Second Home: Colombia vs Other Countries

[Kiltboy1]

Has anyone looked into Playa del Carmen or Tulum? They look like nice places, supposedly have good medical services, but prices for real estate kind of high. Low taxes and HOAS compared to US though. It might be a good compromise between hard core ex pat life and the high tax, high health insurance cost here in the States

We were in Playa in May and while I like the area a lot, it is like a little South Beach Miami. We rented a car for a few days and drove as far south as Tulum and there are many nice areas that have a real Carribean feel without tons of people. We love Akumal , but prices are more there but the views and water are some of the best you will ever see. I hear south of Tulum there are some really nice areas that  us Gringos have not jumped on yet. Real Estate there might be reasonable.

[robert angel]

Not sure if Merida is still a pretty well developed city not too far from Cancun, but some friends of ours--the husband, took over the Home Depot Manager job there. Now that was about ten years ago, so a lot could have changed, but for medical and scholastic reasons--their children more than anything, they came back to the USA. Merida, at 827,000 people has about 200,000 more people than Cancun and unlike Cancun is about 30 minutes from the sea and isn't as 'touristy'. I don't think I'd want to be in Cancun during Spring Break season--tens of thousands of drunk college students is a bit much.

But if you're thereabouts, rent a jeep or catch a bus (I took the public bus--whole diff. story) and check out Chichen itza--really a lot of different Mayan--Toltec ruins. Tulum is pretty cool too. I got in on it when they were still uncovering parts of it--it was wide open back then and it's absolutely amazing. They made buildings involving Mathematical computations (supposedly w/o using zeros) that would be difficult to impossible to replicate even today. The huge main pyramid aligns exactly with the two solstices every year and there are other really eerie parts all around there.

In the 1970's there were just a couple dozen fisherman, including their families, where Cancun sits today. Like Brazil, you have to give Mexico credit for having the moxy to envision creating a city to attract people, including tourists, in an area where basically nothing existed and making it reality. It seems like it's been there a 100 years in some urban areas.

Quintana Roo has really exploded--really even most of the area to the southwest as well has, including Yucatan proper with  islands like Cozumel, (100K people) going all the way to Belize and Guatemala--it's  sometimes called "The Mexican Riveria" nowadays.

If you're looking to visit, never mind live there, watch the storm forecast.

https://www.google.com/?trackid=sp-006#q=yucatan+peninsula+to+central+america

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintana_Roo

https://www.google.com/?trackid=sp-006#q=chichen+itza

[Gavan]

Interesting article about Santiago, Chile:

Living in: Santiago
Chile’s up-and-coming capital city is safe and affordable, offering easy access to the country’s inviting beaches and wine country.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150312-living-in-santiago?ocid=fbtvl

[V_Man]

Interesting article about Santiago, Chile:


http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150312-living-in-santiago?ocid=fbtvl

I liked Chile and I could live there. If I was retiring I wouldn't live in Santiago (or any large city). I could easily live in Valparaiso until I became too old to make it up the steep streets. Most likely I'd retire in a more remote part of Chile. Chile has a retirement visa which makes things easier. To me Chile seemed like a developed country with a latin flavour to it.


The cost of living in Australia is through the roof. I think that tool you are using is misleading, if you are going to buy a property. House prices in Sydney and Melbourne are extremely high and growing rapidly. The medium house price in Sydney is $1milion. I think that compares with London.
Obviously when we retire we will move away from the main cities. However we want to keep our options open. Hopefully we will have the options of Colombia, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
At first my wife wanted to go back to Colombia to retire. However now she has experienced living in Australia she realises it would be extremely difficult to give up the peace, tranquillity and safety of living here to retire in Colombia. She has already changed her tune and admits she doesn't want us to go back to Colombia to live. I've already told her that if we retire in Colombia I don't want to retire in Bogota and she agrees with that. By the time we get to retirement age I can't really see her wanting to retire there. For me it would have to be somewhere very peaceful and rather unlike the cities, yet safe enough for un extranjero.


There are also SE Asian countries like Thailand if we want to consider them.


I am also used to living beside the sea, so I'd be happy away from the city beside the sea. However I think my wife would always want some access to urban entertainment etc.


My wife has a friend who is a retired Chilean widow. She has some kind of timeshare thing. She basically travels around the world staying a few months in difference places. That would be a wonderful lifestyle for a few years.