October 22, 2025 • 46 mins
Moving Abroad Resources:
👉 Moving Abroad Relocation Roadmap Guidebook that walks you through the five phases of moving abroad ($27): https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/relocate
👉 Moving Abroad Relocation Blueprint Course which offers step by step guidance on everything from choosing the right country to immigration to taxes and everything in between: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/blueprint
👉 Want us to handle the details of your move abroad? Apply for our white-glove relocation services here: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/consult
👉 Free Moving to Mexico Guide: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico
👉 Free Moving Abroad Checklist: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/abroad
Remote Work and Online Income Resources:
👉 Expat Income Accelerator course which shows you the multiple ways you can make money globally based on our 15+ years of experience in online business, investing internationally and living in multiple countries: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/income
👉 Get Your First High Paying Client Online Bootcamp which walks you through the first four foundational steps of creating and monetizing an online business based on 15+ years of experience in online business: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/firstclient-yt
👉 YouTube Mastery Workshop which shows you how we’ve built two YouTube channels that bring clients and passive income from digital course sales (including turning Entrepreneur Expat into a six-figure business in six months): https://www.YouTubeMasteryWorkshop.com
👉LinkedIn Mastery Workshop which shows you how to use LinkedIn to find remote work, clients and connect with recruiters based on Justin’s experience building a six-figure business and finding remote work on LinkedIn: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/linkedin
👉 Free Make Money From Anywhere Guide: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/money-guide
V I D E O S T O W A T C H N E X T :
Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2
Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23
Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j
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Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Ruben Interview - RE Inves (00:36):
Have you been looking to invest in
real estate in Mexico andlooking for some expert
guidance?
Well, today I'm joined by RubenCastanos, our friend and
colleague here in the Kopecarea, who's been selling real
estate in both the US andMexico.
For many, many years.
And we're gonna talk about justthat, how to invest in real
(00:57):
estate safely, how to find thebest investment opportunities
and exactly what's going onright now in the world of real
estate in Mexico, especially inthe Lake Al area.
Welcome, Ruben.
Hey, I'm glad to be here, man.
Good to see you again.
It's great.
Great to have you here.
Thank much we're gonna verymuch, we're gonna dive into all
of that and uh, if you're justwatching us for the first time
and you're interested in morecontent about how to relocate to
(01:17):
Mexico, including the visaprocesses, real estate, legal,
everything else that's involved,hit that subscribe button and
notification bell so that youdon't miss a single video.
And also check out our consultwith a free consult that you can
apply for if you're looking forone-on-one help with experts
like Reuben and the rest of ourteam.
You can just go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult.
(01:39):
So diving right in.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground and, and how you got
to be selling real estate herein Mexico.
Well, I was originally born inMexico, in the city of
Guadalajara back in the days,and I immigrated in my late
teens to the San Francisco Bayarea and I lived my, most of my
adult life over there in theUnited States.
(02:02):
When San Francisco was abeautiful city.
It still is, but you know, ithas changed some.
I, I'm familiar.
I I grew up in the Bay area too.
That's right.
It's definitely changed.
Absolutely.
A lot.
So you know what I'm talkingabout.
Absolutely.
In any case, uh, I got into realestate 20 years ago in the San
Francisco Bay area.
I saw the need to service mycommunity, the Hispanic
(02:23):
community, and, you know, I madethe right choice.
I did well and I was treated Myum.
Clients with the utmost respectand honesty.
And that reflected me in mybusiness because, you know, most
of my business always wasthrough referral.
And I'm proud of that because,you know, I don't, I, I did not
(02:45):
only make sales, I made longlife relationships.
You know, most of my clientsbecame friends and that's, you
know, that's something that Itotally enjoy.
That's amazing.
And you still have clients upthere, like you go regularly
back to the Bay Area?
Yeah, I gotta meet with them.
Um, I'm semi-retired, basically.
Um, I prefer to live here inMexico, but however, you know,
(03:08):
I'm still a clientele back therethat I need to take care of.
And, uh, well, you know, it's awin-win situation.
My, you know, um, most of myfamilies is still the United
States, so I go back and forthlike every three months.
Mm-hmm.
I gotta go up there, but it'sall good.
I love it.
And, uh, one of the things thatI've started doing real estate
(03:30):
here in the Chapala area isbecause I known about this area
since 1978, uh, even back then,it was a great place for expats.
The this American community herein Chapala is, is, has been
established for the last.
70 years, isn't it like thebiggest community of North
(03:53):
American expats like US andCanadian expats outside of those
countries in the world?
I believe so.
Ahah, I think Ahah is, is one ofthe main, um, towns that attract
all these, uh, people fromAmerica and Canada.
Uh, they could be, uh, you know,there are communities growing
all over Mexico.
(04:14):
It's just because of the whole.
Uh, present situation, you know,globally.
Mm-hmm.
And there are several, um,states like in Baja, California,
you know, those, you know,American communities are growing
in the south, uh, near, uh,Cancun.
Mm-hmm.
And Merida in Yucatan.
(04:36):
Yep.
Also, that community is growing.
We have a lot of followersliving there.
Oh, absolutely.
Cancun, yes.
Uhhuh, uh, Cabo San Lucas.
Especially that beach.
You got it.
So you mentioned a couple thingsthere about sort of some of the
trends that are going on in theUS and a lot of our followers
are aware of some of thesetrends, like there's economic
indicators that are slipping.
(04:56):
There's a lot of like politicalunrest.
I mean, what, what's been yourexperience, especially having
spent so much time in bothcountries and.
Seeing what's happened,especially the last decade or so
in the us what are you seeing interms of why people are saying
that they wanna move down here?
Or even just your experience ofwhy you wanted to come down
yourself.
Mm-hmm.
That is a great question, andlet me give you my, my
perspective.
(05:17):
I understanding, you know, howthe system works here in Mexico
as well as in the United States.
Uh, I see that in me, you know,in Mexico there is a lot of new
money coming in.
Uh.
We have the transition, youknow, since the pandemic, when
the supply lines got disrupted.
(05:38):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of companies realized thatmaybe we shouldn't be
manufacturing, you know, all thestuff, you know, in Asia when we
have viable countries here in,in, in America, and I'm talking
about the whole continent ofAmerica, Mexico, Columbia,
Panama, you know, you name it.
(05:59):
So Nearshoring Yeah, exactly.
Really started take off during,during the pandemic.
And, uh, the, you know, theclimate in Mexico politically is
very, very, uh, positive.
You know, they, they areactively trying to attract all
these manufacturing companiesthat used to produce all these,
(06:22):
uh, all these things in China,especially, you know, they wanna
bring him here because.
Now you don't have to expense,you know, millions of dollars
just in transportation.
Now the, um, the labor cost inChina used to be cheap, a lot
(06:42):
cheaper than Mexico.
That's no longer the case.
Actually, I believe it's nowcheaper.
Uh, the labor costs are cheaperin Mexico than that is in China.
And you don't have, you know,you won't have the, uh, the
supply and chain, uh, problemsthat we had.
Five years ago, that's a bigdeal for businesses because I
mean that mm-hmm.
The pandemic was kind of likethe show that, that you can't
(07:05):
depend on one country,especially one country that's so
far away.
And to your point.
China's getting more and moreadvanced.
And I think that it's, it'sstarting to get to the point
where it's about to reach globalparody and not that many years
with the us Right.
Uh, in terms of their economicindicators, in terms of their,
their wages and things likethat, it's going up.
Right.
Versus Mexico is still a littlebit more on the developing side,
(07:28):
at least compared to China.
Mm-hmm.
And there's still a lot thatthat can be done, uh, for.
Having much more affordablelabor costs.
And then it's kind of a doublewhammy where it's two for one,
you get the transportation.
That's way easier because youcan transport things by land, or
if it's by sea, it's, it's amuch shorter route.
Well, another thing that a lotof people are not aware of is
that the level of education inMexico, especially in the middle
(07:52):
class, is gone, is gone much,much higher.
Mm-hmm.
So now you have all these talentthat can be exploited here in
Mexico.
You know, when all these newcompanies come in, they can rely
on better quality of labor, youknow, more educated, uh, labor
force and, you know, people thatcan be rely on to make good
(08:15):
product, right?
And at a very reasonable pricestill.
So I do believe it is a lotalready.
It's a lot of companies, youknow, I'm talking, we're talking
about big names, BIA.
Uh, I believe, uh, alsoMicrosoft Teslas, you know, it's
building a couple of newfactories up in the north of
Mexico.
(08:35):
And this is a trend, you know,this is just a starting.
So if I were an investor and aforeign an investor, I would be
looking to Mexico, you know, tomake a couple, a few
investments, because in thenext, I don't know.
Or two.
I mean, Mexico's gonna explode,I believe.
(08:56):
You know, but this is, this is,we are at the ground level.
This is when good investors,smart investors come in.
You don't wanna come in when youknow things are already, and
it's already like the next us.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Close.
So, and the peso has beenholding really strong.
I mean, it used to be just lastyear at some point, I think we
were getting close to like 1920,and it's already at, uh, 18
(09:20):
point.
Three and a half now.
18.35 As of today, yeah.
No, actually when ALA wasgetting out of the presidency,
he, he almost hit 21 pesos perdollar.
Right now is at 18.
Today was at 10$18 and 35 cents.
18 pesos.
18 peso per I'm sorry's.
Incredible.
I mean, it is, it really is.
(09:40):
But uh, our rent's gone up alittle bit because of that.
But I don't mind.
'cause Mexico's doing reallywell.
Yeah, exactly.
As a whole, so, no.
And the stability of Mexico, youknow, politically.
Mexico is in a transition.
Mm-hmm.
However, uh, there is too majorparties and you know, the party
in power, you know, it'ssupposed to be for the people,
(10:03):
but they're not anti-business.
That's a good thing.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, there is alot of noise about cartels and
oh, Mexico is so unsafe.
You go down to Mexico, you knowyou're gonna get assaulted,
you're gonna get killed.
Nothing like that.
I mean, what are some of themyths you've heard and what's
the reality on the ground?
Because a lot of people areasking that We have a lot of
(10:24):
followers.
I mean, you guys ask us all thetime, like, is Mexico really
safe?
Can you find what you need?
Are you gonna get into involvedin some sort of violence there?
If you, if you move down there,is it, and, and realistically
like, what are you actuallyseeing?
Because we know that's not true,but a lot of people still have
some of those doubts.
Well, me being originally fromMexico, from Guadalajara and
still have a lot of, uh, familymembers living here.
(10:48):
They've been living here alltheir lives, and Guadalajara
built, you know, a few yearsback, build a reputation of
being controlled by the cartels,which is not true.
I mean, criminal elements areall over the world, right?
It's just that they have comeup, uh, to the forefront of the
news.
Of course, you know, uh,however.
(11:11):
I go to Guadalajara all thetime.
I never have a problem.
Uh, us too.
Yeah, we're there like everycouple months, right?
No issue other than the traffic.
And then I talk to my familymembers all the time, so hard
things in Guadalajara, you know,getting a little bit crazy.
It's getting more dangerous andstuff.
They say no pill, you know, it'sthe same with Aha of subways.
(11:32):
You know, it like all the bigcities that are focused, there
are neighborhoods.
You have to be careful not to goin there at night.
And yeah, there are, uh,criminal elements that fight
among themselves.
That's when you get, you know,all these shootouts and stuff.
But that doesn't happen in theUnited States.
I know you, it happens more inthe us.
(11:55):
So number one, I mean, peopleare asking all the time about
like the, the cartel situation,for example.
And the cartel has a much biggerpresence in the US than it does
in Mexico.
And number one.
Mm-hmm.
Number two.
They, there's a lot more of thefighting actually going on in
the US and, and on both sides ofthe border, like close to the
border areas.
That's very common that that's,you're down here.
(12:16):
I mean, this is where they allhave their families.
Exactly.
And Meida as well.
Like it's very, even, even moresafe there.
Right.
And Chapala, I mean, forget it,they, they're protecting the
area because they know thatthere's so many expats coming.
Absolutely.
And this is the thing,especially in this area, it's
well protected because of thelarge American community.
(12:36):
They don't wanna start messingwith Americans or Canadians.
Not only that, they don't wannabring on their heat, you know,
let, let's say if they moved ata couple of, you know, Americans
for no good reason, you know,that, you know, the US is gonna
put a lot of heat on the Mexicangovernment and the Mexican
government, it's gonna come to,you know, like a ton of breaks
(12:58):
against these criminal elements.
They're not that stupid.
Yeah.
Believe me, uh, the, you know,the role of the cartels.
It's more like this.
Mexico became a, a gateway fordrugs to the United States.
That's what they always focusingon.
(13:18):
You know, how we can transportall this poison, you know, to
America.
Yeah.
And, and that's what they makeall their money.
So that's the reason that theydon't wanna mess around too
much.
With the citizenship, of course,you know, there's small criminal
organizations that.
Uh, in certain regions ofMexico, there is a, you know,
(13:38):
it's a little more trouble andyou do some research there per,
like you, you just mentioned,you know, more in the north part
of Mexico and, and you know, acouple of other, uh, areas in
the, uh, state next door here,uh, it's called Michan.
Mm-hmm.
There's certain towns that,yeah, they are controlled by
(14:00):
criminal elements, cartels, but.
They, they stay focused there.
Now that we have the, uh, they,you know, their main, uh,
objective or the main mandate,keep the good areas safe,
especially areas where there's alot of American residents
(14:22):
mm-hmm.
Canadians.
So they, they are keeping that,you know.
Stable in this area.
I, I, I mean, I go out at anytime of the day here in this
region.
I never felt threatened.
(15:50):
And, you know, people areusually very welcoming.
They're warm and I can goanywhere.
I feel safe and you know, I canhave fun.
I can go out to dinner.
I mean, you name it.
And I don't see any, you know, Inever encountered anybody trying
to on a threatening matter orbeing assaulted or.
Gimme your money or else none ofthat, you know?
(16:12):
And that happens, I would saymore frequently in a random way.
In the us in a lot of, in a lotof places.
I, I believe so.
Absolutely.
What, what do you think it isthat like helps to fuel the
narrative that Mexico is sodangerous?
Well, uh, because of theatrocities of the cartels have
committed, that brings a lot ofattention.
(16:34):
So the history, yeah.
Yeah.
Is the history of the cartels.
They can be very brutal, but ifyou're not, you know, if you're
not, uh, running drugs or ifyou're not into like, you know,
kind of, uh, shady deals and youdon't try to get involved in
with the cartels, you know, likeselling them stuff.
(16:56):
You won't have a problem.
I mean, so this is our tip fortoday.
Do not become an approved vendorat Mexican cartels and you
should be out of out trouble.
Yeah.
Because you can get you, you canget you real trouble.
And these guys don't foolaround.
I mean, these guys can bemerciless.
Yeah.
You know, it, it's like everycriminal, criminal organizations
(17:17):
around the world.
Of course.
What are some of the otherreasons?
I mean, you, we talked a littlebit about, uh, the benefits of
Mexico and like also the realityon the ground here compared to
some of the myths.
What do you think some of thereasons are that people are kind
of being pushed out of the USand Canada?
Like what are some things on theground there?
I mean, from your perspective,like what maybe caused you to
move, whether it was thefinancial, the safety,
(17:38):
political, and why other peopleare doing the same?
Well, most definitely thefinancial situation, the economy
in the United States, eventhough they, you know, they, uh,
painting it, you know, with rosecolors.
Oh, the economy is great.
Yeah, no, it just.
We, we hit a few rough bumps andstuff, but in reality, the cost
(17:59):
of living in, in certain areasof the United States has become
prohibited.
It's so difficult just to makeends meet, especially where I
come from, you know, the SanFrancisco Bay Area.
I mean, an average two bedroomapartment in the San Francisco
Bay area is you gotta pay four,four, you know, 4,000,
(18:20):
4,500,000,$500 a month.
That's insane.
That's insane.
How much do you have to bemaking to live there?
I mean, you know, just, just,just to make a decent living and
we're not talking about, youknow, saving for vacation or a
beautiful car or, you know,certain luxuries.
(18:40):
No, just, just basically livingin the Bay Area.
You need a minimum.
Of about a hundred,$120,000 ayear.
So that's like, middle class isabout a hundred point.
You have to be middle class.
Yeah.
And, and like I say, just goingthe basics is, you know, that
won't give you too much moneyleft for vacations or, you know,
(19:01):
to treat yourself to a nice, youknow, couple of dinners a month
or whatever.
No, just basis, it's, it's, it'sgetting really difficult.
Also, the political climate,especially in California, it's
so divisive.
And, you know, I don't wanna gettoo much into politics.
No, please.
But, but the thing is this, youknow what, all these liberal
(19:22):
politicians coming up with,these ridiculous laws that give
all the power to the, in, youknow, to homeless and indigenous
peoples and minorities andstuff, without taking into
consideration what it does forthe economy.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, California should be.
(19:42):
The number one economy in theworld.
Yeah.
However, and, and it is one ofthe top economies in the world,
just the state by itself.
But the government, throughtheir policy, they waste so much
money that, you know, things aregetting really, really bad.
And, and, and, and just byshowing favoritism to certain
(20:05):
sections of the population, theycreated more division.
Mm-hmm.
They wanna say, oh, you know,it's, it's weird.
Everybody's equal.
Everybody deserves, andeverybody deserves this and
everybody deserves that.
And we help, we gotta help thesepeople and we're help each other
people, but they never talkabout responsibilities.
Mm-hmm.
(20:26):
You know what?
It's just like, let's give themmoney.
Let's give them money that willfix the problem.
Open up the borders.
Yeah.
Because he cares so much aboutpeople.
Just let'em all in.
They've been, they've beenthrowing money at the problem
for the last 30 years, and theproblem is.
Have ex have becomeexponentially worse.
Well, that's, if you, you talk,you talk about homelessness too,
right?
Like Newsom was, was, uh, usingthat in his campaign speeches
(20:48):
decades ago.
Right.
When he was, he was in differentoffices.
Yeah.
He was going to fix thehomelessness.
He was gonna, and then we gotanother billion here, another 5
billion here, another 10.
I mean, I don't know how manybillions they thrown at the
homelessness in California.
It just, it just become alittle, you know, it's chaotic,
you know, the way they handlethings.
Yeah.
That's, that's the second mainthing about, you know, people
(21:08):
moving, you know, it's not justthe money sense, it's like how
the money is handled.
And look, look at the tax ratestoo.
That's another thing I've seenin California.
I mean, they're, yeah, you'vegot like almost a 50% marginal
tax rate now at the highestlevel.
I remember, uh, San Franciscoback in the eighties, you would,
you can walk almost on anyneighborhood in the, in the, in
the city.
Never get bothered by anyone.
(21:30):
You wouldn't get assaulted, youknow.
They were, they were a couple oflike really bad neighborhoods
where it's a lot of drugs andprostitution, but that's been
happening for years and yearsand years Now it's just getting
worse.
But I'm talking about like themain street in San Francisco
Market Street.
You're familiar with it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The financial district, youknow, certain beautiful
(21:54):
neighborhoods in, in the city.
They were clean, nice,controlled, safe.
Half of the neighborhoods in thecity, you cannot go out on the,
you know, you cannot go out atnight and not be, you know, not
get bothered by crazy people.
Beggars and a lot of assaults.
Yeah.
There's a lot of carjackings,there's lot of hot homicides, a
(22:16):
lot of robberies.
It's just car theft is out ofcontrol in the city.
Yeah.
And you know, there's a lot of,a lot of, uh, stores closed
because.
Of the new law that if you arestill under a thousand bucks, we
won't charge in jail, we won'tdo anything.
Yep.
It's, it's ridiculous.
And then after the pandemic too,because I, I was there, right?
(22:39):
I mean, even during, for acouple months and then after
the, the pandemic and MarketStreet and all those other
places, I mean, 75% of thebuildings, the restaurants, the
coffee shops are just completelyboarded up.
There's nothing there.
It was all closed.
Awesome.
And you would walk around atnight, like in, in downtown.
The only thing open on in theentire, like in a 10 15 block
(22:59):
radius, was like one BurgerKing.
And that Burger King also seemedto be run basically by criminal
groups.
Right.
I mean, they were like all in inthere and I was like, just
getting my cheeseburger.
I'm not here to bother anyone.
No, there were a lot ofrestaurants, you know, five food
stores and stuff.
They had to close down.
Yeah, because all these, uh,gang bangers, I was hanging out
at the door.
(23:20):
Customers couldn't come in and,and get their food.
Yep.
So who wants that?
You know?
No, and they, they, they, it'salmost as if why, again, I won't
get into the, too much, into thepolitics, but like, it's almost
as if they want to seeeverything just right, burned
down to the ground.
So I can, I can see why there isa lot of interest in moving to
Mexico, uh, especially in thisarea, especially for people like
(23:43):
my age.
I'm gonna be 65 in a couple ofmonths, and I talk to a lot of
friends from the Bay Area.
In my age group, and half ofthem are looking into, oh, how's
hard things in Mexico?
How's it going?
Is, is it a good place to go,you know, to, to go and live
there?
I say, no, I don't want youthere.
(24:05):
No, stay, stay there.
Don't, don't come here andraise, raise all the prices.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't want you to raise thewhole, you know, all the prices
and, you know, get crowded here.
No, no, no.
But kidding aside, you know, let'em know.
Hey, listen, this is a, this isa great area.
Especially here, we have allthe, uh, services.
We got the proximity ofGuadalajara with, with the
(24:29):
international airport.
Mm-hmm.
We got all the services.
Nightlife in Guadalajara isawesome.
So if you come here to have anice, quiet life, you know, and
enjoy most of the time with, youknow, with rest and relax,
relaxation, but still you wannago out and have fun, you have to
do it.
You get an Uber, it's an hourdrive to Guadalajara, and
(24:50):
believe me, you can do the town.
Yeah.
And you can have a great time.
So there is a lot of, uh,positives, uh, in this area.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, weather-wise, this is justabout the best weather globally
year round.
And you have experience, youknow, the rainy season.
(25:11):
Yeah.
And you mean specifically inChapala?
In Chapala, yeah.
I'm talking about the Chapalaregion right now.
Which, what I've been.
Where I've been living the last,in the last year and a half.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah, I, I think I made theright choice of, you know,
moving into this area.
I'm pretty happy here.
How much do you spend here?
And this is, this is helpful forpeople as well, like, that are
(25:31):
trying to actually understandand budget and things like that.
Right.
We did a video about our owncost of living and some
estimates and things like that,but I, I'd love to hear it from
you.
I mean, how much do you spendhere mm-hmm.
Compared to where you wereliving in the Bay Area, just on
like your personal expensesevery month, just to keep it
really simple.
I'm having a really good lifehere.
Uh, you know, I go out todinner, I go out to have fun.
(25:53):
Uh, I treat my girlfriend, youknow, a couple of times a week
or you know, nice meals andstuff.
And I live in a very nice, uh,apartment overlooking the lake
as you can experience.
Mm-hmm.
I, I don't even spend one thirdof what was suspended in, in, in
the San Francisco Bay area.
(26:14):
Wow.
And so almost 70% off.
70 per 70% off.
Yeah.
So, and believe me, you know, I,my quality of living has
increased.
It didn't decrease.
People always think that'sanother thing that we hear
really common is that if you goand move to Mexico or to South
America, or even even otherplaces where people are living,
(26:34):
like some of our colleagues inAfrica, they're like, you're
gonna have to lower your qualityof life.
We're all, you know, we're allsort of living in mud huts or
something.
It's like literally what peoplewill say, but it's not true.
No, it's not true at all.
I mean, you know, now we haveneighborhoods here in where the
average home is$800,000.
US.
(26:55):
They're beautiful homes.
I mean, we're talking about, youknow, 3,500 square foot home
with three car garage, you know,front yard, backyard inside, you
know, indoor pool and you know,it works.
Mm-hmm.
And now there is so many goodquality restaurants.
(27:16):
I'm not talking about, you know,um, GOME Gome quality.
Dinners like Michelin star kindof, and meals and, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
So, so I mean, and, and it, ifyou really like the high life,
just go to Guadalajara and youget the top restaurants that you
(27:38):
will find in the us.
Yeah.
So, but you know, in this area,I mean, I can go any, any day of
the week and just find whatever,actually find any kind of food
that I want.
So lets jump into the realestate and the lifestyle a
little bit.
Mm-hmm.
So maybe, maybe first on thereal estate, you mentioned
$800,000 for a house, and thenI, I wanna talk about different
(27:59):
ranges and things, right?
Mm-hmm.
But for somebody coming fromCalifornia, that might not seem
like a lot, I mean, you know,we've got, uh, family in
California where there's houses,there are just decent houses,
like they're okay houses, andthey're 1.2, 1.5 million, right?
And up.
So like for half the price.
You're getting somewhere that'snot in the suburbs, like in, in
a suburb of, of the South Bayarea, right?
(28:21):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Uh, you're getting some,something that's in a very
walkable town.
Where you don't need a car mostof the time.
And if you're, if you're in thedowntown area, most of the good
stuff, most of the good stuff iswithin walking distance.
And you know what, uh, I just,uh, befriended a couple of, uh,
two couples from Canada.
They live in La Floreta, whichis one of the nicest
(28:42):
neighborhoods in, they don'thave, they don't own a car.
They walk everywhere.
Mm-hmm.
And if it's a little farther up.
Our Uber ride here send you backlike seven, eight bucks, you
know, from that one littlepound.
That's all the way out here toHoCo.
Yeah, exactly.
That's like a full 30, you know,25, 30 minute drive.
Yeah.
Right.
Anyways, in LA that would beprobably 50 bucks.
(29:03):
Yeah, exactly.
So, and the range, you know,the, the range ranges in price.
It is from here to there.
Here, I mean, yeah.
800,000.
That's like a, like a, like youmentioned, nice big house.
Probably a small, you know,small to medium family.
I'm talking, talking about highend, very high end and the, and
the best neighborhoods in, in,in the area.
(29:24):
Yeah.
But you can get a very decentsize, single family home.
Three, you know, two car garage,three, two bed, three bedrooms,
two bath or four bedrooms, bathwith a nice, uh, garden in the,
in, in the back from anywherefrom three 50 to 500,000.
(29:46):
Depends how close you aredowntown Jahi, but you come to,
I mean, you can get some beautyfor, for a really, really low
price.
Yeah.
Uhhuh, let's talk about thedifferent difference.
So like some different areas andsome of the price ranges that
you've seen.
So Ahi, it sounds like if you'rebuying something, if it's a
house, mostly they're singlefamily homes, right?
(30:07):
There's not a ton of apartments.
Right.
At least for sale.
Well now they, they have come upwith a lot of new developments
where you can get a nice, decentcondominium.
Um, decent size, you know,midsize, 1100, 200 square feet
for, you know, in theneighborhood of 300,000.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
So, so that's about the floorfor something in a, a walkable
(30:28):
area.
And, and, and I believe, notnecessarily not, but the suburbs
of Ahe or on the outskirts oraah.
For 250,000.
Nice.
Know it's not bad.
Yeah, no, it's, you're talkingabout.
Uh, almost new brand, newcondominiums brand.
And even there, your, everythingelse goes down a lot.
(30:50):
Your food costs.
Food costs, right.
Unless you're shopping at SuperLake and you're buying all
American imported stuff, whichis a whole other, it's a whole
of what, but all of your cost ofliving go down too, so you can
actually retire.
Well, just, just to give you anidea, my electricity bill in, in
San Francisco was a$150 a monthfor a single guy.
(31:11):
Yeah, right.
Over here.
I think my average bill is about15 bucks.
15.
12 to 15 bucks.
Yep.
Ours is a little higher, noteven 10%.
Ours is a little higher'causewe've got two air conditionings.
We run servers for our, ourwebsites and we've got lights
and cameras and all the, all thestuff.
So I mean, maybe we're paying 30or four,$30,$40 a month, you
(31:34):
know, in internet with cable andeverything else is about an
average of 45.
$45 a month in this area.
And property taxes areridiculous.
I mean, if you buy property tax,uh, my cousin lives here in
Kote.
P her and her husband, herhusband's is an American.
(31:57):
He's been here for 25 years.
He was, and I'm moving back towta, to the United States.
I, you know, I'm having a greatlife here and I'm not going
anywhere.
Yeah.
Anyways.
Property tax, I believe it was$240 last year on like a couple
hundred thousand dollarsproperty.
Yes.
Yeah.
(32:18):
Yes.
Compared in the US that would bethousands.
Oh yeah.
Depending, I mean,$240 a year onproperty tax.
I mean, that's nothing.
I think we're paying that amonth.
Yeah.
Over there.
You in the area you pay twice asmuch a month.
Yeah.
Um, and, and, yeah.
Yeah.
Their home is worth about250,000.
It's, it's a nice.
Do it, you know, two bedroom,two bath, beautiful place.
(32:41):
Mm-hmm.
Overlooking the lake, so.
Oh, absolutely.
So that's Ahi.
What are some of the other areasthat you see a lot of expats,
because you've got, you've gotkind of, uh, San Antonio there,
close by, right?
Right.
You've got Chapala, you've gotobviously down here, Kota back.
And then there's some otherdevelopments that we we're gonna
look at pretty soon here we weretalking about the other day,
right.
That are kind of around thebend, uh, past effect.
(33:03):
Well, that's the thing.
You know, we've seen a lot of,uh.
Foreigners is starting to lookout outside.
Ahi.
Why's that?
Ho Kote pe Well first started,the prices are much cheaper.
Uh mm-hmm.
Like the town of Kote.
PE is more like all town Mexico.
You know, you're in Kote, pe andlike you are in the real Mexico,
(33:26):
you know, with people that justgo about their, their, you know,
lives, you know, in a regularmanner.
Uh, you get all the traditions,uh, and uh.
Well, you have theinfrastructure, but most of the
neighborhoods in Hoko Depe are,are, uh, are old.
You know, it's an old town, uh,but there's new developments
(33:48):
popping up.
Mm-hmm.
All, all around Hoko.
Depe, uh, there is, uh, thislittle town, El Chante, which is
across the street where, wherewe live.
That's also, I, I see that thepotential of that little town
coming up.
I see new investors, you know,coming in and, and, you know,
(34:09):
buying all like really oldrundown homes with a large lot,
and they're picking it up forreally, really low prices.
Interesting.
What are some of the prices herenow, Johnson?
I, you know what?
I'm not quite sure because Ihaven't sold anything there yet,
but brand new condominiums righthere in Elante.
Uh.
(34:30):
I'm talking about, you know,9,000 square feet, two bedroom,
two bath, two stories, you know,with the works.
Very new, you know, like lessthan two years old for 120,000
us.
Wow.
That's those, those, to me,that's a bargain right now.
Yeah.
Or build by the lot and justbuild it yourself, right?
I mean, yeah, absolutely.
And you know what, thisstatistics show that in the
(34:54):
whole of Mexico, they'reexpecting real estate prices to
at least.
10% a year for the next five to10 years in this area.
I can see that equity growing upat least 15 easily.
12 to 15% a year in the nextfive years.
Because I mean, yeah, it lacks alittle bit of infrastructure,
(35:17):
you know, maybe the roads can bewider, maybe could cut, you
know, could be a little moreroads and stuff.
But that's coming.
You know, the population grows.
More, uh, investment come in.
Mm-hmm.
You know, just this area becauseAhe has, I mean, fantastic
infrastructure.
Oh, absolutely.
I think here it's, it's good.
It's just like they're, they're,you know, it has to be expanded
a little bit, right?
(35:37):
But people think, Hey, can youget, like, do you have good
internet where, where you liveand like, you know, are, are you
driving on dirt roads or youguys on camels to get from
planning?
You should see some of thisstuff in our comments.
I was just, you know, referringthat the, the, a common
complaint here is they saw oneroad.
From Chapala, which is thefarther town.
Mm-hmm.
And then it's San Antonio, thenit's then, uh, San Juan Illa,
(36:01):
and then Kopec.
There's only one road, singlelane each way that could be
easily be expanded to, you know,two lanes each way.
Sure.
Uh, there's no plan to do thatanytime soon.
But I'm pretty sure that's aboutto change because I, so it can
easily be done.
And they have a bike lane too,right?
Connecting the entire Oh, oh,absolutely.
(36:23):
The whole, yeah.
Yeah.
You got that bike, uh, specialbike, uh, lane.
They call it Ciclovia.
Uhhuh.
So it's, it's all for cyclistsand, and, uh, people on.
What do you call them?
Pe?
No.
Uh, pe.
Uh, pedestrians.
Pedestrians.
There you go.
That was the worry we're lookingfor.
So that, that's kind of a littlebit of a range, right?
(36:44):
Right.
So you've got all the way up to800,000 for super, super
high-end home in Ahah, which islike the epicenter of all these
expats here.
Right?
All the way down to if you wanta single family, small home.
Somewhere like Beck down toabout a hundred thousand or so.
Yeah.
Uh, Kote, are they similarprices or even, well, you know,
all homes in Kopec in the lower,uh, neighborhoods, I think you
(37:07):
can probably still find homes,uh, under a hundred thousand.
Mm-hmm.
I wouldn't be surprised that youcan find a, you know, a single
family home, you know, threebedroom, two, but no car garage,
but, uh, you know, for maybe 70grand.
60, 70 grand.
Somebody who's in the US that'slike, yeah, we've got a$500,000
(37:28):
small home in let's say Ohio or,or somewhere.
They're like, wait, I, I can beliving somewhere where I can
walk to everything, go to thestore, not need a car, uh, for,
and I can, I can find it forless than a hundred thousand.
That's a hell deal.
It did.
That is a good deal.
So why would somebody choose onearea versus the other?
I know if you don't really speakSpanish, if you've got money,
(37:50):
you don't really mind spending alittle bit more for like the
premium luxury.
Maybe Ahah is a betterdestination.
Mm-hmm.
Or Al, I guess Ahah is likenumber one in terms of English.
Al is a little bit behind that,right?
Uh, well the consensus nowbecause like I say, you know,
this American community has beenhere for over 70 years.
Now a lot of people understandthat eng English as a second
(38:15):
language is not a luxuryanymore.
It's, it's more of a necessity.
Mm-hmm.
So a lot of, uh, I'm surprisedthe amount of people that are
bilingual here, I mean, theirEnglish is a little bit, you
know, heavy extended, but youknow, they, they can communicate
and that's what you want.
And, but the, the, the, the mainthing is that people are.
(38:38):
Very friendly here.
They're very patient and they'revery warm.
Mm-hmm.
So, if you're an American anddon't speak any Spanish, believe
me, they're gonna find a way tostill, you know, provide you
with good service.
They, they'll be friendly, youknow, they'll be welcoming and,
uh.
(38:59):
It's not like France where SpeakFrench, you're France, French.
I don't wanna speak French.
We don't, we don't wanna dobusiness here.
No, no, no.
And, and, you know, uh, Istarted to go into the American
Legion, you know, where ex beds,you know, hang out.
Mm-hmm.
And you, you meet all sorts ofpeople there and mostly, you
(39:19):
know, make, uh, English,English, uh, spoken.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and most of them, they'vebeen, they've been here at
least.
Three to five years.
And a lot of them, they've beenhere over 10 years, they don't
speak any Spanish, and they justlove it.
They, they never had a problem,you know?
Can you get by without Spanishthough, in some other towns?
Because I know in Nahah forsure, maybe Chapala.
(39:41):
Mm-hmm.
But what, what are some reasons?
I mean, if you don't speakSpanish, like can you still go
somewhere like Kotak becausethere are some Oh, yeah,
absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, I go, I haven't seen aton of Americans here, but I
think they're starting to come.
No, I, I go to, uh.
Uh, my favorite restaurant inKote p and the servers there,
(40:02):
they're not fluent in English,but they, they can communicate.
Mm-hmm.
Right In English.
Uh, the owners that speakEnglish, uh, if you go to the
Little Town Plaza, there is alot of, uh, businesses there
that people are bilingual, andif they don't.
If you took it to someone thatis not bilingual, they find
(40:24):
someone to come and help.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Mexicans typically do try veryhard to To accommodate.
To accommodate exactly.
If you don't speak Spanish,that's, that's very common.
Although I do recommend thatpeople also study Spanish and
they try to get better becauseit's gonna help you integrate.
Oh, absolutely.
It never hurts to learn Secondlanguage.
I know it's not easy, you know,you have to put some effort into
it, but believe me, once you geton a roll, you start liking it.
(40:48):
So why would you recommendsomebody go to Hoko Back versus
Al versus Elante or up here,even on a mountain?
What are some criteria that youmight listen for when you're
talking to like a potential, uh,client Uhhuh in your real estate
business where you're like, thismight be a good town for you?
Right.
Well, this is the thing.
You know what?
People come with differentvisions, you know, people just
(41:10):
want to have privacy and theydon't care about, you know,
being.
Nearby the centers of the townand all the services and stuff
on the stuff.
You know, they, they like to beself-sufficient, like off grid
kind of.
Yeah.
Right.
So if you go to the other sideof the lake, which is only half
an hour away, you can find likereally nice properties with a
(41:35):
lot of land for a veryreasonable price.
And, you know, they might liketo do that.
Uh, there are people that theywant to experience, you know.
The warmth of the Old Mexico.
So that would be a place likeKopec for them.
I mean, and it, it depends, youknow, what, what kind of, uh,
vision the people that are gonnamove into the area have.
(41:58):
But we as realtors, you know, weknowledgeable about most of the
towns and we can always, youknow, steer'em into the right,
uh, zones or, or towns, so.
Exactly.
No, uh, you know, that's, uh.
And that's the good thing.
You know, there is diversityhere in this area.
There's a lot of diversity fromChapala, from Ahi to Kote P to,
(42:20):
you know, uh, I am partial to,uh, Chapala because that's like
the main town.
Mm-hmm.
Kote P is the most popularbecause of all the foreigners.
Yeah.
No, no, I'm sorry.
Yeah.
But Chapala is like the, uh,center of, of the government in
(42:41):
this home.
Chapala has all neighborhoods,medium-sized neighborhood, big
neighborhoods, high-endneighborhoods.
It's more of an establishedcity.
Absolutely.
And, and you know, a lot of goodrestaurant business, a lot of,
uh, nightlife activities.
I mean, during the Fiesta, Imean, lot to Chapala is
(43:03):
happening.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun to be around.
Absolutely.
And one note that I'll interjectas well is if you're looking to
work with.
With our team, including Rubenand and other people that we
work with in the area.
Don't miss your chance to grabthat free consult at that link
below.
That's entrepreneurexpat.com/consult.
If you've got a million dollarsin liquid net worth or more,
(43:23):
then we can help you with therelocation process, with
immigration, with findingproperties, doing tours of
different neighborhoods.
Just book thatconsult@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash consult and we can get allthe information we need from you
in order to help you make thebest decisions when it comes to
moving to Mexico.
else, What other information doyou think people should, should
(43:45):
research?
What other things do you thinkthey should know about Mexico
that maybe they don't hear fromthe mainstream?
I'll tell you why.
We're gonna have to make asecond interview here.
Yeah.
And take video because I mean,it's so much stuff that Sure.
I can feed you.
Um, but, you know, um, the mainthing is that Mexico is
(44:05):
happening.
Mexico is going upinternationally.
Uh, but the essence of theMexican people, the warmth, uh,
the friendliness, it's stillgonna be here.
Right.
And.
This area.
I don't think, likeweather-wise, we're not gonna be
affected by climate changeanytime soon and not for at
(44:28):
least another 50 years.
I don't think I could be wrongabout that.
Um, the growth I think is gonnabe a controlled growth and in,
uh, even though I can see a lotof more new people coming into
the area mm-hmm.
There's still a lot of, uh, landand, and a lot of.
(44:49):
Places to grow.
Uh, so yeah, I would encourageanybody that's looking into
moving into Mexico and you, youlike nice weather, you got a, a
slower pace of living and youhave, uh, the, uh, convenience
of a big city just an hour away.
(45:10):
And an airport too.
Get to the airport in 30minutes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know, and if you like.
Uh, the, uh, the beach resorts.
We have one, three and a halfhours away here, Manza.
Mm-hmm.
Where Lazada is, that's, that'swhere they filmed that movie.
10 back in the eighties.
Natalie limu and, uh, was, uh,was the hot chick, uh, what was
(45:34):
her name?
Uh, both Derek.
Okay.
So, no, definitely I willencourage to at least come and
take a look.
Believe me, it's worth.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
Well, thanks again for beinghere.
This was like super, superinformative.
We really appreciate havingRuben with us today.
I'm very glad that, uh, youknow, I, uh, was able to, um,
(45:54):
provide a little bit of, uh.
Good news or and information,so, absolutely.
And let us know in the commentsif you've got any questions for
Ruben, if you've got anyquestions for anybody else in
our team, what are some of thethings that you are thinking
about when it comes to moving toMexico, especially with regards?
To real estate that you arecurious about.
Just let us know below in thecomments.
(46:16):
We would love to hear them.
And don't forget to check outall of our free resources and
courses that we have availablein the description of this
video.
And like I mentioned earlier, ifyou've got a million dollars in
liquid net assets or more, andyou want help personalized
one-on-one full white gloveservice relocating to Mexico,
just go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we can
help you get all that sortedout.
(46:36):
Thank you, Reuben.
It was a pleasure my friend.
Appreciate you.
Okay.
Anytime.
We'll see you guys again soonfor another episode, and that's
the cut.
Have you been looking to invest in
real estate in Mexico andlooking for some expert
guidance?
Well, today I'm joined by RubenCastanos, our friend and
colleague here in the Kopecarea, who's been selling real
estate in both the US andMexico.
For many, many years.
And we're gonna talk about justthat, how to invest in real
(00:57):
estate safely, how to find thebest investment opportunities
and exactly what's going onright now in the world of real
estate in Mexico, especially inthe Lake Al area.
Welcome, Ruben.
Hey, I'm glad to be here, man.
Good to see you again.
It's great.
Great to have you here.
Thank much we're gonna verymuch, we're gonna dive into all
of that and uh, if you're justwatching us for the first time
and you're interested in morecontent about how to relocate to
(01:17):
Mexico, including the visaprocesses, real estate, legal,
everything else that's involved,hit that subscribe button and
notification bell so that youdon't miss a single video.
And also check out our consultwith a free consult that you can
apply for if you're looking forone-on-one help with experts
like Reuben and the rest of ourteam.
You can just go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult.
(01:39):
So diving right in.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground and, and how you got
to be selling real estate herein Mexico.
Well, I was originally born inMexico, in the city of
Guadalajara back in the days,and I immigrated in my late
teens to the San Francisco Bayarea and I lived my, most of my
adult life over there in theUnited States.
(02:02):
When San Francisco was abeautiful city.
It still is, but you know, ithas changed some.
I, I'm familiar.
I I grew up in the Bay area too.
That's right.
It's definitely changed.
Absolutely.
A lot.
So you know what I'm talkingabout.
Absolutely.
In any case, uh, I got into realestate 20 years ago in the San
Francisco Bay area.
I saw the need to service mycommunity, the Hispanic
(02:23):
community, and, you know, I madethe right choice.
I did well and I was treated Myum.
Clients with the utmost respectand honesty.
And that reflected me in mybusiness because, you know, most
of my business always wasthrough referral.
And I'm proud of that because,you know, I don't, I, I did not
(02:45):
only make sales, I made longlife relationships.
You know, most of my clientsbecame friends and that's, you
know, that's something that Itotally enjoy.
That's amazing.
And you still have clients upthere, like you go regularly
back to the Bay Area?
Yeah, I gotta meet with them.
Um, I'm semi-retired, basically.
Um, I prefer to live here inMexico, but however, you know,
(03:08):
I'm still a clientele back therethat I need to take care of.
And, uh, well, you know, it's awin-win situation.
My, you know, um, most of myfamilies is still the United
States, so I go back and forthlike every three months.
Mm-hmm.
I gotta go up there, but it'sall good.
I love it.
And, uh, one of the things thatI've started doing real estate
(03:30):
here in the Chapala area isbecause I known about this area
since 1978, uh, even back then,it was a great place for expats.
The this American community herein Chapala is, is, has been
established for the last.
70 years, isn't it like thebiggest community of North
(03:53):
American expats like US andCanadian expats outside of those
countries in the world?
I believe so.
Ahah, I think Ahah is, is one ofthe main, um, towns that attract
all these, uh, people fromAmerica and Canada.
Uh, they could be, uh, you know,there are communities growing
all over Mexico.
(04:14):
It's just because of the whole.
Uh, present situation, you know,globally.
Mm-hmm.
And there are several, um,states like in Baja, California,
you know, those, you know,American communities are growing
in the south, uh, near, uh,Cancun.
Mm-hmm.
And Merida in Yucatan.
(04:36):
Yep.
Also, that community is growing.
We have a lot of followersliving there.
Oh, absolutely.
Cancun, yes.
Uhhuh, uh, Cabo San Lucas.
Especially that beach.
You got it.
So you mentioned a couple thingsthere about sort of some of the
trends that are going on in theUS and a lot of our followers
are aware of some of thesetrends, like there's economic
indicators that are slipping.
(04:56):
There's a lot of like politicalunrest.
I mean, what, what's been yourexperience, especially having
spent so much time in bothcountries and.
Seeing what's happened,especially the last decade or so
in the us what are you seeing interms of why people are saying
that they wanna move down here?
Or even just your experience ofwhy you wanted to come down
yourself.
Mm-hmm.
That is a great question, andlet me give you my, my
perspective.
(05:17):
I understanding, you know, howthe system works here in Mexico
as well as in the United States.
Uh, I see that in me, you know,in Mexico there is a lot of new
money coming in.
Uh.
We have the transition, youknow, since the pandemic, when
the supply lines got disrupted.
(05:38):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of companies realized thatmaybe we shouldn't be
manufacturing, you know, all thestuff, you know, in Asia when we
have viable countries here in,in, in America, and I'm talking
about the whole continent ofAmerica, Mexico, Columbia,
Panama, you know, you name it.
(05:59):
So Nearshoring Yeah, exactly.
Really started take off during,during the pandemic.
And, uh, the, you know, theclimate in Mexico politically is
very, very, uh, positive.
You know, they, they areactively trying to attract all
these manufacturing companiesthat used to produce all these,
(06:22):
uh, all these things in China,especially, you know, they wanna
bring him here because.
Now you don't have to expense,you know, millions of dollars
just in transportation.
Now the, um, the labor cost inChina used to be cheap, a lot
(06:42):
cheaper than Mexico.
That's no longer the case.
Actually, I believe it's nowcheaper.
Uh, the labor costs are cheaperin Mexico than that is in China.
And you don't have, you know,you won't have the, uh, the
supply and chain, uh, problemsthat we had.
Five years ago, that's a bigdeal for businesses because I
mean that mm-hmm.
The pandemic was kind of likethe show that, that you can't
(07:05):
depend on one country,especially one country that's so
far away.
And to your point.
China's getting more and moreadvanced.
And I think that it's, it'sstarting to get to the point
where it's about to reach globalparody and not that many years
with the us Right.
Uh, in terms of their economicindicators, in terms of their,
their wages and things likethat, it's going up.
Right.
Versus Mexico is still a littlebit more on the developing side,
(07:28):
at least compared to China.
Mm-hmm.
And there's still a lot thatthat can be done, uh, for.
Having much more affordablelabor costs.
And then it's kind of a doublewhammy where it's two for one,
you get the transportation.
That's way easier because youcan transport things by land, or
if it's by sea, it's, it's amuch shorter route.
Well, another thing that a lotof people are not aware of is
that the level of education inMexico, especially in the middle
(07:52):
class, is gone, is gone much,much higher.
Mm-hmm.
So now you have all these talentthat can be exploited here in
Mexico.
You know, when all these newcompanies come in, they can rely
on better quality of labor, youknow, more educated, uh, labor
force and, you know, people thatcan be rely on to make good
(08:15):
product, right?
And at a very reasonable pricestill.
So I do believe it is a lotalready.
It's a lot of companies, youknow, I'm talking, we're talking
about big names, BIA.
Uh, I believe, uh, alsoMicrosoft Teslas, you know, it's
building a couple of newfactories up in the north of
Mexico.
(08:35):
And this is a trend, you know,this is just a starting.
So if I were an investor and aforeign an investor, I would be
looking to Mexico, you know, tomake a couple, a few
investments, because in thenext, I don't know.
Or two.
I mean, Mexico's gonna explode,I believe.
(08:56):
You know, but this is, this is,we are at the ground level.
This is when good investors,smart investors come in.
You don't wanna come in when youknow things are already, and
it's already like the next us.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Close.
So, and the peso has beenholding really strong.
I mean, it used to be just lastyear at some point, I think we
were getting close to like 1920,and it's already at, uh, 18
(09:20):
point.
Three and a half now.
18.35 As of today, yeah.
No, actually when ALA wasgetting out of the presidency,
he, he almost hit 21 pesos perdollar.
Right now is at 18.
Today was at 10$18 and 35 cents.
18 pesos.
18 peso per I'm sorry's.
Incredible.
I mean, it is, it really is.
(09:40):
But uh, our rent's gone up alittle bit because of that.
But I don't mind.
'cause Mexico's doing reallywell.
Yeah, exactly.
As a whole, so, no.
And the stability of Mexico, youknow, politically.
Mexico is in a transition.
Mm-hmm.
However, uh, there is too majorparties and you know, the party
in power, you know, it'ssupposed to be for the people,
(10:03):
but they're not anti-business.
That's a good thing.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, there is alot of noise about cartels and
oh, Mexico is so unsafe.
You go down to Mexico, you knowyou're gonna get assaulted,
you're gonna get killed.
Nothing like that.
I mean, what are some of themyths you've heard and what's
the reality on the ground?
Because a lot of people areasking that We have a lot of
(10:24):
followers.
I mean, you guys ask us all thetime, like, is Mexico really
safe?
Can you find what you need?
Are you gonna get into involvedin some sort of violence there?
If you, if you move down there,is it, and, and realistically
like, what are you actuallyseeing?
Because we know that's not true,but a lot of people still have
some of those doubts.
Well, me being originally fromMexico, from Guadalajara and
still have a lot of, uh, familymembers living here.
(10:48):
They've been living here alltheir lives, and Guadalajara
built, you know, a few yearsback, build a reputation of
being controlled by the cartels,which is not true.
I mean, criminal elements areall over the world, right?
It's just that they have comeup, uh, to the forefront of the
news.
Of course, you know, uh,however.
(11:11):
I go to Guadalajara all thetime.
I never have a problem.
Uh, us too.
Yeah, we're there like everycouple months, right?
No issue other than the traffic.
And then I talk to my familymembers all the time, so hard
things in Guadalajara, you know,getting a little bit crazy.
It's getting more dangerous andstuff.
They say no pill, you know, it'sthe same with Aha of subways.
(11:32):
You know, it like all the bigcities that are focused, there
are neighborhoods.
You have to be careful not to goin there at night.
And yeah, there are, uh,criminal elements that fight
among themselves.
That's when you get, you know,all these shootouts and stuff.
But that doesn't happen in theUnited States.
I know you, it happens more inthe us.
(11:55):
So number one, I mean, peopleare asking all the time about
like the, the cartel situation,for example.
And the cartel has a much biggerpresence in the US than it does
in Mexico.
And number one.
Mm-hmm.
Number two.
They, there's a lot more of thefighting actually going on in
the US and, and on both sides ofthe border, like close to the
border areas.
That's very common that that's,you're down here.
(12:16):
I mean, this is where they allhave their families.
Exactly.
And Meida as well.
Like it's very, even, even moresafe there.
Right.
And Chapala, I mean, forget it,they, they're protecting the
area because they know thatthere's so many expats coming.
Absolutely.
And this is the thing,especially in this area, it's
well protected because of thelarge American community.
(12:36):
They don't wanna start messingwith Americans or Canadians.
Not only that, they don't wannabring on their heat, you know,
let, let's say if they moved ata couple of, you know, Americans
for no good reason, you know,that, you know, the US is gonna
put a lot of heat on the Mexicangovernment and the Mexican
government, it's gonna come to,you know, like a ton of breaks
(12:58):
against these criminal elements.
They're not that stupid.
Yeah.
Believe me, uh, the, you know,the role of the cartels.
It's more like this.
Mexico became a, a gateway fordrugs to the United States.
That's what they always focusingon.
(13:18):
You know, how we can transportall this poison, you know, to
America.
Yeah.
And, and that's what they makeall their money.
So that's the reason that theydon't wanna mess around too
much.
With the citizenship, of course,you know, there's small criminal
organizations that.
Uh, in certain regions ofMexico, there is a, you know,
(13:38):
it's a little more trouble andyou do some research there per,
like you, you just mentioned,you know, more in the north part
of Mexico and, and you know, acouple of other, uh, areas in
the, uh, state next door here,uh, it's called Michan.
Mm-hmm.
There's certain towns that,yeah, they are controlled by
(14:00):
criminal elements, cartels, but.
They, they stay focused there.
Now that we have the, uh, they,you know, their main, uh,
objective or the main mandate,keep the good areas safe,
especially areas where there's alot of American residents
(14:22):
mm-hmm.
Canadians.
So they, they are keeping that,you know.
Stable in this area.
I, I, I mean, I go out at anytime of the day here in this
region.
I never felt threatened.
(15:50):
And, you know, people areusually very welcoming.
They're warm and I can goanywhere.
I feel safe and you know, I canhave fun.
I can go out to dinner.
I mean, you name it.
And I don't see any, you know, Inever encountered anybody trying
to on a threatening matter orbeing assaulted or.
Gimme your money or else none ofthat, you know?
(16:12):
And that happens, I would saymore frequently in a random way.
In the us in a lot of, in a lotof places.
I, I believe so.
Absolutely.
What, what do you think it isthat like helps to fuel the
narrative that Mexico is sodangerous?
Well, uh, because of theatrocities of the cartels have
committed, that brings a lot ofattention.
(16:34):
So the history, yeah.
Yeah.
Is the history of the cartels.
They can be very brutal, but ifyou're not, you know, if you're
not, uh, running drugs or ifyou're not into like, you know,
kind of, uh, shady deals and youdon't try to get involved in
with the cartels, you know, likeselling them stuff.
(16:56):
You won't have a problem.
I mean, so this is our tip fortoday.
Do not become an approved vendorat Mexican cartels and you
should be out of out trouble.
Yeah.
Because you can get you, you canget you real trouble.
And these guys don't foolaround.
I mean, these guys can bemerciless.
Yeah.
You know, it, it's like everycriminal, criminal organizations
(17:17):
around the world.
Of course.
What are some of the otherreasons?
I mean, you, we talked a littlebit about, uh, the benefits of
Mexico and like also the realityon the ground here compared to
some of the myths.
What do you think some of thereasons are that people are kind
of being pushed out of the USand Canada?
Like what are some things on theground there?
I mean, from your perspective,like what maybe caused you to
move, whether it was thefinancial, the safety,
(17:38):
political, and why other peopleare doing the same?
Well, most definitely thefinancial situation, the economy
in the United States, eventhough they, you know, they, uh,
painting it, you know, with rosecolors.
Oh, the economy is great.
Yeah, no, it just.
We, we hit a few rough bumps andstuff, but in reality, the cost
(17:59):
of living in, in certain areasof the United States has become
prohibited.
It's so difficult just to makeends meet, especially where I
come from, you know, the SanFrancisco Bay Area.
I mean, an average two bedroomapartment in the San Francisco
Bay area is you gotta pay four,four, you know, 4,000,
(18:20):
4,500,000,$500 a month.
That's insane.
That's insane.
How much do you have to bemaking to live there?
I mean, you know, just, just,just to make a decent living and
we're not talking about, youknow, saving for vacation or a
beautiful car or, you know,certain luxuries.
(18:40):
No, just, just basically livingin the Bay Area.
You need a minimum.
Of about a hundred,$120,000 ayear.
So that's like, middle class isabout a hundred point.
You have to be middle class.
Yeah.
And, and like I say, just goingthe basics is, you know, that
won't give you too much moneyleft for vacations or, you know,
(19:01):
to treat yourself to a nice, youknow, couple of dinners a month
or whatever.
No, just basis, it's, it's, it'sgetting really difficult.
Also, the political climate,especially in California, it's
so divisive.
And, you know, I don't wanna gettoo much into politics.
No, please.
But, but the thing is this, youknow what, all these liberal
(19:22):
politicians coming up with,these ridiculous laws that give
all the power to the, in, youknow, to homeless and indigenous
peoples and minorities andstuff, without taking into
consideration what it does forthe economy.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, California should be.
(19:42):
The number one economy in theworld.
Yeah.
However, and, and it is one ofthe top economies in the world,
just the state by itself.
But the government, throughtheir policy, they waste so much
money that, you know, things aregetting really, really bad.
And, and, and, and just byshowing favoritism to certain
(20:05):
sections of the population, theycreated more division.
Mm-hmm.
They wanna say, oh, you know,it's, it's weird.
Everybody's equal.
Everybody deserves, andeverybody deserves this and
everybody deserves that.
And we help, we gotta help thesepeople and we're help each other
people, but they never talkabout responsibilities.
Mm-hmm.
(20:26):
You know what?
It's just like, let's give themmoney.
Let's give them money that willfix the problem.
Open up the borders.
Yeah.
Because he cares so much aboutpeople.
Just let'em all in.
They've been, they've beenthrowing money at the problem
for the last 30 years, and theproblem is.
Have ex have becomeexponentially worse.
Well, that's, if you, you talk,you talk about homelessness too,
right?
Like Newsom was, was, uh, usingthat in his campaign speeches
(20:48):
decades ago.
Right.
When he was, he was in differentoffices.
Yeah.
He was going to fix thehomelessness.
He was gonna, and then we gotanother billion here, another 5
billion here, another 10.
I mean, I don't know how manybillions they thrown at the
homelessness in California.
It just, it just become alittle, you know, it's chaotic,
you know, the way they handlethings.
Yeah.
That's, that's the second mainthing about, you know, people
(21:08):
moving, you know, it's not justthe money sense, it's like how
the money is handled.
And look, look at the tax ratestoo.
That's another thing I've seenin California.
I mean, they're, yeah, you'vegot like almost a 50% marginal
tax rate now at the highestlevel.
I remember, uh, San Franciscoback in the eighties, you would,
you can walk almost on anyneighborhood in the, in the, in
the city.
Never get bothered by anyone.
(21:30):
You wouldn't get assaulted, youknow.
They were, they were a couple oflike really bad neighborhoods
where it's a lot of drugs andprostitution, but that's been
happening for years and yearsand years Now it's just getting
worse.
But I'm talking about like themain street in San Francisco
Market Street.
You're familiar with it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The financial district, youknow, certain beautiful
(21:54):
neighborhoods in, in the city.
They were clean, nice,controlled, safe.
Half of the neighborhoods in thecity, you cannot go out on the,
you know, you cannot go out atnight and not be, you know, not
get bothered by crazy people.
Beggars and a lot of assaults.
Yeah.
There's a lot of carjackings,there's lot of hot homicides, a
(22:16):
lot of robberies.
It's just car theft is out ofcontrol in the city.
Yeah.
And you know, there's a lot of,a lot of, uh, stores closed
because.
Of the new law that if you arestill under a thousand bucks, we
won't charge in jail, we won'tdo anything.
Yep.
It's, it's ridiculous.
And then after the pandemic too,because I, I was there, right?
(22:39):
I mean, even during, for acouple months and then after
the, the pandemic and MarketStreet and all those other
places, I mean, 75% of thebuildings, the restaurants, the
coffee shops are just completelyboarded up.
There's nothing there.
It was all closed.
Awesome.
And you would walk around atnight, like in, in downtown.
The only thing open on in theentire, like in a 10 15 block
(22:59):
radius, was like one BurgerKing.
And that Burger King also seemedto be run basically by criminal
groups.
Right.
I mean, they were like all in inthere and I was like, just
getting my cheeseburger.
I'm not here to bother anyone.
No, there were a lot ofrestaurants, you know, five food
stores and stuff.
They had to close down.
Yeah, because all these, uh,gang bangers, I was hanging out
at the door.
(23:20):
Customers couldn't come in and,and get their food.
Yep.
So who wants that?
You know?
No, and they, they, they, it'salmost as if why, again, I won't
get into the, too much, into thepolitics, but like, it's almost
as if they want to seeeverything just right, burned
down to the ground.
So I can, I can see why there isa lot of interest in moving to
Mexico, uh, especially in thisarea, especially for people like
(23:43):
my age.
I'm gonna be 65 in a couple ofmonths, and I talk to a lot of
friends from the Bay Area.
In my age group, and half ofthem are looking into, oh, how's
hard things in Mexico?
How's it going?
Is, is it a good place to go,you know, to, to go and live
there?
I say, no, I don't want youthere.
(24:05):
No, stay, stay there.
Don't, don't come here andraise, raise all the prices.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't want you to raise thewhole, you know, all the prices
and, you know, get crowded here.
No, no, no.
But kidding aside, you know, let'em know.
Hey, listen, this is a, this isa great area.
Especially here, we have allthe, uh, services.
We got the proximity ofGuadalajara with, with the
(24:29):
international airport.
Mm-hmm.
We got all the services.
Nightlife in Guadalajara isawesome.
So if you come here to have anice, quiet life, you know, and
enjoy most of the time with, youknow, with rest and relax,
relaxation, but still you wannago out and have fun, you have to
do it.
You get an Uber, it's an hourdrive to Guadalajara, and
(24:50):
believe me, you can do the town.
Yeah.
And you can have a great time.
So there is a lot of, uh,positives, uh, in this area.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, weather-wise, this is justabout the best weather globally
year round.
And you have experience, youknow, the rainy season.
(25:11):
Yeah.
And you mean specifically inChapala?
In Chapala, yeah.
I'm talking about the Chapalaregion right now.
Which, what I've been.
Where I've been living the last,in the last year and a half.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah, I, I think I made theright choice of, you know,
moving into this area.
I'm pretty happy here.
How much do you spend here?
And this is, this is helpful forpeople as well, like, that are
(25:31):
trying to actually understandand budget and things like that.
Right.
We did a video about our owncost of living and some
estimates and things like that,but I, I'd love to hear it from
you.
I mean, how much do you spendhere mm-hmm.
Compared to where you wereliving in the Bay Area, just on
like your personal expensesevery month, just to keep it
really simple.
I'm having a really good lifehere.
Uh, you know, I go out todinner, I go out to have fun.
(25:53):
Uh, I treat my girlfriend, youknow, a couple of times a week
or you know, nice meals andstuff.
And I live in a very nice, uh,apartment overlooking the lake
as you can experience.
Mm-hmm.
I, I don't even spend one thirdof what was suspended in, in, in
the San Francisco Bay area.
(26:14):
Wow.
And so almost 70% off.
70 per 70% off.
Yeah.
So, and believe me, you know, I,my quality of living has
increased.
It didn't decrease.
People always think that'sanother thing that we hear
really common is that if you goand move to Mexico or to South
America, or even even otherplaces where people are living,
(26:34):
like some of our colleagues inAfrica, they're like, you're
gonna have to lower your qualityof life.
We're all, you know, we're allsort of living in mud huts or
something.
It's like literally what peoplewill say, but it's not true.
No, it's not true at all.
I mean, you know, now we haveneighborhoods here in where the
average home is$800,000.
US.
(26:55):
They're beautiful homes.
I mean, we're talking about, youknow, 3,500 square foot home
with three car garage, you know,front yard, backyard inside, you
know, indoor pool and you know,it works.
Mm-hmm.
And now there is so many goodquality restaurants.
(27:16):
I'm not talking about, you know,um, GOME Gome quality.
Dinners like Michelin star kindof, and meals and, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
So, so I mean, and, and it, ifyou really like the high life,
just go to Guadalajara and youget the top restaurants that you
(27:38):
will find in the us.
Yeah.
So, but you know, in this area,I mean, I can go any, any day of
the week and just find whatever,actually find any kind of food
that I want.
So lets jump into the realestate and the lifestyle a
little bit.
Mm-hmm.
So maybe, maybe first on thereal estate, you mentioned
$800,000 for a house, and thenI, I wanna talk about different
(27:59):
ranges and things, right?
Mm-hmm.
But for somebody coming fromCalifornia, that might not seem
like a lot, I mean, you know,we've got, uh, family in
California where there's houses,there are just decent houses,
like they're okay houses, andthey're 1.2, 1.5 million, right?
And up.
So like for half the price.
You're getting somewhere that'snot in the suburbs, like in, in
a suburb of, of the South Bayarea, right?
(28:21):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Uh, you're getting some,something that's in a very
walkable town.
Where you don't need a car mostof the time.
And if you're, if you're in thedowntown area, most of the good
stuff, most of the good stuff iswithin walking distance.
And you know what, uh, I just,uh, befriended a couple of, uh,
two couples from Canada.
They live in La Floreta, whichis one of the nicest
(28:42):
neighborhoods in, they don'thave, they don't own a car.
They walk everywhere.
Mm-hmm.
And if it's a little farther up.
Our Uber ride here send you backlike seven, eight bucks, you
know, from that one littlepound.
That's all the way out here toHoCo.
Yeah, exactly.
That's like a full 30, you know,25, 30 minute drive.
Yeah.
Right.
Anyways, in LA that would beprobably 50 bucks.
(29:03):
Yeah, exactly.
So, and the range, you know,the, the range ranges in price.
It is from here to there.
Here, I mean, yeah.
800,000.
That's like a, like a, like youmentioned, nice big house.
Probably a small, you know,small to medium family.
I'm talking, talking about highend, very high end and the, and
the best neighborhoods in, in,in the area.
(29:24):
Yeah.
But you can get a very decentsize, single family home.
Three, you know, two car garage,three, two bed, three bedrooms,
two bath or four bedrooms, bathwith a nice, uh, garden in the,
in, in the back from anywherefrom three 50 to 500,000.
(29:46):
Depends how close you aredowntown Jahi, but you come to,
I mean, you can get some beautyfor, for a really, really low
price.
Yeah.
Uhhuh, let's talk about thedifferent difference.
So like some different areas andsome of the price ranges that
you've seen.
So Ahi, it sounds like if you'rebuying something, if it's a
house, mostly they're singlefamily homes, right?
(30:07):
There's not a ton of apartments.
Right.
At least for sale.
Well now they, they have come upwith a lot of new developments
where you can get a nice, decentcondominium.
Um, decent size, you know,midsize, 1100, 200 square feet
for, you know, in theneighborhood of 300,000.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
So, so that's about the floorfor something in a, a walkable
(30:28):
area.
And, and, and I believe, notnecessarily not, but the suburbs
of Ahe or on the outskirts oraah.
For 250,000.
Nice.
Know it's not bad.
Yeah, no, it's, you're talkingabout.
Uh, almost new brand, newcondominiums brand.
And even there, your, everythingelse goes down a lot.
(30:50):
Your food costs.
Food costs, right.
Unless you're shopping at SuperLake and you're buying all
American imported stuff, whichis a whole other, it's a whole
of what, but all of your cost ofliving go down too, so you can
actually retire.
Well, just, just to give you anidea, my electricity bill in, in
San Francisco was a$150 a monthfor a single guy.
(31:11):
Yeah, right.
Over here.
I think my average bill is about15 bucks.
15.
12 to 15 bucks.
Yep.
Ours is a little higher, noteven 10%.
Ours is a little higher'causewe've got two air conditionings.
We run servers for our, ourwebsites and we've got lights
and cameras and all the, all thestuff.
So I mean, maybe we're paying 30or four,$30,$40 a month, you
(31:34):
know, in internet with cable andeverything else is about an
average of 45.
$45 a month in this area.
And property taxes areridiculous.
I mean, if you buy property tax,uh, my cousin lives here in
Kote.
P her and her husband, herhusband's is an American.
(31:57):
He's been here for 25 years.
He was, and I'm moving back towta, to the United States.
I, you know, I'm having a greatlife here and I'm not going
anywhere.
Yeah.
Anyways.
Property tax, I believe it was$240 last year on like a couple
hundred thousand dollarsproperty.
Yes.
Yeah.
(32:18):
Yes.
Compared in the US that would bethousands.
Oh yeah.
Depending, I mean,$240 a year onproperty tax.
I mean, that's nothing.
I think we're paying that amonth.
Yeah.
Over there.
You in the area you pay twice asmuch a month.
Yeah.
Um, and, and, yeah.
Yeah.
Their home is worth about250,000.
It's, it's a nice.
Do it, you know, two bedroom,two bath, beautiful place.
(32:41):
Mm-hmm.
Overlooking the lake, so.
Oh, absolutely.
So that's Ahi.
What are some of the other areasthat you see a lot of expats,
because you've got, you've gotkind of, uh, San Antonio there,
close by, right?
Right.
You've got Chapala, you've gotobviously down here, Kota back.
And then there's some otherdevelopments that we we're gonna
look at pretty soon here we weretalking about the other day,
right.
That are kind of around thebend, uh, past effect.
(33:03):
Well, that's the thing.
You know, we've seen a lot of,uh.
Foreigners is starting to lookout outside.
Ahi.
Why's that?
Ho Kote pe Well first started,the prices are much cheaper.
Uh mm-hmm.
Like the town of Kote.
PE is more like all town Mexico.
You know, you're in Kote, pe andlike you are in the real Mexico,
(33:26):
you know, with people that justgo about their, their, you know,
lives, you know, in a regularmanner.
Uh, you get all the traditions,uh, and uh.
Well, you have theinfrastructure, but most of the
neighborhoods in Hoko Depe are,are, uh, are old.
You know, it's an old town, uh,but there's new developments
(33:48):
popping up.
Mm-hmm.
All, all around Hoko.
Depe, uh, there is, uh, thislittle town, El Chante, which is
across the street where, wherewe live.
That's also, I, I see that thepotential of that little town
coming up.
I see new investors, you know,coming in and, and, you know,
(34:09):
buying all like really oldrundown homes with a large lot,
and they're picking it up forreally, really low prices.
Interesting.
What are some of the prices herenow, Johnson?
I, you know what?
I'm not quite sure because Ihaven't sold anything there yet,
but brand new condominiums righthere in Elante.
Uh.
(34:30):
I'm talking about, you know,9,000 square feet, two bedroom,
two bath, two stories, you know,with the works.
Very new, you know, like lessthan two years old for 120,000
us.
Wow.
That's those, those, to me,that's a bargain right now.
Yeah.
Or build by the lot and justbuild it yourself, right?
I mean, yeah, absolutely.
And you know what, thisstatistics show that in the
(34:54):
whole of Mexico, they'reexpecting real estate prices to
at least.
10% a year for the next five to10 years in this area.
I can see that equity growing upat least 15 easily.
12 to 15% a year in the nextfive years.
Because I mean, yeah, it lacks alittle bit of infrastructure,
(35:17):
you know, maybe the roads can bewider, maybe could cut, you
know, could be a little moreroads and stuff.
But that's coming.
You know, the population grows.
More, uh, investment come in.
Mm-hmm.
You know, just this area becauseAhe has, I mean, fantastic
infrastructure.
Oh, absolutely.
I think here it's, it's good.
It's just like they're, they're,you know, it has to be expanded
a little bit, right?
(35:37):
But people think, Hey, can youget, like, do you have good
internet where, where you liveand like, you know, are, are you
driving on dirt roads or youguys on camels to get from
planning?
You should see some of thisstuff in our comments.
I was just, you know, referringthat the, the, a common
complaint here is they saw oneroad.
From Chapala, which is thefarther town.
Mm-hmm.
And then it's San Antonio, thenit's then, uh, San Juan Illa,
(36:01):
and then Kopec.
There's only one road, singlelane each way that could be
easily be expanded to, you know,two lanes each way.
Sure.
Uh, there's no plan to do thatanytime soon.
But I'm pretty sure that's aboutto change because I, so it can
easily be done.
And they have a bike lane too,right?
Connecting the entire Oh, oh,absolutely.
(36:23):
The whole, yeah.
Yeah.
You got that bike, uh, specialbike, uh, lane.
They call it Ciclovia.
Uhhuh.
So it's, it's all for cyclistsand, and, uh, people on.
What do you call them?
Pe?
No.
Uh, pe.
Uh, pedestrians.
Pedestrians.
There you go.
That was the worry we're lookingfor.
So that, that's kind of a littlebit of a range, right?
(36:44):
Right.
So you've got all the way up to800,000 for super, super
high-end home in Ahah, which islike the epicenter of all these
expats here.
Right?
All the way down to if you wanta single family, small home.
Somewhere like Beck down toabout a hundred thousand or so.
Yeah.
Uh, Kote, are they similarprices or even, well, you know,
all homes in Kopec in the lower,uh, neighborhoods, I think you
(37:07):
can probably still find homes,uh, under a hundred thousand.
Mm-hmm.
I wouldn't be surprised that youcan find a, you know, a single
family home, you know, threebedroom, two, but no car garage,
but, uh, you know, for maybe 70grand.
60, 70 grand.
Somebody who's in the US that'slike, yeah, we've got a$500,000
(37:28):
small home in let's say Ohio or,or somewhere.
They're like, wait, I, I can beliving somewhere where I can
walk to everything, go to thestore, not need a car, uh, for,
and I can, I can find it forless than a hundred thousand.
That's a hell deal.
It did.
That is a good deal.
So why would somebody choose onearea versus the other?
I know if you don't really speakSpanish, if you've got money,
(37:50):
you don't really mind spending alittle bit more for like the
premium luxury.
Maybe Ahah is a betterdestination.
Mm-hmm.
Or Al, I guess Ahah is likenumber one in terms of English.
Al is a little bit behind that,right?
Uh, well the consensus nowbecause like I say, you know,
this American community has beenhere for over 70 years.
Now a lot of people understandthat eng English as a second
(38:15):
language is not a luxuryanymore.
It's, it's more of a necessity.
Mm-hmm.
So a lot of, uh, I'm surprisedthe amount of people that are
bilingual here, I mean, theirEnglish is a little bit, you
know, heavy extended, but youknow, they, they can communicate
and that's what you want.
And, but the, the, the, the mainthing is that people are.
(38:38):
Very friendly here.
They're very patient and they'revery warm.
Mm-hmm.
So, if you're an American anddon't speak any Spanish, believe
me, they're gonna find a way tostill, you know, provide you
with good service.
They, they'll be friendly, youknow, they'll be welcoming and,
uh.
(38:59):
It's not like France where SpeakFrench, you're France, French.
I don't wanna speak French.
We don't, we don't wanna dobusiness here.
No, no, no.
And, and, you know, uh, Istarted to go into the American
Legion, you know, where ex beds,you know, hang out.
Mm-hmm.
And you, you meet all sorts ofpeople there and mostly, you
(39:19):
know, make, uh, English,English, uh, spoken.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and most of them, they'vebeen, they've been here at
least.
Three to five years.
And a lot of them, they've beenhere over 10 years, they don't
speak any Spanish, and they justlove it.
They, they never had a problem,you know?
Can you get by without Spanishthough, in some other towns?
Because I know in Nahah forsure, maybe Chapala.
(39:41):
Mm-hmm.
But what, what are some reasons?
I mean, if you don't speakSpanish, like can you still go
somewhere like Kotak becausethere are some Oh, yeah,
absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, I go, I haven't seen aton of Americans here, but I
think they're starting to come.
No, I, I go to, uh.
Uh, my favorite restaurant inKote p and the servers there,
(40:02):
they're not fluent in English,but they, they can communicate.
Mm-hmm.
Right In English.
Uh, the owners that speakEnglish, uh, if you go to the
Little Town Plaza, there is alot of, uh, businesses there
that people are bilingual, andif they don't.
If you took it to someone thatis not bilingual, they find
(40:24):
someone to come and help.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Mexicans typically do try veryhard to To accommodate.
To accommodate exactly.
If you don't speak Spanish,that's, that's very common.
Although I do recommend thatpeople also study Spanish and
they try to get better becauseit's gonna help you integrate.
Oh, absolutely.
It never hurts to learn Secondlanguage.
I know it's not easy, you know,you have to put some effort into
it, but believe me, once you geton a roll, you start liking it.
(40:48):
So why would you recommendsomebody go to Hoko Back versus
Al versus Elante or up here,even on a mountain?
What are some criteria that youmight listen for when you're
talking to like a potential, uh,client Uhhuh in your real estate
business where you're like, thismight be a good town for you?
Right.
Well, this is the thing.
You know what?
People come with differentvisions, you know, people just
(41:10):
want to have privacy and theydon't care about, you know,
being.
Nearby the centers of the townand all the services and stuff
on the stuff.
You know, they, they like to beself-sufficient, like off grid
kind of.
Yeah.
Right.
So if you go to the other sideof the lake, which is only half
an hour away, you can find likereally nice properties with a
(41:35):
lot of land for a veryreasonable price.
And, you know, they might liketo do that.
Uh, there are people that theywant to experience, you know.
The warmth of the Old Mexico.
So that would be a place likeKopec for them.
I mean, and it, it depends, youknow, what, what kind of, uh,
vision the people that are gonnamove into the area have.
(41:58):
But we as realtors, you know, weknowledgeable about most of the
towns and we can always, youknow, steer'em into the right,
uh, zones or, or towns, so.
Exactly.
No, uh, you know, that's, uh.
And that's the good thing.
You know, there is diversityhere in this area.
There's a lot of diversity fromChapala, from Ahi to Kote P to,
(42:20):
you know, uh, I am partial to,uh, Chapala because that's like
the main town.
Mm-hmm.
Kote P is the most popularbecause of all the foreigners.
Yeah.
No, no, I'm sorry.
Yeah.
But Chapala is like the, uh,center of, of the government in
(42:41):
this home.
Chapala has all neighborhoods,medium-sized neighborhood, big
neighborhoods, high-endneighborhoods.
It's more of an establishedcity.
Absolutely.
And, and you know, a lot of goodrestaurant business, a lot of,
uh, nightlife activities.
I mean, during the Fiesta, Imean, lot to Chapala is
(43:03):
happening.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun to be around.
Absolutely.
And one note that I'll interjectas well is if you're looking to
work with.
With our team, including Rubenand and other people that we
work with in the area.
Don't miss your chance to grabthat free consult at that link
below.
That's entrepreneurexpat.com/consult.
If you've got a million dollarsin liquid net worth or more,
(43:23):
then we can help you with therelocation process, with
immigration, with findingproperties, doing tours of
different neighborhoods.
Just book thatconsult@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash consult and we can get allthe information we need from you
in order to help you make thebest decisions when it comes to
moving to Mexico.
else, What other information doyou think people should, should
(43:45):
research?
What other things do you thinkthey should know about Mexico
that maybe they don't hear fromthe mainstream?
I'll tell you why.
We're gonna have to make asecond interview here.
Yeah.
And take video because I mean,it's so much stuff that Sure.
I can feed you.
Um, but, you know, um, the mainthing is that Mexico is
(44:05):
happening.
Mexico is going upinternationally.
Uh, but the essence of theMexican people, the warmth, uh,
the friendliness, it's stillgonna be here.
Right.
And.
This area.
I don't think, likeweather-wise, we're not gonna be
affected by climate changeanytime soon and not for at
(44:28):
least another 50 years.
I don't think I could be wrongabout that.
Um, the growth I think is gonnabe a controlled growth and in,
uh, even though I can see a lotof more new people coming into
the area mm-hmm.
There's still a lot of, uh, landand, and a lot of.
(44:49):
Places to grow.
Uh, so yeah, I would encourageanybody that's looking into
moving into Mexico and you, youlike nice weather, you got a, a
slower pace of living and youhave, uh, the, uh, convenience
of a big city just an hour away.
(45:10):
And an airport too.
Get to the airport in 30minutes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know, and if you like.
Uh, the, uh, the beach resorts.
We have one, three and a halfhours away here, Manza.
Mm-hmm.
Where Lazada is, that's, that'swhere they filmed that movie.
10 back in the eighties.
Natalie limu and, uh, was, uh,was the hot chick, uh, what was
(45:34):
her name?
Uh, both Derek.
Okay.
So, no, definitely I willencourage to at least come and
take a look.
Believe me, it's worth.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
Well, thanks again for beinghere.
This was like super, superinformative.
We really appreciate havingRuben with us today.
I'm very glad that, uh, youknow, I, uh, was able to, um,
(45:54):
provide a little bit of, uh.
Good news or and information,so, absolutely.
And let us know in the commentsif you've got any questions for
Ruben, if you've got anyquestions for anybody else in
our team, what are some of thethings that you are thinking
about when it comes to moving toMexico, especially with regards?
To real estate that you arecurious about.
Just let us know below in thecomments.
(46:16):
We would love to hear them.
And don't forget to check outall of our free resources and
courses that we have availablein the description of this
video.
And like I mentioned earlier, ifyou've got a million dollars in
liquid net assets or more, andyou want help personalized
one-on-one full white gloveservice relocating to Mexico,
just go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we can
help you get all that sortedout.
(46:36):
Thank you, Reuben.
It was a pleasure my friend.
Appreciate you.
Okay.
Anytime.
We'll see you guys again soonfor another episode, and that's
the cut.
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