Bargains Beyond the Border - Get Past the Blood and Drugs: Mexico's Lower Cost of Living Can Avert a Tearful Retirement

Tom MD Kelly

Description

News reports – including a segment on 60 Minutes – have depicted the entire country of Mexico as being an absolute mess, awash in blood and guns on every street corner. Ironically, people living there have a dramatically different perspective, especially in the "fly-in" destinations that continue to hold their value.

Despite what you may have heard, read and seen, the country is not under siege. The laid-back lure of Mexico's beaches, forests, deserts, people, and culture has been capturing visitors and second-home buyers for decades and has become an international draw no longer driven solely by Americans and Canadians. Not only is land plentiful, exotic, captivating, and beautiful but also it is typically more affordable than most of the property found in America's getaway areas.

Much has been written about the kidnappings, roadside hijackings, crooked cops and ever the infamous bandidos in some of the regions of Mexico. Most of the violence south of the border, however, is directly related to the drug cartels and the authorities who are trying to eradicate them. There is absolutely no pattern of any innocent U.S. citizens being randomly murdered in drug violence.

In this book, we will meet other second-home buyers, investors and retirees who share positive views about living and investing south of the border. We will show you their answers to our questions about crime and occupancy in key areas of the country. We'll also explain why Mexico will become a needed alternative especially for 59,250,000 baby boomers that have not saved enough to fund their retirement years.

Sujets

• Maison
• Maison
• Business
• Economics
• Personal Finance
• Investing

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456603724
• Langue: English

Extrait

Bargains Beyond
the Border
 
 
Get Past the Blood and Drugs:
Mexico’s Lower Cost of Living
Can Avert a Tearful Retirement
 
 
 
By Tom Kelly
 
 

Copyright © 2011 by Tom Kelly
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0372-4
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
 
Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any inconsistency herein. Any slight of people, places or organizations is unintentional. Neither the publisher, nor the authors, shall be held liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including to but not limited to consequential, incidental, special or other damages. The advice and strategies contained in this book may not be suitable to some situations. If legal advice or other expert assistance is needed, the services of an experienced, competent attorney or other professional should be contacted.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the numerous individuals who provided creative insights, direction and useful information for this book. Leading this list are Mitch Creekmore, Linda Owens, Christine Karpinski, Joanne Elizabeth Kelly, Tim O’Brien, Brad Inman, Rick Cesari, Jorge Gomez, Ron Lynch, Benjamin Beja, Rob Keasal, John Tuccillo and Kevin Hawkins. I also am grateful to the numerous second homeowners and renters for sharing their stories.
 
About the Author
Tom Kelly
 
As author, nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and talk-show host, Tom Kelly has carved a niche as one of the leading journalists specializing in homes for retirement, investment and vacation. His ground-breaking “How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment” (McGraw-Hill), written with economist John Tuccillo) showed consumers and professionals how one additional piece of real estate could serve as an investment, recreation and retirement property over time. “Cashing In on a Second Home in Mexico” (Crabman Publishing) written with Stewart International’s Mitch Creekmore, is the first in a series exploring the benefits of international second home marketplace. “Cashing In on a Second Home in Central America”, was written with Creekmore and National Association of Realtors international real estate specialist Jeff Hornberger.
 
He also has written “Real Estate Boomers and Beyond: Exploring the Costs, Choices and Changes of Your Next Move’’ (Dearborn) and “The New Reverse Mortgage Formula” (John Wiley & Sons).
 
Kelly served The Seattle Times readers for 20 years, many as Real Estate Editor. His features now appear in The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Portland Oregonian, The Tacoma News Tribune, Louisville Courier-Journal, plus more than two dozen other newspapers.
 
Tom’s award-winning radio show “Real Estate Today” has aired for 17 years on Seattle’s Bonneville stations and was syndicated by Business Talk Radio to approximately 40 domestic markets to 450 stations in 160 foreign countries via Armed Forces Radio.
 
Tom is a graduate of Santa Clara University. He and his wife, Jodi, an associate dean and professor at Seattle University, have four children and live on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
 
Introduction
The Majority of Mexico Remains Laid-Back, Welcoming and Safe
‘Not Every State Is Involved in the Drug Trade’
Jim Cramer, the bombastic, high-energy investment guru and host of the CNBC show Mad Money , told his audience in late July, 2010, that he recently purchased three properties in Mexico. Why Jim?
 
"Mexico is a big country and not every province, every state is involved in the drug trade,” Cramer said. “It has to be one of the nicest places I've ever been."
 
* * *
 
When was the last time the beauty was showcased – instead of a border war or a drug-related incident?
 
From lush and tropic mountainous municipalities on brilliant bays to iridescent sparkling water with white sandy beaches to European style architecture in houses lining cobblestone streets in quaint picturesque settings, our Spanish speaking neighbor to the south is abundantly rich in geographic and natural diversification. Mexico is a country that provides a panorama of stunningly beautiful landscapes and indigenous culture regionally seasoned by its history and native ancestry. Pyramids, volcanoes, caves, mountains, ancient ruins, waterfalls and underground springs provide a spectacular playground for those wishing to explore and experience its natural array of beauty. Species of birds and animals, plants and flowers help create the majestic contrasts that make Mexico so incredibly appealing. Dry and arid desert terrain transcend to the humid jungle environs at opposite ends of the country providing an appreciated appeal to certain types of inhabitants. These locales have also become the destinations for many a foreigner seeking a different clime and setting to reside or vacation. It is merely a question of what you like and where you want to be. Mexico is a country that offers something for everyone.
 
Forty-three percent of the land area of Mexico fronts on water. The coastlines vary in their topography and geographic presentation as a result of the terrain that lines the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Cortez, the Bay of Banderas, the Mexican Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Until the days of paved roads and aircraft, Mexico was not so much a united country as a loose federation of regions virtually isolated from one another by a rugged geography. In some areas, the mountain ranges were so impenetrable that neighboring towns were practically ignorant of each other’s existence. Today modern communication systems leap mountains and find remote villages. Still, unifying characteristics in so large and varied a country will never be easy to find.
 
The reports of crime in Mexico has slowed the flow of North Americans to southern Baja and many other destinations south of the border but it has not stopped the steady stream of Europeans, South Americans and Asians. In fact, the flow of North American traffic in the last quarter of 2010 has increased. Though much of the violence occurs in border towns, Mexico City has had major problems as has the community of Culiacan, two hours north of Mazatlan.
 
“When someone gets killed in New York City, people in Europe don’t boycott the United States,” said Marino Tomacelli, a Mexican national living near San Diego. “There’s a general perception that only negative things are happening in Mexico. That’s coupled with an American ignorance of the geography. If there is a mugging at night in Tijuana, they think there is going to be a problem in Cancun, Cabo and the Riviera Maya.
 
“Nothing could be further from the truth. I continue to feel safer in Mexico than I do in the States. In fact, I think some people are promoting the violence in Mexico to keep tourist dollars in the States.”
 
Max Katz, broker-owner of the Baja Real Estate Group based in Rosarito Beach south of Tijuana, said the most discouraging thing to agents is the re-running of television news stories that are more than a year old.
 
“Things have changed for the better,” Katz said. “But you would never know it. Given what’s on the tube, you would think we have gone backward.”
 
Jeffrey Hill, a former Seattle resident , has four vacation rental homes in Puer to Vallarta and one in Florida (“ Does that tell you which is more profitable?” ) He spends most of his time south of the border and part of his year in Fort Lauderdale.
 
“ Would I ever go out walkin g at 5 a.m. alone i n Lauderdale or Miami? Hell no,” Hill said. “ Just the thought of t hat scares the hell out of me. There are many neighborhoods in Seattle where I would never go out walking alone in the dark.”
 
Even with the killings in the country the past two years, statistics provided by the Citizens’ Institute for Crime Studies in Mexico City reveal that the murder 2009 rate in Mexico was lower than it was a decade before. In addition, the 2008 murder rate in Washington, D.C., was nearly four times that of Mexico City in 2009 (31.4 per 100,000 compared to 8 per 100,000).
 
In reality, the rest of Mexico is unchanged and laid-back, warm and welcoming to foreigners. It has received a bum rap, as reporters have raced to make the world believe that the entire country is on the brink of a blood bath. That is simply not the case, and many of the areas continue to appreciate, unlike most of the markets in the U.S. Nine of Mexico’s 31 states have any significant issues with murder or other major crimes and those are concentrated in specific districts.
 
“S ome U . S . newspaper or news service put out a report about s ome drug related shooting in Acapulco ,” Hill said. “But the headline said something like ‘ Drug related shooti ng in major Mexico resort city.’ Why didn’t they just say it was in Acapulco instead of insinuating that all resort cities have issues? Again, my thought of media/ government conspiracy kicks in.”
 
Are you ready for a contrarian cruise through Mexico that avoids drugs, murders and muggings yet provides proof of an inexpensive, carefree life? That’s not difficult to do because 95 percent of the country still offers exactly that. Get on board, and rest assured we won’t be crossing the border at Ciudad Juarez after dark. And, we won’t forget about your investment portfolio along the way.
 
“It's not such a bad idea to diversify away from stocks,” said Cramer, a magna cum laude graduate from Harvard. “I think that out o