Making my move to Mexico took a lot of time and planning. The idea started back when I worked for Scotiabank as a Sr. Loans Officer. And then one time on vacation in Cancun I saw a Scotiabank that looked exactly like mine in Canada and the seed was planted. Why work my whole life in Canada when I could possibly move around? Then in 2008 my brother-in-law found a website selling “Homes in the Riviera Maya for $39,999usd” Within 3 days my sister and I flew to Cancun, MX and rented a car. I drove us to a little dirt road off the highway where there were 180 little run down houses for sale. It was the subdivision of the town of Chemuyil called Chan Chemuyil. I bought a little Mexican concrete shell of a house on sight. It didn’t have windows or doors or any paint…….but I had a VISION!
After that it only took me a year to fine tune the plan and convince my partner to move. In Sept. 2009, my partner, my cat Ziggy and I drove down and I began my journey. Yes, we drove from Canada to Mexico with a truck load of household items and a cat. It was a fantastic scenic drive that took us 8 days to complete.
However, before we started I spent a few years positioning myself by creating a savings plan and an action plan. My first action was to make sure that my daughter was grown up and started into college/university and on her own path before I started my adventure. In my mind she needed to graduate from high school. Then the savings plan was set in motion by not making any more purchases. Really, I mean no more purchases! I would find an item that I wanted to purchase and I would hold it in my hand and say “Are you worthy of the move to Mexico?” and usually it was NOT so I would put it down. I was not contributing to my economy in my last few years of living in Canada. I knew I would need a lot of savings because once I got to Mexico it would take a while before I could create any kind of income. Being a foreigner I need to bring work with me (computer nomad) or start a business. Those are really the only two ways to earn income here. I was not a computer nomad so I would have to start a business. I needed an action plan to start this new business, to create income and to stay busy. Of course, the first year of living here was all holiday/vacation time. I would spend my days visiting ruins and beaches and restaurants and meeting many other vacationing people. After the first year of living in “holiday” mode I realized that real life follows you. Life started to seep back in and bills needed to be paid, repairs on the house to be done, doctor appointments, taxes etc etc.
The first business that I started was a small Property Management biz. I managed 15 houses in the community of 240 houses. It was a great experience to see how the care of a tropical house is different from the care of a Canadian house. Here I dealt with mold, termites, cockroaches, renovations, builders, utility bills, renters and owners. All different types of monsters and creatures……haaaa. The hardest part of that job was keeping the owners happy. They wanted miracles. Fix everything now and cheap AND they had a hard time to send me money. It was a trying time. The biggest house problem here is water/humidity. Mold grows quickly and limestone builds quickly. I learned how to handle both of those very quickly and now caring for my own home is easy.
After 5 years, I moved from the subdivision of Chan Chemuyil to the little town of Tulum. I left the property management (and my partner) when I left Chan Chemuyil.
Again, it was time for a new adventure. This time I was on my own with my cat Ziggy and much more prepared. I bought a house and a bicycle and the adventure began!