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| Lake chapala |
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The Casa Flores website has been created for people looking for information relating to retiring in the Lake Chapala area of Mexico. It has been created by a couple from Houston who spent 6 ½ years there. Jean and Walt Smith have recently returned to Texas to be closer to their two grandchildren. For 5 ½ years they were the owners and hosts of Casa Flores B&B in Ajijic. They owned and sold a total of five houses in the Lake Chapala area, completely remodeled their B&B and bought raw land and built a very Mexican home from the foundation up. They greatly enjoyed being hosts and have many friends in the area, a great many of whom were guests at Casa Flores. This site will attempt to give visitors some facts, some opinions and a large number of links to other sites that the authors consider worthwhile. Feel free to email questions and Jean and Walt will try their best to get you an answer. Remember that in Mexico many people encounter similar problems and solve them in many different ways. If Jean and Walt have personal experience with your question they will give a personal reply as to what they did. They will also guide you to other sources that may provide a different solution. If they have no idea how to answer your question, they will say so. You will find this a rare admission especially if you are on a chat board. Somebody will almost always make up an answer. You are warned!
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| Luis and wife |
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Now a word from our sponsor. Yes, we have a sponsor but in reality he is a friend who guided us through the confusing world of work permits, Mexican corporations, IMSS (medical insurance) for our employees, accountants, severance pay, and many other encounters with various inspectors and labor unions. He rectified what our building contractor had failed to register with our new construction at City Hall. He negotiated with the Water Dept. for two years before agreeing on an amount for starting our account for the new house. He saved us over $1000 and of course saw to it that water service was not interrupted during this time of "negotiation". ( I think it really involved waiting for a new administration.) He drew up our Mexican wills which is a must if you own property. Mexican law doesn’t work the same as the States with joint ownership. If one spouse dies it could take up to two years to get 100% title to the survivor if there is no will. He bailed us out in our second month there when we were served with papers to appear in court. One of our maids casually mentioned as she picked up her third paycheck that she wouldn’t be in for about a month as she needed a hysterectomy! We advised her that such short notice was unacceptable and that she could consider herself terminated. Big mistake! We had "heard" that you can terminate an employee in the first month without paying severance. Long story short, Luis was able to settle what might have cost us up to $5000 for about $900. We had failed to provide health coverage from day 1 so we could have been on the hook for all of her expenses.
Our sponsor is attorney Luis Alvaro Camarena Martinez who has an office on the main street of Ajijic. He can be contacted for legal advice but it is the new houses being constructed in Chula Vista that are the main reason for his sponsorship. They should be ready early in 2009 and from what we saw before leaving they should be a great house at a very reasonable price. Check out this link http://picasaweb.google.com/mayanconstrucciones
Luis can be reached at camarena.luis@camarenamartinez.com and be sure to mention that you saw him on Casa Flores. All in all, a very good person to guide you through the pitfalls and a nice looking group of houses going up. Just announced, anyone taking a tour of Casa Pericos directly with Luis will receive a nice gift basket and free transportation back to Guadalajara airport. Call the office at 376-766-5123 and ask for "Hercules", Luis' assistant.
If your tastes and pocketbook lean to something more upscale, Luis is also involved with a development on the west side of Ajijic- www.retiretoajijic.com/index.htm Here you will see a beautiful home that we actually "babysat" for six weeks before returning to Texas. And more links for you to follow so enjoy!
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| Ajijic Pier |
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For the vistor looking for lots of general information on what is generally called "Lakeside" we have gathered the following links to assist you.
The main monthly free publication is Ojo del Lago (Eye of the Lake). It purports to come out on the first of the month but is not usually available until the 5th or 6th. Don't spend a bunch of money on an ad for an event taking place the first week of the month. Very few people will have seen it! Available in many locations in all the larger villages. Leans heavily left in it's content. Click this link for the current issue http://www.chapala.com/chapala/ojo.html
Kevin Collins has a nice blog that is worth reading for the "straight talk" that you will find there. Kevin is a long time Lakeside realtor who recently went out on his own after many years with Eager Realestate. Yes, he wants to sell you a house but you can gain much free info from his site at http://livinglakechapala.com/blog/tag/kevin-collins/
Marvin Golden and his wife, Barbara, are also realtors who have been at Lakeside for many years. Yes, they too want to sell you a house but they also offer some good free info on their website. They also offer a free 4 hour orientation to the area and they are NOT like the time-share people in Puerto Vallarta. They took many of our guests on this ride and we never heard one complaint about any pressure. You'll get the tour and a business card with the request that if you are interested in more in depth looking that you consider them. Period. They sold several of our houses for us and we consider them quality people. http://www.choosechapala.com/
Chris and Harry Bublin moved to Ajijic from New Jersey and arrived exactly one day before we did. We became good friends and have always checked Chris' blog to see if anything was going on that we hadn't heard about. We sometimes found that we weren't as well connected as we thought! Her updating seems to be spotty but there is tons of good info here. http://www.newbeginningsmexico.com/newsfrom.htm
Think you're too old to consider retirement to Mexico? Check out this terrific article by an 87 year old man who just did it in August 2008. A great writer and a great story! http://www.retiretoajijic.com/Art022006.htm
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Among the resources that you must pay for, the most useful is probably the weekly newspaper, the Guadalajara Reporter. Good coverage of the local Lakeside scene, especially the Arts and local events. An annual online subscription is about $35 US. Find them here http://guadalajarareporter.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Perhaps the best buy in town for real advice comes from longtime resident, Judy King. She is a real character, salty and irreverant but she knows her stuff. She is now into her 8th year of her online publication, Mexico Insights. Great articles for folks thinking about moving to Mexico as well as the folks actually living there. Judy doesn't work for a Realtor, just does her own thing and also gives seminars on Thursdays at the Hotel La Nueva Posada in Ajijic. While we have heard some people say they were overwhelmed by the amount of information presented, we have never heard anyone say they didn't get their money's worth. $25 USD per person or $40 per couple and follow this link for more info http://www.mexico-insights.com/gen/Seminars.aspx
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| Ajijic Plaza |
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| The old church in Ajijic |
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