Happy New Year everyone! ​It's been a wild ride so far.  We have the chance to look back and reflect on everything we've done and all the places we have been (and all the places we plan to visit this year too!)

We are planning a very quick trip back to the U.S. for business this week. We are finding that our trips back to the U.S. are getting shorter and shorter, and most of what we need to do we can now do online. 

We finally bit the bullet this year and got a foreign bank account, (we also kept our US-based accounts) but this means that we have to file an FBAR this year (bummer). My wife is filing our FBAR because she has an accounting background, but she only plans do it for us (she doesn't file FBARs for any clients because of the liability attached it it).

Similar to regular U.S. tax filings, there is no need to register as a professional to file the FBAR as an individual, but most expats get professional help from a CPA, enrolled agent, or attorney to file their FBARs. 

Most of our banking can be done online, and if we have anything that needs to be signed and mailed back to the U.S. with a wet signature (i.e., an "original signature")  we have found that DHL is the most reliable method for mailing documents outside the U.S. 

Some trips are inevitable, of course. But everything is getting easier for us to manage, our lives, our finances, everything. 

Here's to another year of expat living! 

Another year in Mexico has almost come and gone, and we can't believe how quickly the time has passed! All of our children are in private schools (at less than the cost of having a single student enrolled in a school in the U.S.!) and the schools are out for Christmas break. 

We've gone to Christmas plays, Christmas Mass, Christmas parades! It's bright lights everywhere, and the holiday continues until El Día de Reyes Magos (literally, the "Day of the Kings"). 

In most Christian traditions, this is called the Epiphany, or the "Feast of The Three Kings". Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on 6th January (or January 19th for some Orthodox Church who have Christmas on 7th January) and is the time when Christians remember the three wise men who visited baby Jesus in the Manger with the Mary and St. Joseph.

There has been lots of festive parties and family get-togethers, this weekend alone there have been two big parties and two we have had to decline. All the kids get dressed up and go with us, there's lots of food and children playing, it is a wonderful time for family and making memories. 

And also a time for eating! We have been eating almost non-stop, we are going to have to hit the treadmill in January but until then, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Reader Question: Hello - We are currently building a house in Loreto, Baja CA Sur. We look forward to spending much of our time there in the future. I've read in past blog posts your advise about purchasing cars with Mexican plates vs. 'importing' our US cars. We have an Airstream travel trailer that we may want to have with us in Loreto. Can we keep it there with us with US plates? I've been digging around online and I'm hoping you can steer me to a source of accurate info.

Manny's Answer: ​We generally don't advise on importing U.S. vehicles, the process of legalization is very difficult. But you can drive your cars into Mexico for the length of your tourist visa (180 days) while you decide what to do. You don't have to decide right away. I'm not sure about the travel trailer, you should probably speak to a professional in Cabo that can advise you on that. As we mentioned in prior blog posts, we merely purchased our vehicles in Mexico, which were very cheap as the exchange rate is very good right now for U.S. dollars.

I know that there are many offices that specialize in importing cars and household goods in Cabo and San Jose del Cabo. I would consult with an attorney on the matter. It is very cheap to seek legal advice in Mexico, we paid only about 1,000 pesos for a consult (about $50 U.S. dollars). If you want to import a car and "legalize" it in Mexico, you have to hire a custom’s agent (an agente aduanal). A google search turned up several of these processionals in Cabo and all over Baja. That's what I would recommend.

~Good luck! 

​Reader Question: I'm looking for advice on lodging in Loreto, Baja CA. I've never been there, nor have I ever been to any of Baja California. I've selected Loreto largely due to advice from your book "Expat's Relocation Guide: Baja CA SUR", the scenery, safety, small town feel, quiet, outdoor recreation, etc..

My main home is near Boise, ID, however I'm recently retired and 6-months of snow don't work for me anymore. I need a month or longer breaks from it. Do you have any advice on the best way to find short-term lodging in Loreto?

I've gotten some ideas from Craigslist, AirBNB, among some other websites. It's hard to select something site unseen that I might stay in for a month or longer. One of my thoughts was to come down with no reservations and just my tent and camping gear. That way I could see something firsthand, before committing to it.

​All I really want is a small house for my wife and I and our little Aussie, and of course for a reasonable price. No fancy amenities, just quiet and close to the ocean would be nice. Any help is appreciated.

​~Stephen

Manny's Answer: ​

Nice to hear you are thinking about Baja. It's very nice there; there are a lot of retirees and "snowbirds" that come down just to escape the snow for a few months. As I have said in the book, you can drive down and use your own car (or truck) as a visitor for 180 days.  I don't think a tent would be a very good idea, though, unless you are used to very rough living. A little cheap camper shell might be an affordable way to go that also gives you a reasonable place to cook, shower, etc, there are lots of RV lots that cater to Americans in Baja.

The peso is very weak against the U.S. dollar right now, (almost 20:1!) so your U.S. dollars can stretch very very far down here. You can even buy a lot of land for the price of a used car in the U.S. Some U.S. expats do this, then just come down and park their RV on their own lot and enjoy the warm weather, and drive back home when the snow subsides wherever they live. 

A "luxury" RV is also cheap down here. For a few thousand dollars, you could have something like this that would give you cooking, eating, and sleeping facilities that would allow you to travel in comfort and see all of Baja at your leisure (note that the price is in PESOS, not dollars! So about $3,800).

You can also purchase a little pop-up in the U.S. and take it down with you, of course. I suggest getting a wheel lock if you take your own car or truck down. Baja is generally very safe but every little bit helps. 

An RV is an affordable way to travel, (and the preferred way for retirees in Baja) but you have lots of options, including Airbnb. That is what we used for lodging, and it's easy to get cheaper prices if you book in advance. I looked and it seems that you can get a studio in Loreto for as little as $35 per night. Once you are there, it may be possible to negotiate a longer stay with the owner if you like the place. You can also "walk the town" and you will see lots of rental signs. 

However, a word of caution: do not "wire money" or rent anything on the internet sight-unseen, (Craigslist is full of scammers with Mexican rentals that doen't exist). But you can be safe using a recognized service like Airbnb. Also, if you book on Airbnb, always book with a credit card, not a DEBIT card, so your personal funds are protected, get a card with good purchase protection, and make sure that you keep a spare hidden somewhere else with a copy of your passport and driver's license. We have never had a problem using Airbnb, but we also like more affordable travel options, so we are in the market for a nice RV this year so we can travel with all our extended family to all of the beautiful seaside cities in Mexico (Zihuatanejo is our next destination!)

Now, although Loreto is beautiful, I wouldn't decide on a place without seeing all of Baja first. It's easy to drive the entire peninsula in two days or so. My family and I did it together in our little minivan, if we would have had a camper, we would have enjoyed ourselves more. We only stayed in Loreto 1 day, but all the surrounding cities were also very nice. We stayed in San Jose del Cabo for weeks and thought it was beautiful, but there are so many breathtaking places that it's hard to pick a city that we liked more (we probably liked Cabo San Lucas the LEAST, but only because it was a "party" city-- I probably would have loved it in my twenties, but in my forties, not so much...). 

I suggest taking your car or truck down and enjoy a lazy drive around the coast, stopping frequently to enjoy the beauty of the place. Assuming you are on Social Security, you can apply for a retiree visa very easily if you decide to settle and even transfer your Social Security funds right to a Mexican bank account, or just use ATMs to make a withdrawl down in Baja and enjoy retiree life for 1/4 of the cost of living in the U.S.. 

I hope you find a place in Mexico that you can enjoy and call home. We are so happy here and don't regret our move one bit. 

~Manny

Reader Question: We are moving down to Playa del Carmen next month. This is a huge decision for us since we won't be working and have to live off investments from in the U.S. to provide a comfortable living. I think the smart thing to do is to keep our house here and try it for one year and then weigh the pros and cons of living in Mexico. We are only looking into long-term rentals at this point and wondered if you had any suggestions on places to look online that are more reasonable than the tourist sites ?

Thank You,
Paul

Manny's Answer: Hi Paul,

To find a rental, I would suggest renting on Airbnb for a month or so, then going down and actually searching on the ground. There are tons of scammers online, and a huge number of scammer rentals exist on Craigslist. Don't wire money to anyone for a rental. Airbnb is safer because you can use a credit card (which gives you protections and also allows you to reverse the charges if the property turns out not to exist). I would just go down and enjoy it, walk around and look for signs in the windows. There will be many, many rentals advertised this way.  We saw literally dozens of rental signs in windows last time we were in Playa del Carmen (see just one of many examples above), and in La Paz it was the same thing. 

You can use Upwork and work online on other freelancer websites, as well as live on your investments. We still earn revenues off our U.S. investments as well, but we also continue to work online. If you plan to keep your house for a year, you can choose to rent it, too.

It is much cheaper to live down here, most Mexican families live off an average of $500 USD per month so it is easier to live off less if you stay away from tourist zones. A lot of expats also open small businesses catering to tourists in the tourist zones, (which Playa Del Carmen and Cancun basically are). 

As for keeping your house, that is a good idea, we did something similar and waited 6 months or so before getting rid of our stuff and our cars, although in the end, we transferred our residency from California to Nevada (no state tax in Nevada).   

Good luck on your move. I hope it works out for you and your family. 

Manny's Answer: ​Hi Matt!

​Congratulations on your decision to start a new life in Mexico. Playa Del Carmen is beautiful and has many good bilingual private schools. I suggest visting several and also joining Facebook groups so you can talk to parents and other people who live in the area. This is really important, especially if you plan to make this move without a lot of "on the ground" research beforehand. Make sure you have all your documents in order, including apostiled birth certificates for all your children, apostilled marriage license, and anything else that you might need if you plan to stay (I assume you are going to apply for residency if you are going to enroll your children in school). 

FYI, our COMPLETE listing of Playa Del Carmen Schools is HERE. 

You can also choose an online educational option if you wish, especially at the beginning when you are making your decision. Also note that private tutors are very inexpensive in Mexico. We hired a superb private tutor (with a Master's degree in education!) for our eldest son, who has a learning disability, and she has helped him so much that he is now reading and doing math at normal levels for his age (he was at least 3 years behind in terms of his academic test scores when we initially moved down here, so his progress has been phenomenal). The tutor works with him every day for several hours. The private tutoring costs us only about $50 per week--incredible, considering that a SINGLE, hour-long tutoring session in the U.S. costs us more than $50 each time. 

All that being said, why would you delay purchasing a car? The peso is still at 20:1 compared to the U.S. dollar, so you can purchase a fairly good used car for almost nothing right now. (We bought 2 used cars when we moved down, we spent less than $5,000 on both of them, the way the exchange rate is right now, they were very cheap). You will probably need a vehicle if you plan to research the area, but I don't recommend renting a car unless you only plan to do it for a few days, or a week at the most.

​Car rentals are almost prohibitively expensive down here, and when we first came down, we rented a car for a month and it cost almost $1,800 USD for the rental cost and insurance. We could have easily purchased a car outright for that price. You can also legally drive an American car down and use it for up to 180 days (6 months) without issue. That might be a good option if you're not completely sure about your move. Just realize that you will have to drive the car back up to the U.S. before the 180 days are up. Take only the safe toll roads if you plan to drive down, and don't drive at night if you can avoid it.   

As I mentioned in one of my other blog posts, we used Mercado Libre (an online website similar to Craigslist) and found our used cars that way. A quick search for cars in Quintana Roo (the Mexican state where where Playa Del Carmen is located) brought up over 700 results, including several practical SUVs for less than $4,000 USD. I suggest going that route and just buying a cheap car when you get there. A Minivan or SUV would be a practical choice. A sportscar (especially one brightly colored, lowered, or with anything that might attract a thief, like nice rims) would not be. 

Anyway, this is a lot to take in, I know, but I really hope you go through with your plans and find your way down to Mexico. It really is a more relaxing and affordable lifestyle. ​

Manny's Answer: Hi Efren,
The process of legalization for a car in Mexico is rather complicated. Some American cars (especially newer cars that are less than 10 years old) cannot be legalized. Also, by law you must hire the services of an authorized customs agent if you officially want to "import" your cars. 

Because of the hassle as well as the costs involved, We didn't take our cars with us when we moved to Mexico. We sold our two American cars and purchased two vehicles in Mexico with existing Mexican plates. 

Now, there are attorneys that specialize in this sort of thing, but in our research, we quickly realized that the transport costs, the shipping, and the costs for the attorney to "legalize" our cars would have exceeded the actual value of the vehicles. It was thousands and thousands of dollars. We just didn't bother to take them with us for that reason. Nissan, Ford, and Chevy, etc, all of those car companies exist here, and you can also buy used cars, boats, and jet skis fairly easily. We used Mercado Libre Mexico to find one of our cars (a website similar to Craigslist where you can search by state). The dollar is very strong against the peso right now so we got a screamin' deal on a used minivan that would have easily cost us 10K in the U.S. (it only cost $3,500 down here, based on the currency conversion right now is 20:1!) 

​If you are going to do this, consider watching the peso closely and converting your dollars when it drops. Our dollars have been stretching very far down here, we now own our house outright as well as two cars that are completely paid for in less than 3 years. This was an impossible dream for us when we were living in CA. 

And to give you some more honest advice about shipping cars: having American plates and an American trailer in Quintana Roo is going to make you a target for the police. You might end up getting pulled over very frequently. 

You don't have to make this decision right away. We held on to our American cars for about 6 months before we "pulled the trigger" and sold them, but we never actually brought them into Mexico. We just kept the cars at my brother's house in Nevada and eventually sold them when we decided to remain as expats permanently. 

I suggest contacting an attorney if you decide that you really want to transfer your cars to Quintana Roo. 

Be free! Expatriate!
~Manny 

​Hi Dannie, 
I suggest renting through Airbnb and getting a very cheap place for only a few days, then searching the waterfront (El Malecon) by foot. We were there less than 12 months ago and saw tons of signs for cheap rental homes (full homes) that were vacant just a few blocks (just 3-4 blocks from the Malecon it's a lot cheaper to rent than right on the waterfront) from the water. None of these "local rentals" are going to be available online, but you really have to go down there in person and look.

I saw several homes that were for rent for less than a few hundred dollars. The way the exchange rate is right now, you should have no trouble finding something quickly.

I just searched Airbnb and found several small rentals for about $20 per night near the Malecon. Some were small studios with two beds that could easily fit one adult and two children. You can rent for a week or so and then go look for rentals by searching in person. I just did a quick search and as you can see, there are over 100 rentals in La Paz for less than $20 per night (see screenshot).

​Now, I'm not affiliated with Airbnb in any way, I just think they are a good way to find an affordable,  safe place to rent that's NOT a hotel. We have used them for years for our own travels, and have even been lucky enough to find long-term rentals that way, too. Many times, a landlord will happily accept an existing tenant for a long-term rental that they found through Airbnb. We've done that several times, too. 

Many of these are room rentals or studios, but it is an affordable option for you to get down there and start your search. It's very doable, I know because I was just there. 

As for fun activities in La Paz, we spent almost all the time at Balandra beach and Playa El Tecolote. We went there pretty much every single day. At night, we would walk the Malecon and let our kids play in the small park there. (There is a small park with a slide and swings and things). That is what we did, but I'm sure there are other activities too.

For news of more fun Baja events, we subscribe to the free newsletter from Baja Insider, a Baja newspaper. I would check their website and also sign up for alerts from them, they always publicise things to do in Baja and all the events.

La Paz has the most beautiful seaside waterfront in all of Baja. I know you and your kids will love it there. ​

Hi! We are planning a move to Tulum next year. We would like to find a nice home not too far from school as the girls are still young and we don’t feel like travelling. Also we don’t find it easy to get information on long time renting houses ? Would you have sites to recommend or a group especially devoted to that? Thank you so much. Have a great day.
~Dineen

Manny's Answer: Tulum is a great place for families with children. It's also very expat-friendly without being as touristy as Cancun. There are several private schools that cater to Americans and Canadians.

When we arrive in a new area, we typically rent a temporary home using Airbnb with a credit card, so our purchase is secure. We will typically rent for one month or so as we explore the region. You can rent and contact the owners of the homes to see if they will rent long-term. There are many rental options all over the Mayan Riviera. I do not recommend renting sight-unseen, no matter where you are! Don't use Craigslist or any other site where you may have to wire money without actually seeing the property first. Many people rent for a year or so before making a long-term commitment. I suggest renting an inexpensive apartment for a month or two (using Airbnb or a similar site where you can pay with a credit card and protect your purchase). Once you are in Tulum, you can search locally for larger homes or homes closer to specific areas or the beach if that's what you want. 

If you want to purchase property, be VERY CAREFUL in Tulum, there are a lot of real estate scams in the area. You will want to use an attorney, a notary, and a licensed real estate agent to cover your legal bases as much as possible. 

It's too difficult (in my opinion) to pick a school without being here in person. Most of the schools do not have websites, although most of them have Facebook pages. In Tulum or Playa Del Carmen you can explore on bikes, but if you want to explore the entire region (recommended) you will need a car. We DO NOT recommend Hertz Mexico, which has a reputation for being very shady. We did not have a good experience with them at the Cancun airport, and they allow time share scammers to act like employees within the business premises. Their reviews on Yelp are HORRIBLE!

Good luck on your move, Tulum is a very beautiful place.