Friday, March 22, 2013

Beautiful Home for Sale, Yucatan Mexico

This is an unbelievable price reduction on a BRAND NEW HOME! Are you dreaming of a slower lifestyle in sunny Mexico? This is a must see, it is new construction, not a reno and offers spectacular views and a large outside living area. There are 3 spacious bedrooms and 3 baths, large kitchen with cabinets and a 16 sq meter pool. The American style kitchen and dining area open directly to the courtyard allowing for easy entertaining

The home is designed to take advantage of tropical living here in paradise, it is designed around a lanai area, landscaped with royal palms and there is plenty of room for entertaining family and friends. The 2 upstairs bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and private balconies that offer stunning views of the Gulf of Mexico and the lagoon that is known for its pink flamingos. Imagine, sitting on your private balcony with a frosty drink watching flocks of Yucatan flamingos flying over! The terraces also overlook the lovely courtyard and pool area. Downstairs is a studio bedroom with bath, which could easily become an office area.

The home has pressurized city water throughout and a separate well for the pool. There is 220V electricity installed in case you want to add air-conditioning. Is air important to you? Let me see if we can make a deal with the owner! The 12 meter by 40 meter double lot affords plenty of room for parking and more landscaping, whatever your dreams may be. There is already a trust in place for easy transfer. This well thought out home is designed to be open and airy and allow natural light.

This stunning home is the best in beach living, very close to the beach, but with no beach maintenance. Only 30 minutes away is the beautiful "City of Peace" Merida, the safest city in Mexico. Merida offers world class health care, culture, theatre and shopping. If you are looking at living a more tranquil, peaceful life in a small fishing village of friendly locals and ex-pats, this is the home for you!
Call or email today, this one won't last long.
US/Canada: 302-200-0461
Mexican Cell: (011-521) 999-178-3606


                                    


























Come and live the relaxed life in the Yucatan today! Don't forget to look at other beautiful homes on our website.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Thinking of Buying a Yucatan Beach Home?



Don’t leave your brains at the border!  Buying a home is one of the most expensive purchases that you may make in a lifetime.  Even here in the Yucatan where homes are much more reasonable you want to enter the process with your eyes wide open.
If you are dreaming of a vacation home or a full time residence in the sun with views like this, keep reading.


Before you make your purchase here are a few questions that you will want to ask your realtor;
·        How many years has your company been in business?  New real estate “companies” open every day, do you want to work with an established company or a “newbie?”
·        How many sales does your company average in a year? It goes without saying that the more experience your realtor has, the smoother the buying and closing process is for you.
·        Can you provide me with referrals and phone numbers of satisfied and repeat clients?
·        How many years have you lived full-time in the Yucatan? A realtor that has only been here for a year or two is not going to have the knowledge of an established company.
·        How many properties do they have listed, a few of their friends and neighbors?  Or, do they offer homes in all areas and price ranges?
·        Is your company a registered company in Mexico? In order to do business legally in the Yucatan a company must be registered with the government, pay an accountant monthly and report all income received.  Our company is registered as an S. A. de C. V. so that all of our business transactions are legal and recorded.
·        Do they recommend a lawyer or a Notario?  All real estate deals must be researched by a Notario Publico.  This is very different position than a Notary in Canada or the US.  My next post will go into that more in depth.
·        Are they a full service company? Will they be there only for the sale? Or will they have a plan for aftercare assistance including bi-lingual concierges, airport pickup, rental car advice, property management, rental assistance; aid you in purchasing, food, furniture and decorative items?


The Mayan Living Real Estate team is composed of American and Canadian owners and is committed to helping you find the best home at the best price possible and ensuring a seamless transition.  For more information on our listings please go to www.mayanliving.com. Please feel free to drop us an email at yucatansandman@gmail.com or call us on our US landline: 302-200-0461

 Experience the magic of Mexico today!



Our clients are happy to speak to you. Here is a picture of Donna and Joe at their closing last year.




Hoping to hear from you soon!  Until then we are just “Chillin’ in Chelem.”

Monday, December 17, 2012

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."

Sunday, September 23, 2012

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."

Sunday, May 6, 2012

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."