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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 -

THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN, including the Mexican Riviera, is the most popular foreign destination for North American tourism and property investment. There are lots of cheap package tours with good beachaccomodations. Its as easy to get to as Miami or San Diego, easier to  navigate and do business and costs much less to live and own property there. Millions of us make our way there each year for the sol, sand, salsa and siesta lifestyle.
 

Mérida, the "Paris of the West" .

I was there 3 times in the past year researching and reporting on the "Costa Maya" property market for the just released, Year 2000 Caribbean Property List Limited Edition. Over half of the new issue is devoted to reports, articles and over 300 property for sale listings in the Western Caribbean. CPL receives more calls and Emails about Mexico, Belize, Honduras' Bay Islands, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama than all other Caribbean areas combined. The reason of course is VALUE. THE YUCATAN: The peninsula of Mexico that juts out into the Gulf is know as "Yucatan".  Very few Cancun visitors actually cross the invisible line over into Yucatan provence.

Some go on one of the "Pyramid" day tours via the new toll-road.  If you take the other road, you add 15 minutes but see an authentic colonial town from 1552, Valladolid, and actually experience a small piece of the pre-tourist past and different type of property than you find in Cancun. If you continue on another 90 miles you will arrive in Mérida, the "Paris of the West". The city dates from the 1500's and offers, plazas, promenades, parks, intl and regional restaurants, tree-lined boulevards, big old mansions, Spanish colonial ambiance and Mayan tranquility. Mérida is very clean and safe. Just 30 miles from the Gulf coast, it has the lowest crime rate per capita in all of Mexico. If you want to retire to México, but don't want to live in a resort town lacking soul and history, come to Mérida. Its a big surprise to first time visitors. It does have a downside. Its hot and humid with average 90º temp from April thru September. Best value: The Caribe Hotel on Parque Hidalgo near the central plaza. Colonial warmth, arches and colonnades - $40/nite. (see photo) Best business opportunity: Real Estate Office - There apparently is only one bi-lingual real estate agency in Merida; Piramides. They operate from their house in an out of the way residential area and will try to charge you for the privilage of talking with them or seeing any of their properties..
 

The Caribe Hotel on Parque Hidalgo .

PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN MEXICO -  Americans and other foreigners may obtain direct ownership of property in the interior of Mexico. However, under Mexican law, foreigners cannot own property outright within the "restricted zone": all land within 62 mi of the Mexican border, and within 31 mi of any Mexican coastline.  A real estate trust must be set up with a bank to hold title for a foreigner.  This is very common and safe and is known as a "fideicomisos". But potential buyers should always get advice and have all real estate transactions checked by a licensed Mexican attorney or notary. There is a full page article in the new 2000 Caribbean Property List explaining this transaction in detail.

BELIZE - A small country, pop. 235,000, is the only Central American country with English as the official language. Pyramids here indicate that Belize was originally inhabited by the Mayans around 300 A.D. Foreigners can own property in Belize with little or no restrictions. Belize has introduced a simple, very beneficial "Residency Program" for foreigners which has a lot to offer. The law has so many benefits that attorneys are saying it is the best program of it's kind anywhere in the world. You don't have to be retired, you don't have to spend a certain amount of time in Belize and you can live tax free. The new CPL has a full page article about this exciting new program as well as 70 Belize properties listed for sale.  The article can also be found in a recent edition of this Ezine.
 

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HONDURAS and the BAY ISLANDS - Even though Roatan and the Bay Islands are officially in Spanish speaking Honduras, English is and has been the #1 language since the first British sailors were shipwrecked here in the 1600's. Its hard to imagine a more idyllic place to be shipwrecked. Over 30 Honduras properties are listed for sale in the new CPL, along with a property article about the Bay Islands. NICARAGUA - A big surprise to most people is that Nicaragua has the lowest crime rate of any Central American country; the fastest growing economy; and the lowest priced property.

This is why some major players have started buying land here and some publications like Intl Living have recently started writing about this country that has had more than its share of USG intervention and resultant turmoil. Most of the new real estate action is along the southern Pacific coast. Nicaragua properties are listed for sale in the new CPL. A good online property for sale resource is - www.caribpro.com/nicapro  - 

COSTA RICA - The perennial Central American favorite retirement destination is getting a lot of competition from its neighbors to the North and South. More Americans (40,000) are living and investing in Costa Rica that all the other Central American countries combined. Eco-tourism is big biz here because of the immense bio-diversity. A big set-back occured when the government renegged on its promises to foreign retirees. More about this on Escape Artist website at - www.escapeartist.com/oque/rica.htm  The new CPL has 35 Costa Rica properties for sale.

The Year 2000 CARIBBEAN PROPERTY LIST Limited Edition features 512 properties for sale on its 48pages.  Listings include: Beachfront hotels, villas, condos, land, private islands, businesses. All with prices, locations, data and direct contacts to the sellers. Actual listings in the new 2000 edition: BAHAMAS: Eleuthera lots, near beach, $3,500 (pg.3); BELIZE: 1 acre oceanview lots, $9,900 (pg.7); BELIZE: 60 acre farm, good soil, $29,000 (pg17); BELIZE: 10 room seaview hotel in city, $145,000 (pg.36);  COSTA RICA: lot with cabin on nice beach, $19,950 (pg.36);  COSTA RICA: new 2br home, furn., $26,000(pg.16);  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: condos near beach,$19,000(pg.18);  MEXICO: Cozumel,3br home, near sea,$49,000(pg.19);  MONTSERRAT: 2br/2b villa,walk to beach, $125,000(pg.19);  NICARAGUA: 20 acre oceanvw farm,$12,000 (pg.21);  NICARAGUA: 20 acre mountain coffee farm,$49,000 (pg.44);  PANAMA: Bocas,29 ac farm, deep water bay,$15,000 (pg44);  PUERTO RICO: 2br condo, w/garage, $45,000 (pg19);  USVI: St.John, 2br villa+apt, seaview, $215,000(pg.47), and, over 500 more properties for sale in the 2000 edition.

FREE BONUS! New Report- "How-To Profit from Your Caribbean Investment." This $20 report is free w/2000 issue orders and includes: 4 essential steps when buying offshore property and Updates on all the Caribbean property markets. CPL also has a current DataBank of 3,256 for sale listings. All with locations, contacts, data & prices.

For more information or to order the 2000 CPL ($20) call, fax, write or Email: The Caribbean Property List, Box 150005, Cape Coral, FL 33990 Tel: (941)772-1747, Fax:(941)772-1787, Email: cpl@caribpro.com  - Or order the 2000 edition online at:  http://www.caribpro.com - 

- Jerry Ritter, Editor