Originally Posted by
ritehook
The only country - ie part of the country - that I'm familiar with, having once lived there:
Mexico, specifically, Baja Calfornia. The US almost bought this prime piece of penisular real estate from Mexico at the conclusion of the war witht them about 170 years ago. And some 150 years back a gringo adventurer, William Walker, invaded witha a small army and tried to forcibly detach it and proclaim himself emperor.
I'm talking about the coastal area between San Diego and Ensenada - roughly 90 miles. There are also now more and more Americans moving south of Ensenada, and there has long been a gringo presence in beautiful places like Lake Chapala, near Mexico City
But, Northern Coastal Baja:
Some of the best climate in the world.
Much cheaper to live: RE prices have, of course, been rising, but you should still be able to get an oceanfront home (or nearly so) for a quarter or less than the same home in California.
Proximity to the US for medical and shopping, and picking up snail mail (regular mail delivery sucks in Mexico, they all steal, only utility and govt bills get thru).
Book gambling (via the Caliente operation) is pandemic. Sports - US and international, and horses, US and international. You can also get the internet connection for about what you'd pay in the US.
Language: you won't have to learn much Spanish - due to so many gringos having re-located there, just about everyone speaks English.
Full service DirecTV for about $120 to $160 a year. Hacked by a small army of Mexican hackers. That's American Directv, not legal in Mexico but everyone hacks it. NFL Sunday ticket, concerts, you name it..
Defintiely more laizzes faire and relaxed. Mexico does not have the tech expertise to intrude into people's lives like the efficient gringos do.
Two Worlds: you can jump from the gringo world with you many gringo neighbors right into the Mexican world, And back.
Inexpensive domestic help. Low rates to hire a housekeeper; a cook; a repairman, a builder to add an addition to your home; a mason; etc.
Taxes: none if you are not working in Mexico. Property taxes are very low. A guy I know who lives south of the tourist town of Rosarito Beach, not far from the Fox Studios where Titanic was filmed, pays about $50 a year property tax. However, if you want to put a new curb or street in, everyone in the neighborhood chips in as part of the city project.
Downsides: Well, if you want to get away from Americans, it's hard to do in northern Baja.
Crime; has increased significantly in the past 20 years, as corruption and incomptence in Mexico has created a permanent and desperate underclass. Burglarly is rampant. You have to get a home in a gated, guarded community, or a guarded condo.
Border Wait: this has gotten frikken' ridiculous since 9-11. I would neve try to cross back into the US on Sun or Mon, what with the huge army of cars wanting to do the same, after a weekend enjoying Baja.
Schools: there are some fine schools, some religious, catering to both Americans with children and Mexico's upper class. But the American kids at these schools are a minority - most of the gringos in Baja are retired.
I knew this former actor,now a lawyer for the city of San Diego, who bought a fixerupper south of Tijuana, gated community near the ocean, and fixed up it fine with cheap local labor.
And at the time I knew him was getting ready to send his ttwo pretty young blonde daughters to a local Catholci bilingual school. I told him it was ok to do, if he didn't mind biracial children, because the girl, then entering puberty, would have little choice of available gabacho (white) males. And that a blonde American girl as gf or wife was the ultra plus ultra for the great majority of Mexican males. Plus it was also a free ticket to US citizenship.
There are other plusses and minuses, but that a good introduction to living in Baja.
Looking Seriously At Leaving US, Where Should I Go???
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