Living in Mexico - Page 2

Farmer Jo · #11 (**permalink**) 4th April 2009, 02:08 AM

hey sparks... thanks so much for those links... i am going to read those sites tomorrow (almost dinner time now)...yes, i have thought about buying land, not really a lot because it's too small to farm on a lot, and building a home (my father was a master carpenter and i have a carpenter friend who has 160 acres up north who i built her house with years ago.) up here, there's a huge cob movement (http://www.cobworks.com/) started in North America by Ianto Evans in Cob Cottage (!), Oregon (http://www.cobcottage.com) and there is some cob in Mexico (http://housealive.org/building-with-cob-in-mexico) - i love the whole idea of cob and it is so perfectly suited to the Mexican climate - slightly different from adobe - and it's totally cheap. You can build an entire house for less than a few thousand dollars (if you want to put car doors in the cob for windows...you can roll the windows up and down) or you can go big and build a cob house that costs tens of thousands and they can either look like a hobbit house or a mansion - take your pick. loking forward to checking out the links you sent me... farmer jo

sparks · #12 (**permalink**) 5th April 2009, 02:25 PM

Remember there are a lot of climate zones in Mexico so adobe, straw bale and cob houses may not do as well in humidity and rain. Also when using wood post and beam, wood is expensive and better be termite resistant. Corn cobs may be good termite food

Heather77 · #13 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 07:23 AM

just to add to the fm3 comments, the last poster is correct. I just got back from my local Mex consulate,& they told me the min monthly income is $1000US. Much different from what my expat friend living in Mexico said her last requirement was of $1500 US. So my consulate said that it can vary from city/state & country. When I mentioned the discount for being a homeowner in Mex, she said that it didn't apply at this (L.A.) consulate.
Also what sparks said above about diff climates is so true! Never have I been somewhere before where 1 month you're driving across a bridge, then another month that bridge is totally gone & replaced by a river. Although it really depends on what part of the country you're in.

sparks · #14 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 01:37 PM

The differences for income requirements happen when the exchange rate fluctuates. In the last 6 months the peso has gone from 9.8 to over 15. Now it's about 13.60

RVGRINGO · #15 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 02:25 PM

Sparks is correct. The income requirement is based on a multiple of the minimum daily wage in Mexico, in pesos, not dollars. As a result, the equivalent in dollars is variable. Not only that; as you have discovered, the various consulates seem to make up their own rules. Unless you need a 'menaje de casa' to ship household goods, it is usually easier to get your FM3 in Mexico. You are going to have to visit immigration in Mexico anyway for the registration process.

Farmer Jo · #16 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 04:11 PM

I read somewhere that it was $1500/month if you are single, $1000 (each person) per month if you are married... but according to rolly brook, it can vary:

http://www.rollybrook.com/how_to_move_to_mexico.htm

RVGRINGO · #17 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 10:44 PM

It does not vary in pesos and it is charged in pesos. The difference in your mind is that you are thinking in dollars. Assume that you rented a place for 5000 pesos per month when the peso was 9.8 to the dollar. Your rent, if you think in dollars, would be the equivalent of $510 per month. Today, at 13.5, it would be $370 USD. That is the type of variation you are seeing. If you are going to live in Mexico, you might as well start thinking in pesos; we don't use dollars here.

bournemouth · #18 (**permalink**) 6th April 2009, 11:01 PM

Heather is right in that the Consulates cannot give you the exemption for owing property. That can only be allowed when applying for your FM3/2 in Mexico.

MandyinJax · #19 (**permalink**) 6th June 2009, 03:38 PM

to NeedSomeSun

I lived in Tucson, Arizona and although it is HOT it is also DRY. I was able to be comfortable with open windows and ceiling fans in the summer, until the temp went over 100', hot is hot dry or not. If you have no experience with HUMIDITY you will be in for a shock in a coastal area that is very tropical.

Think "trapped in a sauna" with no way out, breathing is difficult, you may feel like you are drowning, your hair flat & frizzy, your clothes are sticking to your body, you are sweating more than after a long workout.

I know first hand, I live in Florida which is unbearably humid about 9 months of the year. My friends who were born here say they don't notice or feel the humidity. My youngest son moved his family here and was so miserable they moved after two years. My other son is not affected by the humidity. So one persons paradise is anothers nightmare.

So consider the climate as carefully as economy before picking a city.

MandyinJax

BajaGringo · #20 (**permalink**) 6th June 2009, 07:38 PM

I agree with the comments about heat and humidity. I have lived in some very hot areas like Bakersfield, California where it is not uncommon to see summer temps reach 115 and even higher. I have also lived in some hot AND humid areas in Argentina, Venezuela and Sumatra. I like living on the ocean and had to search long and far to find a place that was neither hot or humid. We have it here along the northern Baja coastline and it is probably the best weather I have found on the planet up until now...

YMMV