BajaNomad

FM2 and menaje de casa

oladulce - 4-22-2009 at 06:52 PM

Do I understand correctly that we can apply for an FM2 when we move to our Baja Sur house and it becomes our permanent full time residence? (and skip the FM3 step?)

I've never seen it mentioned anywhere but a Menaje de Casa
should be applicable with an FM2, shouldn't it??

oladulce - 4-22-2009 at 11:09 PM

I guess we'll start with FM3's so we can leave open the option of doing a Menaje.

Thanks Kate.

Man, the logistics and timing of selling our Calif house, severing ties with California and becoming "virtual residents" of South Dakota, Mexican immigration, and figuring out how to transport our worldly goods and all the equipment for the new house down to BCS is a daunting task.

Bajahowodd - 4-22-2009 at 11:23 PM

South Dakota. Don't understand how that fits in.

fishbuck - 4-23-2009 at 01:08 AM

South Dakota is like a foreign country so an FM2 or 3 works there too. It's like Canada
Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
South Dakota. Don't understand how that fits in.

BigWooo - 4-23-2009 at 06:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
South Dakota. Don't understand how that fits in.


South Dakota is one of the (I think 5) States that have no income tax. For our retirement, we need to have a U.S. address. It makes no sense to remain a California resident and continue to pay the high income taxes, so we'll get a mailing address in S. Dakota becomming "virtual" residents. What makes South Dakota more of an advantage than the other income tax free states is the vehicle registration process is a little easier and less expensive. Neither of our vehicles qualify for importation to Mexico.

shari - 4-23-2009 at 07:25 AM

Hola Ola...hey amiga...you think THIS is daunting...HAHAHAH...the fun has yet to begin!!!! Daunting becomes the norm and ya get kinda used to it...hope you are up for a challenge...it's pretty exciting..best of luck!:yes:

bajajudy - 4-23-2009 at 09:11 AM

I believe that there is a time limit on how long you have, after you obtain your FM3, to bring your household goods in under the menage de casa; so be sure to check on that and be prepared to move your stuff within that limit before you apply for the FM3.

Bob and Susan are the experts on moving anything else down here.

Big woo
I was aware of the car registration in South Dakota but not the residency. Please U2U me the details.
thanks

Udo - 4-23-2009 at 09:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
Hola Ola...hey amiga...you think THIS is daunting...HAHAHAH...the fun has yet to begin!!!! Daunting becomes the norm and ya get kinda used to it...hope you are up for a challenge...it's pretty exciting..best of luck!:yes:


However, Shari...you have been very helpful to numerous Nomads on a variety of tasks. I haven't been there yet, but my time is coming, Shari.

Bob and Susan - 4-23-2009 at 09:19 AM

i'd just have a BIG yardsale...

buy new for your retirement and

import the rest of your "valuables"

forget the hassel:light:

vandenberg - 4-23-2009 at 10:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
i'd just have a BIG yardsale...

buy new for your retirement and

import the rest of your "valuables"

forget the hassel:light:

Well, I don't know if I would follow that advice.
We did the Menaje de Casa thing in the early 90's and I don't believe many things have changed since then. We did get our original FM3 in Sacramento and had 6 months to get it validated and do the import thingy. I bought a 24 ft overhead U-Haul with a loading ramp, loaded pretty much all our belongings in it, besides also bringing along a 3/4 ton pick up with lumber rack, and brought it all in through San Ysidro without too much trouble. Just make sure everything is listed with Model and Serial numbers ( even if you have to make them up) :biggrin: Supposed to be all used stuff.:P, but how do you tell something with some scuff marks and out of the box as used or new ? Took all but 2 hours to cross, with lots of help from the custom people. The U Haul served for 2 years as storage for the stuff while the house was being built. And afterwards we sold the U Haul for $ 200.00 more than we paid for it.
And lots of luck with your venture. You'll be looking back on it in a few :?::?: years as one of the highlights of your life.:biggrin: Just don't start too old.:P:lol:

[Edited on 4-23-2009 by vandenberg]

[Edited on 4-23-2009 by vandenberg]

[Edited on 4-23-2009 by vandenberg]

oladulce - 4-23-2009 at 01:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
i'd just have a BIG yardsale...

buy new for your retirement and

import the rest of your "valuables"

forget the hassel:light:


I have learned to pay attention to your advise Bob because i know that your tips frequently come from your personal experience - so believe me, I'm listening! But I also think that you have probably logged more trips up and down that hwy transporting stuff than anybody I know and I don't know if we want to come anywhere near your mileage!

Right now I'm trying to figure out if we will hire a moving truck and bring everything down in one shipment or if we'll buy a larger trailer and will transport stuff ourselves in multiple trips.
We will bring very little in the way of possessions actually because we don't have a lot of furniture and knick knacky things.

But we will have a lot of new stuff for the house-(hope to start construction before the end of the year) that will be much easier to shop for , purchase, and pack up while we're still living up here. The other half of our solar system and batteries, a generator, solar water heating set up, UV water treatment system, grey water re-use kit (tank, pumps etc).
Large stuff.

Because of our energy/water saving needs, most of the new appliances for the house I want to get up here - fridge, dishwasher (see, i listened to your advise about a dishwasher Bob!!),chest freezer, washer, and I found some great ceiling fans that have DC motors and use half the power of conventional fans.

We had to replace some sliding doors here recently and installed some fiberglass composite ones that are excellent quality and will be perfect for our location. So once we get the house plans finalized we might even go ahead and order all the windows and sliders for the house (while we're still living up here) if we decide to do one big shipment by a transporter. It would be so much easier to order things online while we're up here (because of the delivery) but things like plumbing fixtures and LED recessed lights we won't need for a year or more so they might have to wait until later.

I don't know if it's possible to combine our current household items with all of the newly purchased mechanicals and appliances for the future house in one shipment and I still need to weigh the cost differences of one big importation vs multiple smaller imports and multiple trans peninsular trips.

Thanks the info about your Menaje experience Vandenberg. A menaje isn't out of the question yet. It seems smart to take advantage if a freebie is available.

I read somewhere that items need to be more than 6 months old to be considered "used" and duty free. How do folks deal with that? Doctor the dates on receipts or just not offer receipts and say that your old stuff is just in very good shape?