Sold the house

We put our house on the market here in Vancouver on June 1. On June 4 we had two offers for slightly higher than full asking price. We accepted one of those offers and today all the final subjects of sale were removed. The house is officially sold. Yahooooooooo. Full time in Mexico is just around the corner now.

LUCKY YOU! What could be better than that?

Looking forward to your joining us all in Mexico.

I know we couldn't believe it sold so fast. We're targeting April 1 next year as Sharon needs to work until the end of March to qualify for her early pension. We'll be staying with our cousin in the meantime. I may have to come down earlier to get things in order.......haha.

Wow, way to go. Hope this move brings you many blessings, it did for us.

Congratulations Bob! I was wondering where you were going to stay until you come down!

Congratulations Bob! Hope that all goes well for you both. Sounds like your plan is being executed to perfection.

Thanks everyone. As many of you know Sharon and I have been working on this plan for just over 4 years after our first visit back in '07. We have been coming every year for 4 - 5 weeks at a time to scope everything out. I pretty much have everything nailed down except for the medical options. Not quite sure what our best approach will be on this. At the very least we will apply for our 2 year "out of country exemption" with our BC Medical plan and figure it out from there. Being fairly young and in good health (so far) we should have some time to talk with everyone once we get down to decide on the best long term options.

Congrats to you and Sharon Bob! Don'tcha just love it when a plan comes together? Have ya'll picked out an area to settle, like Chapala centro (hint hint)?

Congratulations on the sale Bob. Now it will be like waiting for Christmas. Can't get here fast enough.

oncesubtle wrote:Congrats to you and Sharon Bob! Don'tcha just love it when a plan comes together? Have ya'll picked out an area to settle, like Chapala centro (hint hint)?

Okay.........heard the (hint hint). So.......why Chapala Centro? Just curious.

Can't slip much past you gringal. We're selling the house across the street and thought it would make a prefect love nest for our fearless leader and his lovely and charming wife. As fate would have it though it looks like another youngish couple from Vancouver will be the buyers (but there's still time as their house hasn't sold yet).

Good news Bob, looking forward to meeting you when you get here

oncesubtle wrote:Can't slip much past you gringal. We're selling the house across the street and thought it would make a prefect love nest for our fearless leader and his lovely and charming wife. As fate would have it though it looks like another youngish couple from Vancouver will be the buyers (but there's still time as their house hasn't sold yet).

(Chuckle).

Jejeje.......I got the hint however as tempting as it is I am going to try and follow the advice that most people have given to us. That is to avoid buying anything for at least a year. That advice seemed to have the overwhelming majority over anything else we learned during our visits.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule and I have never been one to sit around waiting for things to happen.......

CanuckBob wrote:We put our house on the market here in Vancouver on June 1. On June 4 we had two offers for slightly higher than full asking price. We accepted one of those offers and today all the final subjects of sale were removed. The house is officially sold. Yahooooooooo. Full time in Mexico is just around the corner now.

I am finding this difficult to comprehend, CB. You sold a house in Vancouver in about three days at a price higher than that listed? As an Alabama/California/Mexico boy, I never heard of anyone moving TO Canada, only FROM Canada. OK, I get it. Some poacher from the far north made a killing in seal skins or polar bear testicles sold to the Chinese as a remedy for sexual impotence and wanted to retire in the comparitively tropical environs of Vancouver. Well congratulations but get on down here fast before the Vancouver drizzle sets in and pisses the boy off.

Ole boy moves to Seattle and buys hisseff a nice home overlooking Puget Sound. Well, as soon as he moves in, it starts raining and it rains and it rains and it rains. After about a month of this incessant rain, he approaches his neighbor and asks; "Does it ever stop raining here?" and his neighbor replies, "Damn if I know, I´ve only lived here five years."

Congrats but does it ever suck you have to wait almost a year. The waiting game is crazy.
Yes rent first, we rented for 3 years and when ready to sign our 4th lease 5 dogs moved in behind us and barked from 10am - 10pm nonstop. We almost moved, landlady got involved, dogs are still there but someone stays home and they hardly ever make a noise, so it all worked out, but it might not have.

Congrats Bob. Am happy for you. I also have heard the same advice from the majority of folks living lakeside - rent for the first year and see where you want to buy. Every neighborhood,colonia is different, and once you buy a house, consider it a longterm commitment cuz things don's sell quickly lakeside. I know some people who've been living lakeside for 20+ years and NEVER buy, they rent long term. But, I have a question: does this mean you have to move every 5 years. A friend of mine living lakeside for 25 years said that there is a law in Mexico that if you rent a home for 5 or more years, you become the owner of it, and the real owner has no rights to the house. She told me a story about something that allegedly happened to her....she's a gringa who was renting to another gringa. She did not know of this law, but her renter did. The renter had been there 7 years, and was planning to do the claim to the property. However, fortunately for my friend, she had to remodel in the rental house due to leaky roof, some walls needed fixing, floors, etc. So she asked the renter to move to an apartment she owns while the remodeling went on. It was lucky for her, because with this renter OUT of the house, she lost her right to make a claim for ownership. WHen the remodeling was done, the renter was going to move back in and talked to my friend about how it was her house now and thank you for remodeling at your expense. THe owner was shocked and called a lawyer. He said NOPE she lost her right by moving out, go change the locks. So the renter took her to court and sued her for the house, but fortunately the renter lost on that one technicality...that she moved out. The renter tried to claim that the owner tricked her into moving out, but it didn't stick. Anyways, that's the story I was told, don't know if it is true or not. Check that out maybe...cuz if you find a home for rent you love and want to stay there long term, that may be an issue. So, I don't know about this but I thought I would check it out at some point, because I have thought about doing long term rental, as I am younger and don't want to commit forever at this point in time.Merida or Queretaro are other options for a place to live...Just thought I'd pitch this out there and see if anyone knows about this.

CanuckBob wrote:I know we couldn't believe it sold so fast. We're targeting April 1 next year as Sharon needs to work until the end of March to qualify for her early pension. We'll be staying with our cousin in the meantime. I may have to come down earlier to get things in order.......haha.

You didn't ask enough, darn it! Congratulations!

57 Chevy:

I shipped the pertinent parts of your post over to Intercasa's crib. I've never heard of such a law either, and would like to verify the information on a current basis. Can you help here with a reference to the law?
Thank you.

My hair dresser's brother-in-law's uncle's maid's cousin said he heard...

Rolly wrote:My hair dresser's brother-in-law's uncle's maid's cousin said he heard...

I agree Rolly.........but what if your hair.........etc. happened to have the straight scoop? Always good to check out the difference between urban legends and the facts. Things work differently in Mexico, as you know. "Squatters" actually get some kind of break here. The red headed stepchild inherits along with the first born son. Who knows? I don't. A landowner in San Miguel spent eight years getting a "squatting" car parking lot off her land. Right around the corner, a semi-hidden-from the street three storey structure is being worked on again after the project was shut down three or four years ago. Stuff happens.

As a landlord myself, I have an interest in the matter.

Yes, it would be an interesting law if it's true however it would severely impede those looking to invest in Mexican real estate for the purpose of being a landlord. Heck I know a few people around the lake that own many rental properties all over Mexico and have never heard them mention this before.

SqUatters rights. Yes, it's true but for how long they have to live there is the question.

CanuckBob wrote:Yes, it would be an interesting law if it's true however it would severely impede those looking to invest in Mexican real estate for the purpose of being a landlord. Heck I know a few people around the lake that own many rental properties all over Mexico and have never heard them mention this before.

I passed that post along to my realtor, who referred me to this site:
http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Latin-America/Mexico/Landlord-and-Tenant

Nothing there indicated that the tenant acquired such rights. Ours have already tried to pull a fast one on us, so my level of trust is...........minimal, at this point.

Squatters and renters are two different things. I have heard that if a squatter takes over a building and pays the bills on it (ie taxes, utilities, etc.) for so many years then they may have rights to it. There are similar laws here in Canada for that matter.

Renters on the other hand have an agreement to pay for a place for a fixed term even if it is just month to month......I don't believe they would have any squatting rights.