Buying Real Estate in Mexico...Our New Home in Mineral de Pozos!

After over a little more than a month and a half, we finally signed the papers on what will be our new home in the town of Mineral de Pozos! Buying real estate in Mexico is a bit different than in the US, and needless to say, it has been a learning experience. We were lucky in a number of ways however, and even though there have been delays, overall things went fairly smoothly. First, the realtors we worked with (I use this term loosely, pretty much anybody can sell real estate in Mexico, and there is no real licensing or training involved, although there is some organizations springing up that are attempting to bring some order to the chaos!) turned out to be a real gem, and we felt comfortable and safe with them throughout the entire transaction. Hector and his daughter Rebeca work as a team as Hector does not speak English while Rebeca does. Hector has a strong background in banking and business, and is very good at navigating the paperwork and government bureaucracy one must deal with here. Rebeca acted as our translator and she is a cheerful and delightful person to work with.

When we originally started shopping for a house, we were looking at homes in San Miguel, but after a couple of trips to Pozos, we fell in love with the town and changed our focus to homes there. Once a mighty mining town with nearly 90,000 residents, Pozos is now a small town of around 4000 people, of which only a handful are gringos. At any given time, there are only a small number of homes available, and we were only able to look at a handful of properties as we began our search. Weirdly enough, the first house we looked at, and ultimately made an offer on, turned out to be owned by a very close friend of a very close friend! Although the two of us shared a number of mutual friends, we never got to know each other, but getting a strong thumbs up on his character from several of my friends gave us a lot of confidence in working with him. As it turns out, he is a pleasure to know, and we too have now become friends.

 Although the final closing is still being delayed by some technical difficulties that I will not bother to get into here, we hope to begin doing some needed repairs, clean-up, and a fresh coat of paint to the house in preparation for moving in later this summer. Long-term plans call for the addition of a second living quarters for us that will allow us to use the original casita as an Airbnb or guest quarters.

The house itself sits on a large half-acre lot dotted with cactus and other high desert vegetation, and has a commanding view of the nearby mountains. In addition to the casita, there is a walled compound that is just waiting for a large garden area and the addition of the new living quarters. Although the pictures make the house appear to be out of town, it is right on the edge, and the main square and shops are just a short walk away. The town of Pozos has been named a “Pueblo Magico”, a designation that brings both private and government funds to the area, and is helping to revive the town while preserving its historic character. As Kate put it, "San Miguel captured our heart, but Mineral de Pozos captured our soul". We are very excited about the move and hope we will see you here!

Driving in Mexico. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your... license plate?

Like most adventures in Mexico, yesterdays began with something a little humorous. I had arranged to borrow a friend’s car for the day to take some visitors to the nearby (about 50 minutes) town of Mineral de Pozos. This is a small colonial mining town that we have fallen in love with and are actually in the process of buying a house. More on that soon!  At any rate, the evening before I was supposed to pick up the car from the garage where it is stored, he called to let me know there was a slight problem. 

As we had found out earlier from our observations, when you get a parking ticket in San Miguel, the local traffic police remove your front license plate. This is pretty clever. It insures that you will pay your parking fines and get your license plate back as it is obvious that a car without a front plate has an unpaid fine! Driving around without a plate makes you a target for further harassment and is not recommended. It seems my friend had paid his fine and retrieved his plate, but had neglected to install it, so we had arranged to pick up the plate prior to leaving town.

Through the shop

The only catch was our friend was leaving town before we could come by, and we needed to get with his maid to pick it up. Simple enough it would seem, except in order to get to his apartment, one must go through a small curio shop that caters to tourists, but does not open until after we wanted to leave. “No problema” he exclaimed! “There is a door bell switch on the window frame of the first floor window directly under my balcony. Ring the bell and my maid will get the plate down to you. “Perfecto” I replied and finished planning for the day ahead.

The next morning was a beautiful day, and we met our traveling companions for breakfast at one of our local haunts. After a delightful and leisurely breakfast, we wandered down the cobblestone streets to my friends’ humble abode.

The switch

I found the switch for the bell crudely wired to the frame of the window and gave it a push. Very shortly the balcony door  opened and out popped a smiling Mexican woman clutching a small basket attached to a rope.

She quickly lowered this over the edge and in just a few moments I had retrieved the front license from the basket, given a big smile and a gracias to the helpful maid, and was headed off to the garage.

Luckily, I had remembered to bring a screwdriver, and was able to throw the front plate back on the car. I was just a little nervous, as this was not only the first time I had driven a car in five months, it was the first time I had driven in Mexico in many, many years and driving in Mexico can be a bit like recreating the Speeder Bike Chase in Star Wars. 

The roads can be narrow and rough, the traffic moves at a variety of speeds, farm animals appear out of nowhere, the Mexican speed bumps or “topes” seem to pop out of the pavement without warning and threaten to brutally tear the suspension out from under your car, turn signals are used as a warning for seemingly unrelated behavior, and passing is both a sport and a national pastime! Vigilance is a must at all times.  Somehow I managed to settle in to the drive, enjoy the scenery, and arrive safely at our destination without incurring the notice of the Policía!

Next up…Our new home in Mineral de Pozos!

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Casita Linda-Building Hope One House at a Time!

One of our goals upon arriving in Mexico was to devote some of our time to volunteer work. On our previous visit to San Miguel, we became aware of the non-profit organization Casita Linda. The group was founded in 2001 and does the honorable work of building homes for local residents at no cost to the family. This past weekend, we had the unique experience of visiting a few of these homes and the privilege of meeting the families as a way to become familiar with the scope of the project.

Photo courtesy of Casita Linda

Our guide and Casita Linda treasurer Gregg Blackburn, a retired attorney from Boston, picked us up at La Comer, a large modern department store located on the edge of town. Much to our surprise, we left the parking lot, turned down a side road maybe a quarter mile away, and entered a different world. The new highway we had just left turned to a rough dirt road, and we realized the row of businesses along its edge was hiding a landscape of tin shacks, unfinished brick buildings, scroungy dogs, feral cats, and some obviously poor people. Scattered among this however were a smattering of brightly colored homes, obviously of better construction, and clearly more well maintained. Like a beacon of hope, these homes shone above the rest, and the purpose of Casita Linda which means “pretty little house” became abundantly clear.

To qualify, the family must first meet a set of criteria established by Casita Linda to help insure that the family will take full responsibility and ownership of the home when it is completed. Interestingly, the first criteria is they must own the land on which the house will sit. The history of land reform in Mexico is complicated and stretches out over hundreds of years and many forms of government, but the bottom line is many indigenous people here own their land. The problem however is they are too poor to build a home, and many end up living in poorly constructed lean to sheds or ramshackle homes built with whatever materials they can scrounge. These buildings provide little comfort or protection from the weather, and the dirt floors often become a sea of mud during the rainy season. Mothers cook meals on open fires, the family sleeps on whatever they can find, and the children are often cold and have no place to study.  Life in general is pretty tough.

Other qualifying criteria include:

• Provide proof that any school-age children living in the house are attending school regularly
   and receiving satisfactory grades
• Provide a drug-free environment with no abuse of alchhol or history of domestic violence
• Agree to work on the construction of their home and the one built before or after theirs
• Be employed or actively searching for work

After a thorough study of the potential families, Casita Linda’s Family Selection Committee writes a recommendation and submits it to the Board of Directors for a vote.  Once qualified, volunteers work with the family to configure the home for their needs, and construction is scheduled. The homes cost approximately $8000 USD to construct and generally include water storage, a small septic pool, and basic solar lighting as most of the homes do not have access to city services.

The first home we visited was occupied by a charming family whose matron Grisela herded a troop of small children around the house as we toured the property. Due to its proximity to town and the pleasant demeanor of the family, Grisela’s home is frequently used for visits, and the entire family was very welcoming. Grisela works at the brickyard for Casita Linda located next to her property. Working tirelessly, the crews crank out thousands of handmade bricks, mixing the clay with straw and other binding materials with their feet before hand-forming the bricks and laying them in the sun to dry. The bricks are then fired and become part of the next Casita Linda home. This is very hard work, and the long rows of bricks reflect the dedication of these hard working people.

The homes themselves are simple and utilitarian, but a far cry from the harsh conditions these families previously endured. They are warm and dry, there is a place to cook, and Casita Linda helps them secure the furnishings they need for basic comfort. We enjoyed out visit with the family and the warm welcome we received.

Photo courtesy of Casita Linda

Our next stop was to visit a home which needed the electrical wiring to be completed. The electrician who was slated to do the work had been unable to make time between jobs and the family has been getting by with a precarious looking set of open strung wires. I had told Gregg I had done some wiring in the past and he asked if I might be able to finish the wiring. We spoke briefly with the family and I inspected the tubing that had been run inside the walls to see what we were up against. Unfortunately, it appear that at some point, the wiring that is run inside the tubes prior to installation that allows for wire to then be drawn or spliced through the tubes, was missing. This presents a huge challenge, and we are trying to determine if we can track down some of the builders that did this project to see if they can shed some light on how and where the tubing runs before we attempt a repair. I am hopeful we can finally bring safe electricity to this family as we head into the New Year!


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More on this story later!