Retirement Can Be Tough
Here I am retired! Like many North Americans I am land rich, now poor, stuck with properties that are worth a pretty penny but nowhere near what they were worth several years ago.
Do I sell at the current price or do I ride this out? We have chosen to ride this current economy out. Is this the right decision? Who knows! If we could sell at the right price we’d be gone tomorrow!
As many of us, we see many properties that would meet our retirement needs but do we make the move? Is it the right choice? Being a retired teacher we could make a choice but would it be the right one? We teachers tend to play it safe.
We have switched gears. Our plan is to purchase small downtown houses and remodel them and make them desirable to retirees that would meet the minimalist needs of retirees. After all how much do we really need?
It is easy to find houses, on-line, that are a-dream-come true, but the reality is that we can neither afford nor need such houses. This brings us to the question of what do we really need?
Houses in “El Centro”/Downtown, can run from basic to extravagant. You’d never guess which-is-which from outside. My Yucateca ex-wife’s Uncle Chucho lived in a one door, one window house. Although it was quite run down, I was amazed at the potential beauty of the house and rear garden and wondered at what it must have looked like in its day and what it could become again. Unfortunately, my Yucateca ex was like many Yucatecos and wanted nothing to do with downtown.
Having visited many house of “El Centro” I learned to discriminate from the plain exteriors from what the houses looked like from within. It’s all about the number of doors and windows. If you’re looking for a palatial Centro home don’t waste your time looking at a one door house.
A one door house is simply a house that is 12-16 ft wide house with a room that leads into a room into a back kitchen and bath with potentially a garden and hopefully a servant’s house in the rear. But what do you really need?
A one door and a one window house will range between 28-35 ft wide house, possibly a two bedrooms with one bath. Hopefully it will have with a garden and a servant’s house. The back garden can be very irregular to non-existent.
A one door and two windows is generally a large home with large living rooms and two or more bedrooms and an extensive garden be it interior or in the rear. Hopefully, as always, with room for a pool and a rear casita/servants house that can be converted to a guest house/studio/office.
I’ll stop there since anything larger is well beyond my means!
Why the emphasis on the garden and the servant’s quarters? I love “El Centro” but since everything is built on stone or of concrete it can be extremely hot and can be noisy. We rented the “Casa Blanca” on Calle 61 a couple of years ago, which is very busy, but found that the interior of the house was quite quiet.
This is quite to the contrary of the belief of my former in-laws, and the belief of most Yucatecos. For most Yucatecos, going to El Centro is a nightmare and demands pity for anyone that had to go there. Traffic on all of those one way streets can be tough. Of course, going to the Centro for business demands respect and admiration. It is hot, busy and full of people.
On the flip side, El Centro is full of activity and culture that every expat craves. Every night a different plaza has cultural activities that scream out to the expat to see and enjoy.
Back to selecting a house!
Why have I emphasized the garden area?
Three years ago when my wife was picking out as house to rent for a month her emphasis was on a house big enough to accommodate the four of us. My only concern was a garden and a pool.
She wanted at least a three bedroom and I only wanted room for 4 hammocks. She could not visualize herself sleeping in a hammock so she won out but I got the garden and the pool. While the “Casa Blanca” was a beautiful palatial home we spent literally all of our home time in the garden and the pool. It was not until our next trip that we spent at our dear friends Juan Jose and Mayito’s house, in Chicxulub, that she found out how incredibly comfortable Yucateco hamacas were. We now have hammock hooks in the ceiling of our TV room in the basement in Michigan.
Two Types of Lifestyles in Yucatan
Being from Michigan I relish any opportunity to be outside. I am not a person to be inside!
I appreciate the heat. I love being outside. If it’s too hot I’ll jump in the pool or the gulf. That’s it! I never want to see winter in Michigan again.
I realize that there are some people that would rather be in air conditioning so maybe Yucatan is not for you or maybe you should be looking at properties on the beach where the temperatures are cooler and the wind makes the heat more tolerable. It’s easier to cool off than to pay the heat bills of Michigan up north.
What do You Need for Retirement?
I have spent my entire adult life living in a seven bedroom/seven bath house. Want to buy it????
I want to purchase a house that will meet my needs. I expect many visitors. What do I need?
We as Americans an accustomed to a lot of rooms but in reality what do we need? If I had my way, other than a kitchen, a place to sleep and a bath I would never again go indoors. Given this, what more do I need? What are my necessities?
- A garden with room enough for a pool to cool off and enough room for palm trees for shade.
- Room for an outside grilling kitchen.
- A bathroom.
- A place to hang our hammocks.
- A plus would be a place to go inside for the rare inclement weather.
What more “Do I Need”?
We, as North American, need to let go of “Keeping up with the Jones’.” It’s simply too expensive and unnecessary! We are retired and don’t want to live like that anymore!
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