Posts Tagged retiring to 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 »
Why retirees are fleeing the US
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on November 23, 2009
A move to another country may make economic sense, especially for seniors who don’t have enough savings to live in retirement without a dramatic cut in lifestyle.
By Scott Burns
A move to another country may make economic sense
Several years ago a Dallas couple approaching retirement disappeared. Well-known on the charitable-event circuit, the couple were in Dallas one day and gone the next. Phone disconnected. No forwarding address. No working cell-phone number.
Eventually, word spread that they were somewhere in Mexico. They had sold whatever they owned, packed their car and headed for the border. They were, conflicting reports said, living in small towns, the kind of places seldom featured in travel magazines.
We can only speculate on what happened. I think they were broke, had little or nothing in savings and knew they had to make a major change to survive on their Social Security income and minimal savings. Like millions of other Americans, their ship never came in. They got older. Work became harder to find. Suddenly, they realized their life was entirely unsustainable. They were heading toward a cliff. Read the rest of this entry »
The rush to a Mexican retirement is on
Posted by Cabo Real Estate in Articles on November 17, 2009
More and more Americans are moving to Mexico for the sun, the fun, and for less money.
By Les Christie, CNN/Money staff writer
San Jose Del Cabo, Baja California Sur
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Most Americans know about the flood of Mexican immigrants into the United States, but many may not realize that there’s a growing movement in the opposite direction.
The Dallas Morning News recently reported that as many as a million U.S. citizens now live in Mexico, up fivefold from just 10 years ago.
As recently as 1999, the American population of San Carlos in Sonora was perhaps 35, according to Phyllis Lilischkies, a real estate broker there. Now, the expatriate population is between 3,000 and 5,000 — and soaring.
The bulk of this migration consists of retirees, drawn to Mexico by its culture, its climate, and, perhaps above all, its costs.
Many of the popular American expatriate enclaves are in regions boasting great weather. Lisa Larkin, a retired attorney and real estate expert who spends part of the year in Mexico, says the climate helps make life there “just a little bit sweeter.” Read the rest of this entry »
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