Katie...not to be too personal, but, if your means of support will be coming from the U.S. then I have several options for you. Unless you secure a work visa (FM3) - you will not be able to support yourself and child by working in Mexico.
Hi Katie. I have a 5 bedroom (with ajoining 5 bathrooms) house for rent in Tecate. It has a large kitchen, laundry room, and office. It is beautifically landscaped and is fenced in. It sits on a rise so you get a great breeze in the summer. There is a school just 2 blks from the house. It is in a quiet neighborhood and you can see the U.S border out of the office as it looks down on the city. You can view some photos of the house when you go to baja2000.com.
I have friends that have raised their 13 year old in Ensenada and I am very impressed with the results. He is bi-lingual and a very sharp kid. I am sure that there is affordable housing in Ensenada....one just has to look
At the Baja Country Club in Ensenada, new 3 bedroom, 2 bath homes of about 1800 sq. feet are being built for $149,000 including the lot. The developer is the same developer who did Club Marena in Rosarito Beach, and he builds to U.S. standards and has an excellent reputation. I recommend him highly (we live part time in his Rosarito development).
I will second what P-1 says in the above post. We purchased a home (3 bdrm, 2&1/2 bath, 2 car garage - 1650 sq ft) there after learning of the Developers/builders past history with the Club Marena. Also discovered that a friends brother in law is the architect for the project. I would recommend this project for anyone that is looking for a well built, reasonably priced home in a great location. Prices will probably rise when phase I is sold out, now that they are into their current advertising program directed at the US market. Additionally, the developer/builder will finance!!!
Your friend sounds like a heck of a great guy and you are right about the Baja Country Club. It has been sitting there for 16 years and is finally taking off. You will see alot of people buying there even if you are not a golfer. The views of the hills on both sides of you are fantastic and you will definetly have peace and quite with alot of security. It sounds like I am a salesman working there, in fact I was the sales manager 15 years ago at this project and still play there often and enjoy it very much.Im glad you will be my neighbor.....enjoy
I have raised my daughter here in central Baja since she was 7 years old and she is now 17 and completely bilingual and is 1st in her class in prep school. The schools are excellent here but I highly recommend homeschooling her in English as well, reading is a must. Usually you need a mexican birth certificate to enter school in mexico but perhaps there are ways around that. This is a great country for kids to grow up in and I have never regretted raising my daughter here. I suggest living in a smaller community where you will integrate easier.Write to me if you like at my email address...good luck..shari
What a bummer to sell your home in the states, buy in Mexico, and lose everything! Makes vacationing in Mexico sound much more fun than investing there.
Katie....don't have any fears about home purchases in Mexico. As with all large investments, do your homework. The Punta Banda story is simple....if it is too good to be true, it usually is!!! Those residents did not fully check on property ownership and paid the price... Again, do your homework, ask questions, see proof and remember, you are in a different country with different rules. My suggestion is to stay away from any land leases and deal only with Trust property. If you keep this in mind, you will be ok. If you have been reading this board and others, you will see that Rinky-Dink has several problems. Don't let those cloud your plans. Investing in real estate in Mexico is a good idea....myself and others have, or are doing it with no problems.
Teniente is correct. Tens of thousands of Americans have moved here, and the huge majority are pleased with that life changing choice. Individual problems are enevitible, of course.It takes most of us some time to learn how significantly different things are here. For example the absence of "set back" requirements for construction means that when buying a lot and designing a home, you must anticipate what will occur if a large building goes in blocking your "view corridor". This has been a major issue here in San Felipe as high rise condos are not under way in an area we were told had a 2 story max. height restriction. Humbug! It never existed and now many lovely homes will soon lose their view to an 8 or 12, or God knows how many stories, condo building goes in. This is merely an example of the sort of thing one must anticipate here while realizing that what we were used to in the states is suddenly irrelevant. All of that said, most Americans feel the advantages far out weigh the disadvantages. A cautious approach would involve renting in the town you are considering prior to investing the $ and emotional energy required to build a home. Oh, that will take much more time (at least 12 months) than most builders will admit when you interview them.
Katie: I was raised in Baja with my sister in the late 1970's to 1980's. I had an incredible life there. Now I bring my own kids down as often as I can to visit our vacation home and their Grandpa (my dad has been there for over 25 years!) near Mulege. I suggest you visit a lot of places before you make roots anywhere. We did. We traveled all over the peninsula, and fell in love and made a home in Conception Bay. It's still my Mecca. To each is own, people look for different things in Baja...explore it for yourself!!! You can email me directly if you'd like to chat further...heather_trishann@yahoo.com
Katie- I have travel in baja a little bit and if I had the opportunity to relocate there, Todos Santos would be my first choice. The downside is that it is probably more expensive there than many other places. The upside is that is has the small town feel but many of the conviences of the states. It is close to La Paz and Cabo San Lucas but away from the tourists and masses of people. A very charming artsy town. tkg
Katie, Mexico is a country of laws and you need have no fear of buying if you follow the law--however, they aren't American laws. The Punta Banta people absolutely KNEW what they had "bought" into: no foreigner can own land within 50 miles of the coast or border in Mexico without getting a trust held by a bank. When the Punta Banta people asked about getting a trust, they were told they couldn't get one. If you can't get a trust, the title to the land isn't clear. No one would buy land in the U.S. that didn't have clear title; why would you buy land in Mexico that doesn't have clear title? The answer, unfortunately, was that the Punta Banta people just assumed it would work out in their favor--and when the court finally (Mexican courts are slow) did make the ruling, they awarded the land to the person who did not sell the lots. Even so, most of the Punta Banta people decided to pay the rightful owner a sum of money for the land and wound up keeping their houses. It would hardly have been fair to deny the rightful owner some compensation for his land which now was covered with American houses. When buying in Mexico, use a lawyer and be sure it is possible to get a trust--no trust, no deal.
