New members of the Mexico forum, introduce yourselves here - 2021

I am thinking about retiring in Mexico in a year or so.

Hi, I just joined. We're considering moving to Mexico (Cozumel) this year and have a lot of questions! Thanks.

Hi Cyndie 1010,

Welcome to ex-pat from the Mexican side

I'm one of the members who is pretty familiar with southern Mexico so feel free to ask your questions.

Thank you so much! A few of our questions in no particular order:

*  If you're familiar with Cozumel, is there a particular location on the island that is a better living area for expats?
*  What would we expect to pay generally for utilities? Also, is natural gas or propane available or is it all electric?
*  Are there any unusual, Mexican or city related charges we should expect that we wouldn't normally think about as we prepare a budget?
*  We plan to bring our two dogs (one small, one large). Other than getting them into the country, are there any specific requirements on having animals in a home? Is there a good vet on the island?
*  How do deliveries from places such as Amazon, Fed-X, UPS, etc work? In your experiences, do most US online companies deliver to Mexico?
*  Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of general personal services such as hair salons, gyms, etc. where expats tend to go?
*  We'll need Spanish lessons quickly. Once we're there, what's the best method of finding a local teacher?
*  Will we need Mexico-based health insurance or can we pay for services/prescriptions out of pocket?
*  How IS healthcare on Cozumel?
*  Once we obtain residency, will we need a Mexican driver's license?
*  Are there any restrictions on Americans with residency holding a job? (plan to retire, but may want to do something eventually)
*  Would we be required to report wages on our US income tax filings?

I guess this isn't really a few. lol Sorry about that! Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Cindye1010 I recommend you get to know on facebook Two Expats Mexico. This is Qroo Paul and his wife Linda . He is a wealth of information and has free Spanish lessons on his blog. https://qroo.us/spanish-lessons-for-beginners/

Cindye1010 wrote:

Thank you so much! A few of our questions in no particular order:

*  If you're familiar with Cozumel, is there a particular location on the island that is a better living area for expats?
*  What would we expect to pay generally for utilities? Also, is natural gas or propane available or is it all electric?
*  Are there any unusual, Mexican or city related charges we should expect that we wouldn't normally think about as we prepare a budget?
*  We plan to bring our two dogs (one small, one large). Other than getting them into the country, are there any specific requirements on having animals in a home? Is there a good vet on the island?
*  How do deliveries from places such as Amazon, Fed-X, UPS, etc work? In your experiences, do most US online companies deliver to Mexico?
*  Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of general personal services such as hair salons, gyms, etc. where expats tend to go?
*  We'll need Spanish lessons quickly. Once we're there, what's the best method of finding a local teacher?
*  Will we need Mexico-based health insurance or can we pay for services/prescriptions out of pocket?
*  How IS healthcare on Cozumel?
*  Once we obtain residency, will we need a Mexican driver's license?
*  Are there any restrictions on Americans with residency holding a job? (plan to retire, but may want to do something eventually)
*  Would we be required to report wages on our US income tax filings?

I guess this isn't really a few. lol Sorry about that! Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Cyndie,
I can tell you some of what  I observed in Isla Mujeres, The islands are not like the mainland. From what I have seen propane would be the fule source. Supplies depend on farries. If you get a pass from a hurricane which happened to me everything shuts down so going to the mainland when a storm is expected or being extremely well prepared would be a good idea. Visiting the island and talking to the locals would be an excellent idea.

As for things that are different, perhaps bottled delivered water, The expectation that you will have to have a copy of the power bill as a form of identification for many things. The bank account will be something else to figure out. Unless you are a permanent resident you will not be able to have a Mexican account. So you need to have a bank that functions in both countries. If you have to use an ATM there might be cash limits or delays on an Island. Break downs in electricity or city water-related directly to your house will not be fixable like they are in the U.S. Their position is your house is your problem. Appointments are sort of loosely flexible. There is no time window. Time has no significant meaning here. You need to make a point of getting to know people who will honor your wishes.

You will have to ask one of those people you meet about a reliable vet. Getting to know people is critical. Information is word of mouth. There really isn't any reliable useful yellow pages to look things up in.
Spanish lessons are tricky, everyone seems to think they can teach either English or Spanish. Many offer free lessons but that tends to become the first lesson. What I usually advise is to put Duolingo on your computer or phone and break the ice that way right now. They really are free but there is an option for a yearly small fee to keep your place when you don't want to repeat a lesson. Waiting until you get here to learn is not a good idea. It puts you at a major disadvantage

Many online companies do deliver but what time and when can be up in the air. Mexico does not allow anything they don't understand. I wasted money on natural toothpaste and they wanted a health and safety document, I didn't have the toothpaste so that wasn't happening. Supplements are also something you would have to return to the U.S. to get, but there are also alternative products here.DHL is the most used delivery system the other two mostly do business deliveries.

Health care in Mexico is pretty good. Health care insurance has been changing since the epidemic. Many locals with basic insurance saw significant changes in insurance as a basic right and watched it became pay for service.. The cost are much much lower than in the U.S. so many ex-pats have paid out of pocket for care. The islanders probably go to the mainland.

Things like drivers licenses , bank accounts,and jobs tend to require a permanent residency. I don't know what is happening with the U.S. tax system. Like lots of other things stability is not a given and finding a tax expert wont be immediate.

Thank you so much! This is valuable information!

de nada 

Hello all.

I am looking at potential retirement destinations in Mexico, but this will be in a few years.  A couple of years ago, i visited San Miguel de Allende and really liked it, especially the weather.  However, the one thing I didn't like was the lack of close proximity to a major airport.  Queretaro and Leon being the options.

I'm also considering Merida, Sayulita, Guadalajara, e.g.

Hello DemSocDad,

Welcome to Expat.com

Thanks for sharing with us what your future plans might be in Mexico.

You could definitely benefit from receiving guidance from our members already in Mexico by starting a new thread on the Mexico forum on this particular subject.

All the best,

Diksha

Hello everyone, Pura Vida (The good Life)

Although a Costa Rican saying, I use it anywhere life slows down and you can feel the life flowing back into your mind and soul. Mexico and especially Tulum has that special place in my heart. We are planning to make Tulum our full time (Almost) home. We have several questions, and hope we can find some great answers along with good friends from the area.


Doug & Roxanne

Welcome to Expat and the Mexican forum dbrown,
We will be glad to help you.
The country as a whole has had some internet and power issues recently. so just be aware that, we are not ignoring you

Hello all, (Posted this on a different thread also)

My name is Michael and my wife's name is Alexandra. I'm retiring in 24 months.  We are from Utah in the US. I retired from the Air Force in 2012 and will now retire again in March of 2023. We are thinking of doing October - March in Puerto Vallarta, basically snowbirds.  We are wondering how much avg rent would be for a two-bedroom condo and where to look for long-term rentals. We can start with that and the pros and cons of  PV or talk us into a place we may like more. We are not big partiers but do like to socialize at bars and restaurants. We like to site see and do outdoor activities. We have been to PV for two weeks, but It's the only place we've actually been in Mexico.

Thanks, Mike and Alex

Hi, My name is Yvette and my husband and I currently live in Texas.  We are looking at retirement, possibly now or as long as two years away.  I have to get out of this rat race before I lose my mind!
We are not sure of which area we should go to.  We would like a large Expat community.  Our main concerns are healthcare and cost of living.  We love sightseeing, local bar hangouts, museums, historical things.  Beach would be nice but not a necessity.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I think a lot of it depends on three remaining questions; how far from the States do you want to be and how far do you need to stretch your dollar. We're been headed that way now since retirement but we have grandkids in the States so we're going to be headed close. After years in Los Angeles, we like a small-town atmosphere where we can enjoy the old-town Mexican atmosphere and people so the more crowded areas are out for us. Finally, we want to be on the ocean so all of that added up to the Sea of Cortez for us where yours and our needs are met but our three are as well. I've been a land use and real estate attorney for many years so finding and ensuring titled property is fairly easy for us. Cost was the main thing. Mexico in the already-developed ares is very expensive, especially beach property so we're right now looking at San Felipe, 4-hours from the border in a guard-gated community just under construction now. We're buying and building right on the water but the other lots in the development all have ocean views because of the planning and their orientation and the homes are all on 1/4 acre lots so there's no suburban community feel to it like in the city. On the ocean with a 2600 sqft home that we designed and they'll build, it's within our budget of $200,000. Other lots not on the water and the same home would have been $160,000. It's 45-minutes from San Felipe so hopefully you can compare our plans to yours.

Hi Cyndie; I echo all of the things said so far and can add just this; learning to speak Spanish and learning to speak local Mexican are related but not perhaps as closely as English where accent tends to be the major difference. Get yourself an on-line system like  I am using Rocket Spanish. I searched through Babel and the others and settled on Rocket because I'm in the car a lot or working on our small ranch now before we move and I can simply listen to the course material at my own pace. Plus it's conversational Spanish and unlike the formally-structured course where they want you to conjugate verbs and the like. Conjugation just becomes natural in this type of learning  for me and I don't think about which tense to you or to which party I'm speaking. Pice I think was like $100 for the whole large course. Hope this helps.

Also Cyndie, this site is great for learning Spanish as well and it's free!

https://qroo.us/spanish-lessons-for-beginners/

Hi everyone, thanks for the warm welcome and great info. I am a professor in the Midwest and we are considering summers and eventually year-round in Mexico. From all that I have read so far, we lean toward Pacific coast and ideally Baja Norte for climate and proximity to USA. Very intrigued by Punta Banda. Any info on being a "reverse snowbird"--3 months in summer and possibly a month+ at Christmas, until retirement (~20 years off for me)? Would buying be cost effective even for part-time living? Thank you!

Actually, yes; for us anyway, it is the right time for investment. We're just recently retired and planning the move in the next year to 18-months but we're headed to the Sea of Cortez side. Our investment dollar goes farther there to buy property and build on it because we want oceanfront property. The Pacific side is more crowded and more expensive than we'd like and we too need to be closer to the border because of the grandchildren. With plans in the works for a new port and large, multi-use development from Invertavante (sp?) in the next 5-years, we're finally convinced that the real estate slide is over and it'll be on an upswing. So look exhaustively at the many forums on the internet with a jaundiced eye of course and welcome to the expat exodus! We'll be at one of two developments about 4-hours from the border near a wonderful little town of San Felipe; the Shrimp Capitol of the world!

Thanks for telling us about San Felipe, it looks great! We are actually pretty open; proximity to the USA is more of a plus than a need and we probably would not have any pressing need to cross often except pleasure. Sayulita, Lake Chapala, and Mazatlan are what we have read the most about. We definitely want water proximity but don't mind a 15-30 minute walk to the beach. Crowds and noise are a big minus being that we are in a crowded noisy city now. Expats are a big plus--I'm an Air Force vet and I loved meeting Americans I never would have met otherwise throughout Europe!

You're certainly welcome. We looked at Mazatlan as well having spent a couple of 1070s summers there with my family and knowing at 10 and 11 years old that this was where I wanted to be. But it's simply gotten too expensive. Haha; we spent some of those summers at the beach in Malibu as well and they had a chance to buy the house we were renting there for $36,000. Talk about too expensive. That same lot, with a new home of course, is now on the market for $17M!! so I suppose it's all relative. Anyway, San Felipe is home to about 6000 expats, many of them former military, law enforcement and fire so you'd fit right in. You might want to visit Rancho Costa Verde's website. It's at www.ranchocostaverde.com

Hello. The site keeps reminding me that I never introduced myself; I just started posting. So to fix that, let me say, "Hello, soon-to-be-fellow expats". At 63 and 64-years old respectively, my wife and I have spent a lifetime in the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and, by the mere fact that I use the words "hustle and bustle", yes, I am that old! We've both been in the real estate industry forever and now it's time to make it an avocation rather than a vocation.  I am a non-practicing (finally) land use and governmental affairs partner (still), in The AmesGroup, a company of attorneys, engineers and architects that represent buyers and investors of property here in the US and abroad; and my wife, Joyce, is a full-General Appraiser, real estate agent and the best part of the company and my life for the better part of 35-years. We've been in search of a place in Mexico where we can stay close to the grandkids and family but not so close that we can't see the stars for the" glare of the neon lights" as Simon&Garfunkle sung it, as it is here in Los Angeles. Our perfect place will be somewhere on the water where we find the old-world atmosphere that Mazatlan had back in the 1970s but that's affordable; and I mean "ON THE WATER" and "AFFORDABLE"! My family took us kids for a couple of weeks each summer, if our grades were up to snuff (another old guy colloquial!), to a rental beach house on the water in Malibu and I always knew that one day, 65-years on, that I'd retire there. Well, at $17M for that same house today, it's a little bit outside of our price range. And to think they had the chance to buy that property in the 70s for $36k!!! Anyway, that's our story. We're happy to have found Expats.com and we so look forward to sharing our stories as we continue our search for our perfect Mexico retirement home.

Welcome aboard Jlameso1,

The more experienced and expertise the better. Buckle up and good luck.

Hi I'm August.
I am planning on relocating to Mérida. In the very near future.  Any tip would be appreciated. I'm headed there in two weeks to find a place to live permanently. I'm so excited working on my Spanish daily. Looking forward to meeting new people and learn about everything from food to Driving like should I bring my car? How much is insurance? So I need a Mexican driver's license? Should I bring my cat? Etc........

Hi August. After a career in real estate law in foreign and domestic portfolio acquisition, my wife and I are headed down for retirement. If you'd like to post a list of questions, I can do my best to answer them and so will others. In this way, everyone learns!🤠

Rockyqueen wrote:

Hi I'm August.
I am planning on relocating to Mérida. In the very near future.  Any tip would be appreciated. I'm headed there in two weeks to find a place to live permanently. I'm so excited working on my Spanish daily. Looking forward to meeting new people and learn about everything from food to Driving like should I bring my car? How much is insurance? So I need a Mexican driver's license? Should I bring my cat? Etc........

Welcome to ex-pat Mexico August,
Car or no car depends on your plans. If you bring the car it would be easier in some ways. You probably need to make a list of pros and cons. You would have to pay an import fee. That money would be refunded when you crossed the border again. If you plan to become permanent then you will have to take the car back to the U.S, to sell. You can't be permanent and have a U,S, car. your American driver's license will be accepted. You must have Mexican insurance your current insurance will not be accepted. The cost of insurance depends on your car. Of course like everywhere else in the world things are unstable. Merida is currently rated as orange which has mid-level restrictions. Are you traveling alone? I would advise you to be very careful about doing that. driving can be very intense and some roads can be a problem. If you plan to drive I can help advise on the best routes. Never drive at night. That should give you enough to think about for now. Two weeks isn't much time.

Have you talked to the Mexican Consulate where you live? They can tell you about current rules.

Hello everyone, I am a bit late to introduce myself. I moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia leaving a financial career behind, to travel (based out of Mexico). Eventually, I decided to stay on and commence my journey as a writer and a remote (location independent) entrepreneur. I was first around Puerto Vallarta and now in the Yucatan, and absolutely love it here. Thank you all for being so welcoming - to this wonderful place. Have an amazing rest of the 2021.

God morning, my name is Gonzalo. I lived all my adult life in New York. I am presently living in Morelia, Michoacan but very interested in moving to San Miguel de Allende. Planning a trip to San Miguel but would love to meet with expats to ease mu transition there. Thank you

My wife and I are flying down to the Merida area for two months this Nov. and December.  We're looking to find a coastal town that isn't too far from reliable hospitals.  Can someone give us their idea of the best towns to look at? From our research it seems like Progreso, Chelem and Choburna would work, but we don't know anything specific about those. We're looking to visit every winter until we find a place that works for us. Thanks in advance.

beathoreau wrote:

My wife and I are flying down to the Merida area for two months this Nov. and December.  We're looking to find a coastal town that isn't too far from reliable hospitals.  Can someone give us their idea of the best towns to look at? From our research it seems like Progreso, Chelem and Choburna would work, but we don't know anything specific about those. We're looking to visit every winter until we find a place that works for us. Thanks in advance.

Buenas tardes and welcome beathoreau,

So one of your concerns was reliable medical care. Biased on that concern, I would suggest Progreso because it has easy quick access to hospitals in Merida like Star Medical. Some of the towns that are further out don't have that same access.

Thanks for the info!

Is Chelem about the same distance to medical help as Progreso?

Hi!
New here, just joined!
Looking/thinking to buy a condo and rent it out for a few years and, maybe, live in it later....has anyone done it?

Thank you! Very many interesting topics I have been reading here!

Considering move to Mexico.  Can anyone advise on safety concerns with everything going on in the world

Do you have any safety concerns as a foreigner?

Hope your trip went well.  Looking to relocate myself.  I think you need health certificate for cat.  Was it easy to find a place that accommodated your 😸

Mexico is like anywhere in the world. Some places are very safe, others are not. Some activities are safe, some not. I can refer you to my friend & lawyer, Rodrigo who specializes in security issues.  Send me an email: rrandor  [ at ] gmail.

I wish farries were delivering gas. They are very light and beautiful and it might take the sting out of the expense.

I got my BanBajio bank checking account with a Residencia Temporal (temporary residency visa) and I was able to work after I upgraded it to a working visa.

But there is no point in applying for a temp res visa since one can now apply for a permanent one immediately; saves money and hassle.  When I did it the application process for the perm and temp visas started in the USA consulate and then had to be completed in Mexico within 30 days of arriving.

A Tourist Visa only lasts 6 months and does not permit work.

I like Pimsleur and Warren Hardy Spanish very much. They have a long track record, but they are somewhat expensive.

In San Miguel de Allende they had shops with supplements but I imagine that is somewhat exceptional to wealthier areas of Mexico.  You can order them from Amazon Mx. But I have been using superfoods instead many of which are offered by Mexican producers and much cheaper: Coconut Oil, Cocao, Moringa, Mesquite, Spirulina, Chia Seed, Flax seed, Wheat Grass.

Watch out that they are not produced in China and only packaged in Mexico.