# Problems with rural living in Mexico ?



## manta86

I'm new to this board and looking down the road to retiring to a warmer climate and am considering Mexico.

My preference is rural living but I think I read somewhere that relocating to rural Mexico is not a good idea.

If this is so, what's the reason ?
Safety ?
Services ?
Loneliness ?
Day to day hardship ?

Thanks for any advice.


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## RVGRINGO

With Mexico's fantastic variety of geographic choices, you can select the climate you prefer, from coastal hot and humid to pine forested alpine villages. As you have surmised, the choice of 'infrastructure' and cosmopolitan services will vary with your choice. You should know that 95% of Mexicans live in cities and towns. They do so for all the reasons you have listed.
As a retiree, you will want a gentle climate; probably at about 5000 feet above sea level, yet within a day's drive to the beaches for a vacation get away. Yes, retirees do go on vacation; in fact, we know some who are fortunate enough to use their home in Mexico as a base and travel and cruise as much as every other month.
Even farmers and dairymen live in town and hire a watchman to guard their rural interests. That said, there are more and more small developments popping up between towns but lots are still small. Land costs in Mexico are very high because much of it is either too rugged, too steep or 'ejido' land (communal/indigenous) which is not available for sale. The availability of water can also be a limiting factor.
What many don't realize is that a home in town often hides a rather rural setting behind its middle-eastern inspired walls. Interior courtyards, patios and gardens are common. We have a courtyard with fountain and room to park two cars, two smaller patios providing air and light, as well as plantings, a covered and screened veranda, a large back garden with bananas, avocados, papaya, mango, berries, citrus a small pool and two other garages off a side street. Frankly, it is so 'rural' that a gardener comes twice a week to tame it. In spite of that, we are within three blocks of the central mercado on the plaza as well as the lake shore malecon, restaurants and shopping. We and the three dogs have all the space we want; maybe too much as we 'mature'.


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## sparks

Safety ?
Rural people may be poorer than city folk so you may stand out a little more

Services ?
Where I am building we have no phone or Internet, no cable TV and no sewer in the street
The phone will come, we can get satellite and am building a septic tank

Loneliness ?
How rural do you need to be. I'm just a little over a mile from a beach town that has intertainment, restaurants and gringos. You don't really need to be on a mountain top and isolation is probably not a good idea if you appear to have anything of value


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## manta86

Thanks for the response, RVGringo.

Having lived in the country virtually all my life, living within walls is not terribly appealing. Are suburban-like properties common, say 2-5 acres, or would this be considered rare ?

Google searches for this type of property have not produced anything significant so I wonder if that's due to lack of availability or lack of demand.

Thanks.


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## manta86

Thanks for the response, sparks.



sparks said:


> Safety ?
> Rural people may be poorer than city folk so you may stand out a little more


Does that make it dangerous or just increase the chances of robbery. Are home invasions common in Mexico ? I've been looking into Panama as well and the upswing in home invasions there reduces the appeal.



> Services ?
> Where I am building we have no phone or Internet, no cable TV and no sewer in the street
> The phone will come, we can get satellite and am building a septic tank


That's what we have now. This is normal for me. I get the impression that wells commonly are very deep. Are you drilling a well also or is there a public water source.



> Loneliness ?
> How rural do you need to be. I'm just a little over a mile from a beach town that has intertainment, restaurants and gringos. You don't really need to be on a mountain top and isolation is probably not a good idea if you appear to have anything of value


I wouldn't be lonely. I just wondered if that was one of the factors causing others to avoid less populated areas.

Thanks.


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## RVGRINGO

Quote: "Are suburban-like properties common, say 2-5 acres, or would this be considered rare ?"

Very rare, for the reasons mentioned above. Are you willing to spend millions, have a staff in residence at all times, private security, multiple gardeners and maids, etc.? If you do find a place of such size, and I do know a few, you will be amazed at how much work is involved in maintaining tropical property to keep it from becoming a jungle. So, yes, it can be done but will not be 'out in the country' too far and will have neighbors close by; like at the edge of a subdivision or a town. Some are even in town, encompassing an entire block.
You must come to Mexico, travel several areas in different seasons and get a feel for the differences. We now say that homes in the USA are built 'wrong side out' with all that property and a house in the middle. Here, and in much of the world, privacy, security and coolness are provided by the walled courtyard garden architecture that I described earlier. That is typical in town. Quarter acre lots are large, due to land costs, but such lots with 'wrong side out' homes can be found, and even larger, in new subdivisions. You will also have to get used to homes of masonry; no stick building here in termite country!


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## sparks

> Are home invasions common in Mexico


Quite common here but usually when the house is unattended for sometime. If you don't have neighbors it's better to have someone house sitting or living in a casita



> Are you drilling a well also or is there a public water source.


We have a good water source when it works but recently went thru a 10 day drought due to a broken pump (city pump). Neighbors had to have water trucks come in to fill their cisterns. Depth of water depends on where you are. We are on flat land near the coast and a well would be shallow. Maybe someday



> I just wondered if that was one of the factors causing others to avoid less populated areas.


Not loneliness but isolation. Making long trips in a car every time you need something was something I don't want to do. As it is I can ride my bike to almost everything. Also bringing in electricity is very expensive and I'm not ready to go solar


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## manta86

Thank you for your input (both).

I do need to get on the ground, of course, to see what's available and take it for a "test drive" before committing.

The next challenge will be to determine what areas of the country to explore that may have what I'm looking for. This introduces the issue of safety when driving and finding out where not to explore. The media pumps events up a bit so it's hard to know the do's and don't's.


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## RVGRINGO

Safety in driving is best accomplished by driving only in daylight. There are 'topes' (speed bumps) where you may not expect them, pedestrians, bikes, unlit vehicles, high shoulder drops, cows, horses and other road hazards at night. If there are 'banditos', they prefer darkness. Only the gullible seem to get fleeced by dishonest traffic cops outside of Mexico City, where they are rumored to get everyone.
Those of us who live here drive almost daily and most of our wives drive alone on their regular shopping or social excursions.
The media 'hype' is just that. It does report the violence between various drug cartels and/or officials. Locally, there are occasional 'eliminations' of lower level drug dealers by their competition. Unlike other places, this type of thing is not random and it does not affect 'civilians'. There is a slight increase in petty crime as the economic crisis puts more and more folks out of work; as seems to be happening everywhere.
We continue to live quite normally and still feel much safer than in most places in the USA.


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## manta86

Sounds like all good advice.

Thank you.


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## Heather77

I currently am not living in mx full time, but have a villa about 20min outside of town. As stated above, as the economy goes down, there have been more break -ins. Once while the villa was vacant someone came off of the beach & broke in. A different time, a neighbor of mine was sitting in their livingroom at night, when someone came in from the beach & robbed the family at knife point. All of this & we still have a gated entry with a guard. So if people wanna get in, they'll find a way. But anyone that I know there American or Mexican, if they own property, they'll always have a very big fence/wall that surrounds it. When they're not staying there, they always have a housesitter. It's difficult to have a nice things, when there are others near by that don't even have electricity or windows. I've noticed in the last 7 years with the failing economy, people are definatly getting more desperate. There were even some kiddnappings a year ago. But like the above poster said, as long as you're smart about it,& not flashy when it comes to obvious things, you should be alright.


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