I AM A NEWBIE INVADER!!!!

Dee Dee's and D D's stick together. We are more scary then the big D. You know who that is. Now there are 3 D's to worry about.

deedee wrote:Dee Dee's and D D's stick together. We are more scary then the big D. You know who that is. Now there are 3 D's to worry about.

Self aggrandizement again as who would ever "worry" about you?

I've already heard of three couples who have cancelled their
winter rentals in the area, lost their deposits too.
Apparently it has something to do with all these earthquakes, what more can I say.

Perfect. Those thinking the earthquakes in Southern Mexico have any affect here are better off staying home. It's like not visiting Sacramento because they had a tornado in Wichita..........

It's interesting what is happening...east side vrs. west side. The west, between Ajijic and San Juan seems to be filling up with high end development and / or outright mansions. This market is definitely NOT gringo driven. Yesterday I got a good look at what used to be a cornfield on the lake just west of the hotel. A family from Mexico City is building a six-house compound. Nothing unusual about that, but what knocked me over is that each of these houses will be 3 complete floors for a total of probably 9,000 square feet. Then there's the place up the mountain where something that appears to be three times that size is going up.........

Nosnow wrote:I've already heard of three couples who have cancelled their
winter rentals in the area, lost their deposits too.
Apparently it has something to do with all these earthquakes, what more can I say.

And this is significant?......I doubt it in the overall migration of people from the north.  A small blip on the radar.
That's all I can say.

I'm seeing a number of California plates lately. These folks have lived with earthquakes on a regular basis. Home prices here, in comparison to there, are a steal.

There are basically two kinds of people here. Those folks that arrived years ago and see their sleepy little fishing village starting to grow and modernize and it freaks them out. And there are those people that welcome the changes and are happy that progress is finally catching up here. The area known by the expats as Lakeside is a very narrow strip of land situated between high mountains and the lake, there is not a lot of space to spread out here. Honestly, in the Ajijic center there isn't much land left to build on. I don't know about Canadians, but for most Americans coming down that are from at least a medium sized city, I don't think they will find the traffic on the Carretera to be so atrocious. And although the Chapala area is a narrow strip of land there are a lot of places on that strip to settle. It don't have to be Ajijic. Many people are slowly beginning to discover living in the city of Chapala which is the largest city on the north shore and possibly the most attractive place to live for many reasons. Among those are the wide smooth sidewalks and flat surfices to walk on, not to mention the shopping, proximity to decent restaurants and the best boardwalk on the lake.

Housing markets have gone up almost everywhere. When we moved to Austin, TX in 2007, our neighbor had a house that he had been renting that he put up for sale. It was for sale for months but he couldn't sell it and ended up renting it again. He was asking $140k and had no takers. Zillow says that house is now worth double that.

Not sure I plan to buy a house when I retire as I don't want to tie up that much capital, I may want to move in a few years to someplace else, etc.

Some buy, some rent. Being Canadian we decided to hedge our bets against the rising USD and rising local rents by purchasing back in 2012 when the CDN was actually 1.02 to the USD. It turned out to be the right choice now that the local rents have risen and the CDN is only .80 to the USD.

Anyone else notice that the Newbie Invader seems to have 'un-invaded'

Eventually I'll be dead by the time the congestion catches up to me again.

I wouldn't count on that. Congestion seems to be alive and well and growing in all areas of the world.....

RickS wrote:Anyone else notice that the Newbie Invader seems to have 'un-invaded'

Maybe he sobered up. But, really, why don’t you all explore the other side of the pond?  You can get some beautiful properties for under 200,000

How is internet access over there?

I’ve never measured.  I’ll be returning in Jan and let you know

I mean, where can you get internet and what areas can't you get it?

Jreboll wrote:

RickS wrote:Anyone else notice that the Newbie Invader seems to have 'un-invaded'

Maybe he sobered up. But, really, why don’t you all explore the other side of the pond?  You can get some beautiful properties for under 200,000

Agree on the property deals however I'm just not on into driving 30 minutes (plus) to the closest real amenity's. Its like "country" living over there. Been there done that. For some it's perfect. What about medical emergencies?? Anyone ever have to call an ambulance from there? There is a reason the property is less $$$$...........

I’m about 100 feet from the carretera, within walking distance to everything. There’s an Internet cafe on my left and a pharmacy on my right, and a lawyer in front of me. Tortilleria and small tienda within a 100 feet. Nearest hospital 4 blocks away with another a mile down the road. Banks, restaurants, doctors and other businesses on same block

There are two hospitals on the south side of the lake?

No.

I’m in Jiquilpan, Sahuayo also has at least one

Oh, that's right. You're in the city. I was thinking you were in Tizapan.

So, do you have fast internet in Jiquilpan?

Haven’t measured it

Oh.......we are talking about two different areas.

Well, the south shore is from Jocotepec to Sahuayo in Michoacan...