How much is it to build a house in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?
Doug Willey - Doug Willey, Independent Real Estate Consultant
How much it is to build a house in Yucatan is like asking how much does a car cost. Well, are you buying a Volkswagen, a Beamer, or a Rolls Royce? What kind of car do you want to buy? It’s the same thing with building a house.
You can build a normal, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home and have it done nicely with aluminum windows, high-pressure water, hot water, etc. for US $100,000 or less. This cost doesn’t include the land; just the...
How much it is to build a house in Yucatan is like asking how much does a car cost. Well, are you buying a Volkswagen, a Beamer, or a Rolls Royce? What kind of car do you want to buy? It’s the same thing with building a house.
You can build a normal, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home and have it done nicely with aluminum windows, high-pressure water, hot water, etc. for US $100,000 or less. This cost doesn’t include the land; just the building.
There are different ways that you can save money on building your house here. For example, here in Yucatan, you can have your countertops done in polished concrete. They pour the concrete, put in a dye to make it any color you want and buff the concrete until it turns out to be almost like marble. It’s beautiful but it costs 1/3 of the cost if you would get marble.
You can also go to the other extreme. To give you an example, last year, I had a client from Alabama. She called me and said that she wanted move to Mexico and build her own home. She asked if I could find her an ocean-front lot. Luckily, her timing was perfect. One of my clients that I had sold a lot to had decided that he didn’t want to build. He decided to just get rid of the lot so I contacted him, and he said, “If you just give me my money back, then she could have it for exactly what I paid for it.” So I contacted my client and told her that I found her an oceanfront lot. It was a super deal at $70,000. She said, “Okay. I’ll take it.” Of course I sent her pictures of the lot and all that.
She came down to Mexico and talked to me about getting her home built. I explained to her that there are many different contractors here but through the years, I have kind of gone through all of them and there is only one contractor that I will give my personal recommendation to. I know this guy does quality work and is fair with his prices.
My client told me a basic idea of what kind of home she wanted. She said, “I’d like to spend maybe $100,000 or thereabouts.” I said, “Sketch out or send pictures of what kind of house you want and we’ll sit down with the contractor, whose name is Hillel. We’ll start going over things and see where we’re at.”
The contractor and I had a meeting with my client. She had all these magazines. Basically, she wanted a mansion. She wanted an infinity pool in the front yard and you wouldn’t believe this home. I got the contractor building this unbelievable home and when the final figures came out, it was going to be $380,000. She said, “Okay, if that’s what it takes, then go ahead. Let’s do it.” So now she has over $400,000 in her house.
You can definitely go to any extreme that you want to go here in the Yucatan when it comes to building a house. But the average person that moves here didn’t come here for that reason. They didn’t come here to drop half a million dollars. They came here to find a nice little place to live and spend about $100,000.
Overall, there are a lot of ways that you can build a very nice home but you do it in the Mexican style. Mexicans are all about saving money and building as economically as possible.
(Patio over looking the bay in Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)
What do I need to know about living overseas and retiring abroad?
Allen Rosen - Chiriqui Coastal Real Estate
I am a Canadian who has lived in Panama for 6 years.
The most important -- and difficult -- lesson I have learned in Panama is this:
If you arrive in your new country with an open mind and a willingness to adapt to its culture, you will thrive.
If you arrive with a 'gringo mindset' and believe that your new country has an obligation to adapt to you and your values, well, you are going to end up being miserable and...
I am a Canadian who has lived in Panama for 6 years.
The most important -- and difficult -- lesson I have learned in Panama is this:
If you arrive in your new country with an open mind and a willingness to adapt to its culture, you will thrive.
If you arrive with a 'gringo mindset' and believe that your new country has an obligation to adapt to you and your values, well, you are going to end up being miserable and will probably return to your previous country.
Remember, folks, when you move to a new country, it is their country. If, for example, you think the service is bad in Panama, as it usually is, you need to bear in mind that they have a right to run their country the way they want -- bad service and all. And if we foreigners are not comfortable with that, then we are the ones who need to change or go back to our home countries.
Follow this simple rule and I promise that your new life in a foreign land will be much happier!
Surfing in the Algarve is fantastic. Algarve is the second most popular region of Portugal for surfing. The most famous surfing spot can be found north of Lisbon, which is called the silver coast, in the area between Peniche and Nazare. They broke the world record there several times.
The Algarve has a fantastic reputation for surfing on the west coast of the region, between Sagres and Aljezur, and we have a number of famous beaches there such Bordeira and...
Surfing in the Algarve is fantastic. Algarve is the second most popular region of Portugal for surfing. The most famous surfing spot can be found north of Lisbon, which is called the silver coast, in the area between Peniche and Nazare. They broke the world record there several times.
The Algarve has a fantastic reputation for surfing on the west coast of the region, between Sagres and Aljezur, and we have a number of famous beaches there such Bordeira and Carrapateira. We also have other beaches in and around the Sagres area, such as Martinhal and Baleal. They all have long, sandy beaches and very good surf. They have a fantastic swell and very evenly spaced waves. It’s easy to get a ride and get it in without being hammered by the next wave. But the water is cold so you need a wetsuit to go surfing.
There is also some surfing on the southern coast of the Algarve. The further west you go, the better the surf. There are small surfing spots just off the beaches around Lagos and around Praia da Luz. The distance between Lagos and Sagres is only about 25 kilometers so you don’t have to travel far to get to surf.
It’s safe to go into the water in Praia da Luz. The waters there are just like the Mediterranean most days. It is calm with azure colors; nary a wave so it’s very safe.
In the western part of the Algarve, you shouldn’t really go into the waves alone. If you have children, they can certainly play in the shallow water but I wouldn’t be far away because a lot of the beaches in that area are very remote and there are not a lot of people there. They don’t necessarily have protection such as life guards and so on. However, most of the southern beaches do have lifeguards.
The Algarve has probably the largest number of “Blue Flag” beaches in Portugal. “Blue Flag” is the European Union symbol for quality of the beaches, infrastructure and water quality. The beaches in the west coast has big waves whereas there are hardly any waves on the southern shores of the Algarve, so there are surf conditions to love for anybody.
(Swells at the beach at Carrapateira, Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)
There are cars on Ambergris Caye; they're just very controlled and the government is very strict with who is allowed to have a car. As an expat, you will never be given a permit to have a car on Ambergris Caye. You can have a golf cart but not a car. They will not let you.
However, if you live on the mainland, you can go easily buy a car and have it licensed. You just cannot physically bring that car to Ambergris Caye. They are trying to keep the amount of...
There are cars on Ambergris Caye; they're just very controlled and the government is very strict with who is allowed to have a car. As an expat, you will never be given a permit to have a car on Ambergris Caye. You can have a golf cart but not a car. They will not let you.
However, if you live on the mainland, you can go easily buy a car and have it licensed. You just cannot physically bring that car to Ambergris Caye. They are trying to keep the amount of cars on the island in check because the cars are obviously much more dangerous to drive. The streets are narrow, some of the roads are sandy and it’s not really a great environment for cars. There is definitely a place for cars, but it is just that they are generally not given to expats. You can get a cab, golf cart, pedal a bike, or walk pretty much anywhere.
If you need to move your fridge, you have to hire a driver that has a pickup truck. Generally if you are buying a brand new fridge, the company has a company car and they deliver the fridge via their company vehicle.
On the mainland of Belize, you would need a car because everything is pretty spread out, as opposed to being a concentrated, small island like Ambergris Caye. On the mainland there are real highways and there are real gas stations. Then there are mountains too.
How bad are the mosquitoes and other bugs and insects in Boquete, Panama?
Rommel H. Troetsch - Arquitectura Axioma
Greetings expats community.
Because Boquete is in the tropical zone of the world I understand your concerns about bugs, mosquitos and other plagues. But don't worry, regardless of this being a tropical zone Boquete's altitude helps against mosquitos.
Nevertheless there are other bugs to take in consideration. Depending on where you live you can find other animals like toads or even small snakes if you live in a lot full of nature so it is something...
Greetings expats community.
Because Boquete is in the tropical zone of the world I understand your concerns about bugs, mosquitos and other plagues. But don't worry, regardless of this being a tropical zone Boquete's altitude helps against mosquitos.
Nevertheless there are other bugs to take in consideration. Depending on where you live you can find other animals like toads or even small snakes if you live in a lot full of nature so it is something to take in consideration.
Speaking through my experience, I have found toads, small snakes but nothing to worry about. I've lived here for 12 years and It has just happened 2two times with the toads and one time with a small and non harmful snake.
What has been a real issue are scorpions. Last year I moved to an apartment which is far from Boquete's main road and I have found many little and not so little scorpions in my house. At some point it became normal and I didn't even worry when I found them in the kitchen or crawling around. I decided to fumigate and I had no undesirable visits for a long long time. This year they appeared again and more than I have ever seen before so I decide to call the best fumigation company and there diagnosis was this:
The scorpions in Panama are not poisonous. Their sting does hurts and you will feel pain but you are not going to die or get your limbs amputated. You can get a regular pain killer and an allergy medicine and you will be fine.
Because my lot limits with a cliff the scorpions are just next to me so I need to fumigate constantly.
They seek warm places to hide and my house is literally 15 feet away from the cliff so it is obvious to them to get in my house.
They get in using the small and narrow spaces between doors and floors, a non-sealed window or any small opening so make sure everything is hermetically closed.
They are more common to see in December to March so that is the best time in the year to fumigate.
Because I live very close to wild nature and that is their habitat I am the invader in this case and we are going to be in a constant war between us so I will need to fumigate constantly, but the best thing to do is to get a cat. (Even the fumigation company told us that, so if you already have a cat in the United States make sure to bring it with you.)
I hope that you find this answer helpful and I hope I have not scared you too much. Boquete is still a wonderful place to live in but I also need to be honest with you.
David Smith - Nicaragua Sotheby's International Realty
San Juan del Sur is very safe. The only people that you hear getting into any kind of trouble are foreigners who get drunk and silly and messy and get taken advantage of the same way that they would if they were in their hometown, if in their hometown they were going out to get blitzed in the bars.
Petty theft is the biggest and most often occuring crime here in San Juan del Sur. The victims of petty theft tend to be those who are not completely in control of their...
San Juan del Sur is very safe. The only people that you hear getting into any kind of trouble are foreigners who get drunk and silly and messy and get taken advantage of the same way that they would if they were in their hometown, if in their hometown they were going out to get blitzed in the bars.
Petty theft is the biggest and most often occuring crime here in San Juan del Sur. The victims of petty theft tend to be those who are not completely in control of their faculties at the time. Otherwise it’s very safe to walk around,; very safe to walk on the beach. Yea, I don’t hear or feel unsafe at all.
One has personal feelings as to safety. As articles in Nicaragua get out there and people take a look at the facts rather than relying on other people’s gut feelings and they have their own experiences, Nicaragua’s reputation is improving.
Personally, I decided to look at the facts and compare apples with apples from the variety of countries I was considering. I looked at the reports from the United Nations say about safety, what do reports from Interpol say about safety, etc. And the facts are, surprisingly for many, Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America and considered the second safest country behind Canada and all of the Americas.
There are plenty of reports now, including a recent one by the director of the International Monetary Fund with all the facts and figures about how little crime there is in Nicaragua and a deeper analysis as to why that is so when Nicaragua is bounded by countries that still suffer from quite serious crime—Honduras and El Salvador to the north and even in Costa Rica with the growing disparity between expats who live in highrises on the beach (which you don’t see in Nicaragua; it’s prohibited), and the Costa Rican locals behind the beach, who are blocked from access. I’ve learned that the growing disparity is leading to more and more crime in Costa Rica that we don’t have here in Nicaragua.
The facts speak for themselves. There are plenty of reports and we have a whole list of those reports on our website so that people can read for themselves what the facts say and you can compare country to country on a whole variety of different criminalities—violent crime, rape statistics, murder statistics, gun crimes, all these kinds of things, and you can receive a deeper analysis as to why that is the case. It’s quite fascinating and it causes so many people to have a paradigm shift in their thinking. It occurred with me when I learned that Nicaragua was not what I was expecting and got me to step off the plane and come look, and instantly I felt at ease with the friendly, safe, place here.
I’ve been here for nine years and never have I been concerned with anything. I did, however, have my car robbed once, which was on Easter weekend, Semana Santa. Semana Santa in San Juan del Sur is absolutely crazy. It’s the center of all of Nicaragua for partying. People from Nicaragua and other countries come to San Juan del Sur and camp out on the beach, so it’s absolutely packed. It’s the party central holiday of the year. Consequently, it’s also when the bad guys are going to be here looking for drunken people to take advantage of and pickpocket and do minor petty theft.
It happened to be that weekend. I went to the grocery store and I was sauntering around, super relaxed. I was in the middle of planning doing something else and had left my Roots leather bag on the passenger seat of my car, open with my computer, and a couple of thousand dollars in cash that I had taken out to pay someone. I never had that much money but I did that day because I was off to pay somebody. I also had out my Nikon camera, which was only about 4 months old. Everything was in my Roots leather bag and I sauntered into the Pali grocery store having left my car open with an open bag on the passenger’s seat right there, and lo and behold, when I got back to the car, it was gone. I didn’t actually notice until I was driving back home. When I was five minutes into my drive I noticed my little white dog, Lily, was on the passenger’s seat. I looked at her and I thought, “She’s not supposed to be there. Why is she there?” Almost immediately, I realized, “Oh, God. The bag that was there was gone.” So I was at least pleased that they didn’t take the most expensive thing in the car, which was Lily. She’s a Coton de Tulear, a very rare breed and my baby of 7 or 8 years. They didn’t take her, so that pleased me.
Just to cap off that story, what I thought was a wonderful reflection of what Nicaragua is, is that in my bag also was my wallet with my passport. After the theft, I started the process of recording my passport stolen and getting in touch with the British Embassy in Costa Rica and going to the whole bureaucratic process to get a new passport which was a nightmare. About 3 weeks into that process, I walked into Dona Gloria Sanchez grocery store, which is a little grocery store in the middle of town. Dona Gloria held up my passport and said, “I have something for you.” I thought it was absolutely incredible but my passport had been tossed out onto the side of the road, someone has found it. I’m not a well-known person in town but obviously known enough that it found its way to Dona Gloria, which is where I do my grocery shopping, and she saved it. It brought a tear to my eye that that would happen.
I thought it was amazing and it still to me feels like a really good solid reflection of the people of Nicaragua and how this place actually works. It encompasses everything I’ve written so far about safety and crime. It’s a really good ending to that story, even though I lost money and my computer and I had to save up to go buy a new one.
The Coton de Tulear is the royal dog of Madagascar. She’s good dog, but not a watchdog. She’s a white fluffy lap dog. Has they noticed her, she would’ve licked them to death.
Two bodies of water surround most of the peninsula of Baja California. On the eastern side is the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California), while the western side faces the more familiar Pacific Ocean. These watery expanses merge at what looks like the large, natural arch you've seen pictures of at Baja’s southern tip, Cabo San Lucas, about 750 miles roughly south of the US-Mexican border. At its widest, the peninsula measures about 85 miles from side...
Phil McGuigan has some stories to tell. In this interview, he recounts to Jet Metier about his ties to the man who eradicated malaria in the Canal Zone and about the time he wrestled the richest man in Belize. McGuigan bought land and a house in Panama almost as quickly as he now buys hundreds of pounds of dog food for animal rescue in Boquete. Ask McGuigan about an event, and he probably knows someone involved directly. There is a story about how friends...
Continuing with the history of the beautiful Caribbean ocean coast of Panama, one of the oldest tourist sites is the San Lorenzo Fort, near Portabelo and Fort Sherman, built by King Felipe II, from Spain in 1598, situated at the entrance of the large Chagres River, in the province of Colon, Republic of Panama.
San Lorenzo Fort was declared a Patrimony for the Humanity by UNESCO in 1980 for several reasons, including it being historically...
How much it is to build a house in Yucatan is like asking how much does a car cost. Well, are you buying a Volkswagen, a Beamer, or a Rolls Royce? What kind of car do you want to buy? It’s the same thing with building a house. 
Surfing in the Algarve is fantastic. Algarve is the second most popular region of Portugal for surfing. The most famous surfing spot can be found north of Lisbon, which is called the silver coast, in the area between Peniche and Nazare. They broke the world record there several times. 
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Two bodies of water surround most of the peninsula of Baja California. On the eastern side is the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California), while the western side faces the more familiar Pacific Ocean. These watery expanses merge at what looks like the large, natural arch you've seen pictures of at Baja’s southern tip, Cabo San Lucas, about 750 miles roughly south of the US-Mexican border. At its widest, the peninsula measures about 85 miles from side....jpeg)
Caribbean ocean coast of Panama, one of the oldest tourist sites is the San Lorenzo Fort, near Portabelo and Fort Sherman, built by King Felipe II, from Spain in 1598, situated at the entrance of the large Chagres River, in the province of Colon, Republic of Panama.