Best Places In The World To Retire

The construction standards in Ajijic and Chapala depend on how expensive is the house.

 

My suggestion is to get value, get estimates from different contractors or architects. My advice is to always ask the contractor or the architect if they can refer or if you can call one of the clients to ask about their experience with the contractor being considered, because most of the contractors and the architects will say they have the experience and then later...

The construction standards in Ajijic and Chapala depend on how expensive is the house.

 

My suggestion is to get value, get estimates from different contractors or architects. My advice is to always ask the contractor or the architect if they can refer or if you can call one of the clients to ask about their experience with the contractor being considered, because most of the contractors and the architects will say they have the experience and then later there could be some problems.

 

I have not heard of a house that collapsed but the problem starts with the details that sometimes in one or two years there might be a little bit of leak, not a lot of water coming in, or problems with the plumbing or electricity. These are usually the most common things. 

 

There is a permitting process, which can be divided into two categories. One, the contractor can provide the permit and there are two permits. One is from the local authorities which means the contractor has to go to the City Hall to get the permit and in order to have that they have to manifest the area of construction, the details of if it’s going to be one or two floors, etc.  Once they have that they have to have an architect drawing, like a plan, and then also the second permit is IMSS and that is really important. If the contractor does not give their customer the IMSS release, when the owners want to sell their house the realtors would ask for the release from IMSS. Why? Because if a contractor does a remodeling or a new house and does not have the IMSS release, the IMSS can seek payment and penalties from the owner of the construction up to 10 years later.  The construction workers need to be registered in the IMSS. The release you should receive from your contractor states that the construction was done and the construction workers received IMSS, which is the medical attention. So it’s really important because if one of the contractors does not provide IMSS and one of the workers gets into an accident or dies, one option is that IMSS can come to the homeowner and the homeowner would have to pay for the medical costs related to the accident of the worker. So if you are the owner of a construction project, make sure that you have a signed contract by the contractor where the contractor guarantees that they are going to be in charge of the workers, that there is not any legal liability or medical liability of all the workers that are working.  The homeowner should be protected because usually the contractor is the one that supposed to get the construction permit and the IMSS permit to do that. So once they have a really good contract then if something happens and the contractor did not get the IMSS, did not get the permit and some accident happens to the workers then automatically it’s the responsibility of the contractor if there is a contract. But if there’s not a contract then there is a good possibility that at the end the homeowner is going to be responsible. Anywhere in Mexico, just as in the US, ignorance of the law is no protection from it. 

 

These permits are when the construction is not in a housing development or a private condo area. When a foreigner buys a property in a private condominium area or a housing development, they also have to get approval from the neighbors association of that condo in order to approve the construction, which adds a third permit: the condo from the neighbors association inside of the condo then the construction permit and then the IMSS permit. If a person lives in the condo and goes directly to the City Hall to get a work permit, they will not issue it unless they have approval of the committee or the neighbors association that belongs to that housing development or that condominium.

 

(Traditional home, Ajijijc, Mexico, pictured.)

The ecotourism in Ambergris Caye is alive and thriving but of course people are always looking for better ways to recycle more and reduce. For the most part, we don’t have a lot of options because are seasonal. In the dry season, the only option is to conserve water. You cannot run taps endlessly and waste water. The people who provide lodging and the people who provide services here in Ambergris Caye are very conscious about that. For the most part, people set themselves up to...

The ecotourism in Ambergris Caye is alive and thriving but of course people are always looking for better ways to recycle more and reduce. For the most part, we don’t have a lot of options because are seasonal. In the dry season, the only option is to conserve water. You cannot run taps endlessly and waste water. The people who provide lodging and the people who provide services here in Ambergris Caye are very conscious about that. For the most part, people set themselves up to conserve whether it be through cisterns for their water, solar panels for their roofs, or by just reducing their garbage because everything costs money.

 

Some resorts are getting “Green Globe” certified and that is a pretty exciting move. Belize is getting recognized as having globe-certified resorts so we are in the right direction.

 

There are a lot of non-self invasive sports that you can do in Ambergris Caye. We have self-propelled sports, such as kayaking, sailing, wind surfing, or stand up paddle boarding. We also have bird watching and even a crocodile observation tour, which is led by biologists. There are many activities here in Ambergris Caye that are eco-focused and the people are very  conscious of minimizing the impact of these activities to the environment as best as possible.

You could get by in Nicaragua if you just spoke English. Even though we’re primarily a Spanish-speaking country, the people here in Nicaragua are very attuned to trying to help understand what you’re trying to say if you’re speaking English

 

I would, however, definitely recommended that you pick up a little bit of Spanish just as I would recommend you pick up a little bit of Spanish anywhere else you decide live in Latin America; at least...

You could get by in Nicaragua if you just spoke English. Even though we’re primarily a Spanish-speaking country, the people here in Nicaragua are very attuned to trying to help understand what you’re trying to say if you’re speaking English

 

I would, however, definitely recommended that you pick up a little bit of Spanish just as I would recommend you pick up a little bit of Spanish anywhere else you decide live in Latin America; at least the basics to get around. Doing this would be a very helpful for anybody thinking about retiring down here. It’s very easy to get the basics when it comes to speaking Spanish and Nicaraguans are very patient people so there’s no rush in trying to be a perfect Spanish speaking person.

 

By “the basics”, I mean to learn things such as “Where’s the bathroom?,” “How much does this cost?,” etc.  With just this, you could get by.  After that, I would recommend that anybody who comes to live in Nicaragua should learn a little bit of Spanish just to get along with people in a way where you can understand them and they’ll better understand you; just a good well-rounded two or three thousand word vocabulary where you can start to put sentences together.

 

In Nicaragua as in many parts of Latin America we speak Spanish very quickly. The average person when they catch on to the fact that you’re not a fluent Spanish speaking person will usually slow it down so that you can understand better.  

 

(Expats and their Nicaragua hosts, Nicaragua, pictured.)