October 16, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of the "Living in Mexico" series, I'm sitting down with my husband to walk you through our entire housing journey here in León, Guanajuato. I'm answering one of your most-asked questions: How do you actually find a place to live in Mexico? Spoiler alert: it's not as simple as browsing Zillow!
I'm sharing all the things I wish someone had told us before we started house hunting. If you're thinking about making the move to Mexico or you're just curious about what expat life really looks like, this episode is packed with practical advice and hard-earned lessons.
For detailed show notes, visit vivalamami.com/episode140
What You'll Hear
- Why we chose León and how we fell in love with this city during what was supposed to be just a vacation
- The reality of renting in Mexico
- How we actually found our house, what made us say yes to this property, and why location became our top priority
- Our landlord struggles and the maintenance issues we're dealing with
Resources Mentioned
- Inmobiliario websites for finding legitimate rental listings in Mexico: Lamudi, Inmuebles24, Trovit, Vivanuncios
- Facebook groups for housing in León (link available upon request)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
for us, we didn't know the cityuntil we literally decided to
(00:05):
just walk around.
Mm-hmm.
In, in.
Los Las Colonia to visit, youknow, just like the, the mall
and everything.
And so it all happened to feellike, right.
It all happened to feel likethis could be potentially a city
where we would live at.
so we thought that Leon wasgoing to be.
Well enough for us to not justimmerse ourselves here in
(00:28):
Mexico, where our family isfrom, but it also gave us the
comfortability of like Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like Chicago is bigenough, has a lot of resources.
Obviously it's a big city in theUnited States, and we felt that
Leon was pretty comparable.
Yeah.
In terms of resources, in termsof different types of food.
(00:48):
Different, um, you know, all ofthese things.
It really helped us inform ourdecision, uh, to move here.
(02:02):
Ola.
Ola.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Viva AMI Podcast.
I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas,and this is one of the Living in
Mexico series episodes, as youprobably know we are living here
in Mexico and.
Today I have my husband here,Alex, with me, and in fact,
(02:24):
you're going to keep listeningto him and he's going to join us
throughout these upcoming Livingin Mexico episodes just because
he is also part of this process.
It's not just me as a couple, asa married couple.
We both worked on this together,so that way we made this
possible in our move to Mexicoand.
(02:48):
These upcoming episodes are allbased on questions that I've
been asked on Instagram, onother forms of media, even
through email.
And so, because I know that youhave all of these dire
questions, I was like, you knowwhat?
I'm gonna spend these upcomingweeks answering your questions
(03:10):
and kind of give you a betteridea of what it's like living in
Mexico So if you haven't yetfollowed me on Instagram.
I am there.
I'm also on TikTok, not so muchas Instagram, but also if you
are curious to watch thisepisode, you can also find us on
YouTube, which is at viva ami,and you can see our backgrounds.
(03:35):
Right now we are in our patio,in our house here in Leon
Guanajuato, so this episode isspecific to housing.
A lot of people have asked uslike, how did you find this
house?
How do you even rent a house inMexico?
And a lot of times people go toMexico to just visit, whether if
(04:00):
it's vacation or if it'svisiting family.
And so there are a lot ofnuances and a lot of like
specific.
Ways of finding and gettinghousing here in Mexico, and
we're just gonna share kind oflike what our experience was and
(04:21):
how it's going.
And I can't answer specificallyabout buying property or.
About transferring, uh, assetslike many families do.
So we're only going to speakabout how to find a rental,
especially a long term rentalthen like an Airbnb or something
(04:42):
that, you know, you could juststay at at Abuelita's house.
So one of the questions that wehave been asked is, how did you
decide to find.
A place to live.
And so, Alex, I don't know ifyou wanna answer this for us.
I'm sure Justice already talkedabout this in the past, right?
But we came here when Mattel wasabout a few months old.
(05:07):
Yeah, he was like eight monthsold and I had, uh, about four
weeks of paternity leave.
So then, uh, when we came hereto alone in the city, we just
fell in love with it.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And then, I can't remember if itwas me or you, the one that just
said, Hey, why don't we justmove here?
And hypothetically, and then itjust happened.
She didn't think I was serious.
'cause before I was like, ohyeah, I'll never move out of the
(05:28):
states, but hey, here we are.
Right.
Yeah.
We, we came here on somewhat avacation and then.
Somehow, some way we justdecided to stay here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is wild, right?
Yeah.
It's, and, and I think for us,we didn't know the city until we
literally decided to just walkaround.
Mm-hmm.
(05:48):
In, in.
Los Las Colonia to visit, youknow, just like the, the mall
and everything.
And so it all happened to feellike, right.
It all happened to feel likethis could be potentially a city
where we would live at.
And initially we thought aboutmoving to Mexico City.
(06:09):
But we've realized that that isa huge city.
Yeah.
Especially when raising twolittle kids.
I feel like it's just chaoticenough.
And we come from a city, I mean,we, we were both born and raised
in Chicago.
So we know what it's like tolive in a big metropolitan city
as a family.
But Mexico City felt like theNew York, like it is a
(06:29):
completely different monster.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
I mean, don't get me, don't getus wrong, it's beautiful, right?
There's so many things to do,but you gotta take into
consideration there's 20 millionpeople living there.
Right.
So once we thought about it, welooked at some pictures when we
were there, we were just like,yeah, there's no way.
Yeah.
There's no way we can do this.
Yeah.
(06:50):
Yeah.
It, it felt like New York, and Ilove New York City.
I.
Love the, just like everythingabout it, but not to live there.
It's more so to visit.
We can always explore more andlearn more.
And in fact, we're going toMexico City to see the bad
bunny.
But yeah.
And so that's just another way,an excuse to keep visiting
(07:11):
Mexico City.
'cause it's only like a fourhour drive if you take the bus.
Mm.
But anyway, so we thought thatLeon was going to be.
Well enough for us to not justimmerse ourselves here in
Mexico, where our family isfrom, but it also gave us the
comfortability of like Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like Chicago is bigenough, has a lot of resources.
(07:35):
Obviously it's a big city in theUnited States, and we felt that
Leon was pretty comparable.
Yeah.
In terms of resources, in termsof different types of food.
Different, um, you know, all ofthese things.
It really helped us inform ourdecision, uh, to move here.
Now, in terms of finding wherein Leon, I think we factored in
(07:59):
based on the availability,probably.
Mm-hmm.
Probably.
And the location I would say.
School was something that wedefinitely wanted to base our
decision, but unfortunately thatdidn't work out.
No, because we, I guess weshould have done it the other
(08:19):
way.
We should have probably havelooked at housing, well, first
and then school, but we did theother way around.
Yeah, we looked at the schoolfirst and then housing.
We couldn't find a, a house forrent near the kids' school.
Now where the kids are, they'rein the central part of the city,
like near the city center inLeon.
(08:42):
And we're living in the northside of Leon, so it's called La
Zona Norte, which is where LaPlaza Mayor.
If, for those of you who haveever been to Leon, it's pretty
much where the.
Second phase of the city'sexpansion grew, now it's
expanding more south.
Uh, so Leon is a big city.
(09:03):
It first started out in the citycenter and then it expanded to
the north and then the south.
And we are in the, in thenorthern part of it.
And this is what drew us really,because everything is at our
disposal.
I mean, literally behind us.
Is a parking lot to Sam's Club.
Walmart too.
There's a Walmart, there's aHome Depot.
(09:23):
You know, just like your typicalAmerican stores.
Yeah, there's like a lot of cutelike boutiques, coffee shops and
coffee shops.
A lot of little restaurants.
Restaurants.
Yeah.
So there's a lot of options hereand that's what really drew us
and the way that we found thishouse was through.
(09:46):
A Facebook post that was sharedto me by one of my friends.
So I have a really good friendthat we've kept in touch for
over a decade now.
Like we weren't even moms, weweren't married.
It's almost and everything.
And uh, I happen to have knownher.
From like a long time ago that Ivisited my family here in Mexico
and we have kept in touch.
(10:07):
And so knowing that we weremoving to Leon, she was like the
first person, one of the firstfew people that I reached out
to, because she's also fromLeon.
She was born and raised here, soshe knows how, how it is, and so
through a Facebook group post ofthis property, she shared it
with me and I was like, Hey, wehave to check it out and.
(10:30):
In the spring, uh, I came herewith the kids.
And you did two, right?
Well, there were two.
Yes.
Yes.
There were two phases of ourspring trip travels.
Yeah.
The first time, the first timewe came, this one we checked out
like what, like 20 schools?
Yeah.
We visited a bunch of schools.
The second one was you came byyourself, right?
That was in your Yeah.
To enroll the school schools?
(10:51):
No.
Oh, no, no.
This was when we enrolled thekids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, to the schools and.
At that time, that was when we,I reached out to the, the
representative of the, uh,property owners and I was like,
Hey, can we tour the, the, thehouse?
(11:11):
And he was like, sure.
So I got to see it.
I got to see it with my parentsand the kids, and I felt really
good about it.
And I told Alex, I was like,Hey, you know, this is a really
good property because.
Even though it's an olderproperty, it is in a residential
area, so it's in afraccionamiento.
For those of you who haven'theard of what a fraccionamiento
(11:32):
is, it's essentially like aprivate residence.
Mm-hmm.
Essentially.
Yeah.
Essentially it's a G It's a, itis a gated community.
Yeah.
It's a gated community.
I hate saying that because.
You know what we think of gatedcommunities, but, uh, yes, it,
you do have to have access ifyou don't live here to get
through these doors.
Everyone here is pretty chill,you know?
(11:56):
Mm-hmm.
No problems.
Like I haven't heard of anydrama or anything.
Um, so yeah, so it, it's areally neat community.
Traditionally now, I, I thinkthe newer s they often have like
a, a pool and like a activitylike community center of some
sort.
This one just has properties anda Yeah, and a little mini, it's
(12:18):
super old school chapel, whichis, it's old school, but it's
very nice.
Yeah.
Very, very quiet.
Yeah.
I mean, there's people runningin the mornings, there's people
running, walking their dogs inthe middle of the night.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah, it's super quiet here.
Yeah, it's pretty quiet.
And that's something that I, I.
Fell in love with, to be honest,because I knew that my kids were
going to be safe.
I knew that I, I can go outsideanytime and not worry about like
(12:39):
cars passing through.
Uh, because where the kids go toschool, that's where the houses
are kind of like in the publicbasically, and they're in busy
streets and everything.
And so I felt like.
Going into a community like thiswould be more fitting for our
family and our active kids andmaking sure that they're okay.
Um, and so, so yeah, so that'show I toured it in the spring.
(13:03):
And first of all, everyone usesWhatsApp.
Mm-hmm.
And for me, I never really useWhatsApp even though my grandpa
uses it.
My parents, I still don't useit.
Yeah.
And that's one of the thingsthat I had to get used to
responding back to WhatsApp.
And that has been a form ofcommunication really from anyone
(13:27):
here.
And so I knew that I had to beproactive in checking my phone
and my messages because I, lowkey had set up the WhatsApp
notifications off because I waslike, I never receive anything
through that, but I guess.
I had to change those settings,especially when we knew we were
going to live here.
And so that was the way that Iwas in communication with, I, I
(13:51):
wouldn't necessarily say thatit's the realtor because I don't
think he is a realtor.
No.
And here, um, here in Mexico, atleast in Leon specifically, you
don't have to have a license toshow rental properties, right?
Mm-hmm.
To sell properties.
Yes, you do, but not to showthem.
So that's one thing.
If you are interested in MO orlocating here or anywhere in
Mexico.
(14:11):
Make sure that it's a reputableperson.
Yeah, trustworthy person.
Yeah.
And I would say this guy waspretty professional.
You know, he was on top ofthings and everything.
Uh, but I, I wish we would'veknown that.
Mm-hmm.
There are other ways, like theway that we found out, found
this house out.
Like I said, it was through thisFacebook like group post.
(14:33):
It wasn't through aninmobiliario.
So inmobiliario is like a realestate agency, and.
It wasn't listed through that.
And there are inmobiliarios toeither buy a house or to rent a
house, and that's when you canfind a reputable, you know,
license, uh, realtor.
(14:54):
Yeah.
And, and unfortunately thisproperty wasn't tied in with
that.
Now the property alone has beenfine.
Uh, I would say, but there havebeen a lot of issues, which
we'll kind of talk about that.
Okay.
But at, in terms of actuallysecuring this house, how would
(15:14):
you rate that experience?
Yeah.
On a scale from one to 10,securing this property about a
eight, eight Difficulty wise,because, um, yeah, there was a
lot of legal mm-hmm.
Stuff that we had to do, right?
Like we had to get, um.
Your grandfather.
Right.
And essentially it is likecollateral, right?
They have, we had, he had to puthi his property as collateral so
(15:38):
that we can rent it.
Rent this one.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
So it is not just like, oh,here, here are the keys.
Gimme the money.
No.
We had to go to a lawyer, sign abunch of documents and yeah, I
was very surprised.
Honestly, I don't even think youhave to do that back in the
States.
Mm-hmm.
Have somebody that's collateral.
No, because we are propertyowners ourselves and, and we
have three different tenants inthose three units that we own
(16:01):
that building.
And it was all up to us, youknow, to have the contract and
everything.
And now granted we are in thecity of Chicago, so Chicago is
very.
Rental friendly, hard, like onlandlords and Yes.
Mm-hmm.
More rental renter friendly thananything.
And so in order for us to coverour bases, like we wanted to
(16:25):
make sure to have a contract andeverything, kind of like an
order.
It's legalized.
Like you had to have an attorneyto sign the contract.
And so this is what it's called,a póliza jurídica.
Which essentially it legitimizesthe rental and it protects both
parties.
(16:45):
So in a way I was grateful thatthat was one of the, you know,
rules to, to rent this propertyis to have this signed.
But it did come with a couplebureaucratic steps, right?
Where it wasn't just us that wewere able to rent this place.
It had to get through with mygrandpa, and we were lucky
(17:06):
because my parents.
Even though my dad has land andthey're in the process of
building their house, What It'scalled las escrituras.
And so las escrituras is like alegal document that basically
legitimizes your property, yourtierra, and, and so luckily my
grandparents are near us and wewere able to bring him over and
(17:29):
have him sign.
For us, essentially, becausethat was the only way that we
were able to get this property.
In terms of what it involvedwith any like deposit or cost.
We did have to pay the firstmonth's rent, like as a deposit,
and that was non-refundable,which is pretty common, just
like anywhere else.
(17:49):
So we actually secured thisplace like months in advance.
So when we toured the propertyand everything, it was like what
May?
Mm-hmm.
Or June.
That was when we paid that onemonth's deposit e.
That way it secures the, the,the property.
So I guess they were able to dothat and, and that was great.
(18:13):
And then we then had to pay, youknow, the first Yeah.
Rent and, and so forth.
And.
In terms of the costsspecifically, I would say for
us, especially coming from theUnited States and coming from
Chicago, warehousing isridiculous.
It is cheaper for us.
(18:34):
Very affordable.
It's very affordable.
So we pay 20,000 pesos, and itis a furnished home.
So usually furnished houses orfurnished apartments in Mexico
are going to be a little bitmore because that includes.
Just like what you get.
Yeah.
All the furniture, the tables.
Yeah.
Dishware.
Everything.
Everything.
So that was one of the, thethings that we were looking for
(18:56):
specifically, that we wanted tomake sure that in order for us
to acclimate ourselves here andnot bring all our stuff, because
we still don't know if we'regonna live here forever.
Uh, we thought that it would bebest to rent a furnished
property.
Yeah.
So in from Mexico and for peoplewho are from Mexico.
(19:17):
This house is a lot moreexpensive.
Mm-hmm.
I would say, and especially in acity like Leon, where it is in
Mexico City or Guadalajara, uh,it or Monterey, like it is a
little bit more expensive thanyour traditional kind of, or
typical like rental costs, maybemaximum for a furnished home.
(19:40):
I think you're pushing it like17,000 pesos.
So we're paying 3000 pesos morethan your kind of like average
type of house that is furnished,but it is what it is.
Yeah.
And and it's not like they, uh,scam does or whatever, like the
20,000 pesos was what it was inthe original posting without
(20:02):
them even knowing that we wereAmerican.
Right.
Yeah.
And I mean.
Yeah.
When you take intoconsideration, I mean, we are
walking distance from one of thebiggest malls in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, it is a gated community.
There's so many things to doaround this area, but again, it
is what it is.
Yeah.
And I would say that this househas more, uh, space.
(20:22):
I think it, it's more spaciousthan your traditional house now
in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
Just because it is gettingoversaturated.
Uh, I think.
Because, yeah, it's getting alittle overpopulated here in
Leon'cause it's a booming cityand so.
Being that this residential areais must like, you know, it's
like what, 30, 40 years old?
(20:45):
It is a lot more spacious.
And that's what I like.
I mean, I like that we have abig patio.
Yeah, I like that.
It's got three rooms, two and ahalf baths, a full, uh, dining
area, living room, a fullkitchen, and so.
I think that we're paying prettydecent, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's decent.
(21:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I just wanted to add aquick, another quick point too,
uh, kind of taking it back tojust kind of like comparing it,
if we would've brought our stuffhere as opposed to just renting
a furnish place.
We kind of looked into it howmuch it would cost us to bring
all of our stuff here viatrucks, right?
Mm-hmm.
How much was it with like$20,000?
Mm-hmm.
One quote.
Mm-hmm.
To bring all of our stuff here.
(21:26):
Yeah.
It's about 15 to$20,000.
Yeah.
So if you factor that in, Imean, we would've been spending
a lot more money to bring all ofour stuff here to rent something
that would would've been like,what, 15,000 pesos.
So it kind of like balances out.
Mm-hmm.
And if not, we are, the way wedid it kind of saved us a lot
more money than if we would'vebrought our stuff here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(21:47):
And trying to figure out, okay,is your move to Mexico going to
be long term?
Mm-hmm.
Or is it going to be short term?
And for us, we do have a storageback in the United States where
it has, I would say, the moreprecious things.
Well, I don't even know what we,we have different definitions as
(22:08):
to what that means.
I mean, if it was for me, Iwould've gotten rid of
everything in there to putwhatever.
I know.
I know.
And it's hard.
It's hard to figure out, okay,are we starting new?
Are we starting?
Like are we restarting our livesback?
Like I honestly don't know and Idon't wanna stress out.
Yeah.
But I think though for now, Ithink it's worked out that we
(22:30):
got a furnished home.
Yeah, for sure.
And, and yeah, it's been workingout well and we were a, we've
been able to kind of personalizeit.
I definitely told the landlordthat for the kids' room, I
definitely wanted everything outbecause that room had like a,
which is like a full-sized bed,and I was like, yeah, no, my
(22:51):
kids are not gonna share thesame bed.
Mm-hmm.
Because they can push eachother.
Could you imagine all thescreaming and, and crying?
Yeah.
You just, I don't even wannaimagine.
So what we decided to do was buythem their furniture, so mm-hmm.
We got them their two littlebeds eat, which is like a little
bookshelf and, and yeah, it.
It's been really cute, likeseeing that.
(23:12):
And they love it.
They love their room even thoughsometimes they come in the
middle of the night and sleepwith us, but whatever.
Still, still, it's been overyears that they've been doing
that, but yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's how they are.
It is what it is.
Yeah.
It's fine.
Now that we live in a, in arental, uh, something that.
We know that in the, is thatthis rental is for a year, and
(23:34):
so within this year it'sliterally stated that it is our
responsibility if things breakdown or if I don't know if we
need like a new light bulb.
So that's one of the things thatis kind of interesting in Mexico
compared to the US, especiallyin Chicago, is that the tenant
here is, doesn't have as equalrights as.
(23:59):
In Chicago, so it's all up tous.
Even though we are renting, it'sstill our responsibility if I
don't know if, yeah, I meanthere's something minor.
I would say it's different, butin a lot of ways it's similar,
right?
Because just like back inChicago to here, like the
landlord is responsible foranything that's major, major
(24:19):
repair.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And just like Chicago too, likeeven like for something small,
if you read it in the contract,that the renter is responsible
for such and such a certainamount.
Somewhat similar here, so Yeah.
Yeah, and it all depends who youget.
Mm-hmm.
Let's be honest, Alex, about thelandlords here.
(24:42):
overall, I think that they areresponsive, that they listen.
That they're willing to have aconversation, but I feel like
they are a little difficult interms of trying to solve the
issue.
Yeah.
And I don't think they wannasolve any specific issues.
(25:07):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, again, like who, whowants to drop a lot of money on
a property, right?
I mean.
But again, like my argument inthis situation is, is that if
they don't, if they want to keepthis place long term, they have
to invest in it.
They have to invest, right?
Mm-hmm.
But, um, again, the landlordslumlords here, which they are,
(25:34):
let's be honest.
I mean, I mean not fully,because I think that.
Again, they respond, theycommunicate, but it's almost
like slapping a bandaid over ahuge wound.
SAC.
Right, because like, again, likethe one example, and we can move
on to something else, right?
There is a little room out,right?
Where it is back in the day,like if you had a nanny, they
(25:55):
had, they have their ownpersonal spot here.
Mm-hmm.
Long story short, it's been in,it's been flooded, right?
And it's been going on for whoknows how long, right?
Mm-hmm.
But.
We told'em, they came one, they,they had an, they had a quote
from actual professional, whatdo you call it?
A a, which is a brick layer.
(26:15):
Right.
Um, I'm assuming that theydidn't like the quote, so they
got this one dude that basicallydoes everything.
Right.
The maintenance.
Yeah.
Then Manto, he's, he's a gooddude, right?
But let's just say that hedidn't fix it the way it's
supposed to be fixed.
It still floods up there.
Mm-hmm.
But And they don't.
Yeah.
(26:35):
Yeah.
And the thing is that eventhough we don't utilize it, I
mean, it's nowhere near to be inliving.
Mm-hmm.
You know, you can't live, it's,it's just a storage area.
It, we use it for storage.
So that's where we have ourmallets are the container boxes
that we brought our stuff within the car.
Like, so we do use that spacefor storage, but that's even
(27:00):
though.
Yeah, it's not livable.
I still utilize it.
What's under that cio?
So, essentially the, the CIO islike on a second level and
what's under CIO is the laundryroom, and that's where I do
laundry.
And even though I don't dolaundry every day or I'm not
(27:21):
there 24 7, I feel afraid thatthat.
Ceiling is gonna fall on top ofme because of it has
deteriorated.
Yeah.
It's, it's deteriorating becauseof the flooding and, and I've
been telling the landlord like,Hey, this is an issue because I
feel like it's literally gonnafall on top of me.
(27:44):
And so she's not as responsiveas we thought she would.
Considering that these two areprofessionals, they pride
themselves when I first metthem, that they own four
properties.
And so I just wonder how theytreat the others, the other
tenants.
Yeah.
And I also wonder, like I, Idon't wanna judge, but I feel
(28:07):
like they only want our money.
Of course.
And of course like, you know,that's how we feel when we
receive rent, right?
We want our money to not justpay for the mortgage that we.
Own our property, but it's alsofor any of the, uh, source of
income that we're getting from.
Mm-hmm.
But it's also like, okay, if youwant your tenants to stay long
(28:29):
term, you also have to thinkabout that investment.
So I don't think they'rethinking about this.
ROI, right?
Yeah.
Return on investment oninvesting on their property so
that these tenants can stay longterm.
And so we know that at least inthis property, even though it's,
I, I love it here.
(28:49):
I mean, I never got bad jujuvibes.
Like, I remember, remember whenI told you when we moved in, I
was like, oh, I'm gonna put PaloSanto.
And well, I haven't even beendoing that because I, I feel
good energy here.
I'm glad you didn't.
'cause I hate that smell.
Well, I love it, smell.
Um, but yeah, I feel really goodenergy and, and I feel like
comfortable.
I feel good.
(29:09):
Yeah.
I think my issue are is the, thelandlords are mm-hmm.
What's keeping me from evenconsidering renewing the
contract, I don't think we areyet.
Yeah.
Not if we decide to stay here.
Yeah.
Honestly, I didn't like her thefirst time I met her.
I didn't like her, but whatever.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(29:31):
And I know that, I don't know ifwe've rushed into like finding
housing because there's alwayshousing available.
Mm-hmm.
We still see.
Uh, Alex joined this Facebookgroup about like renting, you
know, properties here in Leon,but I don't know, I just felt
driven into the location.
I think location was definitelya big one, and the fact that it
(29:52):
was furnished, not all.
Properties are furnished.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so, but yeah, you live andlearn and I think one of the
things that I would recommend ifyou are thinking about moving to
Mexico and renting when youfirst move is to look for
inmobiliario.
I think that is more legitimatethan finding a Facebook post
(30:13):
some realtors and inmobiliarioslike real estate.
Agencies will be posting onsocial media, but understanding
where that link comes from.
Mm-hmm.
Understanding who this personis, who posted it, because I
think it's more legitimate ifyou go through a real estate.
Yeah, for sure.
And we can provide a link tothat website.
(30:33):
Mm-hmm.
Even though we didn't use it.
I mean, I'm constantly on therealmost every day.
Right.
Yeah.
Just checking out posts,checking out rentals.
I mean, it is legit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And this is only for Leon, butthere is a.
Bigger website and it's for thepublic, for anyone to filter
through properties around,Mexico.
And so you can search based onthe city or co colonia and you
(30:58):
can filter in if you are lookingfor a house to buy or a house to
rent or an apartment.
And you can choose up to howmany bedrooms and baths you
want.
And so this website, uh, ispretty comprehensive.
Now the thing is though, withthis website, it can be anyone
posting the property, but ifagain, you have to dig a little
(31:19):
bit deeper and figure out, okay,who posted it?
Is it an ilario?
Okay, then instead of me goingdirectly through this website,
I'm then gonna get my researchand then go directly to the emo
larios like contact.
And that way you know that itwas a legitimate posting than
just like anyone posting it.
If you have any questions aboutour ZA to Mexico and housing,
(31:43):
let me know.
Let us know.
You can email me atpodcast@vivala.com or you can
send me a DM at viva la staytuned.
With this month's living inMexico series, I will be
bringing Alex back because forsome reason y'all love to listen
to him.
Wow, okay.
All of episodes.
I'm so honored you.
You didn't know that, right?
No, I didn't.
(32:04):
All of the episodes that you'vebeen here on the show have been
like the most popular ones, soclearly you wanna listen to my
man, what can I say?
But also.
Stay tuned as I announce anupcoming event.
This will be a free workshop onhow to get dual citizenship, and
I will be offering moreinformation about that.
(32:26):
But this event will be in earlyNovember.
It will be kind of like a liveevent where if you sign up, you
will have exclusive access.
And for anyone listening afterthat, well, they're just gonna
get the basic information.
So.
I will be sharing that more inthe show notes or description of
this video slash episode.
(32:47):
And yeah, reach out to us if youhave any questions.
All right, amiga, well Asima andI'll catch you in the next
episode.
Peace out.
for us, we didn't know the cityuntil we literally decided to
(00:05):
just walk around.
Mm-hmm.
In, in.
Los Las Colonia to visit, youknow, just like the, the mall
and everything.
And so it all happened to feellike, right.
It all happened to feel likethis could be potentially a city
where we would live at.
so we thought that Leon wasgoing to be.
Well enough for us to not justimmerse ourselves here in
(00:28):
Mexico, where our family isfrom, but it also gave us the
comfortability of like Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like Chicago is bigenough, has a lot of resources.
Obviously it's a big city in theUnited States, and we felt that
Leon was pretty comparable.
Yeah.
In terms of resources, in termsof different types of food.
(00:48):
Different, um, you know, all ofthese things.
It really helped us inform ourdecision, uh, to move here.
(02:02):
Ola.
Ola.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Viva AMI Podcast.
I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas,and this is one of the Living in
Mexico series episodes, as youprobably know we are living here
in Mexico and.
Today I have my husband here,Alex, with me, and in fact,
(02:24):
you're going to keep listeningto him and he's going to join us
throughout these upcoming Livingin Mexico episodes just because
he is also part of this process.
It's not just me as a couple, asa married couple.
We both worked on this together,so that way we made this
possible in our move to Mexicoand.
(02:48):
These upcoming episodes are allbased on questions that I've
been asked on Instagram, onother forms of media, even
through email.
And so, because I know that youhave all of these dire
questions, I was like, you knowwhat?
I'm gonna spend these upcomingweeks answering your questions
(03:10):
and kind of give you a betteridea of what it's like living in
Mexico So if you haven't yetfollowed me on Instagram.
I am there.
I'm also on TikTok, not so muchas Instagram, but also if you
are curious to watch thisepisode, you can also find us on
YouTube, which is at viva ami,and you can see our backgrounds.
(03:35):
Right now we are in our patio,in our house here in Leon
Guanajuato, so this episode isspecific to housing.
A lot of people have asked uslike, how did you find this
house?
How do you even rent a house inMexico?
And a lot of times people go toMexico to just visit, whether if
(04:00):
it's vacation or if it'svisiting family.
And so there are a lot ofnuances and a lot of like
specific.
Ways of finding and gettinghousing here in Mexico, and
we're just gonna share kind oflike what our experience was and
(04:21):
how it's going.
And I can't answer specificallyabout buying property or.
About transferring, uh, assetslike many families do.
So we're only going to speakabout how to find a rental,
especially a long term rentalthen like an Airbnb or something
(04:42):
that, you know, you could juststay at at Abuelita's house.
So one of the questions that wehave been asked is, how did you
decide to find.
A place to live.
And so, Alex, I don't know ifyou wanna answer this for us.
I'm sure Justice already talkedabout this in the past, right?
But we came here when Mattel wasabout a few months old.
(05:07):
Yeah, he was like eight monthsold and I had, uh, about four
weeks of paternity leave.
So then, uh, when we came hereto alone in the city, we just
fell in love with it.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And then, I can't remember if itwas me or you, the one that just
said, Hey, why don't we justmove here?
And hypothetically, and then itjust happened.
She didn't think I was serious.
'cause before I was like, ohyeah, I'll never move out of the
(05:28):
states, but hey, here we are.
Right.
Yeah.
We, we came here on somewhat avacation and then.
Somehow, some way we justdecided to stay here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is wild, right?
Yeah.
It's, and, and I think for us,we didn't know the city until we
literally decided to just walkaround.
Mm-hmm.
(05:48):
In, in.
Los Las Colonia to visit, youknow, just like the, the mall
and everything.
And so it all happened to feellike, right.
It all happened to feel likethis could be potentially a city
where we would live at.
And initially we thought aboutmoving to Mexico City.
(06:09):
But we've realized that that isa huge city.
Yeah.
Especially when raising twolittle kids.
I feel like it's just chaoticenough.
And we come from a city, I mean,we, we were both born and raised
in Chicago.
So we know what it's like tolive in a big metropolitan city
as a family.
But Mexico City felt like theNew York, like it is a
(06:29):
completely different monster.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
I mean, don't get me, don't getus wrong, it's beautiful, right?
There's so many things to do,but you gotta take into
consideration there's 20 millionpeople living there.
Right.
So once we thought about it, welooked at some pictures when we
were there, we were just like,yeah, there's no way.
Yeah.
There's no way we can do this.
Yeah.
(06:50):
Yeah.
It, it felt like New York, and Ilove New York City.
I.
Love the, just like everythingabout it, but not to live there.
It's more so to visit.
We can always explore more andlearn more.
And in fact, we're going toMexico City to see the bad
bunny.
But yeah.
And so that's just another way,an excuse to keep visiting
(07:11):
Mexico City.
'cause it's only like a fourhour drive if you take the bus.
Mm.
But anyway, so we thought thatLeon was going to be.
Well enough for us to not justimmerse ourselves here in
Mexico, where our family isfrom, but it also gave us the
comfortability of like Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like Chicago is bigenough, has a lot of resources.
(07:35):
Obviously it's a big city in theUnited States, and we felt that
Leon was pretty comparable.
Yeah.
In terms of resources, in termsof different types of food.
Different, um, you know, all ofthese things.
It really helped us inform ourdecision, uh, to move here.
Now, in terms of finding wherein Leon, I think we factored in
(07:59):
based on the availability,probably.
Mm-hmm.
Probably.
And the location I would say.
School was something that wedefinitely wanted to base our
decision, but unfortunately thatdidn't work out.
No, because we, I guess weshould have done it the other
(08:19):
way.
We should have probably havelooked at housing, well, first
and then school, but we did theother way around.
Yeah, we looked at the schoolfirst and then housing.
We couldn't find a, a house forrent near the kids' school.
Now where the kids are, they'rein the central part of the city,
like near the city center inLeon.
(08:42):
And we're living in the northside of Leon, so it's called La
Zona Norte, which is where LaPlaza Mayor.
If, for those of you who haveever been to Leon, it's pretty
much where the.
Second phase of the city'sexpansion grew, now it's
expanding more south.
Uh, so Leon is a big city.
(09:03):
It first started out in the citycenter and then it expanded to
the north and then the south.
And we are in the, in thenorthern part of it.
And this is what drew us really,because everything is at our
disposal.
I mean, literally behind us.
Is a parking lot to Sam's Club.
Walmart too.
There's a Walmart, there's aHome Depot.
(09:23):
You know, just like your typicalAmerican stores.
Yeah, there's like a lot of cutelike boutiques, coffee shops and
coffee shops.
A lot of little restaurants.
Restaurants.
Yeah.
So there's a lot of options hereand that's what really drew us
and the way that we found thishouse was through.
(09:46):
A Facebook post that was sharedto me by one of my friends.
So I have a really good friendthat we've kept in touch for
over a decade now.
Like we weren't even moms, weweren't married.
It's almost and everything.
And uh, I happen to have knownher.
From like a long time ago that Ivisited my family here in Mexico
and we have kept in touch.
(10:07):
And so knowing that we weremoving to Leon, she was like the
first person, one of the firstfew people that I reached out
to, because she's also fromLeon.
She was born and raised here, soshe knows how, how it is, and so
through a Facebook group post ofthis property, she shared it
with me and I was like, Hey, wehave to check it out and.
(10:30):
In the spring, uh, I came herewith the kids.
And you did two, right?
Well, there were two.
Yes.
Yes.
There were two phases of ourspring trip travels.
Yeah.
The first time, the first timewe came, this one we checked out
like what, like 20 schools?
Yeah.
We visited a bunch of schools.
The second one was you came byyourself, right?
That was in your Yeah.
To enroll the school schools?
(10:51):
No.
Oh, no, no.
This was when we enrolled thekids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, to the schools and.
At that time, that was when we,I reached out to the, the
representative of the, uh,property owners and I was like,
Hey, can we tour the, the, thehouse?
(11:11):
And he was like, sure.
So I got to see it.
I got to see it with my parentsand the kids, and I felt really
good about it.
And I told Alex, I was like,Hey, you know, this is a really
good property because.
Even though it's an olderproperty, it is in a residential
area, so it's in afraccionamiento.
For those of you who haven'theard of what a fraccionamiento
(11:32):
is, it's essentially like aprivate residence.
Mm-hmm.
Essentially.
Yeah.
Essentially it's a G It's a, itis a gated community.
Yeah.
It's a gated community.
I hate saying that because.
You know what we think of gatedcommunities, but, uh, yes, it,
you do have to have access ifyou don't live here to get
through these doors.
Everyone here is pretty chill,you know?
(11:56):
Mm-hmm.
No problems.
Like I haven't heard of anydrama or anything.
Um, so yeah, so it, it's areally neat community.
Traditionally now, I, I thinkthe newer s they often have like
a, a pool and like a activitylike community center of some
sort.
This one just has properties anda Yeah, and a little mini, it's
(12:18):
super old school chapel, whichis, it's old school, but it's
very nice.
Yeah.
Very, very quiet.
Yeah.
I mean, there's people runningin the mornings, there's people
running, walking their dogs inthe middle of the night.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah, it's super quiet here.
Yeah, it's pretty quiet.
And that's something that I, I.
Fell in love with, to be honest,because I knew that my kids were
going to be safe.
I knew that I, I can go outsideanytime and not worry about like
(12:39):
cars passing through.
Uh, because where the kids go toschool, that's where the houses
are kind of like in the publicbasically, and they're in busy
streets and everything.
And so I felt like.
Going into a community like thiswould be more fitting for our
family and our active kids andmaking sure that they're okay.
Um, and so, so yeah, so that'show I toured it in the spring.
(13:03):
And first of all, everyone usesWhatsApp.
Mm-hmm.
And for me, I never really useWhatsApp even though my grandpa
uses it.
My parents, I still don't useit.
Yeah.
And that's one of the thingsthat I had to get used to
responding back to WhatsApp.
And that has been a form ofcommunication really from anyone
(13:27):
here.
And so I knew that I had to beproactive in checking my phone
and my messages because I, lowkey had set up the WhatsApp
notifications off because I waslike, I never receive anything
through that, but I guess.
I had to change those settings,especially when we knew we were
going to live here.
And so that was the way that Iwas in communication with, I, I
(13:51):
wouldn't necessarily say thatit's the realtor because I don't
think he is a realtor.
No.
And here, um, here in Mexico, atleast in Leon specifically, you
don't have to have a license toshow rental properties, right?
Mm-hmm.
To sell properties.
Yes, you do, but not to showthem.
So that's one thing.
If you are interested in MO orlocating here or anywhere in
Mexico.
(14:11):
Make sure that it's a reputableperson.
Yeah, trustworthy person.
Yeah.
And I would say this guy waspretty professional.
You know, he was on top ofthings and everything.
Uh, but I, I wish we would'veknown that.
Mm-hmm.
There are other ways, like theway that we found out, found
this house out.
Like I said, it was through thisFacebook like group post.
(14:33):
It wasn't through aninmobiliario.
So inmobiliario is like a realestate agency, and.
It wasn't listed through that.
And there are inmobiliarios toeither buy a house or to rent a
house, and that's when you canfind a reputable, you know,
license, uh, realtor.
(14:54):
Yeah.
And, and unfortunately thisproperty wasn't tied in with
that.
Now the property alone has beenfine.
Uh, I would say, but there havebeen a lot of issues, which
we'll kind of talk about that.
Okay.
But at, in terms of actuallysecuring this house, how would
(15:14):
you rate that experience?
Yeah.
On a scale from one to 10,securing this property about a
eight, eight Difficulty wise,because, um, yeah, there was a
lot of legal mm-hmm.
Stuff that we had to do, right?
Like we had to get, um.
Your grandfather.
Right.
And essentially it is likecollateral, right?
They have, we had, he had to puthi his property as collateral so
(15:38):
that we can rent it.
Rent this one.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
So it is not just like, oh,here, here are the keys.
Gimme the money.
No.
We had to go to a lawyer, sign abunch of documents and yeah, I
was very surprised.
Honestly, I don't even think youhave to do that back in the
States.
Mm-hmm.
Have somebody that's collateral.
No, because we are propertyowners ourselves and, and we
have three different tenants inthose three units that we own
(16:01):
that building.
And it was all up to us, youknow, to have the contract and
everything.
And now granted we are in thecity of Chicago, so Chicago is
very.
Rental friendly, hard, like onlandlords and Yes.
Mm-hmm.
More rental renter friendly thananything.
And so in order for us to coverour bases, like we wanted to
(16:25):
make sure to have a contract andeverything, kind of like an
order.
It's legalized.
Like you had to have an attorneyto sign the contract.
And so this is what it's called,a póliza jurídica.
Which essentially it legitimizesthe rental and it protects both
parties.
(16:45):
So in a way I was grateful thatthat was one of the, you know,
rules to, to rent this propertyis to have this signed.
But it did come with a couplebureaucratic steps, right?
Where it wasn't just us that wewere able to rent this place.
It had to get through with mygrandpa, and we were lucky
(17:06):
because my parents.
Even though my dad has land andthey're in the process of
building their house, What It'scalled las escrituras.
And so las escrituras is like alegal document that basically
legitimizes your property, yourtierra, and, and so luckily my
grandparents are near us and wewere able to bring him over and
(17:29):
have him sign.
For us, essentially, becausethat was the only way that we
were able to get this property.
In terms of what it involvedwith any like deposit or cost.
We did have to pay the firstmonth's rent, like as a deposit,
and that was non-refundable,which is pretty common, just
like anywhere else.
(17:49):
So we actually secured thisplace like months in advance.
So when we toured the propertyand everything, it was like what
May?
Mm-hmm.
Or June.
That was when we paid that onemonth's deposit e.
That way it secures the, the,the property.
So I guess they were able to dothat and, and that was great.
(18:13):
And then we then had to pay, youknow, the first Yeah.
Rent and, and so forth.
And.
In terms of the costsspecifically, I would say for
us, especially coming from theUnited States and coming from
Chicago, warehousing isridiculous.
It is cheaper for us.
(18:34):
Very affordable.
It's very affordable.
So we pay 20,000 pesos, and itis a furnished home.
So usually furnished houses orfurnished apartments in Mexico
are going to be a little bitmore because that includes.
Just like what you get.
Yeah.
All the furniture, the tables.
Yeah.
Dishware.
Everything.
Everything.
So that was one of the, thethings that we were looking for
(18:56):
specifically, that we wanted tomake sure that in order for us
to acclimate ourselves here andnot bring all our stuff, because
we still don't know if we'regonna live here forever.
Uh, we thought that it would bebest to rent a furnished
property.
Yeah.
So in from Mexico and for peoplewho are from Mexico.
(19:17):
This house is a lot moreexpensive.
Mm-hmm.
I would say, and especially in acity like Leon, where it is in
Mexico City or Guadalajara, uh,it or Monterey, like it is a
little bit more expensive thanyour traditional kind of, or
typical like rental costs, maybemaximum for a furnished home.
(19:40):
I think you're pushing it like17,000 pesos.
So we're paying 3000 pesos morethan your kind of like average
type of house that is furnished,but it is what it is.
Yeah.
And and it's not like they, uh,scam does or whatever, like the
20,000 pesos was what it was inthe original posting without
(20:02):
them even knowing that we wereAmerican.
Right.
Yeah.
And I mean.
Yeah.
When you take intoconsideration, I mean, we are
walking distance from one of thebiggest malls in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, it is a gated community.
There's so many things to doaround this area, but again, it
is what it is.
Yeah.
And I would say that this househas more, uh, space.
(20:22):
I think it, it's more spaciousthan your traditional house now
in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
Just because it is gettingoversaturated.
Uh, I think.
Because, yeah, it's getting alittle overpopulated here in
Leon'cause it's a booming cityand so.
Being that this residential areais must like, you know, it's
like what, 30, 40 years old?
(20:45):
It is a lot more spacious.
And that's what I like.
I mean, I like that we have abig patio.
Yeah, I like that.
It's got three rooms, two and ahalf baths, a full, uh, dining
area, living room, a fullkitchen, and so.
I think that we're paying prettydecent, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's decent.
(21:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I just wanted to add aquick, another quick point too,
uh, kind of taking it back tojust kind of like comparing it,
if we would've brought our stuffhere as opposed to just renting
a furnish place.
We kind of looked into it howmuch it would cost us to bring
all of our stuff here viatrucks, right?
Mm-hmm.
How much was it with like$20,000?
Mm-hmm.
One quote.
Mm-hmm.
To bring all of our stuff here.
(21:26):
Yeah.
It's about 15 to$20,000.
Yeah.
So if you factor that in, Imean, we would've been spending
a lot more money to bring all ofour stuff here to rent something
that would would've been like,what, 15,000 pesos.
So it kind of like balances out.
Mm-hmm.
And if not, we are, the way wedid it kind of saved us a lot
more money than if we would'vebrought our stuff here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(21:47):
And trying to figure out, okay,is your move to Mexico going to
be long term?
Mm-hmm.
Or is it going to be short term?
And for us, we do have a storageback in the United States where
it has, I would say, the moreprecious things.
Well, I don't even know what we,we have different definitions as
(22:08):
to what that means.
I mean, if it was for me, Iwould've gotten rid of
everything in there to putwhatever.
I know.
I know.
And it's hard.
It's hard to figure out, okay,are we starting new?
Are we starting?
Like are we restarting our livesback?
Like I honestly don't know and Idon't wanna stress out.
Yeah.
But I think though for now, Ithink it's worked out that we
(22:30):
got a furnished home.
Yeah, for sure.
And, and yeah, it's been workingout well and we were a, we've
been able to kind of personalizeit.
I definitely told the landlordthat for the kids' room, I
definitely wanted everything outbecause that room had like a,
which is like a full-sized bed,and I was like, yeah, no, my
(22:51):
kids are not gonna share thesame bed.
Mm-hmm.
Because they can push eachother.
Could you imagine all thescreaming and, and crying?
Yeah.
You just, I don't even wannaimagine.
So what we decided to do was buythem their furniture, so mm-hmm.
We got them their two littlebeds eat, which is like a little
bookshelf and, and yeah, it.
It's been really cute, likeseeing that.
(23:12):
And they love it.
They love their room even thoughsometimes they come in the
middle of the night and sleepwith us, but whatever.
Still, still, it's been overyears that they've been doing
that, but yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's how they are.
It is what it is.
Yeah.
It's fine.
Now that we live in a, in arental, uh, something that.
We know that in the, is thatthis rental is for a year, and
(23:34):
so within this year it'sliterally stated that it is our
responsibility if things breakdown or if I don't know if we
need like a new light bulb.
So that's one of the things thatis kind of interesting in Mexico
compared to the US, especiallyin Chicago, is that the tenant
here is, doesn't have as equalrights as.
(23:59):
In Chicago, so it's all up tous.
Even though we are renting, it'sstill our responsibility if I
don't know if, yeah, I meanthere's something minor.
I would say it's different, butin a lot of ways it's similar,
right?
Because just like back inChicago to here, like the
landlord is responsible foranything that's major, major
(24:19):
repair.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And just like Chicago too, likeeven like for something small,
if you read it in the contract,that the renter is responsible
for such and such a certainamount.
Somewhat similar here, so Yeah.
Yeah, and it all depends who youget.
Mm-hmm.
Let's be honest, Alex, about thelandlords here.
(24:42):
overall, I think that they areresponsive, that they listen.
That they're willing to have aconversation, but I feel like
they are a little difficult interms of trying to solve the
issue.
Yeah.
And I don't think they wannasolve any specific issues.
(25:07):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, again, like who, whowants to drop a lot of money on
a property, right?
I mean.
But again, like my argument inthis situation is, is that if
they don't, if they want to keepthis place long term, they have
to invest in it.
They have to invest, right?
Mm-hmm.
But, um, again, the landlordslumlords here, which they are,
(25:34):
let's be honest.
I mean, I mean not fully,because I think that.
Again, they respond, theycommunicate, but it's almost
like slapping a bandaid over ahuge wound.
SAC.
Right, because like, again, likethe one example, and we can move
on to something else, right?
There is a little room out,right?
Where it is back in the day,like if you had a nanny, they
(25:55):
had, they have their ownpersonal spot here.
Mm-hmm.
Long story short, it's been in,it's been flooded, right?
And it's been going on for whoknows how long, right?
Mm-hmm.
But.
We told'em, they came one, they,they had an, they had a quote
from actual professional, whatdo you call it?
A a, which is a brick layer.
(26:15):
Right.
Um, I'm assuming that theydidn't like the quote, so they
got this one dude that basicallydoes everything.
Right.
The maintenance.
Yeah.
Then Manto, he's, he's a gooddude, right?
But let's just say that hedidn't fix it the way it's
supposed to be fixed.
It still floods up there.
Mm-hmm.
But And they don't.
Yeah.
(26:35):
Yeah.
And the thing is that eventhough we don't utilize it, I
mean, it's nowhere near to be inliving.
Mm-hmm.
You know, you can't live, it's,it's just a storage area.
It, we use it for storage.
So that's where we have ourmallets are the container boxes
that we brought our stuff within the car.
Like, so we do use that spacefor storage, but that's even
(27:00):
though.
Yeah, it's not livable.
I still utilize it.
What's under that cio?
So, essentially the, the CIO islike on a second level and
what's under CIO is the laundryroom, and that's where I do
laundry.
And even though I don't dolaundry every day or I'm not
(27:21):
there 24 7, I feel afraid thatthat.
Ceiling is gonna fall on top ofme because of it has
deteriorated.
Yeah.
It's, it's deteriorating becauseof the flooding and, and I've
been telling the landlord like,Hey, this is an issue because I
feel like it's literally gonnafall on top of me.
(27:44):
And so she's not as responsiveas we thought she would.
Considering that these two areprofessionals, they pride
themselves when I first metthem, that they own four
properties.
And so I just wonder how theytreat the others, the other
tenants.
Yeah.
And I also wonder, like I, Idon't wanna judge, but I feel
(28:07):
like they only want our money.
Of course.
And of course like, you know,that's how we feel when we
receive rent, right?
We want our money to not justpay for the mortgage that we.
Own our property, but it's alsofor any of the, uh, source of
income that we're getting from.
Mm-hmm.
But it's also like, okay, if youwant your tenants to stay long
(28:29):
term, you also have to thinkabout that investment.
So I don't think they'rethinking about this.
ROI, right?
Yeah.
Return on investment oninvesting on their property so
that these tenants can stay longterm.
And so we know that at least inthis property, even though it's,
I, I love it here.
(28:49):
I mean, I never got bad jujuvibes.
Like, I remember, remember whenI told you when we moved in, I
was like, oh, I'm gonna put PaloSanto.
And well, I haven't even beendoing that because I, I feel
good energy here.
I'm glad you didn't.
'cause I hate that smell.
Well, I love it, smell.
Um, but yeah, I feel really goodenergy and, and I feel like
comfortable.
I feel good.
(29:09):
Yeah.
I think my issue are is the, thelandlords are mm-hmm.
What's keeping me from evenconsidering renewing the
contract, I don't think we areyet.
Yeah.
Not if we decide to stay here.
Yeah.
Honestly, I didn't like her thefirst time I met her.
I didn't like her, but whatever.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(29:31):
And I know that, I don't know ifwe've rushed into like finding
housing because there's alwayshousing available.
Mm-hmm.
We still see.
Uh, Alex joined this Facebookgroup about like renting, you
know, properties here in Leon,but I don't know, I just felt
driven into the location.
I think location was definitelya big one, and the fact that it
(29:52):
was furnished, not all.
Properties are furnished.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so, but yeah, you live andlearn and I think one of the
things that I would recommend ifyou are thinking about moving to
Mexico and renting when youfirst move is to look for
inmobiliario.
I think that is more legitimatethan finding a Facebook post
(30:13):
some realtors and inmobiliarioslike real estate.
Agencies will be posting onsocial media, but understanding
where that link comes from.
Mm-hmm.
Understanding who this personis, who posted it, because I
think it's more legitimate ifyou go through a real estate.
Yeah, for sure.
And we can provide a link tothat website.
(30:33):
Mm-hmm.
Even though we didn't use it.
I mean, I'm constantly on therealmost every day.
Right.
Yeah.
Just checking out posts,checking out rentals.
I mean, it is legit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And this is only for Leon, butthere is a.
Bigger website and it's for thepublic, for anyone to filter
through properties around,Mexico.
And so you can search based onthe city or co colonia and you
(30:58):
can filter in if you are lookingfor a house to buy or a house to
rent or an apartment.
And you can choose up to howmany bedrooms and baths you
want.
And so this website, uh, ispretty comprehensive.
Now the thing is though, withthis website, it can be anyone
posting the property, but ifagain, you have to dig a little
(31:19):
bit deeper and figure out, okay,who posted it?
Is it an ilario?
Okay, then instead of me goingdirectly through this website,
I'm then gonna get my researchand then go directly to the emo
larios like contact.
And that way you know that itwas a legitimate posting than
just like anyone posting it.
If you have any questions aboutour ZA to Mexico and housing,
(31:43):
let me know.
Let us know.
You can email me atpodcast@vivala.com or you can
send me a DM at viva la staytuned.
With this month's living inMexico series, I will be
bringing Alex back because forsome reason y'all love to listen
to him.
Wow, okay.
All of episodes.
I'm so honored you.
You didn't know that, right?
No, I didn't.
(32:04):
All of the episodes that you'vebeen here on the show have been
like the most popular ones, soclearly you wanna listen to my
man, what can I say?
But also.
Stay tuned as I announce anupcoming event.
This will be a free workshop onhow to get dual citizenship, and
I will be offering moreinformation about that.
(32:26):
But this event will be in earlyNovember.
It will be kind of like a liveevent where if you sign up, you
will have exclusive access.
And for anyone listening afterthat, well, they're just gonna
get the basic information.
So.
I will be sharing that more inthe show notes or description of
this video slash episode.
(32:47):
And yeah, reach out to us if youhave any questions.
All right, amiga, well Asima andI'll catch you in the next
episode.
Peace out.
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