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American Dream In Mexico
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/25/sunday/main704257....
June 26, 2005
(CBS) As you drive down the sun-kissed Pacific coast, past the McMansions looming on the hills, past Malibu and Fox studios, you swear you are in
Southern California. But wait. This is Mexico. Baja California Norte, to be exact--just across the border south of San Diego.
What's going on down there? Just ask Jerry Vanuck and Eileen Maglieri, retirees from Las Vegas.
"A lot of Americans are moving down here. It's an explosion of them," Said Vanuck.
"A friend of mine from Las Vegas came down to visit and immediately built a house right next door to us," added Maglieri.
You can also ask the brunch bunch at the New York Deli, a stone's throw from the pacific.
"We call this San Diego south," said one man.
It's a little slice of America sprouting up around Rosarito, Mexico, and on down the peninsula, brick by brick, condo by condo, house by house.
Nobody knows exact numbers because, believe it or not, many Americans slip across the border illegally. But the best estimates are about a quarter of
Rosarito's population of 55,000 people is American. And here along this 20-mile stretch of coast called the gold coast south of the city about 70% of
the home owners are American.
"We all had a special pioneering spirit that brings us here," said Diane Gibbs, an American real estate agent in Baja. She saw the wave of Americans
washing south and hopped a ride to the top. Her office in Rosarito is like something out of Beverly Hills.
"Right now we're working with four big American developers that are coming down her and developing nice subdivisions," she said.
It's just a little extension of America.
Gibbs concurred: "It is. We still get our San Diego Union here. We can get an LA Times. It's delivered to our door. Or we get our mail here. So this
isn't like Mexico, Mexico. It's been gringo-ized, if you'd like a word for it."
Retired Hollywood makeup artist Dan Greenway bought his piece of Mexico 25 years ago, attracted by the sun and the surf of course.
"I've seen this place grow so much," he said. "California was traffic. Smog. The noise. You can't get out of the noise in LA or the valley. It's so
quiet down here. I sleep like a baby. And the ocean. That's a peaceful deal."
So the sun and the surf, and, oh, did we mention the savings.
"The lot and house, it's all under four hundred thousand," said Greenway.
Right on the beach?
"Right on the beach," Greenway emphasized. "I think the taxes on this house is only $235-240 a year. "So you see I like Mexico. You pay that for a big
dinner. You don't have a tent in California for $245."
The good life for cheap. That's why Joanne Smith and David Ring opened their New York Deli in Rosarito, Mexico.
"It's too expensive to live in California," said Smith.
"It's the same ocean. Same climate. And I would venture to guess it's maybe two thirds less the price here," added Ring.
Add it all up and the move to settle down in Mexico was for Leslie Harris a no-brainer.
Moving south of the border, she cut her commute time to downtown San Diego in half. Frequent crossers can get a pass to jump to the front of the line.
"Guys in the toll booth kiss my hand when I come through. Couldn't like me better," Harris said.
She said she could not afford to live the same way up the coast in San Diego.
"Absolutely not. I'm a statistic. I'm a baby boomer who has instead of saving for retirement, sent her kid to college. And I could never afford the
place I have in the states. It'd be millions in the states," she said.
Her little slice of paradise cost only $200,000. She admitted she was almost embarrassed to say it.
"(I'm) on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It's the American dream. It's just in Mexico."
What do Mexicans think of this American invasion of their beaches? Rosarito's city fathers are rolling out the welcome mat. Juvenal Arias is president
of the tourist bureau.
"We get along with them very well," he said. "There's no problem about it. People who live and buy a lot, a house in Rosarito, they pay their taxes.
So that's good for our economy."
Things weren't so good a few short years ago back in two thousand, when hundreds of Americans were forced out of their houses, forced out of this
beach community called Punta Bana. Mexican courts ruled that the most elderly Americans had acquired their property from people that didn't actually
own it. In short, homeowners like Isabelle O'Donald-Dagalman were scammed.
"The supreme court decided that original owners did indeed own the land," said O'Donald-Dagalman, who lost $70,000 in the scam.
Fearing they would frighten off the goose laying the golden egg--Americans with money--the Mexican government scrambled to tighten up real estate
laws, make transactions transparent and extend into perpetuity the terms of the bank trusts Americans must use to buy land here.
You can buy it. You can sell it. You can will it. You can rent it. It's one hundred percent yours.
"What we do most is investment," said Gustavo Torres, president of the Rosarito Realtors Association. "So it's really good to go to someone who is a
professional, someone that has been certified, and someone who had been trained."
"I've learned to pay more attention to the laws," said O'Donald-Dagalman, who bought her house again. The second time from the rightful owners. She
paid twice, but figured it still was a bargain.
"Because I had my wonderful house built on the land. Three bedrooms, three baths. Gorgeous view of ocean. And three steps from the ocean. I wanted it
to be for my children and their children."
The only thing worrying some Americans in Mexico these days is wondering if the peace, the tranquil views, and the unspoiled beaches will survive
their onslaught.
"It's going to get more crowded," said Smith. "It's going to get noisier. It's going to get more expensive."
In other words, he said, it's going to turn into Southern California.
"Now is the time if you're going to buy a property in Mexico," said Maglieri. There is not going to be much beach front left pretty soon."
But that's a concern for ma?ana.
"It's a beautiful life," said Greenway.
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BajaNomad
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This was a segment on CBS News' "Sunday Morning" show today. I saw it was an upcoming segment this morning, but left before it aired.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/sunday/main3445.shtml
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
https://www.regionalinternet.com
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Dave
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The segment was filmed over a year ago, aired once and then again this morning. They filmed at the deli and Joanne & I were interviewed. It's not
often a small business like ours gets free national advertising....and twice!
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greybaby
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Hate to be the doomsayer, but we all need to remember this is still Mexico - not the U.S. Have lived here for six years and love it - but we HAVE to
look at anything we own here as something we could lose. We can pretty it up and rationalize it anyway we want, but we do not have the same rights
here as in the U.S. Plain and simple. It's NOT part of Southern California. Get mad at me if you want, but we are still foreigners. We live and
work with the Mexicans and love them but also know they do resent Americans coming in with all their money, buying up the prime real estate and then
fencing them out.
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Anonymous
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We've owned our little casa in Rosarito for 24 yrs., and for at least half that time feel that the place has been over-run and ruined; we moved
permanently to BCS 11 yrs ago and even tho' we are miles out of the nearest town, with no phone lines and few neighbors, we are beginning to feel the
same way here--too many Gringos who think they can make this part of the US, and even WANT TO!?!?
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Anonymous
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Baja s own beauty is dooming it, you just have to move further out or build walls but its all relative to when you first showed up, if you showed up
20 yrs. ago you won't have the same baja feeling as somebody showing up yesterday
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elizabeth
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Hard to believe that there are people who think turning Baja into a San Diego suburb is a GOOD thing! I know it's a little nit picky, but you'd think
CBS could spell Punta Banda!
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Anonymous
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Too true. So many Americans say they want to go to Mexico....and then they turn around and bring all of the U.S. with them! They don't appreciate
the culture or the people......
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