So, I'm Staying in Mexico

For anyone interested in the backstory on the move and some other interesting observations about living in Mexico check out here and here

I am at roughly the six month point of my time living basically full time in Baja, California, Mexico. Just a few weeks ago my wife and I were informed that we would have to move out of the beautiful ocean front home we are currently renting when our lease is up at the end of December. The "owner" intends to sell the place, and they want to do so as quickly as possible. We could stay on a month to month basis, but would have to put up with a likely near continual string of interested buyers visiting our home until the place was finally sold. As much as we love it, that did not sound like a very appealing option and we quickly decided that sadly, we would need to move out. I put owner in quotation marks because it turns out that who exactly owns our house is a matter of more than a little dispute. The backstory I have gathered is enough to spawn a years worth of Mexican telenovas. Someday I may share what I have learned, but while we are still living here it does not seem appropriate to do so. Take my word for it when I tell you that it is a very interesting and sordid tale indeed.

Leaving that little nugget aside, long story short, we would need to move, and soon, and of course one option was a return to the United States. That particular choice was ruled out very quickly however as we began to seriously consider the possibilities before us, and the (meager) resources at our disposal. For some time now we have wanted to own our own home and the prospect of renting again and yet another move in a year filled us both with despair. I say meager resources because, while we both draw decent salaries, neither my wife nor myself have any significant savings to speak of that could be applied toward a down payment on a home on either side of the border. Moreover, for a variety of reasons, neither of us have particularly great credit. Taken together these two facts basically spelled doom for any chance of buying a house in San Diego, which continues to be one of the most overheated and overpriced real estate markets in the country. Let that be a lesson to any of you youngsters out there who may be reading this, save, save, save, is what I would say if I were a responsible member of the adult community. Since I am not, I will only say the following. I do not regret any of the pennies spent over my lifetime, but I do still greatly regret the opportunities I passed up for fear of spending too many of them.

If owning a home was to have any chance of happening it would have to be here in Mexico. Not only are prices much, much, more reasonable, but there exists in Mexico a home buying option that is almost unheard of stateside. This particular option is owner financed, and is often structured as a rent/lease to own deal. Apparently, in Mexico this sort of arrangement is fairly common and it has allowed us to recently sign a two year lease to purchase a home right down the street from where we currently reside, that is actually much nicer than our current gorgeous residence. The way it works is simple, we lease the place for 2 years just as if we were renting any other place.

But, when that 2 years is up we have an option to purchase the house, and the rent we paid over that two years is applied as the down payment towards the purchase should we execute the option to buy.

The two years gives us time to get our credit house in order, line up financing for the eventual purchase, and for us both to obtain permanent residency and possibly citizenship for my wife in Mexico. One or both of us being a Mexican citizen would greatly decomplicate the buying process for highly technical reasons that I wont bore you with here. As I mentioned above, if for whatever reason, we don't like the place or still can't afford to buy it, we do not have too. It is totally optional. Of course, we lose the 2 years rent money but we would have spent that in any case if we had rented any other place.

One particular quirk of the Mexican (Baja, California) real estate culture (I should have stated from the outset that whenever I write about my life in Mexico I tend to generalize to the entire country without even thinking about it. For some things this is probably OK but for many it is not at all particularly since in so many ways Baja, California is very different from mainland Mexico) is its highly personal nature. In my opinion, it is this factor that allows these sorts of arrangements to flourish and be successful. The owner of the home providing the financing option needs to be trustworthy and have the necessary resources to do such a deal. And that homeowner needs to know the same of the leasers/potential buyers. The only way to really get a sense of this is by actually meeting in person. In our case the homeowner happens to be an Ohio born 60+ year resident of the community where we live. As one of the its oldest residents and founding members they do not come any more well respected or trustworthy. Each and every person that we have spoken too that knows him (most), say only great things and refer to him affectionately as "Uncle." His lovely wife is Mexican national and a very impressive woman in her own right whom both myself and my wife took an instant liking to. Together we all sat in the office of the Mexican real estate agent who brokered the deal and prepared the lease contract as he read the contract, written in Spanish, aloud, in English. This particular real estate agent has a very interesting history as well and has been living in, working for/against or in our particular community for almost as long as the homeowner.

Picture the stereotypical Hollywood Mexican sheriff, and the man is a dead ringer for a Miami Vice era Edward James Olmos.

He was in law enforcement (of a sorts) many years ago and it shows in his calm, steady, but deadly serious at times demeanor. He is also quick to smile and one hell of a nice guy once you get to know him a little. He had provided us copies of the lease in advance and so we already knew what it said. Not only did we have a machine translation we also had a native Mexican Spanish speaker review that translation to ensure it was accurate. The fact that the entire reading took all of ten minutes tells you how straightforward and simple it was. None of the frustrating legalese and technical jargon so prevalent in American contracts. It was refreshingly blunt, to the point, and clear. Of course, by necessity it omits some things and not all eventualities were addressed unlike most American leases these days which have clauses covering almost any possible eventuality and, because of this, can end up in the 20-30 page range. The idea here is that if you run into situations not anticipated in the contract you work together to resolve those issues to both parties satisfaction. Of course that is not a perfect solution, and it does not always bring the best end result for either party, but lets's be honest, neither does the American civil court system. Personally, I very much prefer this sort of arrangement. I have the homeowners personal cell phone numbers, know where they live (a few blocks away in the same complex), and like them on a personal level.

The big difference I see between the US and Mexican approach is that Mexican's basically believe that the vast majority of people are good and reasonable and will to honor their agreements because it is the right thing to do. Thus their contracts are written with that implicit expectation. While in the US it is quite the opposite. Here, property owners believe the vast majority of people are irresponsible crooks with no ethics who would take them for everything they have in an instant if they could.

Even though I think the people who believe this are dead wrong, their belief system pervades all aspects of American society with one end result being the monstrous rental agreements/contracts which are so common in the United States.

In addition to everything I described above there is yet another, just as important, reason I am staying in Mexico. I have grown to really like it here. The pace of life, the friendliness of the people, the climate, etc. Yes, it is not for everyone and their are some frustrations especially with respect to the pace of life overall it is a really great place to live. With all that going for it, why should I leave?