Living in Mexico Is NOT For Everyone

Someone recently emailed me saying we never discuss the negatives of living in Mexico in our videos. And I want to assure you that Mexico is NOT perfect by any means.

Just because I show you beautiful videos about the benefits of living in Merida, Playa del Carmen, Atlixco, or some other gorgeous city in Mexico doesn’t mean I am saying there are zero issues in those places.

Mexico is perfectly imperfect. It has flaws like any other country does. That’s why you should do your research before moving to Mexico.

Additional Reading: 13 Negatives of Living in Mexico

But You Must Do Your Research First

This means researching the cost of living, rental prices, cost of groceries, cost of services, cost of doctors, and why certain places are more popular than others.

Research how to become a resident in Mexico- do you qualify? How will you bring your things, your pets, etc.? All of these things are some of the reasons some people end up leaving Mexico when they get disappointed.

They didn’t do their research, sold all their things back home, moved to a country they knew very little about, and were under the idea that you could live like a King or Queen on pennies in Mexico.

And while, yes, your cost of living can decrease substantially in Mexico, it doesn’t mean things are basically free. In Mexico, we have a saying, “Bueno, Bonito, Barato” (Good, Good Looking, And Inexpensive). Basically, it insinuates that someone is expecting something well-made, of good quality, and inexpensive.

And this just isn’t realistic.

What do I mean? When something is very nice, it’ll usually be expensive. When something is inexpensive, it will usually be very basic. When something is well made, it will probably be costly. But having something that is well made, of good quality, and cheap is rare and unrealistic.

Having The Right Expectations

For example, Many people hire household help expecting to pay little to almost zero dollars and want them to work all day because they were told that hiring household help was affordable. When I tell people they should be paying their housecleaning lady at least $100 pesos an hour, some people are shocked.

Or they want a beautiful 2-bedroom condo facing the beach but are amazed that the cost is what it is. And they expected to pay less than half of what it would cost. And if I give them low-cost rental examples, they get upset that they are very basic.

They complain that their meal was so expensive even though they chose the restaurant. And even though they saw the menu prices. But when you give them the option to eat at an inexpensive taco stand or restaurant, they don’t like the looks of it.

Or get frustrated that their private driver charges them x amount even though gasoline isn’t free.

They might get angry when they try to haggle, which doesn’t work- because Mexico isn’t the land of negotiating everything. But they might have been told otherwise. By the way, haggling or negotiating prices is a no-no unless you’re buying a house or renting a significantly overpriced place.

Some foreigners might get upset because they never visited Mexico before and might not really like it. They might feel like fish out of water, not knowing how to fit in.

And what ends up happening? Many people leave. With the burden of the expensive move they just endured. And having to start over again back home.

But everything can be avoided when you do research.

We’ve Done Some of That Research

AND We’ve done a lot of that research for you.

The goal of Mexico Relocation Guide isn’t to try to convince you to move to Mexico; my goal is to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly. So you can move to Mexico with confidence. The people who do their research and move to Mexico have a FAR better experience because they know what to expect.

I have a lot of free resources on my site so you can find out what you can expect

A good place to start your journey on our site is the blog mexicorelocationguide.com/blog/

I’m glad you’re here! Bienvenidos!