for a large property management firm in the area also.

You asked your question is a very informative way and I am hoping the replies are equally informative.
I have lived in San Miguel de Allende Gto. for ten years... I do not know much about Rosarito but I've heard a few things and I feel that I know Mexico fairly well as I also am married to a Mexican woman.
First off, all purchases in Mexico must be thoroughly thought out as it is a big investment and risky for the very considerations that you mention...security is one and Rosarito does not have a great reputation. You ought to go and live in the house for at least a month.  Leaving a house vacant is a sure thing to NOT do in Mexico.  You must rent it out or have a house sitter..otherwise, it will be stripped down by the time you return..even leaving a country house for a week would be VERY risky. If the purchase was a fantastic deal, you might find a way to get around these other considerations but only visiting the place could tell you more about that.... I hope this helps, and good luck to you!  Mario