Deciding on moving to Lakeside

I think self insuring is the route I will go in the beginning and then go from there when it comes time to decide on whether to opt out of SS or not I actually can't go on medicare until I'm 66 anyway. Just based on Pat's experiences of breaking her ankle and how much cheaper and better the care was in MX compared to the cost in the US, when a friend of hers had the same exact surgery and the cost difference was unbelievable...hmmm MX total $2000. / US total 30K kinda of no brainer to me guys! Also doctors don't make house calls anywhere that I've lived in the US and they do in MX that's pretty special in my opinion. My gut for now says I'd still opt out of SS medicare, and if I moved back to the US I would just pay the penalty fee to go on it and work it from that perspective. I will have a little nest egg for medical emergencies so I think maybe going on SP would be a good decision as well. I just don't see the point in paying for medicare in a place that I can't use it just for a big what if! I choose not to live expecting the worst to happen so far God has taken care of me so I have Faith that will continue :) But that said I am going to plan to take some responsibility to care for myself in case I got hurt and needed medical care. I sure don't want to be a bother to anyone most of all my family.

Funny story, my son told me that I should move to Canada years ago, stating medical care is free! I told him no way would I move to Canada just to have free medical care! I don't think living there would suit me, the weather for one and secondly, it impresses me as pretty expensive place to live. Is it more expensive than living in the State of Washington for example? Now my interet is sparked :) I'll have to check that out online.

I'm just throwing this out there - but there is a large group of pensioners living in Tijuana. It is not the same as Lakeside, but the rents are cheap, still plenty of Fiestas and community events. Check out rentals on craigslist to see if you could live in the desert by the sea. Keep your Medicare, and all the addons - you are only a short dash to San Diego. Public transport is excellent (apparently), the Mexican immigration does not even issue tourist visas in the 'free' zone, and you can drive a car with U.S. plates as far south as Ensenada (and possibly further) but you would probably prefer to take buses from Tijuana to anywhere you want to go.

edit: add on about Canada. Canada has not accepted retirement class immigrants since 1996. There was an investment category - but that has been scrapped with no clear replacement in sight. U.S.A. also does not offer a retirement visa - you get six months - that's it, then skedaddle back where you came from please. Their investment scheme requires you to invest $5 million, the Canadian was $3 million.

pamarie wrote:I I will have a little nest egg for medical emergencies so I think maybe going on SP would be a good decision as well.

I'm not sure that people here on tourist visas qualify for Seguro Popular,but who knows...

Luisa wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:And I know a lot of people who have lived here a long time and are happy they "self insured" versus paying $6000 US per year in medical insurance. Many times people don't even surpass their huge deductibles when they take ill so they are also out of pocket those expenses every year. It's like rolling the dice I suppose. Personally if I get that sick I'll be heading back to Canada. I never could understand those that stay here with prolonged, incurable illness and huge medical expenses while free medical is waiting at home for them.

Bob, you must be from a province that allows you to keep your health coverage even though you aren't living there.

there is so such thing but once you return,as a canadian citizen you will be covered again after a short waiting period. alberta is 3 months.

I have some questions again given the recent last few posts;
RE: having a car in Lakeside, Lobita states that if you bring a car to Mexico on a tourist visa that you will not ever be able to fly to the States or anywhere outside of Mexico, from Guadalajara. Why is that I haven't seen such a rule or law about that in my research. I know that having a car there is complicated for sure, but I didn't realize you can't have a car there losing rights to fly out of the country. Probably I'm missing something here but I don't understand what that statement is based on is that I would be so busy driving to the border to renew my car or is a law?

For Solajijic RE: furniture post response when you moved your things to MX were many of the items brand new or were they all at least over a year old? I wish I could find the article I read about someone that moved all their belongings there and it wasn't terribly expensive or complicated to do. He had great success but that was due to preparing way in advance and following the rules about what to bring and what not to bring so you don't get slapped with outrageous fees and it was also some time ago now.

At this point I'm thinking that buying a car in MX is most likely better to plan on if one can do so on a tourist visa, and not to bring any furniture but everything else.

Shipping is not cheap. It is cheaper to do your own  packing and use a freight line rather than a mover but none of them are cheap.

The freight lines base their price on the distance , the cubic size of the shipment and the weight, Usually on personal items the weight is not an issue and what runs up the price are the cubic feet especially if you ship furniture..

A pallet is usually 1mx1m and can be as high as 2m and you can ask for a price per pallet. The more pallets the cheaper per pallet..

I wasn't thinking of shipping anything, sorry you got that impression if you did, but I would surely fear the cost of using a moving or shipping company to get my stuff there. Therefore I would move it there myself which means figuring out another aspect of moving there. There is so much to research before just taking the leap, cost of living, where to live initially as a good base, meeting my own criteria such as emercing myself in the culture to become a part of the Mexican society rather than to stay within the parameters of being with my fellow American's or the English speaking expat community. Then figuring out all the laws for residency there, having a car, my pet, insurances, never mind getting my barrings of which doctor or dentist to sign up with, how to have legal councel for emergency type of situations, banking, and on and on it goes....there is much to do and prepare ahead of time which is why I'm on this blog. It's a wealth of information of people sharing their experiences and experience is the best kind of resource to look into in my opinion.

pamarie wrote:I have some questions again given the recent last few posts;
RE: having a car in Lakeside, Lobita states that if you bring a car to Mexico on a tourist visa that you will not ever be able to fly to the States or anywhere outside of Mexico, from Guadalajara.  Why is that I haven't seen such a rule or law about that in my research.  I know that having a car there is complicated for sure, but I didn't realize you can't have a car there losing rights to fly out of the country. Probably I'm missing something here but I don't understand what that statement is based on is that I would be so busy driving to the border to renew my car or is a law?

For Solajijic RE: furniture post response when you moved your things to MX were many of the items brand new or were they all at least over a year old?  I wish I could find the article I read about someone that moved all their belongings there and it wasn't terribly expensive or complicated to do.  He had great success but that was due to preparing way in advance and following the rules about what to bring and what not to bring so you don't get slapped with outrageous fees and it was also some time ago now.

At this point I'm thinking that buying a car in MX is most likely better to plan on if one can do so on a tourist visa, and not to bring any furniture but everything else.

Pamarie,
The rules for a tourist are different from the rules for a resident.  When, as a tourist, you drive your car across the boarder into Mexico you receive permission to keep the car in Mexico as long as your immigration status remains in effect.  When you fly, take a bus, walk, or ride out of Mexico your tourist visa is cancelled--making your car illegal.  

As a tourist you will be limited to no more than 180 days in Mexico.  You will then need to leave Mexico and receive new tourist status when you come back in.  This will be complicated if you want to keep your car legal--a lot of driving, gas, and tolls.  I'll bet someone else will be happy to tell you the easiest and cheapest route.

People who have shipped their household belongings into Mexico usually get resident status first.  When you receive resident status you can bring in belongings meant for personal use, without paying duty.  It looks like your income will not quality you to receive resident status.  (I am not an immigration expert.  I suggest that you contact your local Mexican consulate.)  You have to apply for resident status.  Think of it as what a Mexican goes through to apply for a US Green Card.  There are different levels of residency.  Some are good for a year, some are permanent.  Some give you permission to work, some specifically forbid you from working.

When you ship household belongings across international borders you incur additional costs and complications that you do not experience when you ship within a single country.

You can, of course, ignore the laws of Mexico and see how you do flying under the radar.  There are many, many US citizens who are illegal aliens in Mexico but it is hard to give you solid advice based on the illegal route.  You might happily spend the rest of your life here.  You might be deported.  The odds are probably against deportation, but we can't give you concrete answers.

Please start as a tourist with a visit--maybe three months--before you dismantle your current life.  You may fall in love with the area and find a way to make it work.  You may decide that this is really not the right decision for you.

CanuckBob as you can tell I'm trying to find out how I can live on 1200 a month along with if it is really possible to do it considering the expenses I listed in the original post I started for this thread. They really flow hand in hand because of course I am asking how others have done it as much as is it really possible. I like hearing the opinions because I imagine they are based on knowledge from experiences each person has been kind enough to share and again I am so grateful for all the replies folks!

Luisa thank you for sharing all the new laws I actually already knew about them months ago now from a site I track; http://yucalandia.com/ And many others that I'm tracking as well, too many to list here, but I'm on it as much as I can possibly be outside of coming down there now which I cannot do, A-Makes no sense to since I'm planning on retiring in 1.5 years from now, it will only be a tease for me to come sooner than I'm ready to begin the actual process of transitioning there. I plan to come down between January 2015 to Dec. 2015 to get a feel for the area and culture for myself and then go from there. Once I'm there it will unfold for me better I'm sure. I am aware it's different to bring things into a foreign country over moving things across the States this why I asked the question trying to get information from others that have experienced doing this and how it went for them.

I will not qualify for permanent residency as I was aware of that before I even started this thread. As far as living illegally anywhere I would never do such a thing, as I don't approve of illegal aliens in America so no way would I be such a hypocrit. Perhaps you are just being cynical I don't know from some of the other comments you've made if you are serious or being funny. Certainly surprising to me that anyone on here would even suggest such a thing but oh well....Not for me, I have morals and value honesty in all respects too much to even discuss such a thing as being an illegal! In truth it is living dishonestly it's a criminal act in all respects in my mind.

CB Sorry I do not remember who I used. I asked our shipping broker in San Franciso at the time to recommend someone and we packed our own items and shipped them via common carriers from San Francisco to the border where Strom stored them and shipped them to Ajijic with another person who has less than a truck load.
I did the inventory on an excel sheet by box by item in SPanish and English with all the model numbers serial numbers etc for the electronics.
You have the added problem of crossing an extra border..so I do not know who can do it from Canada.

There are seeral freight consolidators in Tlaquepaque who may be able to tell yo who could do it. One is Sebatian Exportacions , Marcela Gonzalez and the other is Con Solidez M. Rios on Juarez one block below Niños heroes. They both speak English.
Sebastian is at the end of Independencia ( near Niños Heroes) and the warehouse is on the street above Independencia.
If yo need their phone numbers I can ook them up as I do not have them handy right now.

CB Sorry I do not remember who I used. I asked our shipping broker in San Franciso at the time to recommend someone and we packed our own items and shipped them via common carriers from San Francisco to the border where Strom stored them and shipped them to Ajijic with another person who has less than a truck load.
I did the inventory on an excel sheet by box by item in SPanish and English with all the model numbers serial numbers etc for the electronics.
You have the added problem of crossing an extra border..so I do not know who can do it from Canada.

There are seeral freight consolidators in Tlaquepaque who may be able to tell yo who could do it. One is Sebatian Exportacions , Marcela Gonzalez and the other  is Con Solidez  M. Rios on Juarez one block below Niños heroes. They both speak English.
Sebastian is at the end of Independencia ( near Niños Heroes) and the warehouse is on the street above Independencia.
If yo need their phone numbers I can look them up as I do not have them handy right now.

Lovin' that Foe feature! For anyone who thinks I'm trying to pull some con game here there is nothing further from that truth on that score! I am being completely open and honest in all the things I'm asking or saying on here not trying to con anyone, so please if you don't like something I'm saying because I'm wrong than just have some compassion because I'm taking this move as a very serious step in my retirement and I don't appreciate coming on here to ask for advice which is one of the reasons people have blogs is to share informaiton so what is the deal in thinking someone is trying to waste your time or con you in some way? Good grief there are some really bad impressions being given in this thread by just a couple of people whom I will block from anything I post further, because it's really not helpful nor is it hitting me as funny.

FYI, Inside Lakeside is a  web forum or board (not a "blog").

Pamarie, I know this has been referred to in passing by a few (actually very few) responses to your original question, and it's possible that you already know the income requirements for living down here, but I wanted to state it explicitly.

To obtain TEMPORARY residency you need to have an income of 2100 a month OR 100,000 in the bank. At least that's what it was when my husband and I got ours, it may be more now. An interesting sidenote is that our local consulate would not consider assets as qualification, even though the law clearly said they should. Didn't matter what the law said ... the consulates are allowed a lot of latitude in interpreting the laws and basically you have produce what YOUR consulate says.

Without temporary residency, as has been mentioned, you have to return to the US every six months to renew your tourist visa. I'm not sure if you simply have to cross the border, drop off your visa, get a new one, and come right back, or if there's actually a maximum number of months in total you can spend down here each year. I suspect it's the former, but in any case, two trips to the border every year would definitely eat into a very tight budget.

Do you plan to have a car down here? That affects the overall picture, too, not just in terms of car expenses, but also regarding whether you're going to do a temporary import, nationalize your car, or acquire one down here. All additional expenses, but maybe you're planning on getting by without a car.

Again, you may have already clarified this. I didn't read every post, just skimmed them.

So what IS your plan for dealing with the visa / residency requirements? Because the rest is moot without that.

pamarie wrote:Lovin' that Foe feature! For anyone who thinks I'm trying to pull some con game here there is nothing further from that truth on that score!  I am being completely open and honest in all the things I'm asking or saying on here not trying to con anyone, so please if you don't like something I'm saying because I'm wrong than just have some compassion because I'm taking this move as a very serious step in my retirement and I don't appreciate coming on here to ask for advice which is one of the reasons people have blogs is to share informaiton so what is the deal in thinking someone is trying to waste your time or con you in some way?  Good grief there are some really bad impressions being given in this thread by just a couple of people whom I will block from anything I post further, because it's really not helpful nor is it hitting me as funny.  

Pamarie: Some people are just insensitive and have no diplomacy. Some find it easy to be that way because you are not facing them.

CanuckBob wrote:If you are here on a tourist visa you simply have to return to any border (US, Guatemala, Belize) within 6 months and then turn right around and come back in on a new visa. You can be in the other country for 5 minutes. It is important when you enter Mexico that you get the customs person to write 180 days on the Tourist Visa. Some may write a lessor amount unless instructed to write the 180 days.

One time I wrote 16 days on the form. The immigration guy said "that is not long enough" and changed it to 180 days.
I can not wait to come home.   

Thx for kind responses late today posted from the last few especially by CB, Fastfox, S10, along wit.h everyone else's thru this thread. I've noticed there are a couple of members on here that seem to misunderstand things, or it feels like some trying to challenge me. I am not into arguing, or being challenged, my post was to collect stories to help me have a sense of the reality of what it takes to live there, the added benefit of this forum (thx lady o for the correction) that wasn't something I even thought about but has helped in providing a small bit of insights of what to expect in experiencing or being a part of the expat community living there. Note I do realize it is only a small bit of insight to how welcoming in truth the community really is, which so far I'm very impressed with, despite the not so nice replies. Being in my 60's I know who I am and I know my limits as much as I know what I will put up with and what I won't, so those negative responses don't trump all the nice and very helpful ones given on here.

ZenW when you say you can't wait to come home where is home for you, I read that to mean the country you grew up in or do you mean lakeside?

Aargh, the forum trolls! So sorry you have been exposed to them so quickly. Luckily they aren't typical of the vast majority of ex-pats we've met down here. There just seems to be a small subset of people who have too much time on their hands or think they're hilarious or that they have some special insights into people they've never even met, so they post some insanely annoying stuff.

Again, they are NOT typical. Some of them might even be pretty OK face to face. I don't know what it is about forums that leads to this kind of behavior, but there have been several times I've sworn not to post again. Then someone asks an interesting question or I have a question to ask and here I am again.

My best advice is, ignore them, and block the ones who are consistently irritating. (Which I think you are already doing!)

But I come back to my question in my previous post: are you sticking with the tourist visa or hoping to get temporary residency? Because that can affect the answers to some questions.

brigitte wrote:Shipping is not cheap. It is cheaper to do your own  packing and use a freight line rather than a mover but none of them are cheap.

The freight lines base their price on the distance , the cubic size of the shipment and the weight, Usually on personal items the weight is not an issue and what runs up the price are the cubic feet especially if you ship furniture..

A pallet is usually 1mx1m and can be as high as 2m and you can ask for a price per pallet. The more pallets the cheaper per pallet..

Don't forget the customs fee. I don't know what it is anymore but it is not cheap.


Z

sambrit10 wrote:Aargh, the forum trolls! So sorry you have been exposed to them so quickly. Luckily they aren't typical of the vast majority of ex-pats we've met down here. There just seems to be a small subset of people who have too much time on their hands or think they're hilarious or that they have some special insights into people they've never even met, so they post some insanely annoying stuff.

Again, they are NOT typical. Some of them might even be pretty OK face to face. I don't know what it is about forums that leads to this kind of behavior, but there have been several times I've sworn not to post again. Then someone asks an interesting question or I have a question to ask and here I am again.

My best advice is, ignore them, and block the ones who are consistently irritating. (Which I think you are already doing!)

But I come back to my question in my previous post: are you sticking with the tourist visa or hoping to get temporary residency? Because that can affect the answers to some questions.

I believe she states her income will only allow for a tourist visa. She will have to leave every six months and will need to factor in those travel expenses.