Best Places In The World To Retire

As a foreigner in Mexico, you cannot buy a land or property that has only rights of possession or has no deed. If the property is ejido, which is a tribal land owned jointly by a group that is not able to sell it to you, you cannot buy that. So if you’re a foreigner wanting to buy real estate in Mexico, you have to make sure that it has a title and that it can be transmitted to you. Also as a foreigner, you cannot buy land within a certain distance of a border or the...

As a foreigner in Mexico, you cannot buy a land or property that has only rights of possession or has no deed. If the property is ejido, which is a tribal land owned jointly by a group that is not able to sell it to you, you cannot buy that. So if you’re a foreigner wanting to buy real estate in Mexico, you have to make sure that it has a title and that it can be transmitted to you. Also as a foreigner, you cannot buy land within a certain distance of a border or the ocean. 

 

There are federal zones. If you buy a property close to the lake, there is a property between the lake and your house that is called a federal zone. You cannot buy that but you can get a concession, which means nobody can get that part because you have the permit for it. As an example, in Lake Chapala, there are properties close to the lake that are owned by Mexicans and there are properties owned by foreigners. All of them have to get permits for the land in the federal zone. The rules are the same for foreigners and locals. The only difference is that if you are a foreigner buying real estate in Mexico and you want to avoid paying capital gains you have to have a temporary or a permanent residency, a tax number, you have to prove that you’ve been in Mexico for a certain period, and you have to show receipts of bills paid under your name, and you can’t have sold a property in the last 5 years. If you have sold a property in the last 5 years, you cannot avoid paying capital gains. If you do not have a residency and you are a foreigner, you cannot avoid paying capital gains.

 

(House on the Pacific at Cuyutlán, a favorite destination for residents of Lake Chapala, Mexico, three hours away, pictured.)

The restaurants in Ambergris Caye are really nice, with the nicer restaurants having prices here pretty much the same as the prices that you would pay in the States. All the places that I’ve been in Latin America have been a lot cheaper so I wasn’t necessarily expecting that the prices in Ambergris Caye would be the same as in the States. 

 

The restaurants here are good quality and they...

The restaurants in Ambergris Caye are really nice, with the nicer restaurants having prices here pretty much the same as the prices that you would pay in the States. All the places that I’ve been in Latin America have been a lot cheaper so I wasn’t necessarily expecting that the prices in Ambergris Caye would be the same as in the States. 

 

The restaurants here are good quality and they serve fresh food from Belize. You know that the food didn’t come from China and it hasn’t sat on a boat for two weeks. All the tortillas that the restaurants here in Ambergris Caye use are all freshly made that same day, which is very nice. The restaurants here serve all fresh food  

 

There are cheaper restaurants that serve local food. For US $3, you could get a nice meal with rice and beans, cabbage, and cheese. You could also get a huge breakfast burrito for $2.50. 

 

Just recently I went to a resort at the north part of the island that has their local favorite with local prices. They have this burrito with corn tortilla with cabbage and lime slaw with some fresh tomatoes for only $3. It was a great price and they are absolutely delicious. 

 

If you choose to and if you don’t go to the touristy places, you can eat less expensively than you would in the US. 

 

(Pictured: palapa on Ambergris Caye.)

The mosquitoes and other insects are not that bad here in Algarve. We are not Florida and we are not Central America. Anyone who is accustomed to living in those places would find Algarve to be a welcomed relief. We clearly do get some flies and mosquitoes in the summer but they are not at the epidemic level. Some houses here have pools so sometimes mosquitoes breed in the water and we have to swat them away but it’s not a big deal. People here often get wax candles that have a...

The mosquitoes and other insects are not that bad here in Algarve. We are not Florida and we are not Central America. Anyone who is accustomed to living in those places would find Algarve to be a welcomed relief. We clearly do get some flies and mosquitoes in the summer but they are not at the epidemic level. Some houses here have pools so sometimes mosquitoes breed in the water and we have to swat them away but it’s not a big deal. People here often get wax candles that have a scent that repels mosquitoes. These candles are easily available at the department stores or hardware stores and cost between €1 (US $1.10 or £ 0.75) and €5 ($5.50 or £ 3.69) depending on the size of the content. It’s a very efficient way of getting rid of mosquitoes. 

 

Inside houses, you can also have electric, plug-in mosquito repellant units, but overall, there is no need to use mosquito repellant all the time here in the Algarve. To date, there has not been any outbreaks of any kind of diseases which are brought about by mosquitoes, such as malaria or dengue.

 

(Medieval castle,  Castelo de Alcoutim on the San Marcos River, Algarve, Portugal, pictured. )

In Granada, Nicaragua, you have the normal fare.  You can buy all different kinds of fruits and vegetables and grains.  You can buy meats and similar items.

 

The local market (the central market; not the American-style grocery store), however, is much more extensive than just having food.  For example, you may have shoe repair service, clothes, leather; a mishmash of everything.  It’s an open area with stalls.  Produce is...

In Granada, Nicaragua, you have the normal fare.  You can buy all different kinds of fruits and vegetables and grains.  You can buy meats and similar items.

 

The local market (the central market; not the American-style grocery store), however, is much more extensive than just having food.  For example, you may have shoe repair service, clothes, leather; a mishmash of everything.  It’s an open area with stalls.  Produce is stacked everywhere and lots of people are shopping.  You’ll also have other food items.  It’s a typical South American-style environment of a general market.   This is where the native Nicaraguans shop.  In addition to the local market, there are pharmacies everywhere.

 

In Granada you also have established grocery store chains like you would be familiar with in the US.  In these grocery stores the prices are slightly higher than in the US on imported things and lower on local items.  I may go there if I want, for example, some American cereal or some other item they don’t sell in the market.  They don’t sell imported items in the market and they don’t sell alcohol. 

 

For the purchases you would make for normal, every day living, you’re pretty self-sufficient here in Granada.

 

Who your neighbors would be in Panama varies depending on where you live. Most North Americans or foreigners in general, tend to gravitate towards expat areas because they are not ready to make the adjustments in one big step.  They want to be around people who are like-minded and similar to them, who speak the same language, and so forth. So if you go to expat communities of course, you would be living around expats and foreigners.

 

If you get outside...

Who your neighbors would be in Panama varies depending on where you live. Most North Americans or foreigners in general, tend to gravitate towards expat areas because they are not ready to make the adjustments in one big step.  They want to be around people who are like-minded and similar to them, who speak the same language, and so forth. So if you go to expat communities of course, you would be living around expats and foreigners.

 

If you get outside of those areas then you would be of course living with the local Panamanians. What they would be like would depend on where you are located but for the most part they are very simple and very hardworking and your neighbors would be significantly different than us because there is a significant difference in the education, in values and the way they do things.

 

For instance, maybe they don’t value money as much as we do. They are very happy and they are very simple. They seem to be very, very happy considering the amount of money that they make. Their value system is just different than ours. They are not as driven or ambitious to make lots of money, though it is not to say that you could say that about every single Panamanian.

 

Living amongst Panamanians would require you to certainly make some adjustments. They would have chickens, cows, and roosters and maybe they don’t speak the same language, so all these are things that you definitely need to get used to. I find it that the number one thing that they value is family. Panamanians have tight knit family groups. They do every single thing together. When they go to the grocery store, they are with the whole family. When they go to any outing of any kind, they typically have the whole family in tow.

 

(Expats finding new friends and romance, Panama, pictured.)