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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9011
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
If you're not 100% locked into La Paz you should consider something in the Punta Banda area, just south of Ensenada. AC is not needed in summer and
there are rentals available within a block of the water for $300-$400. Plus you are within 2 hours of the border for shopping NOB including Duty Free
stores where you can by ciggarettes 3 cartons for $25 and booze is also cheaper. |
Yeah, you'll also save a boatload on sunscreen in that area. 
To me, living in Mexico means enjoying warm days. They just dont happen much out at Punta Banda.
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bajadock
Super Nomad
Posts: 1219
Registered: 12-20-2006
Location: Punta sur de \'Nada
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"Yeah, you'll also save a boatload on sunscreen in that area.
To me, living in Mexico means enjoying warm days. They just dont happen much out at Punta Banda."
CORRECT, HOOK! It is frickn freezn here in Punta Banda. And durrell's rent price estimates have gotta be 50% too low. And beer here is double the
price of downtown 'Nada as a gringo tax. And the roads will ruin your vehicle. And a few Nomad curmudgeons, like me, make life miserable for
everyone else.
La Paz is a much better choice.
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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I'm a bit more severe...
Before you even think of moving to La Paz, or Mulege, or the cape take a vacation there in late August or September. You'll see the "Mr Hyde" aspect
of the climate in this area. Day, after week after month you're going to arise and shine to an outside temperature already in the eighties. I can't
tell you how many times I was in La Paz when summertime temperatures climbed to 110 or higher. I spent March through October (FM3) last year in this
region. One of about nine summers.
I rate "heat: by the number of seconds it takes my hair to soak with sweat when I step outdoors. Summer in La Paz means ten seconds until I start
dripping.
Some folks can take the heat. Others endure it. I spent July - October in supposedly "cool" El Pescadero, with daytime temps reaching into the low
nineties with night time lows in the high seventies. Humidity was sixty percent and higher.
There is no place no run to, no place to escape the heat unless you flee five hundred miles north to Guerrero Negro. At my home in Michoacan I can
flee 220 miles to Patzcuaro at 7,000 ft elevation and actually shiver. However Guerrero Negro is not Patzcuaro, that would be like comparing Pomona to
Sebastopol.
Unless you are Bill Gates forget about whole house A/C. One high EEF 5,000 BTU window unit will set you back about a hundred dollars a month and
Mexican houses have an insulation factor of 0. Take a look at your PG&E bill for last August. See the kWh total of perhaps 1,100? Well, twenty two
hundred kWh in Mexico will put you in the DAC category. A two month bill will set you back a cool eight hundred plus dollars. Once CFE puts you in DAC
it ain't easy to get out of. BTW it isn't the heat --- it's the humidity. Fans blow steam bath air around. You have got to conserve "La Luz" or pay a
steep penalty.
The vaunted Corumuel afternoon breeze was no relief to me. It cooled the air down from 105 to 97 with nearly the same humidity. Of course for folks
that are stuck in La Paz, paltry as the breeze may be it is a godsend.
Looketh Before Thoust Leapeth
Most expats myself included hole-up in a small office like space with the computer for entertainment and an A/C blasting close by.
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13242
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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everyone is giving great advice - visiting is NOT even close to what it feels like after you live somewhere. The customs are radically different and
some people simply never adjust. I think 1700 would not cover A/C during the summer months. It is unbearably hot - electirc bills are astronomical !!
after one year, there is a price readjustment which either continues or cancels the previous years gvt subsidy and ouch, it hurts bigtime .... other
than that, rent is more reasonable, food is reasonable, gasoline is more reasonable than in the states.
live in different areas and get a feel for them ..todos santos is wonderful, la paz is wonderful.
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2753
Registered: 5-10-2011
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidE
Before you even think of moving to La Paz, or Mulege, or the cape take a vacation there in late August or September. |
Yep. This is when most "permanent residents" are fleeing to their homes NOB. Hot, humid and hurricane time. It's a little better in BCN in that
period, but like others noted it can be much colder in winter there, and besides, San Felipe corridor (and probably Ensenada area) are becoming
increasingly expensive due to high gringo concentration. Also, don't forget health insurance especially if you live in BCS and can't always drive/fly
NOB. Can be a local Mx hospital plan, cheaper than international plan, but still cost something.
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Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
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CFE and DAC
a minor, but pertinent, hijack for educational purposes
| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidE...One high EEF 5,000 BTU window unit will set you back about a hundred dollars a month and Mexican houses have an
insulation factor of 0. Take a look at your PG&E bill for last August. See the kWh total of perhaps 1,100? Well, twenty two hundred kWh in Mexico
will put you in the DAC category. A two month bill will set you back a cool eight hundred plus dollars. Once CFE puts you in DAC it ain't easy to get
out of. BTW it isn't the heat --- it's the humidity. Fans blow steam bath air around. You have got to conserve "La Luz" or pay a steep penalty...
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CFE is Commission Federal Electrico (or some such name) and is the Mexican equivalent of PG&E. What is
a DAC category?
We're building a house and wired it for 220 to support mini-split air-conditioning. CFE said we'd have to pay a higher commercial business rate for
home usage simply because its not 110.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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Kgryfon, you have gotten some absolutely great posts and info here.
The answer to the question of whether or not living in La Paz for you is doable on $1,700 USD depends entirely on your spending patterns. Entirely.
Is $1,700 doable.... absolutely positively, unequivocally. But, are your spending patterns compatible to that accomplishment....well, that is the
question, actually.
I am a financial analyst kind of guy, and I have calculated the answer to that question a thousand different ways. For me, the golden amount per
month is $674 USD/mo for one person, $977 USD/mo which includes owning your own casita and that budget is for everything I can think of including
allowances for fishing, haircuts, clothes, auto repair, health ins, air conditioning as needed, security lights, et al. With that budget I eat really
well, have all the a/c I want, TV, entertainment and more.
The key money saver is whether or not you can afford to buy your own house. If you rent first for 6 mos to a year, that would give you ample time to
find a really low cost house in a safe Mexican neighborhood that is from 2 to 6 miles away from the Malecon. How long does it take to drive 6 miles?
About 15 minutes, door to door.
The trick is knowing food prices, and optimizing your purchase choices. For example, I recommend eventually getting and owning your own dwelling of
reasonable size (700 to 1,000 sq ft) in a safe, local Mexican neighborhood. Getting a vehicle that is reliable, cheap on maintenance, and very good
on gas...Toyota compacts come to mind. If you like to fish, get your own used boat and trailer and a reliable, low maintenance used older small 4x4
truck/SUV to pull it. If you don't want your own boat, then you have a choice of spending $270 USD+ going out of Tailhunter or some other shop on
the malecon or you can hire $120 a day panguero out of Agua Amarga and split the cost with friends.
See how spending patterns is the controllng variable to your costs?
If you are the "do it yourself/self sufficient" type, you can live extremely well on limited funds, but if you have to go 1st class on everything,
insist on living on/near the malecon, want the big condo or house in a gated community with housing environment similar to American standards, insist
on big new luxury SUV, don't like to cook and therefore eat out often, including cantinas for drinks frequently, refuse to clutter the mind by knowing
food prices and scheduling your personal menu around health and economic considerations, refuse to track your electricity usage or phone usage, then
$1,700 won't cut it.
It is all about your personal spending patterns. People are vastly different, but, in the final analysis, it is a "choice", not an involuntary
necessity.
[Edited on 4-3-2012 by MitchMan]
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajadock
Nomad curmudgeons, like me, make life miserable for everyone else.
La Paz is a much better choice. |
I can't determine if that is SARCASIM or not? Isn't
a perk on living in the PBanda Peninsula, and reason
enough for living there, is you have
Dennis for a neighbor? MItch Man , enjoy your
costs of Mex living, I think I have seen you on
Mexconnect
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Mulegena, you don't want to use more than 600 kWh a month because CFE adds your totals up and after a specified total kWh you'll go to 1st stage DAC.
About forty cents per hour for every last kWh on your CFE bill. Higher means more cost and I have paid as much as seventy cents a kWh. A CFE bill for
400 kWh cost me two hundred eighty dollars in pesos! This is when i chopped off AC and every other luxury load!
On your new house, if you have a separate building, get a separate CFE service drop under your spouse's name. Tell la comision it is for a different
family. I run a ten gauge wire from one breaker panel, a 30 amp breaker to a sister breaker in the other panel. Make damned sure on a 254 volt service
that this wire connects the same phase coming from the transformer. Make the 4 wires match in pairs by using a voltmeter. Since there are few reasons
to have 254 volt service in Mexico, I recommend getting 30 amp rated 127 volt service. A pair of 30 amp services will run a large house quite well
with minimum voltage drop. Service drops are 8AWG.
Use 12/3 wiring in the kitchen for receptacles. Get receptacles in the USA. Use NYLON 15-amp specification rated receptacles, and UNBREAKABLE nylon
receptacle face plates available ay Home Depot or Lowe's. Receptacles cost more than -el cheapos- but last ten times longer. Use them all over in the
kitchen, living room for TV and electronics. Bathroom, and bedside. Make SURE the receptacles have holes on the rear face that allow wire to be shoved
in a tightened/clamped with the side screw. Side screw only receptacles are horrible to work with if using wire with lots of little stands of copper
wires.
For protecting expensive flat panel TV's ans stereos, there is NOTHING as good as an adequately sized computer UPS meaning uninterpretable power
supply. Nothing even close. Nothing even in the same solar system. Certainly not one of those "power correctors" that offer .01% as much protection or
a "surge strip" that has .000000001% as much protection. You're not buying a UPS for the battery supply but because ir absolutely and totally isolates
your electronics from the power grid glitches and flashes. I would choose a 1,500 watt model for larger TV's, and stick to using a laptop which as
it's own built in UPS.
Termination Of Rant
USE A GROUND ROD grounding system and make sure the electracistas wire it to every damned last receptacle.
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Kgryfon
Senior Nomad
Posts: 624
Registered: 1-27-2009
Location: East Bay, CA
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Good idea, but I have no one in any of those states, although I've lived in a couple of them but not in a long time. My home has been in CA for many
years.
I've made an appointment with a financial planner so he should be able to answer the question of taxes.
Thank you all so much for the helpful info and advice.
With all the hot weather, why don't more people swim right by the malecon? I only saw a few people swimming every time I've been there. Maybe it was
too early in the year (May-June).
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temporarilyoutofservice
Banned
Posts: 19
Registered: 6-28-2011
Location: BCS
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Kgryfon
I'm sure this question has been asked and answered numerous times, but I can't find it in the archives. Can I actually live decently in La Paz on
$1700/mo retirement? Decently means I need internet, AC, and one-two bedrooms reasonably close to the Malecon. Dive or fishing trip once in a while.
Dish Washer would be cool. So would a clothes washer/dryer or someone who would do that for me. Rent a place, I guess, since all my equity of 40+
years was lost in the housing bubble in CA. What say ye? |
Yes. You will need to look for good rentals, and their availability varies seasonally. You can look online or wait until you arrive. Depending upon
your date of arrival, I recommend waiting. There are some good steals simply by walking around.
You can find a decent furnished one bedroom apt. for less than 4,000 pesos. But you won't get the dishwasher. Go for laundry service, its easier.
A dishwasher and washer/dryer unit will more likely be provided in more expensive units but expensive the rent price to be nearly doubled.
Depending upon how long you live here, expect an increase on cigarette tax and alcohol. Taxes on cigarettes have increased significantly the past
years. Currently in La Paz, they're $34 to $38 pesos for a pack of Delicados (my preference). Marlboros are more.
Take your returnables and 1,2 liter of cerveza (Pacifico) averages about $25 pesos.
I don't know how much you drink and smoke, so you do the math.
Also, you're going to end up paying more if you don't know Spanish.
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temporarilyoutofservice
Banned
Posts: 19
Registered: 6-28-2011
Location: BCS
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If you're renting a 1 - 2br. apartment, and it's in good condition, then air conditioning IS NOT expensive.
Run it all the time and expect to pay $80 a month.
If you're going for a small apt. complex, then choose a lower level unit... cooler in the summer.
Plus, if you're retired, you're going to be at the beach anyways.
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temporarilyoutofservice
Banned
Posts: 19
Registered: 6-28-2011
Location: BCS
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| Quote: | | Rentals near the malecon will tend to be "vacation rentals", so you need to make it clear that you're not in that category, and you may have to settle
for a few blocks away. Some older residential neighborhoods do have trees (palms and fruit mostly) and are pleasant for walking around. But anyone
looking for lush greenery with deciduous trees, grass, and the like, had better try a different climate. |
Not true. There are five units by me and they're one block to three away from the Malecon, all currently available. There's a unit right on the
malecon available now, too, and possibly within your budget. I would take it, but I'm too busy or lazy to do it.
Do you speak Spanish?
[Edited on 4-4-2012 by temporarilyoutofservice]
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Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
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Most ground-floor rentals in La Paz have a postage-stamp enclosed patio with a lavadora built-in. Its a concrete washboard with small tub, has
plumbing and does an excellent job on hand-laundry, even jeans and bedding. String a clothesline and you're good to go and will save money.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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temporarilyoutofservice
Banned
Posts: 19
Registered: 6-28-2011
Location: BCS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by morgaine7
| Quote: | Originally posted by temporarilyoutofservice
Not true. There are five units by me and they're one block to three away from the Malecon, all currently available. |
Note (2nd message) that Kgryfon is looking for a house rather than an apartment or condo. |
Lo siento!
Yeah, there's one house I know of and it's occupied. I want it when it becomes available... so I ain't saying nothin.
I would suggest he finds an apartment first and do the house search once he's adjusted.
[Edited on 4-4-2012 by temporarilyoutofservice]
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
[
Yeah, you'll also save a boatload on sunscreen in that area.
To me, living in Mexico means enjoying warm days. They just dont happen much out at Punta Banda. |
But she's from the bay area and it's much warmer here
Bob Durrell
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajadock
And durrell's rent price estimates have gotta be 50% too low. |
maybe up on your hill but not down here or at campo La Jolla.
Bob Durrell
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by morgaine7
DAC = Domesticas de Alto Consumo, a higher unsubsidized rate that kicks in if you exceed the quota for your region. In La Paz (and I think all of
BCS), on Tarifa 1D, in order to get into the DAC we have to average over 1000 kWh /mo over an entire year.
[Edited on 4-3-2012 by morgaine7] |
Up here where I live the cutoff is 500k but I believe for the people over in Mexicali where they need AC it is 1000
Bob Durrell
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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When I am in La Paz at my 860 sq ft casita in the hottest months of the summer, the most electricity I use is 24 KWH per day. That turns out to be
about 730 KWH per month. That's with leaving the 1 ton minisplit in the bedroom on all night and using A/C while at home during the day when I am
actually at the house. Also, I play the TV and VCR on for 5 hours a night, 3 lights outside security lights automatically on all night (light
sensors), and use inside lights at night. Refer runs, obviously, all the time.
During the coolest months of the year, I use only 4 to 6 KWH per day which is only around 150 KWH per month.
I use only light saver bulbs everywhere and make religiously sure that everything except the refrigerator is off when I am not at the house.
[Edited on 4-5-2012 by MitchMan]
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Kgryfon
Senior Nomad
Posts: 624
Registered: 1-27-2009
Location: East Bay, CA
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Everytime I come back to this post there is a wealth of new information. Thanks for your help, folks!
To answer some questions: I've been to Punta Banda and Ensenada during a road trip; both nice areas and worth considering. I speak only a bit of
Spanish but just got the Rosetta Stone for Latin American Spanish so maybe that will help. Anyone have experience with that?
I don't need to live high off the hog, but I do love me some AC when it gets into the triple digits around here. Which it does often during the
summer (I'm across the bay from SF).
I own a boat now and would love to bring it down, but the slip fees seem to cost as much as an apartment (~$450/mo)! I was considering bring it down
and living on board, but I think I'd probably go nuts in a short time - it's 28ft which is not a huge space to live in - ok for weekends and stuff,
but not as a permanent living situation. I was thinking I might buy a panga or something when I get there.
Keep it coming! 
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