Archive for July, 2007
It’s because there is a lot going on in the background. We’re preparing to not only relaunch our mainsite, but a whole slew of network sites at the same time, or hopefully soon after. And you’ll be getting news of all that is happening over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, it is nice to see our name mentioned by media players a little bigger than us so we don’t feel like we have slipped completely from the world’s agenda. AARP’s Segunda Juventud is a national bilingual magazine with a feature article on Retiring Abroad and which mentions Livtopia and MexRetire pretty prominently. The article also appears in Spanish here. They’ve set up discussion forums in both languages to tackle the issue. It will be interesting to compare the discussions and responses from both sides of the language divide. In English here, and en español aqui.
Now back to the hundreds of other things we have cooking, and also preparing a newsletter. Remember, you can sign up to receive it in your email from any page on the Livtopia Website.
July 30th, 2007
That last post really was inspired not only by people that Livtopia reps have been picking up in Puerto Vallarta and in Mazatlan, but also by a few personal friends of mine. People with loads of money but who can not only not afford to buy a house, but worse, when they buy a house they can’t afford to live in it. I have a few friends who have been renting for 3 years with almost no hope of moving into the house they bought. Then again, I have other friends who visited Mazatlan and never planned to move there permanently, but who figure that years from now (or sooner), well, they just might. At least they have something.
I’m not a real estate person really, but reading more and more of the discussion going on out there, it does become pretty frightening. What follows is both an analyisis and an observation proffered in response to that at analysis.
First, from Mike Cook at BloodHoundBlog, really one of the most continually insightful real estate blogs out there:
On the positive side, the economy seems to be holding strong. This is reflected in the strong office market that has persisted despite a tighter financing situation. A bit more neutrally, interest rates are low historically, but are significantly higher than two or three years ago. This affects adjustable rate mortgage borrowers and borrowers who decide not to move because of the higher rates. Finally, the subprime lending situation, the tighter lending standards, and the supply of homes on the market make up the bulk of negative real estate factors.
That inspired this basketball-related response from the Real Estate Zebra.
You need to know the perspective of the person doing the analysis. Is this person a builder? an investor? a REALTOR? Where is the person located geographically? All of these questions help establish a person’s perspective. Once you can do that, you can look at their opinion through the prism of your own perspective.
Fair enough, and a good piece of advice for readers here. Livtopia’s perspective is from that of the Buyer’s Agent. You can read more about that here.
July 18th, 2007
Who’s moving to Mexico? We’ve been asking that ourselves!! We’re seeing a lot of people who simply can’t afford to buy houses in California. And then we’re thinking, these people aren’t anywhere near retirement age. But then again, check out this funny post from Financial Security Quest:
I’m not planning to spend the next 70 years wearing a wife beater and watching Matlock (which is what, I’m lead to believe, retirement mostly entails). My goal is basically to escape wage slavery (I’m a capitalist who believes in wage slavery - go figure!) and to be able to live life on my own terms without having to feel dependent on anyone else for the necessities of life (or for a large enough pay-check to purchase the necessities of life). I hate to feel beholden to anyone (I’d make an awful trophy wife) and most 9-5 jobs and contract work makes me feel exactly this way (”if I upset this person they may fire me and make my life unpleasant”).
Ha ha. The rest of the post goes on to illustrate and elucidate some “maybe plans.” The post is illustrative of the sort of conflicts that make anything but Wage Slavery seem just wildly outrageous. I hope he makes it.
We really are seeing an increase in people buying their first homes, vacation homes, because they can’t afford or don’t want to purchase in the United States. Real estate taxes and, well, other factors have made life there a bit unbearable. Live in Mexico for one year and then watch the Chirpy new CBS Evening News on the America Network. Things become clear very quickly.
July 17th, 2007
Here is another excerpt from our E-book, Retire Better, that’s just gone on sale:
The Mexican Healthcare System
Healthcare in Mexico is generally efficient, safe, and reliable. Many healthcare professionals speak English, and many Americans and Canadians come to Mexico just to take advantage of the inexpensive health care.
IMSS, the Mexican national health insurance, may be purchased for about US$140 per year for those under 60, and for about US$225 per year for those over 60.
This insurance takes effect six to nine months after your arrival, and you must choose from a list of physicians used by the IMSS program. The IMSS program covers visits to clinics, intensive care, and hospital expenses for minor injuries and illness. Private insurance is also available generally at a higher price (perhaps US$1000 per year). Livtopia offers assistance in obtaining health insurance regularly and works with some of the best American and Mexican brokers.
Medicare, unfortunately, does not yet cover Americans retiring to Mexico, except for military personnel and their families.
Pharmacies
Older North Americans will remember how pharmacies in the US and Canada used to be when they visit their first Mexican farmacia. There are plenty of chain pharmacies in Mexico but these take a cue from the many competing independents and offer friendly, knowledgable advice. There may be a crowd of customers leaning over the counters and listening attentively, but you won’t find curt, quick answers that leave you wondering at a farmacia in
Mexico. On average, store visits in Mexico always take a little longer than at home, but at farmacias expect visits to take 2 or 3 times as long and most have a big staff that is ready and happy to answer questions.
If you are taking prescription drugs before you leave, of course, you’ll want to have a long discussion with your current doctor about planning continued treatment while in Mexico. You’ll also need signed prescriptions to bring any drugs into the country. But for minor aches and pains, terrific hair-care and beauty supplies, and whatever else you expect from the pharmacies at home, your local farmacia will offer that and a lot more.
July 16th, 2007
This is one of those blog posts that is getting scrutiny all around the internet this week. And with good reason. Gregory McNamee put together a nice post of fact-checking tips for those of us who are always searching for information, generally, around the internet. I thought I would take a stab at applying these to our own subject matter, Latin American travel and relocation, as much for the fun of reading McNamee’s post more closely, as for seeing how we stand up.
1. Trust not the first answer the search engine turns up. In the spirit of the tyranny of the majority, it will usually be wrong or, if not outright wrong, not the answer you really need. This is hard to argue with. Livtopia get’s inquiries from people just for the sake of arguing a point. We’re right now placing comments capability on ALL of the written information pages of our websites to better rely on the fact checking capabilities of our readers.
2. Interrogate your sources as Detective Sergeant Joe Fridaywould interrogate a hippie. What qualifies one source to claim superiority over another? Same as above, right? We’re looking for the interrogation, and in most cases, we’re not offering superiority in truth with facts, but superiority with numbers of people on the ground.
3. Facts are stupid things, as Ronald Reagan said, until we give them meaning. I think in the case of travel and relocation to Latin America, our problem is more that there are too many stupid things; facts, statutes, rules, regulations. Part of what we try to do is break them down into pieces, in English, and make facing them easier, making understanding everything simpler.
4. When evaluating the statements of others who mean for you to take them as facts, look for the passive voice. When someone says, “Mistakes were made,” set your antennae on the most sensitive tuning. See yesterday’s post. Nancy from Countdown to Mexico stepped in as the corrective antidote to our own ridiculous oversight.
5. As a corollary, beware the anonymous. That’s a good point. I am working on a meet the staff page, most of the people I am talking to everyday are natives of the countries where they’re working. Others are expats from the US or Canada with years of experience, but we will fill you in on all of that with the new page. We’re hoping to make the rest of the new pages more accessible such that readers are authors too.
6. Rigorously practice the principle of symmetrical skepticism. Assume goodwill, but also assume that everything people tell you is wrong until you have looked it up for yourself, no matter how much you may agree with your source of information politically, religiously, culturally, or otherwise. and rather brilliant I thought: You have to form the habit of not wanting to have been right for very long. The number of times we have relearned this point is just, well, staggering. We gear a lot of Livtopia’s business toward getting people here, to Mexico, to Costa Rica. And then what? Some rule has changed and we have to roll with it. The consequences are never staggering they just SOUND staggering.
7. If you’re excited by a piece of news or a press release or somesuch novelty, wait a few days before you commit yourself to it. Mistakes are made. Corrections are issued. True enough. We get excited. I am not sure everyone else does. We are getting ready to announce our plan to offer packaged healthcare services to seniors of whatever background all over Mexico and Latin America. The wording continues to change, the marketing is in flux. Check with our Concierge for more information.
8. Have a little fun while you’re doing all this poking around and investigating and challenging. There are so many ways I see this happening all the time. Especially when people move south of the border or to the Dominican Republic. or they are just starting to consider it, and suddenly they start relearning “the History of the Americas.” There are few better places to do it.
9. Be not dogmatic. As the Firesign Theatre rightfully instructed, Everything you know is wrong. Facts are stupid things, but they can entrap the most careful of us. And we are never so certain of ourselves as when we’re incorrect. In my own list, this would be number one. Everything I am doing with my companeros at Livtopia is about “Better Living,” not about being right. Being wrong is among the most perfectly blissful things that can happen because suddenly, you are one step closer to being right.
10. The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that we all tape this little note to our telephones: “Are you sure?” The message is meant to serve as a reminder to help stem wrongheaded talk, idle gossip, and pointless argument. Perhaps one of the reasons so many of us are interested in leaving el AngloMundo is for just this sort of excitement. The Latin World is, for us, so full of uncertainty, so full of questions and so often we find ourselves in a position of passive receptivity. We’re here to learn, to keep asking questions. These are not our countries, but they are part of our world now, and being sure of that is something we have to work at a little bit everyday.
July 13th, 2007
And an excerpt on Mexican Utilities
UPDATED BELOW
After literally months of working, we’ve got the entire contents of the existing MexRetire.com into one .PDF file which is now available for download. Just click on the image.
Clearly, it takes a lot more editing and writing to turn a website into a book, but we didn’t just do that. We added tons of new fresh content that isn’t available anywhere else, and much of it based on the stories and problems we encountered with people moving to Mexico over the past year. Below is an excerpt from the new E-book, and you’ll probably see a few more here, over the next few weeks.
Local Utilities
Paying your bills is simple in Mexico. Most major grocery stores and
banks allow for paying bills. Your telephone bill will list payment
centers, local banks and groceries stores where it is quick and
easy to pay the bill in person.
Your electricity bill can only be paid at a bank. Paying a bill in
a bank where you do not have an account will result in a small
charge but opening an account with one of your local branches will
make the process painless and convenient.
The gas supply to almost all Mexican properties does not come through underground pipes, but is stored on your property in a
re-fillable gas tank. Better properties have a tank permanently
installed on the roof or in a utility closet. Some homes exchange
a light weight empty tank for a slightly heavier full tank whenever necessary. In either case, payment for this service is up front, is not unreasonably expensive and deliveries are easy to arrange, that is, if the gas deliverymen don’t call in the neighborhood as is the norm in many
places.
Nancy, in the comments, rightly pointed out that we neglected to put the cost on the Web Page. The E-Book is available for US$19.95 through our secure server. Thanks again Nancy.
July 12th, 2007
As I mentioned in my last post, I’d been going a little nuts trying to get out the next newsletter. For whatever reason, writing those things is a lot tougher than typing away here… go figure.
This was the funnest part to put together for the newsletter:
Playing around on Expedia we pretty easily found flights from Houston starting at about US$320, from New York’s JFK at about US$418. Non stop from Calgary runs to about US$702, though we suspect travel-wise Calgarians could do better. Flights from Seattle, connecting with cities all over the south west, start at only US$385. There are still great rates on direct flights from Phoenix, San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago. And all the way from Toronto is still only about US$695.
We really did spend quite a few hours thinking about where people came from in June for our seminar, and where they are likely to come from for the next one. Truth is, they always come from all over. If you click on the banner you can read the full information on the October seminar, if you want to read the full Newsletter, of course, you can just click here. It’s got loads of info on everything that is going on there this fall, and some big plans for the new Riviera Nayarit that is developing just north of Puerto Vallarta.
July 5th, 2007
This will give you an idea what I am writing about for the July Livtopia Newsletter. I delayed release for a day because of the holiday in the States, but you can still sign up from the bottom of any page on Livtopia. I’ll be sending the next one out on Thursday as well as announcing our next Seminar in Puerto Vallarta coming up in October. You can read more about that by clicking here. Serious discounts are in effect through the end of this month.
July 3rd, 2007
Janet is a new poster in our NewsGroup, Live Better Mexico. I think her post below gives lots of details about her biography so I will let that speak for itself. I asked her if I could re-post the below here because it speaks volumes not only about the people you’ll meet in Mexico, but also about why they come and what they find when they get here. Interested in the conversation? Why not sign-up yourself. There’s always something new going on there.
Life is interesting and at times I guess I have taken a few chances that most people wouldn’t do. Moving to Mexico is one of them and the fact that I had never been to Mexico with the exception of an occasional trip to the tourist towns. I read the infamous AARP article a few years back on this area but I was so far from considering retirement that I just kept it on the back burner of my brain as something interesting.
Two years ago a friend of 30 years married a man that read that same article and they came down here to check out the possibilities of moving to Mexico. I stayed in constant contact with them by email as they looked from the west coast to the Chapala area. My only advice to my friend was “Just don’t do anything impulsively”, but they came home with a contract for a house to be built.
I continued to stay interested in the area for almost a year while their house was being built and read everything I could about it on the web. I learned quite a bit from www.chapala.com with a web board much like this one. Quite a bit of local chatter. I kept looking at houses on the web in this subdivision and locally. A house came on the market in the same subdivision that my friend moved into and she emailed me pictures inside and out and we made an offer by phone that night, contingent on an inspection of the structure. The first time we came down here was when we closed on the house. After that we went home and prepared to move by putting the house on the market and started getting rid of things. We closed on the house in January and set our sights for the move as August 1st. We actually got moved on the 18th so we were pretty close to our schedule. What I like most about the area is hard to list according to priority but all bunched together it’s:
- the people,
- the weather,
- the location,
- the relaxed stress free feeling,
- the creature comforts I’m used to
- the cost of living
and I think I could go on but most importantly I have not regretted a single day that we made this move.
We’re still in our 50’s, (late 50’s) and my husband is not yet retired. He telecommutes to Michigan each day and is planning on working one more year. I asked him to work for 2 years after the move to replenish what we spent buying the house and now he almost has one year under his belt.
We live in a gated community but it’s not as much for protection and security but more because we don’t speak any Spanish. It would be a bit harder living in the village in a home without the built-in community. We have a fair share of single women living in this subdivision and they all feel very safe secure and happy. A new visitor (single woman) just bought a house here a couple of days ago and attended one of our parties at the club house last night and she said it was the most fun she’d had in the last 20 years. Here we have so many friends that I’m amazed that I can remember everyones’ names. You can get by with little or no Spanish because the local people know enough English to make it do-able although learning Spanish is always a plus.
-Janet
July 2nd, 2007