Progreso ~ Yucatan
One Couple Finds Paradise
By Curtis
Harrison
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Retire
In Mexico - Live Better For Less -
While there are some people who come to Mexico for a week’s vacation and
end up living here for the next twenty years, most people adopt a more
prudent course and do some homework first. Dru Pearson is a person
who did her homework and she is someone who knows about retirement in Mexico.
While there may be a few expatriates scattered in a dozen villages throughout
Mexico, most Americans and Canadians settle in one of five locations:
San Miguel de Allende, Mazatlan, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, or Lake Chapala.
Dru Pearson visited all these areas before settling in Lake Chapala. Dru
gives sound and thoughtful advice on retirement in Mexico. Everything from
how to pick your location to Mexican paperwork is covered. If you've
ever considered retirement in Mexico please read this report first. It
has the information that would otherwise take you months of frustration
to acquire. Click
Here for details - |
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my wife, Rebecca, and I to make our break with the corporate world and
make a real family life for our young son and ourselves we moved to San
Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. This was a good starting point
since I had only used Spanglish since college and I had to relearn true
Spanish. We opened a property management and rental company there
and were amazed at the reception that we got in a short time. SMA
is a wonderful place, we still have our business there and still spend
a good bit of time there but that is not what I am here to tell you about.
Last year Rebecca and I took a vacation
to drive the East Coast of Mexico and look for a beach house we could use
for vacations. We drove the coast from Poza Rica down to Veracruz
nosing through small out of the way beach villages but we never came across
one that had that certain “feel” that we were looking for. We were
about to turn back toward SMA from Veracruz dejected but didn’t want to
waste the extra week we had set aside for this trip so we followed the
coast first south, then east than amazingly north and east again.
We came to Merida, the capital city of the state of Yucatan. Having
lived in Mexico for 3 years at this point the first thing that struck us
was how clean this city of 750,000 was. The old architecture and
proximity of the Mayan ruins was great if only it had been on the coast
instead of 30 miles inland. We are from the Texas gulf coast and
have always had an affinity for the ocean. |
| The house that Curtis & Rebecca
bought and renovated in Progreso, Mexico. They have converted it into a
luxurious B & B ~ |
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When we mentioned this we were directed
to Progreso due north of Merida on the Gulf of Mexico. We followed
what had to be one of the best roads in Mexico for the ½ hour drive
to the beach. The road literally ends at the Malecon, sea wall.
The water was not a sparkling blue but rather varying shades of light green.
Surf was almost non-existent. The Malecon was lined with restaurants
and small hotels. There was a calm about the town and a welcoming
sense to it. Before we had even gotten out of the car Rebecca and I both
knew we had found a place with our “feel” but we also knew that we were
now more than 1000 miles from SMA. We decided that we would spend
the rest of our vacation here anyway. We found out that
Progreso was THE place to spend summer vacations for the wealthy of Merida
and Mexico City before Hurricane Gilbert 13 years before. There were
many grand old houses along the malecon that just needed some TLC to breathe
life into them. The beaches were pleasant, as were the onshore breezes
in the afternoon. The people were a delight. During that brief stay
we found cheap flights advertised between Merida and Mexico City, only
4.0 hrs. From SMA and we began to think we could make this work for a vacation
home. Unfortunately, by this time we had to get ready to return
to SMA.
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Four months later there
was a lull in the tourist season in SMA so I took the opportunity to run
back to Progreso and look for something we could rent or buy as a vacation
home. The trip over was smooth and a rental car easy to come by.
I looked at a great variety of houses, apartments, beach front condos etc.
in Progreso, Chixculub, San Benito, Uayumatin, and Chelem before I finally
decided to rent a condo for a year to see how we liked it. I still
had two days left before my return flight so I decided to get a head start
on what I intended to do when we had more time to spend here, be lazy.
I was strolling along a street between my hotel and downtown when I saw
a run down, old manor house for sale. On a whim I called the number
and was allowed in to see the place. I must admit I fell in love
with it right away but I figured the price had to be way out of my range.
It had 8 bedrooms, 3-car garage, a small pool and a very large lot. (Not
exactly a vacation cottage). I asked the price and I was amazed that
it was within the budget and the next thing I new I had an agreement to
buy the place. |
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That was when the real work began.
How to justify to Rebecca, who still had not seen the place, that we needed
a house like this one. How to justify the expenses of remodeling
our, “vacation home.” How to handle the legal work of a foreigner
buying beach property from 1000 miles away. In central Mexico where
we lived foreigners can own fee simple but this was the beach and that
was different.
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| I got a recommendation
for a good attorney who spoke English. My Spanish is passable but
I wanted no misunderstandings in this. I was told that I had two
options for the purchase a bank trust if this was to be a private home
or a corporation if it was to generate revenue. That was when the
light went off in my head. I had always wanted a beach side B&B
of my own. This justified the remodeling expenses, the size and even
made it an easy sell to Rebecca. The only problem now was how to
have two businesses 1000 miles apart. Rebecca solved that by training
our manager in SMA to take on some extra responsibilities so that we didn’t
have to physically be in SMA all of the time. |
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After 2 months of trials and tribulations
to make sure we had everything in order it was time to close the deal.
I drove out with our 15 passenger van loaded to the rafters with many of
our things that we would need out here. I arrived two days before
the scheduled closing and to no ones great surprise the closing was delayed.
It did finally happen a week later though. I moved in to a house
that had been practically abandoned for 12 years. I had no running
water, no electricity and I couldn’t even really secure the doors in the
house. That was 8 months and many more dollars than I had originally
intended to spend ago and I could not be happier with what we did.
We closed in September and in November
cruise ships started to arrive. First one every Wednesday, then two a week
until this spring when there were 5 a week. In January the State
of Yucatan started pouring money into Progreso to give it a face-lift for
the cruise ships passengers. The houses in town started to be fixed
up in February. A new shopping plaza and movie theater just broke ground.
It now seems that this area is springing back to life.
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We discovered that there
was a small year-round expatriate community and of course, the snowbirds
from Canada in the winter. There are still deals to be found
but they are getting fewer and farther between. Several units in
a beach front condo complex near us sold recently in the 40,000 USD range
in only 3 weeks. Mirror images of these are for sale in another complex
for 60k-70k USD. The newer houses and condos to the east of
town command more money and Chelem is the least expensive area.
There is talk a ferry service starting between Progreso and Florida beginning
this summer. Our sleepy little Fishing village has become a destination.
With all of the changes Progreso
still remains a quiet peaceful and safe place to live. A few blocks
away from the main street (80th) and the malecon, Progreso is tranquil
even on the busiest of days. Almost anything can be obtained in Progreso
itself, but it you want US style shopping, Merida is only 30 miles away
with malls, multiplexes, department stores, chain restaurants and everything
else that we have run away from but still like to visit on occasion. |
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Come visit us in Progreso sometime
and it may have the same effect on you that it did on us. If you
have questions about how to get here, where to stay, what to do, buying
real estate, or anything at all, feel free to contact us at casaquixote@prodigy.net.mx
, we will do our best to help you.
Curtis Harrison
Casa Quixote B&B
Progreso, Yucatan
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