Entrepreneur Expat

Mexico's HOTTEST Real Estate Market Revealed | Investing in Mexico

• Justin Keltner

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Moving Abroad Resources:


👉 Moving Abroad Relocation Roadmap Guidebook that walks you through the five phases of moving abroad ($27): https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/relocate


👉 Moving Abroad Relocation Blueprint Course which offers step by step guidance on everything from choosing the right country to immigration to taxes and everything in between: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/blueprint


👉 Want us to handle the details of your move abroad? Apply for our white-glove relocation services here: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/consult


👉 Free Moving to Mexico Guide: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico


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Remote Work and Online Income Resources:


👉 Expat Income Accelerator course which shows you the multiple ways you can make money globally based on our 15+ years of experience in online business, investing internationally and living in multiple countries: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/income


👉 Get Your First High Paying Client Online Bootcamp which walks you through the first four foundational steps of creating and monetizing an online business based on 15+ years of experience in online business: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/firstclient-yt


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👉LinkedIn Mastery Workshop which shows you how to use LinkedIn to find remote work, clients and connect with recruiters based on Justin’s experience building a six-figure business and finding remote work on LinkedIn: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/linkedin


👉 Free Make Money From Anywhere Guide: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/money-guide 



V I D E O S    T O    W A T C H    N E X T :



Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2


Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23


Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j



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Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com



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#livinginmexico #movingtomexico #digitalnomad #makemoneyonline #expatsinmexico #digitalmarketingtraning #geoarbitrage #moveoverseasfromus #digitalmarketingcourse #guadalajara #costoflivingmexico #digitalnomadvisa #digitalnomadnews #workandtravel #locationindependent

Ruben Interview - RE Investing Opportunities:

Have you been looking to invest in real estate in Mexico and looking for some expert guidance? Well, today I'm joined by Ruben Castanos, our friend and colleague here in the Kopec area, who's been selling real estate in both the US and Mexico. For many, many years. And we're gonna talk about just that, how to invest in real estate safely, how to find the best investment opportunities and exactly what's going on right now in the world of real estate in Mexico, especially in the Lake Al area. Welcome, Ruben. Hey, I'm glad to be here, man. Good to see you again. It's great. Great to have you here. Thank much we're gonna very much, we're gonna dive into all of that and uh, if you're just watching us for the first time and you're interested in more content about how to relocate to Mexico, including the visa processes, real estate, legal, everything else that's involved, hit that subscribe button and notification bell so that you don't miss a single video. And also check out our consult with a free consult that you can apply for if you're looking for one-on-one help with experts like Reuben and the rest of our team. You can just go to entrepreneur expat.com/consult. So diving right in. Tell us a little bit about your background and, and how you got to be selling real estate here in Mexico. Well, I was originally born in Mexico, in the city of Guadalajara back in the days, and I immigrated in my late teens to the San Francisco Bay area and I lived my, most of my adult life over there in the United States. When San Francisco was a beautiful city. It still is, but you know, it has changed some. I, I'm familiar. I I grew up in the Bay area too. That's right. It's definitely changed. Absolutely. A lot. So you know what I'm talking about. Absolutely. In any case, uh, I got into real estate 20 years ago in the San Francisco Bay area. I saw the need to service my community, the Hispanic community, and, you know, I made the right choice. I did well and I was treated My um. Clients with the utmost respect and honesty. And that reflected me in my business because, you know, most of my business always was through referral. And I'm proud of that because, you know, I don't, I, I did not only make sales, I made long life relationships. You know, most of my clients became friends and that's, you know, that's something that I totally enjoy. That's amazing. And you still have clients up there, like you go regularly back to the Bay Area? Yeah, I gotta meet with them. Um, I'm semi-retired, basically. Um, I prefer to live here in Mexico, but however, you know, I'm still a clientele back there that I need to take care of. And, uh, well, you know, it's a win-win situation. My, you know, um, most of my families is still the United States, so I go back and forth like every three months. Mm-hmm. I gotta go up there, but it's all good. I love it. And, uh, one of the things that I've started doing real estate here in the Chapala area is because I known about this area since 1978, uh, even back then, it was a great place for expats. The this American community here in Chapala is, is, has been established for the last. 70 years, isn't it like the biggest community of North American expats like US and Canadian expats outside of those countries in the world? I believe so. Ahah, I think Ahah is, is one of the main, um, towns that attract all these, uh, people from America and Canada. Uh, they could be, uh, you know, there are communities growing all over Mexico. It's just because of the whole. Uh, present situation, you know, globally. Mm-hmm. And there are several, um, states like in Baja, California, you know, those, you know, American communities are growing in the south, uh, near, uh, Cancun. Mm-hmm. And Merida in Yucatan. Yep. Also, that community is growing. We have a lot of followers living there. Oh, absolutely. Cancun, yes. Uhhuh, uh, Cabo San Lucas. Especially that beach. You got it. So you mentioned a couple things there about sort of some of the trends that are going on in the US and a lot of our followers are aware of some of these trends, like there's economic indicators that are slipping. There's a lot of like political unrest. I mean, what, what's been your experience, especially having spent so much time in both countries and. Seeing what's happened, especially the last decade or so in the us what are you seeing in terms of why people are saying that they wanna move down here? Or even just your experience of why you wanted to come down yourself. Mm-hmm. That is a great question, and let me give you my, my perspective. I understanding, you know, how the system works here in Mexico as well as in the United States. Uh, I see that in me, you know, in Mexico there is a lot of new money coming in. Uh. We have the transition, you know, since the pandemic, when the supply lines got disrupted. Mm-hmm. A lot of companies realized that maybe we shouldn't be manufacturing, you know, all the stuff, you know, in Asia when we have viable countries here in, in, in America, and I'm talking about the whole continent of America, Mexico, Columbia, Panama, you know, you name it. So Nearshoring Yeah, exactly. Really started take off during, during the pandemic. And, uh, the, you know, the climate in Mexico politically is very, very, uh, positive. You know, they, they are actively trying to attract all these manufacturing companies that used to produce all these, uh, all these things in China, especially, you know, they wanna bring him here because. Now you don't have to expense, you know, millions of dollars just in transportation. Now the, um, the labor cost in China used to be cheap, a lot cheaper than Mexico. That's no longer the case. Actually, I believe it's now cheaper. Uh, the labor costs are cheaper in Mexico than that is in China. And you don't have, you know, you won't have the, uh, the supply and chain, uh, problems that we had. Five years ago, that's a big deal for businesses because I mean that mm-hmm. The pandemic was kind of like the show that, that you can't depend on one country, especially one country that's so far away. And to your point. China's getting more and more advanced. And I think that it's, it's starting to get to the point where it's about to reach global parody and not that many years with the us Right. Uh, in terms of their economic indicators, in terms of their, their wages and things like that, it's going up. Right. Versus Mexico is still a little bit more on the developing side, at least compared to China. Mm-hmm. And there's still a lot that that can be done, uh, for. Having much more affordable labor costs. And then it's kind of a double whammy where it's two for one, you get the transportation. That's way easier because you can transport things by land, or if it's by sea, it's, it's a much shorter route. Well, another thing that a lot of people are not aware of is that the level of education in Mexico, especially in the middle class, is gone, is gone much, much higher. Mm-hmm. So now you have all these talent that can be exploited here in Mexico. You know, when all these new companies come in, they can rely on better quality of labor, you know, more educated, uh, labor force and, you know, people that can be rely on to make good product, right? And at a very reasonable price still. So I do believe it is a lot already. It's a lot of companies, you know, I'm talking, we're talking about big names, BIA. Uh, I believe, uh, also Microsoft Teslas, you know, it's building a couple of new factories up in the north of Mexico. And this is a trend, you know, this is just a starting. So if I were an investor and a foreign an investor, I would be looking to Mexico, you know, to make a couple, a few investments, because in the next, I don't know. Or two. I mean, Mexico's gonna explode, I believe. You know, but this is, this is, we are at the ground level. This is when good investors, smart investors come in. You don't wanna come in when you know things are already, and it's already like the next us. Exactly. Exactly. Close. So, and the peso has been holding really strong. I mean, it used to be just last year at some point, I think we were getting close to like 1920, and it's already at, uh, 18 point. Three and a half now. 18.35 As of today, yeah. No, actually when ALA was getting out of the presidency, he, he almost hit 21 pesos per dollar. Right now is at 18. Today was at 10$18 and 35 cents. 18 pesos. 18 peso per I'm sorry's. Incredible. I mean, it is, it really is. But uh, our rent's gone up a little bit because of that. But I don't mind.'cause Mexico's doing really well. Yeah, exactly. As a whole, so, no. And the stability of Mexico, you know, politically. Mexico is in a transition. Mm-hmm. However, uh, there is too major parties and you know, the party in power, you know, it's supposed to be for the people, but they're not anti-business. That's a good thing. Yeah. And, uh, you know, there is a lot of noise about cartels and oh, Mexico is so unsafe. You go down to Mexico, you know you're gonna get assaulted, you're gonna get killed. Nothing like that. I mean, what are some of the myths you've heard and what's the reality on the ground? Because a lot of people are asking that We have a lot of followers. I mean, you guys ask us all the time, like, is Mexico really safe? Can you find what you need? Are you gonna get into involved in some sort of violence there? If you, if you move down there, is it, and, and realistically like, what are you actually seeing? Because we know that's not true, but a lot of people still have some of those doubts. Well, me being originally from Mexico, from Guadalajara and still have a lot of, uh, family members living here. They've been living here all their lives, and Guadalajara built, you know, a few years back, build a reputation of being controlled by the cartels, which is not true. I mean, criminal elements are all over the world, right? It's just that they have come up, uh, to the forefront of the news. Of course, you know, uh, however. I go to Guadalajara all the time. I never have a problem. Uh, us too. Yeah, we're there like every couple months, right? No issue other than the traffic. And then I talk to my family members all the time, so hard things in Guadalajara, you know, getting a little bit crazy. It's getting more dangerous and stuff. They say no pill, you know, it's the same with Aha of subways. You know, it like all the big cities that are focused, there are neighborhoods. You have to be careful not to go in there at night. And yeah, there are, uh, criminal elements that fight among themselves. That's when you get, you know, all these shootouts and stuff. But that doesn't happen in the United States. I know you, it happens more in the us. So number one, I mean, people are asking all the time about like the, the cartel situation, for example. And the cartel has a much bigger presence in the US than it does in Mexico. And number one. Mm-hmm. Number two. They, there's a lot more of the fighting actually going on in the US and, and on both sides of the border, like close to the border areas. That's very common that that's, you're down here. I mean, this is where they all have their families. Exactly. And Meida as well. Like it's very, even, even more safe there. Right. And Chapala, I mean, forget it, they, they're protecting the area because they know that there's so many expats coming. Absolutely. And this is the thing, especially in this area, it's well protected because of the large American community. They don't wanna start messing with Americans or Canadians. Not only that, they don't wanna bring on their heat, you know, let, let's say if they moved at a couple of, you know, Americans for no good reason, you know, that, you know, the US is gonna put a lot of heat on the Mexican government and the Mexican government, it's gonna come to, you know, like a ton of breaks against these criminal elements. They're not that stupid. Yeah. Believe me, uh, the, you know, the role of the cartels. It's more like this. Mexico became a, a gateway for drugs to the United States. That's what they always focusing on. You know, how we can transport all this poison, you know, to America. Yeah. And, and that's what they make all their money. So that's the reason that they don't wanna mess around too much. With the citizenship, of course, you know, there's small criminal organizations that. Uh, in certain regions of Mexico, there is a, you know, it's a little more trouble and you do some research there per, like you, you just mentioned, you know, more in the north part of Mexico and, and you know, a couple of other, uh, areas in the, uh, state next door here, uh, it's called Michan. Mm-hmm. There's certain towns that, yeah, they are controlled by criminal elements, cartels, but. They, they stay focused there. Now that we have the, uh, they, you know, their main, uh, objective or the main mandate, keep the good areas safe, especially areas where there's a lot of American residents mm-hmm. Canadians. So they, they are keeping that, you know. Stable in this area. I, I, I mean, I go out at any time of the day here in this region. I never felt threatened. And, you know, people are usually very welcoming. They're warm and I can go anywhere. I feel safe and you know, I can have fun. I can go out to dinner. I mean, you name it. And I don't see any, you know, I never encountered anybody trying to on a threatening matter or being assaulted or. Gimme your money or else none of that, you know? And that happens, I would say more frequently in a random way. In the us in a lot of, in a lot of places. I, I believe so. Absolutely. What, what do you think it is that like helps to fuel the narrative that Mexico is so dangerous? Well, uh, because of the atrocities of the cartels have committed, that brings a lot of attention. So the history, yeah. Yeah. Is the history of the cartels. They can be very brutal, but if you're not, you know, if you're not, uh, running drugs or if you're not into like, you know, kind of, uh, shady deals and you don't try to get involved in with the cartels, you know, like selling them stuff. You won't have a problem. I mean, so this is our tip for today. Do not become an approved vendor at Mexican cartels and you should be out of out trouble. Yeah. Because you can get you, you can get you real trouble. And these guys don't fool around. I mean, these guys can be merciless. Yeah. You know, it, it's like every criminal, criminal organizations around the world. Of course. What are some of the other reasons? I mean, you, we talked a little bit about, uh, the benefits of Mexico and like also the reality on the ground here compared to some of the myths. What do you think some of the reasons are that people are kind of being pushed out of the US and Canada? Like what are some things on the ground there? I mean, from your perspective, like what maybe caused you to move, whether it was the financial, the safety, political, and why other people are doing the same? Well, most definitely the financial situation, the economy in the United States, even though they, you know, they, uh, painting it, you know, with rose colors. Oh, the economy is great. Yeah, no, it just. We, we hit a few rough bumps and stuff, but in reality, the cost of living in, in certain areas of the United States has become prohibited. It's so difficult just to make ends meet, especially where I come from, you know, the San Francisco Bay Area. I mean, an average two bedroom apartment in the San Francisco Bay area is you gotta pay four, four, you know, 4,000, 4,500,000,$500 a month. That's insane. That's insane. How much do you have to be making to live there? I mean, you know, just, just, just to make a decent living and we're not talking about, you know, saving for vacation or a beautiful car or, you know, certain luxuries. No, just, just basically living in the Bay Area. You need a minimum. Of about a hundred,$120,000 a year. So that's like, middle class is about a hundred point. You have to be middle class. Yeah. And, and like I say, just going the basics is, you know, that won't give you too much money left for vacations or, you know, to treat yourself to a nice, you know, couple of dinners a month or whatever. No, just basis, it's, it's, it's getting really difficult. Also, the political climate, especially in California, it's so divisive. And, you know, I don't wanna get too much into politics. No, please. But, but the thing is this, you know what, all these liberal politicians coming up with, these ridiculous laws that give all the power to the, in, you know, to homeless and indigenous peoples and minorities and stuff, without taking into consideration what it does for the economy. Mm-hmm. I mean, California should be. The number one economy in the world. Yeah. However, and, and it is one of the top economies in the world, just the state by itself. But the government, through their policy, they waste so much money that, you know, things are getting really, really bad. And, and, and, and just by showing favoritism to certain sections of the population, they created more division. Mm-hmm. They wanna say, oh, you know, it's, it's weird. Everybody's equal. Everybody deserves, and everybody deserves this and everybody deserves that. And we help, we gotta help these people and we're help each other people, but they never talk about responsibilities. Mm-hmm. You know what? It's just like, let's give them money. Let's give them money that will fix the problem. Open up the borders. Yeah. Because he cares so much about people. Just let'em all in. They've been, they've been throwing money at the problem for the last 30 years, and the problem is. Have ex have become exponentially worse. Well, that's, if you, you talk, you talk about homelessness too, right? Like Newsom was, was, uh, using that in his campaign speeches decades ago. Right. When he was, he was in different offices. Yeah. He was going to fix the homelessness. He was gonna, and then we got another billion here, another 5 billion here, another 10. I mean, I don't know how many billions they thrown at the homelessness in California. It just, it just become a little, you know, it's chaotic, you know, the way they handle things. Yeah. That's, that's the second main thing about, you know, people moving, you know, it's not just the money sense, it's like how the money is handled. And look, look at the tax rates too. That's another thing I've seen in California. I mean, they're, yeah, you've got like almost a 50% marginal tax rate now at the highest level. I remember, uh, San Francisco back in the eighties, you would, you can walk almost on any neighborhood in the, in the, in the city. Never get bothered by anyone. You wouldn't get assaulted, you know. They were, they were a couple of like really bad neighborhoods where it's a lot of drugs and prostitution, but that's been happening for years and years and years Now it's just getting worse. But I'm talking about like the main street in San Francisco Market Street. You're familiar with it? Yeah. Yeah. The financial district, you know, certain beautiful neighborhoods in, in the city. They were clean, nice, controlled, safe. Half of the neighborhoods in the city, you cannot go out on the, you know, you cannot go out at night and not be, you know, not get bothered by crazy people. Beggars and a lot of assaults. Yeah. There's a lot of carjackings, there's lot of hot homicides, a lot of robberies. It's just car theft is out of control in the city. Yeah. And you know, there's a lot of, a lot of, uh, stores closed because. Of the new law that if you are still under a thousand bucks, we won't charge in jail, we won't do anything. Yep. It's, it's ridiculous. And then after the pandemic too, because I, I was there, right? I mean, even during, for a couple months and then after the, the pandemic and Market Street and all those other places, I mean, 75% of the buildings, the restaurants, the coffee shops are just completely boarded up. There's nothing there. It was all closed. Awesome. And you would walk around at night, like in, in downtown. The only thing open on in the entire, like in a 10 15 block radius, was like one Burger King. And that Burger King also seemed to be run basically by criminal groups. Right. I mean, they were like all in in there and I was like, just getting my cheeseburger. I'm not here to bother anyone. No, there were a lot of restaurants, you know, five food stores and stuff. They had to close down. Yeah, because all these, uh, gang bangers, I was hanging out at the door. Customers couldn't come in and, and get their food. Yep. So who wants that? You know? No, and they, they, they, it's almost as if why, again, I won't get into the, too much, into the politics, but like, it's almost as if they want to see everything just right, burned down to the ground. So I can, I can see why there is a lot of interest in moving to Mexico, uh, especially in this area, especially for people like my age. I'm gonna be 65 in a couple of months, and I talk to a lot of friends from the Bay Area. In my age group, and half of them are looking into, oh, how's hard things in Mexico? How's it going? Is, is it a good place to go, you know, to, to go and live there? I say, no, I don't want you there. No, stay, stay there. Don't, don't come here and raise, raise all the prices. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want you to raise the whole, you know, all the prices and, you know, get crowded here. No, no, no. But kidding aside, you know, let'em know. Hey, listen, this is a, this is a great area. Especially here, we have all the, uh, services. We got the proximity of Guadalajara with, with the international airport. Mm-hmm. We got all the services. Nightlife in Guadalajara is awesome. So if you come here to have a nice, quiet life, you know, and enjoy most of the time with, you know, with rest and relax, relaxation, but still you wanna go out and have fun, you have to do it. You get an Uber, it's an hour drive to Guadalajara, and believe me, you can do the town. Yeah. And you can have a great time. So there is a lot of, uh, positives, uh, in this area. Mm-hmm. Uh, weather-wise, this is just about the best weather globally year round. And you have experience, you know, the rainy season. Yeah. And you mean specifically in Chapala? In Chapala, yeah. I'm talking about the Chapala region right now. Which, what I've been. Where I've been living the last, in the last year and a half. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I, I think I made the right choice of, you know, moving into this area. I'm pretty happy here. How much do you spend here? And this is, this is helpful for people as well, like, that are trying to actually understand and budget and things like that. Right. We did a video about our own cost of living and some estimates and things like that, but I, I'd love to hear it from you. I mean, how much do you spend here mm-hmm. Compared to where you were living in the Bay Area, just on like your personal expenses every month, just to keep it really simple. I'm having a really good life here. Uh, you know, I go out to dinner, I go out to have fun. Uh, I treat my girlfriend, you know, a couple of times a week or you know, nice meals and stuff. And I live in a very nice, uh, apartment overlooking the lake as you can experience. Mm-hmm. I, I don't even spend one third of what was suspended in, in, in the San Francisco Bay area. Wow. And so almost 70% off. 70 per 70% off. Yeah. So, and believe me, you know, I, my quality of living has increased. It didn't decrease. People always think that's another thing that we hear really common is that if you go and move to Mexico or to South America, or even even other places where people are living, like some of our colleagues in Africa, they're like, you're gonna have to lower your quality of life. We're all, you know, we're all sort of living in mud huts or something. It's like literally what people will say, but it's not true. No, it's not true at all. I mean, you know, now we have neighborhoods here in where the average home is$800,000. US. They're beautiful homes. I mean, we're talking about, you know, 3,500 square foot home with three car garage, you know, front yard, backyard inside, you know, indoor pool and you know, it works. Mm-hmm. And now there is so many good quality restaurants. I'm not talking about, you know, um, GOME Gome quality. Dinners like Michelin star kind of, and meals and, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so I mean, and, and it, if you really like the high life, just go to Guadalajara and you get the top restaurants that you will find in the us. Yeah. So, but you know, in this area, I mean, I can go any, any day of the week and just find whatever, actually find any kind of food that I want. So lets jump into the real estate and the lifestyle a little bit. Mm-hmm. So maybe, maybe first on the real estate, you mentioned$800,000 for a house, and then I, I wanna talk about different ranges and things, right? Mm-hmm. But for somebody coming from California, that might not seem like a lot, I mean, you know, we've got, uh, family in California where there's houses, there are just decent houses, like they're okay houses, and they're 1.2, 1.5 million, right? And up. So like for half the price. You're getting somewhere that's not in the suburbs, like in, in a suburb of, of the South Bay area, right? Mm-hmm. Right. Uh, you're getting some, something that's in a very walkable town. Where you don't need a car most of the time. And if you're, if you're in the downtown area, most of the good stuff, most of the good stuff is within walking distance. And you know what, uh, I just, uh, befriended a couple of, uh, two couples from Canada. They live in La Floreta, which is one of the nicest neighborhoods in, they don't have, they don't own a car. They walk everywhere. Mm-hmm. And if it's a little farther up. Our Uber ride here send you back like seven, eight bucks, you know, from that one little pound. That's all the way out here to HoCo. Yeah, exactly. That's like a full 30, you know, 25, 30 minute drive. Yeah. Right. Anyways, in LA that would be probably 50 bucks. Yeah, exactly. So, and the range, you know, the, the range ranges in price. It is from here to there. Here, I mean, yeah. 800,000. That's like a, like a, like you mentioned, nice big house. Probably a small, you know, small to medium family. I'm talking, talking about high end, very high end and the, and the best neighborhoods in, in, in the area. Yeah. But you can get a very decent size, single family home. Three, you know, two car garage, three, two bed, three bedrooms, two bath or four bedrooms, bath with a nice, uh, garden in the, in, in the back from anywhere from three 50 to 500,000. Depends how close you are downtown Jahi, but you come to, I mean, you can get some beauty for, for a really, really low price. Yeah. Uhhuh, let's talk about the different difference. So like some different areas and some of the price ranges that you've seen. So Ahi, it sounds like if you're buying something, if it's a house, mostly they're single family homes, right? There's not a ton of apartments. Right. At least for sale. Well now they, they have come up with a lot of new developments where you can get a nice, decent condominium. Um, decent size, you know, midsize, 1100, 200 square feet for, you know, in the neighborhood of 300,000. Mm-hmm. Okay. So, so that's about the floor for something in a, a walkable area. And, and, and I believe, not necessarily not, but the suburbs of Ahe or on the outskirts or aah. For 250,000. Nice. Know it's not bad. Yeah, no, it's, you're talking about. Uh, almost new brand, new condominiums brand. And even there, your, everything else goes down a lot. Your food costs. Food costs, right. Unless you're shopping at Super Lake and you're buying all American imported stuff, which is a whole other, it's a whole of what, but all of your cost of living go down too, so you can actually retire. Well, just, just to give you an idea, my electricity bill in, in San Francisco was a$150 a month for a single guy. Yeah, right. Over here. I think my average bill is about 15 bucks. 15. 12 to 15 bucks. Yep. Ours is a little higher, not even 10%. Ours is a little higher'cause we've got two air conditionings. We run servers for our, our websites and we've got lights and cameras and all the, all the stuff. So I mean, maybe we're paying 30 or four,$30,$40 a month, you know, in internet with cable and everything else is about an average of 45.$45 a month in this area. And property taxes are ridiculous. I mean, if you buy property tax, uh, my cousin lives here in Kote. P her and her husband, her husband's is an American. He's been here for 25 years. He was, and I'm moving back to wta, to the United States. I, you know, I'm having a great life here and I'm not going anywhere. Yeah. Anyways. Property tax, I believe it was$240 last year on like a couple hundred thousand dollars property. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Compared in the US that would be thousands. Oh yeah. Depending, I mean,$240 a year on property tax. I mean, that's nothing. I think we're paying that a month. Yeah. Over there. You in the area you pay twice as much a month. Yeah. Um, and, and, yeah. Yeah. Their home is worth about 250,000. It's, it's a nice. Do it, you know, two bedroom, two bath, beautiful place. Mm-hmm. Overlooking the lake, so. Oh, absolutely. So that's Ahi. What are some of the other areas that you see a lot of expats, because you've got, you've got kind of, uh, San Antonio there, close by, right? Right. You've got Chapala, you've got obviously down here, Kota back. And then there's some other developments that we we're gonna look at pretty soon here we were talking about the other day, right. That are kind of around the bend, uh, past effect. Well, that's the thing. You know, we've seen a lot of, uh. Foreigners is starting to look out outside. Ahi. Why's that? Ho Kote pe Well first started, the prices are much cheaper. Uh mm-hmm. Like the town of Kote. PE is more like all town Mexico. You know, you're in Kote, pe and like you are in the real Mexico, you know, with people that just go about their, their, you know, lives, you know, in a regular manner. Uh, you get all the traditions, uh, and uh. Well, you have the infrastructure, but most of the neighborhoods in Hoko Depe are, are, uh, are old. You know, it's an old town, uh, but there's new developments popping up. Mm-hmm. All, all around Hoko. Depe, uh, there is, uh, this little town, El Chante, which is across the street where, where we live. That's also, I, I see that the potential of that little town coming up. I see new investors, you know, coming in and, and, you know, buying all like really old rundown homes with a large lot, and they're picking it up for really, really low prices. Interesting. What are some of the prices here now, Johnson? I, you know what? I'm not quite sure because I haven't sold anything there yet, but brand new condominiums right here in Elante. Uh. I'm talking about, you know, 9,000 square feet, two bedroom, two bath, two stories, you know, with the works. Very new, you know, like less than two years old for 120,000 us. Wow. That's those, those, to me, that's a bargain right now. Yeah. Or build by the lot and just build it yourself, right? I mean, yeah, absolutely. And you know what, this statistics show that in the whole of Mexico, they're expecting real estate prices to at least. 10% a year for the next five to 10 years in this area. I can see that equity growing up at least 15 easily. 12 to 15% a year in the next five years. Because I mean, yeah, it lacks a little bit of infrastructure, you know, maybe the roads can be wider, maybe could cut, you know, could be a little more roads and stuff. But that's coming. You know, the population grows. More, uh, investment come in. Mm-hmm. You know, just this area because Ahe has, I mean, fantastic infrastructure. Oh, absolutely. I think here it's, it's good. It's just like they're, they're, you know, it has to be expanded a little bit, right? But people think, Hey, can you get, like, do you have good internet where, where you live and like, you know, are, are you driving on dirt roads or you guys on camels to get from planning? You should see some of this stuff in our comments. I was just, you know, referring that the, the, a common complaint here is they saw one road. From Chapala, which is the farther town. Mm-hmm. And then it's San Antonio, then it's then, uh, San Juan Illa, and then Kopec. There's only one road, single lane each way that could be easily be expanded to, you know, two lanes each way. Sure. Uh, there's no plan to do that anytime soon. But I'm pretty sure that's about to change because I, so it can easily be done. And they have a bike lane too, right? Connecting the entire Oh, oh, absolutely. The whole, yeah. Yeah. You got that bike, uh, special bike, uh, lane. They call it Ciclovia. Uhhuh. So it's, it's all for cyclists and, and, uh, people on. What do you call them? Pe? No. Uh, pe. Uh, pedestrians. Pedestrians. There you go. That was the worry we're looking for. So that, that's kind of a little bit of a range, right? Right. So you've got all the way up to 800,000 for super, super high-end home in Ahah, which is like the epicenter of all these expats here. Right? All the way down to if you want a single family, small home. Somewhere like Beck down to about a hundred thousand or so. Yeah. Uh, Kote, are they similar prices or even, well, you know, all homes in Kopec in the lower, uh, neighborhoods, I think you can probably still find homes, uh, under a hundred thousand. Mm-hmm. I wouldn't be surprised that you can find a, you know, a single family home, you know, three bedroom, two, but no car garage, but, uh, you know, for maybe 70 grand. 60, 70 grand. Somebody who's in the US that's like, yeah, we've got a$500,000 small home in let's say Ohio or, or somewhere. They're like, wait, I, I can be living somewhere where I can walk to everything, go to the store, not need a car, uh, for, and I can, I can find it for less than a hundred thousand. That's a hell deal. It did. That is a good deal. So why would somebody choose one area versus the other? I know if you don't really speak Spanish, if you've got money, you don't really mind spending a little bit more for like the premium luxury. Maybe Ahah is a better destination. Mm-hmm. Or Al, I guess Ahah is like number one in terms of English. Al is a little bit behind that, right? Uh, well the consensus now because like I say, you know, this American community has been here for over 70 years. Now a lot of people understand that eng English as a second language is not a luxury anymore. It's, it's more of a necessity. Mm-hmm. So a lot of, uh, I'm surprised the amount of people that are bilingual here, I mean, their English is a little bit, you know, heavy extended, but you know, they, they can communicate and that's what you want. And, but the, the, the, the main thing is that people are. Very friendly here. They're very patient and they're very warm. Mm-hmm. So, if you're an American and don't speak any Spanish, believe me, they're gonna find a way to still, you know, provide you with good service. They, they'll be friendly, you know, they'll be welcoming and, uh. It's not like France where Speak French, you're France, French. I don't wanna speak French. We don't, we don't wanna do business here. No, no, no. And, and, you know, uh, I started to go into the American Legion, you know, where ex beds, you know, hang out. Mm-hmm. And you, you meet all sorts of people there and mostly, you know, make, uh, English, English, uh, spoken. Mm-hmm. Um, and most of them, they've been, they've been here at least. Three to five years. And a lot of them, they've been here over 10 years, they don't speak any Spanish, and they just love it. They, they never had a problem, you know? Can you get by without Spanish though, in some other towns? Because I know in Nahah for sure, maybe Chapala. Mm-hmm. But what, what are some reasons? I mean, if you don't speak Spanish, like can you still go somewhere like Kotak because there are some Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I go, I haven't seen a ton of Americans here, but I think they're starting to come. No, I, I go to, uh. Uh, my favorite restaurant in Kote p and the servers there, they're not fluent in English, but they, they can communicate. Mm-hmm. Right In English. Uh, the owners that speak English, uh, if you go to the Little Town Plaza, there is a lot of, uh, businesses there that people are bilingual, and if they don't. If you took it to someone that is not bilingual, they find someone to come and help. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Mexicans typically do try very hard to To accommodate. To accommodate exactly. If you don't speak Spanish, that's, that's very common. Although I do recommend that people also study Spanish and they try to get better because it's gonna help you integrate. Oh, absolutely. It never hurts to learn Second language. I know it's not easy, you know, you have to put some effort into it, but believe me, once you get on a roll, you start liking it. So why would you recommend somebody go to Hoko Back versus Al versus Elante or up here, even on a mountain? What are some criteria that you might listen for when you're talking to like a potential, uh, client Uhhuh in your real estate business where you're like, this might be a good town for you? Right. Well, this is the thing. You know what? People come with different visions, you know, people just want to have privacy and they don't care about, you know, being. Nearby the centers of the town and all the services and stuff on the stuff. You know, they, they like to be self-sufficient, like off grid kind of. Yeah. Right. So if you go to the other side of the lake, which is only half an hour away, you can find like really nice properties with a lot of land for a very reasonable price. And, you know, they might like to do that. Uh, there are people that they want to experience, you know. The warmth of the Old Mexico. So that would be a place like Kopec for them. I mean, and it, it depends, you know, what, what kind of, uh, vision the people that are gonna move into the area have. But we as realtors, you know, we knowledgeable about most of the towns and we can always, you know, steer'em into the right, uh, zones or, or towns, so. Exactly. No, uh, you know, that's, uh. And that's the good thing. You know, there is diversity here in this area. There's a lot of diversity from Chapala, from Ahi to Kote P to, you know, uh, I am partial to, uh, Chapala because that's like the main town. Mm-hmm. Kote P is the most popular because of all the foreigners. Yeah. No, no, I'm sorry. Yeah. But Chapala is like the, uh, center of, of the government in this home. Chapala has all neighborhoods, medium-sized neighborhood, big neighborhoods, high-end neighborhoods. It's more of an established city. Absolutely. And, and you know, a lot of good restaurant business, a lot of, uh, nightlife activities. I mean, during the Fiesta, I mean, lot to Chapala is happening. Yeah. It's a lot of fun to be around. Absolutely. And one note that I'll interject as well is if you're looking to work with. With our team, including Ruben and and other people that we work with in the area. Don't miss your chance to grab that free consult at that link below. That's entrepreneur expat.com/consult. If you've got a million dollars in liquid net worth or more, then we can help you with the relocation process, with immigration, with finding properties, doing tours of different neighborhoods. Just book that consult@entrepreneurexpat.com slash consult and we can get all the information we need from you in order to help you make the best decisions when it comes to moving to Mexico. else, What other information do you think people should, should research? What other things do you think they should know about Mexico that maybe they don't hear from the mainstream? I'll tell you why. We're gonna have to make a second interview here. Yeah. And take video because I mean, it's so much stuff that Sure. I can feed you. Um, but, you know, um, the main thing is that Mexico is happening. Mexico is going up internationally. Uh, but the essence of the Mexican people, the warmth, uh, the friendliness, it's still gonna be here. Right. And. This area. I don't think, like weather-wise, we're not gonna be affected by climate change anytime soon and not for at least another 50 years. I don't think I could be wrong about that. Um, the growth I think is gonna be a controlled growth and in, uh, even though I can see a lot of more new people coming into the area mm-hmm. There's still a lot of, uh, land and, and a lot of. Places to grow. Uh, so yeah, I would encourage anybody that's looking into moving into Mexico and you, you like nice weather, you got a, a slower pace of living and you have, uh, the, uh, convenience of a big city just an hour away. And an airport too. Get to the airport in 30 minutes. Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, and if you like. Uh, the, uh, the beach resorts. We have one, three and a half hours away here, Manza. Mm-hmm. Where Lazada is, that's, that's where they filmed that movie. 10 back in the eighties. Natalie limu and, uh, was, uh, was the hot chick, uh, what was her name? Uh, both Derek. Okay. So, no, definitely I will encourage to at least come and take a look. Believe me, it's worth. It's amazing. Yeah. Well, thanks again for being here. This was like super, super informative. We really appreciate having Ruben with us today. I'm very glad that, uh, you know, I, uh, was able to, um, provide a little bit of, uh. Good news or and information, so, absolutely. And let us know in the comments if you've got any questions for Ruben, if you've got any questions for anybody else in our team, what are some of the things that you are thinking about when it comes to moving to Mexico, especially with regards? To real estate that you are curious about. Just let us know below in the comments. We would love to hear them. And don't forget to check out all of our free resources and courses that we have available in the description of this video. And like I mentioned earlier, if you've got a million dollars in liquid net assets or more, and you want help personalized one-on-one full white glove service relocating to Mexico, just go to entrepreneur expat.com/consult and we can help you get all that sorted out. Thank you, Reuben. It was a pleasure my friend. Appreciate you. Okay. Anytime. We'll see you guys again soon for another episode, and that's the cut.