# Moving to Mexico City



## Jo98 (Jul 3, 2009)

There is a strong chance my family and I will be moving from HK to Mexico City and don't know the city, could anybody give me a good area to look for long-term rental accommodation. I have a daughter(10) and would be looking for an apartment/small house in a safe,family friendly, area. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Where are you and/or your family going to work. Commuting in DF is not fun especially if living on the other end of that huge city


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## landsearchabby (May 9, 2009)

Jo98 said:


> There is a strong chance my family and I will be moving from HK to Mexico City and don't know the city, could anybody give me a good area to look for long-term rental accommodation. I have a daughter(10) and would be looking for an apartment/small house in a safe,family friendly, area. Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks


Good luck with the move, and if you need any ehlpjust let me know, i live in Puerto Morelos, in Quintana Roo and have a 9 year old boy, so its always a leap of faith, i know that polanco is fairly safe district.

all the best to you and your familly

Abby


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

I'd probably need to know where in Mexico City you plan to work, because as already said commuting is a real pain.

As mentioned Polanco is a good area, very near the central part of the city (just a bit west).

Other good areas are Santa Fe and Interlomas in the western part. Both of those areas are highly populated with expats and have a lot of amenities in terms of modern shopping centers and attractions.

Lomas de Chapultepec is also a good area slightly west of Polanco.

Again, it really depends on where you want to live and also how much you would want to spend. If you let me know, I can probably help more.

My cousin used to live in Interlomas and absolutely loved that area, but again it depends on cost/commute time. Generally, very good apartments can run from $800 to well over $3000 USD per month.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

I second what Sparks and Rodrigo said. First we have to know where you (or your spouse, if applicable) are going to be working. Otherwise you could be spending as much time commuting as working, and I mean that literally. In the worst case, it can take 3–4 hours to cross the city. One way.

Polanco is not necessarily among the safest areas, as it is a very upscale neighbourhood, and there is a lot of money there. It is also very expensive in terms of rent. 

There are good and not-so-good neighbourhoods throughout the city, and the best strategy would be to first narrow it down to a region of the city on the basis of work (and/or your daughter’s school) and then ask about suggestions for that region.


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## Jo98 (Jul 3, 2009)

Thanks for all the information,I will find out this week the exact location of my husbands office, thanks again


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## pdavis (Mar 4, 2009)

Jo98 said:


> There is a strong chance my family and I will be moving from HK to Mexico City and don't know the city, could anybody give me a good area to look for long-term rental accommodation. I have a daughter(10) and would be looking for an apartment/small house in a safe,family friendly, area. Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks


I have just arrived in Mexico City with my son (9), daughter (12) and husband from Michigan. We live in Interlomas Country Club and there seems to be a lot to rent in a varying price range. Hope this helps.


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

pdavis said:


> I have just arrived in Mexico City with my son (9), daughter (12) and husband from Michigan. We live in Interlomas Country Club and there seems to be a lot to rent in a varying price range. Hope this helps.


It's hard to argue about Interlomas. As I mentioned my cousin lived in that area for years and loved it. His rent was about $1500 US per month + $200 maintenance fee, had 1 master bedroom and 2 guest bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with showers (1 being in a small one where maid's quarters were) and 1 bathroom with bathtub. Two parking spaces and a storage area in the garage area. Facility also had a pool, tennis court, gym, party room area.

There are places right near where he worked downtown (basically nothing more than old buildings that are repainted and 'transformed" into luxury condos/apartments for the same price.

With Interlomas, you are really out of the pollution area. Only downside is that the traffic can be a mess as there are only about 4 ways to get in (one by Universidad Anahuac, one by Herradura, another one down the street from Anahuac) and another one by where the bomberos (fire department) is up on the hill, oh yeah, there's also the one cuota entrance.

But with Interlomas you have a Costco, WalMart, Suburbia, Comercial Mexicana, and I remember like two others (one that stars with a C and that City Market place) for supermarkets. They have more car dealers than anywhere I have seen.


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## davidn819mex2m (Jun 26, 2009)

Yes, from what I heard interlomas is a great option.

I also reccomend Coyoacan, and Col. Florida area, directly east of southern Insurgentes. It's in the central area of DF, but considered the southern area of the city. Very very safe. Close access to metrobus and Metro.


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## bloomfieldtj (Jan 19, 2009)

Jo98 said:


> There is a strong chance my family and I will be moving from HK to Mexico City and don't know the city, could anybody give me a good area to look for long-term rental accommodation. I have a daughter(10) and would be looking for an apartment/small house in a safe,family friendly, area. Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks


Jo, 

We spoke on the phone. Interlomas is a nice area, lots of shops, relatively safe etc, and is ideal for the commute to Greengates School, because it affords good access to either Periferico or the Cuota (motorways), and would probably take up to 30 minutes. The drive down to Reforma (your husband's office) from Interlomas would probably take about 30 minutes also. The downside is perhaps that Interlomas is rather modern and characterless, which Polanco is not, and you need to drive everywhere, whereas you can talk a walk in Polanco. 

Thanks for your info on HK. Do let me know whether or not you go to Mexico City. 

Good luck.

Julie


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## bloomfieldtj (Jan 19, 2009)

bloomfieldtj said:


> Jo,
> 
> We spoke on the phone. Interlomas is a nice area, lots of shops, relatively safe etc, and is ideal for the commute to Greengates School, because it affords good access to either Periferico or the Cuota (motorways), and would probably take up to 30 minutes. The drive down to Reforma (your husband's office) from Interlomas would probably take about 30 minutes also. The downside is perhaps that Interlomas is rather modern and characterless, which Polanco is not, and you need to drive everywhere, whereas you can talk a walk in Polanco.
> 
> ...


Sorry, should add that your husband's employer has a policy on areas in the city where you can live. Basically, your main choices will be Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, Bosques de las Lomas, La Herradura and Interlomas.


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## Jo98 (Jul 3, 2009)

, 
Hi Julie
Just found out we are not moving, so we will be staying in HK. If you decide to move over let me know and I will give you more infor, I was talking to my husband and he thinks your apartment would be at The Peak (bank accommodation).Good Luck, Jo


We spoke on the phone. Interlomas is a nice area, lots of shops, relatively safe etc, and is ideal for the commute to Greengates School, because it affords good access to either Periferico or the Cuota (motorways), and would probably take up to 30 minutes. The drive down to Reforma (your husband's office) from Interlomas would probably take about 30 minutes also. The downside is perhaps that Interlomas is rather modern and characterless, which Polanco is not, and you need to drive everywhere, whereas you can talk a walk in Polanco. 

Thanks for your info on HK. Do let me know whether or not you go to Mexico City. 

Good luck.

Julie[/QUOTE]


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

bloomfieldtj said:


> Sorry, should add that your husband's employer has a policy on areas in the city where you can live. Basically, your main choices will be Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, Bosques de las Lomas, La Herradura and Interlomas.


Excellent list.

If the children were going to the American School rather than Greengates, I'd probably toss in Santa Fe.

There's also that area east of Herradura, Tecamachalco, which is not too bad either and adjacent to Polanco.


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## bloomfieldtj (Jan 19, 2009)

Rodrigo84 said:


> Excellent list.
> 
> If the children were going to the American School rather than Greengates, I'd probably toss in Santa Fe.
> 
> There's also that area east of Herradura, Tecamachalco, which is not too bad either and adjacent to Polanco.


Yeah, I remember Tecamachalco. I thought it was a lovely area. However I deliberately didn't mention it to Jo98 because our husbands' employer has a policy that ex-pats must live within "cerradas" (gated communities) or within an apartment complex above the 3rd floor. If I recall correctly, Tecamachalco had very few, if any, gated communities or apartment complexes. Over-cautious, I felt, because the area seemed safe enough to me! 

JB


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

bloomfieldtj said:


> Yeah, I remember Tecamachalco. I thought it was a lovely area. However I deliberately didn't mention it to Jo98 because our husbands' employer has a policy that ex-pats must live within "cerradas" (gated communities) or within an apartment complex above the 3rd floor. If I recall correctly, Tecamachalco had very few, if any, gated communities or apartment complexes. Over-cautious, I felt, because the area seemed safe enough to me!
> 
> JB


That's quite true. They have a few apartment areas, one closer to Polanco by the Army base. There are some areas that have a security guard on certain corners, but they are not fully-gated communities.

Interlomas would still be the place of choice for my cousin. I know people who even worked in Santa Fe, but still lived in Interlomas. They just had all of the basic shopping right there and it wasn't a trek.

Santa Fe did have a Comercial Mexicana, Sam's Club, the Sante Fe Mall (arguably the best mall in all of Mexico City) but Interlomas had just way more to offer and very easy to get around. Lots of gated communites and apartment buildings. Interlomas has really grown since about 2000 and continues to grow.


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