Posts Tagged mexico
For some East Bay retirees, Mexico an affordable alternative
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on October 5, 2010
By Kathleen Kirkwood
Brad Billingsley and his wife Linda
Brad Billingsley could have been waiting for his tee time at an Arizona golf course.
Instead, the former Lafayette resident and his wife Linda were in a lagoon off Cabo San Lucas, snapping photos of gray whales bobbing next to their small charter boat.
“Every day, it’s an adventure here,” Brad Billingsley said. “It’s added 20 years to my life.”
Brad, 62, and Linda Billingsley, 61, are among the “silver surge” of baby boomers seeking alternative retirement nests in Mexico, according to a recent report by the International Community Foundation.
It’s not certain how many U.S. retirees are living in Mexico — a 2004 study puts it between 500,000 and 600,000 — but the foundation and other researchers say the number is bound to increase as more boomers settle into their golden years and find Mexico an affordable alternative. Almost half the retirees living in coastal areas are getting by comfortably on less than $1,000 per month, said the report, which cites the growth of real estate projects targeted at retirees as proof that expatriates are flocking south of the border.
The Billingsleys had seriously considered a retirement community with a golf course in central Arizona. But they lacked the enthusiasm for fairway living that seemed to consume retirees there. “Their entire lives were involved with golf,” Brad Billingsley said.
In 2007, the couple became expatriates and settled into a $300,000, two-bedroom beachfront condominium in Rosarito Beach, in Baja California.
They’ve made the most out of their retirement dollars, Brad Billingsley said. The cost of living — from groceries to health care — is low in their beachfront town and there’s plenty to do, such as driving down the coast to Cabo, walking on the beach and shopping at the local mercado. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. retirees find home in coastal Mexico
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on September 28, 2010
First of five studies reveals price and proximity to U.S. are big draws
By Sandra Dibble, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Jamie Reynolds, a 63-year-old retiree who lives in the El Pescador area, watched the sun set. Reynolds, like four out of five of the retiree-study respondents, owns his home in Mexico.
ROSARITO BEACH — Favorite activity: strolls on the beach. Biggest gripe: litter. Primary reasons for retiring in Mexico: the lower cost of living and proximity to the United States.
A newly released study on U.S. retirement trends in Mexico’s coastal communities takes an updated snapshot of Rosarito Beach, Rocky Point, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and other areas where many Americans go to retire. The study’s authors say their survey marks an important first step in meeting the needs of a group that is likely to grow in size as U.S. baby boomers reach retirement age.
“We felt it was important to understand the dynamics of what is going on,” said Richard Kiy, president and CEO of the International Community Foundation, which conducted the 88-question survey. While research has been done in San Miguel Allende and Ajijic, both well-established expatriate communities in central Mexico, coastal communities “are some of the areas that have been least studied among U.S. retirees,” Kiy said.
The International Community Foundation, based in National City, supports nonprofits and projects in Baja California and other parts of Mexico. Close to half of its donors live in Mexico full time or part time, and that was the initial impetus for conducting the study, Kiy said. Read the rest of this entry »
The Baja Blondes – A Lifestyle Reality Show
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on February 3, 2010
Written By Melinda Bates
To the eternal questions, “Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?” and, “Do these pants make my butt look fat?” we can add the perennial, “Do blondes really have more fun?”
The Baja Blondes - A Lifestyle Reality Show
The answer is clear to all those privileged to be invited to last week’s screening of the pilot of The Baja Blondes, a Lifestyle Reality Show, and it is an unqualified “YES!”
Blondes was created by Susanne Stehr and Debbie Shine, permanent residents of Baja, Mexico, and directed and produced by Robin Mackenzie, a part time resident of Baja, through her company, Tatblue Productions, LLC . These are women of a certain age who have designed a life here they could never have back in the USA. Lives of freedom, beauty, creativity and friendship. Lives open to the positive and unexpected adventures of Mexico, a country they adopted and deeply love. Their goal is to promote Baja to an American audience in a positive light, by showing American women living and working in their communities up and down the gorgeous coast.
The pilot introduces our three protagonists in their lives and careers in the Rosarito to Ensenada area, while making clear that in Mexico, life is NEVER all about work. In fact, they show us the Mexican dream: affordable luxury, easy living, accessible health care, an ancient culture, fabulous food, award-winning wine and the excitement of living in a foreign country. Read the rest of this entry »
Where Americans Visit Most – Forbes – The top 20 foreign destinations of U.S. travelers
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on October 21, 2009
By Rob Baedeker – originally posted on forbestraveler.com
Where Americans Visit Most - Forbes - The top 20 foreign destinations of U.S. travelers
In a year when economic indicators took Grand Canyon-sized plunges, it should come as no surprise that fewer Americans jetted off to foreign lands than they did the previous year.
What may be surprising is that the decline in U.S. outbound travel wasn’t worse: Overall, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI), American travelers to foreign countries totaled 63.6 million in 2008, the last full year statistics are available, just a one percent decrease compared to 2007.
Whether the downward trend will continue throughout 2009 remains to be seen, but indicators are pointing towards further decreases. OTTI’s data through May of this year show an overall 7.7% decrease compared with the same time frame in 2008. Akashi says Japan is “expecting just a flat line of the number of U.S. travelers this year,” and Fitch says Mexico had “a slight reduction of international visitors (1.9 percent) from January to May 2009.”
However, the ranking of overseas destinations is likely to be unchanged. Read the rest of this entry »
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