BUYING PROPERTY IN YUCATAN, MEXICO

Doug and I get many phone calls and emails asking us what the home buying process is here in the Yucatan.  The area is receiving more and more interest for many reasons; it is the safest state in Mexico, properties are still affordable, there is excellent and inexpensive health care, there is great infrastructure and the local people are friendly. If you purchase at the beach, the capitol city of Merida is only 30 minutes away, there you will find many stores that you are familiar with, Home Depot, WalMart, Sam’s Club, Costco and more.  There are also many fabulous restaurants.  Here at the beach, we have seafood restaurants, small grocery stores and fresh fruit and vegetable markets, all of the basics.

Most people who buy here are looking for a more laid back and simpler lifestyle.  They want their money to go further while still enjoying a comfortable lifestyle. We live in a 2 story home with a nice backyard and pool, our annual property taxes are $36 a year!  We have a maid come in once a week who works  6-7 hours for $250 pesos, less than $25 USD. We have 2 gardeners that come monthly to cut grass, weed, plant flowers, trim the coconut palms and clean the pool for $400 pesos, less than $40 USD for both of them! Actually at today’s exchange rate of 12.9 that is $31 USD.  It is easy to get spoiled here…

When you arrive here to find your dream home you will need to bring a few things with you, your passport, a copy of the tourist visa that you were given on the plane and a utility bill from your country.  Nearly all homes are on a cash only basis with no financing so please have your finances in order before you arrive. When you have found your home a contract will be drawn up stating the purchase price, address of the property, yours and the owners name and all the pertinent information on the home.  Both buyer and seller will sign and receive a copy. The owner of the property will take all the paperwork pertaining to the home to our Notario/lawyer and he will review to make sure that there are no liens, no back taxes or utility bills and ensure that the title is free and clear.  When you return home you have 3 days to send 10% of the purchase to the Mayan Living Escrow account. If the home is Mexican owned you will need to also send $1450 for a fideicomiso.  This is a trust allowing you to own your home, rent it, renovate, tear it down, anything that you want to do with it.  I will be covering the fideicomiso more completely in my next post.

The entire closing process takes 30-45 days from start to finish.  After all paperwork has been verified to be clean and clear you will be notified of the actual closing date.  The remaining balance 90% plus closing cost must be in the escrow account 72 hours before closing. If returning to Mexico in 30-45 days is a problem we can arrange to do a limited Power of Attorney for you, otherwise you will need to return to Mexico to sign the final closing documents. In less than 6 weeks you can be the proud owner of your own piece of paradise in Yucatan, Mexico.

Our home:

 View from "my office."
 

Until the next time, we are just "chillin' in Chelem."

Chelem Chatter - Art in the Yucatan

Wow!  It's been awhile since I've had a chance to blog, where has the time gone? Summer is gone and Fall is here, though there isn't much of a difference here in Chelem.....still warm and sunny.

These photos are from a benefit that was done in Chelem by Artistas de la Playa.  It is a group of artists that provide free art classes for the local children.  They have opened up shop on the main road coming into Chelem.  These dedicated people donate time and materials to bring beauty into the lives of the children here and are to be highly commended.  There are so many expats that do so much for the community in order to give back for the wonderful quality of life that we have here in our little paradise.

Kathy, greeted us at the door



Cotting and Dominick discuss art

Gina, happily waiting for the crowd

 Chris, doing the prep work for dinner

 Michael playing his heart out!

 Handmade original pieces of jewelry

 Carvings

 Lot's of beautiful art

Appetizers coming out! Spring rolls and Shrimp Pops with peanut sauce

The girls, happy to be together and helping the community at the same time!

This occasion featured music by Michael Axford and food by Thai Flash Mob, of which were superb! 

Are you interested in living the dream?  Do you want to come and join us in paradise?  Take a look at our listings today and feel free to give us a call on our US landline: 302-200-0461

Let the Mayan Living Team help you find your dream home today!

Until later we are just "Chillin in Chelem."

CONSTRUCTION, CONSTRUCTION, CONSTRUCTION!

This has been a week of holidays here in Chelem.  Monday was Children's Day, Tuesday was Labor Day (holiday for professionals, banks, lawyers office etc. were closed.  And then Thursday, low and behold is one more holiday, this one if for concrete workers, so supposedly none of them worked.  I want to give you a few pictures of my backyard in the past week or so and then show you some of our clients projects.

When we first bought our home 2 years ago, this is what the backyard looked like, don't be deceived, that is not grass that you see, it that horrible stuff that only grows those nasty stickers that attach themselves to anything that walks:

I was eager to get the pool up and running!  It wasn't filtered, which is a very common thing in this area, but we figured with daily maintenance it would be just fine!

 
All the nasty weeds in the yard had to be removed, and then I was ready to start planting in my very own private paradise.  I carefully took snippets of real grass, cuttings of plants and starting fixing up the backyard:

We decided that we needed electric run along our wall for a more romantic and resort style setting at night,

We had lots of fun in the pool and I loved watching my flowers and palm trees grow,

Finally we had a beautiful backyard living area,

Newly painted walls, Mexican wall sconces, plants growing beautifully, ahhh, almost paradise,

But as we humans are, we felt that we needed a couple of more things.........pool filtration and a concrete terrace on the same are where I had so carefully and loving planted grass.  So the construction starts again, we contact Joel Medina and the work begins.........

Here is where they are digging up my grass for the new terrace,

The pool is empty once again awaiting jets, skimmer and filter. The dirt that dug up all around the pool is in flower beds....

Supplies fill up my front yard, but, soon we will have a great filtration system and a new terrace.  As the work progresses I will post more pictures.

All of this happened over a 3 holiday week, pretty impressive for Mexico!  Now to check on our other crews and see what they are doing.

This is the front of Todd and Joys home that they purchased in January,

Veronica Torres is our administrative assistant as well as being our project manager.  This is Veronica on the days she works as our clients personal shopper and our administrative assistant,

 This is Veronica managing one of her crews at Joy and Todd's home,

The crew has added new windows, kitchen counters and more under Veronica's careful watch,

New pool being built too!

Veronica and crew invited us over on workers day to check out the progress, have some yummy chicken tacos and enjoy a soda or beer.  Remember, this is a holiday, no one is supposed to be working!

Now we move over to the next project being run by Joel Medina and his crew, they are installing a pool at Andrew and Jane's house. Once again a holiday, but all of our crews are hard at work! 

The pool is getting close to being finished, notice the square holes in the wall, that is for night lighting,

Just one more crew to check on.....we head over to Peter and Marie's home where they are having a new pool installed and AC put in.  This is Angel, one of Veronica's workers.

And of course, here is Eduardo who has been with us for years, he is starting the process for Peter and Marie's new pool.

We at Mayan Living are so happy to be able to offer you your choice of contractors to complete your dream home renovations.  Each and every one of the workers pictured above has worked on our home personally so we can attest to their competence.

If you are looking for your own dream home in the Yucatan and can't afford one that is totally redone remember that labor is so much cheaper here than what you are used to at home.  Find one that you like today and have the work done as money permits.

The Mayan Living Team is here to offer you their expertise, before, during and after the sale.

Until the next time, we are just "Chillin in Chelem."

Before and Afters - for my Fabulous Swedish Friends, Peter and Marie!

One of the things that I love the most about our job is meeting great people! Every time we are getting ready to meet new people I always wonder, what are they going to be like? Will they like me? Will I like them? Will they love Chelem like I do? I have to honestly say my feelings get a bit hurt if they don't love my little village.

A few years ago I started corresponding with a client from Sweden, Marie. She had never been to Chelem, but had traveled in Mexico extensively in the past. As we kept emailing back forth she found a house on the Mayan Living website that she wanted to buy. The house was right around the corner from me so I knew the area like the back of my hand. The problem was that she wanted to buy it sight unseen and it needed ALOT of work. I tried to discourage her, sending her links of other homes in the same price point that needed less renovations. However she was adamant on the one she wanted......I learned later that when Marie makes up her mind about something that there is no needed trying to change it:)

Long story short, she and her husband Peter bought the home without ever seeing it. Doug and I sent photo after photo of all the work that needed to be done, but, it didn't matter, this was the home they both dreamed of.

I'm sure that you can imagine how nervous I was when they flew in from Sweden to see their new home. Marie and Peter were both thrilled! They loved Chelem, they loved the local people and they loved their house, YEA!!!!! The very best thing about it all was how much we loved them, they are absolutely some of the coolest and best people we have ever met, Doug and I felt that we had known them forever. They feel right into the groove of Mexico, practicing their Spanish, eating local seafood and understanding that they weren't in Sweden and things aren't done the same here as in the country they came from.

We introduced them to our Mexican "son" who does most of all construction and repairs for us and they treated him like family. They discussed what they wanted done, pricing etc, all in Spanglish and then started upon their renos.

Every winter they come down for a few months to languish in the sun, have a few beers and enjoy life. This winter they weren't able to come due to some health issues and we miss them terribly! Because we haven't seen them I wanted to dedicate this post to them and show you some of their before and after pictures of their beach cottage.

This is what their dream home looked like when they bought it:

This is the front of it today:

A "before" side view:

And after:

The kitchen before:


And after:




One of the bedrooms, look at the walls......



Actually the whole ceiling and roof had to be replaced!

Master bedroom after:

The back of the house before:

And a peek through the new sliders in the dining/kitchen area after:

And another peek:

Their new living room, with arches added to separate the space:

Marie and Peter have created their own personal paradise for very little money, Peter said he spent about $20,000 USD including new wiring and plumbing, wall in the backyard the pictures above and a back yard terrace. In his words, "it's almost free!"

We miss you guys terribly this year and hope that you will soon be here to enjoy our little slice of heaven with us!

Here is a picture of Theo and Ursula's home right across the street:


Your other neighbors directly in front of you:


Theo and his new puppy Bob, wanted to tell you "hi" and saludos:

And of course I know that you want to see the beach!

Here is the ocean at your entrada:

And a pelican relaxing in the sun:

And to my blog readers here is photo of Peter and Marie, aren't they gorgeous! We just love them!

Marie, we are sending you our love and positive thoughts! We can't wait for you to be back so we can catch up and have a cold one! Until then we are just "Chillin' in Chelem."