SE VENDE (For Sale)

What do two Americans do when they want to buy a house in Mexico? RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. When we decided to move to Mexico, we talked of toes in the sand days leisurely sucking down cerveza as palms rustled overhead and  turquoise waves licked the shore, however we were jolted from that daydream by the reality of needing infrastructure!

After we discovered the colonial cities of Yucatan we knew exactly what we wanted. We desired authenticity in the house and the neighborhood. We Googled constantly, searching every available website. We scanned real estate listings.  We read forums and blogs gleaning information from every available source.

You never know what's behind those doors!

I made a research trip to Merida and we included the colonial city of Campeche as well. We even considered a couple of charming properties outside of Merida.

I met with two different realtors and looked at a dozen or so homes. I walked the neighborhoods of the houses we liked at different times of the day. I spoke with an architect about renovations. We have remodeled our last four homes in the states, so I guess we like being under construction. Truth is we like our home to reflect us.

''Original'' house w/ big yard

Upon arriving in Yucatan we took a breather at the beach, and from available real estate websites we began our house hunting. By this time there were only a couple of properties we were interested in, if they did not fit the bill, we would just keep renting.

Really neat Mérida house

On a Sunday morning, we walked the floors of the home we would buy. Some “experts” suggest when you relocate to a foreign country; you should try it on, see how it fits, and rent for a year, which truly is sound advice even though we did not do that. When we left Midland, we both knew we were one hundred percent committed; it truly was Mexico or Bust.  We were standing in the back yard of the house and we decided it just felt like home. We made an offer, the owners accepted and we were on our way to having a home in Mexico.

Tall ceilings

House in Campeche w/ promise