Best Places In The World To Retire

The cost to rent a home in the Lake Chapala / Ajijic area has been moving upwards over the last few years, as demand has increased and supply has not kept up.

 

As with prices to buy, your price to rent will be heavily dependent on location.  The most expensive rentals will tend to be in the actual town of Ajijic and in some of the more desirable close in areas, such as around the golf course or in a particularly nice fraccionamiento (housing development). ...

The cost to rent a home in the Lake Chapala / Ajijic area has been moving upwards over the last few years, as demand has increased and supply has not kept up.

 

As with prices to buy, your price to rent will be heavily dependent on location.  The most expensive rentals will tend to be in the actual town of Ajijic and in some of the more desirable close in areas, such as around the golf course or in a particularly nice fraccionamiento (housing development).  As you radiate away from these areas, prices tend lower.

 

Also, prices are highly dependent on if you rent long term (a year or more) or just for “the season,” with the high season defined as when most of the Snowbirds are in town, consistent with what you would define as “winter” up north.  Short term rentals are of course, more per month.

 

The vast majority of the homes in the Lake Chapala / Ajijic area come with either partial or full furniture included.

 

As a base, let’s use a short term, a three bedroom, two bathroom home in Ajijic proper or in the more desirable local areas, assuming that you get a good price, which may run you $1,400 to %1,800 per month.  Longer term, you may be able to reduce that by 25% or so.

 

 

Nicer areas but not as nice as those above may run 25% less.

 

If you choose to live in more far out or areas with very few expats, you can pay about half.

 

Interested in moving to Mexico?  Visit Best Mexico Movers.

San Juan del Sur is like any other city in Nicaragua where life definitely starts very early in the morning, like 4: 30 or 5 AM. That’s when you see the markets beginning to open, the fishermen getting ready to head out to fish, the surfers heading out to surf. It is very, very laid back for retirement.

When I say laid back, you can probably do the entire day’s chores in about two hours, maybe even less. You can walk on the beach, visit different stores, eat in one...

San Juan del Sur is like any other city in Nicaragua where life definitely starts very early in the morning, like 4: 30 or 5 AM. That’s when you see the markets beginning to open, the fishermen getting ready to head out to fish, the surfers heading out to surf. It is very, very laid back for retirement.

When I say laid back, you can probably do the entire day’s chores in about two hours, maybe even less. You can walk on the beach, visit different stores, eat in one of the restaurants, maybe do some exercise. The town per se runs at about 6 miles per hour. I can only imagine being retired.

It’s definitely not New York City that goes 1,000 miles per hour. Retiring in San Juan del Sur is the complete opposite. It is extremely relaxing. You can sit by the porch during the afternoons, have lunch at 12 because you were up since 6, reading the newspaper at 7, having breakfast, going out. The vibe is very relaxed. It is an “I don’t care about the world” type of feeling. I wouldn’t mind relaxing in San Juan for the rest of my life.

I’ve seen a lot of older folks and the impression that I get is they obviously have money but not millionaire money. They have money to retire in San Juan del Sur so they can have the luxury to do pretty much whatever they want. Once they are bored, they’ll go have lunch at Morgan’s Rock or they’ll go on a day trip to Ometepe or they’ll go fishing for the day because they’re obviously retired and they can afford it but it’s not like they’re spending thousands and thousands of dollars. It’s really affordable.

The main highways in Portugal are very good and you pay for them because they have tolls. The secondary roads and the country roads are not as good and that’s where you will definitely need a 4 x 4. Generally, you can drive on regularly paved roads around Lisbon. It’s only when you get to the villages that the roads may be unpaved.

 

(The single track dirt road to the lighthouse of Ponta dos Rosais, Portugal, pictured.)

The main highways in Portugal are very good and you pay for them because they have tolls. The secondary roads and the country roads are not as good and that’s where you will definitely need a 4 x 4. Generally, you can drive on regularly paved roads around Lisbon. It’s only when you get to the villages that the roads may be unpaved.

 

(The single track dirt road to the lighthouse of Ponta dos Rosais, Portugal, pictured.)