IL Postcard

Is the Perfect Property out There?

Date: 09/08/2008 Author: Suzan Haskins

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008

Read more about Mexico in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

Dear International Living Reader,

I wrote to you on Friday about a friend that was looking for an affordable home in Merida.

To refresh your memory, she wants to be in the city’s Centro historic district and with enough space for a guest suite for rental income. Her budget is $80,000 for the property and any necessary renovations.

Metaphorically speaking, she kissed a lot of toads in her search for a “prince of a house.” On the last day she was in town, I went with her to look at two possibilities.

The first house we saw is about a mile from the Plaza Grande, the heart of Centro. Already renovated, this home has two bedrooms and a small additional building in the back. There is no yard to speak of, just a small patio. But there is an above-ground swimming pool. A bit rustic, the pool is more like a two-person concrete box…or a full-immersion baptismal font.

On the plus side, this house has a garage. On the minus side, it has only one bathroom. The asking price is $89,000, and it’s possible a lower offer might be accepted. But my friend didn’t feel it was big enough for her needs.

Our crafty real estate agent had, of course, just one more home to show us. At $99,000, my friend felt it was more than she could pay. But…

On a 5,000-square-foot lot, the two-story house has been completely renovated. There are two good-sized rooms upstairs with a bathroom and a small alcove. There’s even a nice rooftop terrace. This top floor is perfect for a small rental apartment.

Downstairs is a living room, dining room, kitchen, office, bedroom, and another bathroom. Iron doors open onto a pretty terrace. This house, too, has a garage. But it doesn’t have a swimming pool, although with plenty of land to spare, there is room to build one at a later date.

Best of all, the house comes fully furnished…kitchen appliances, beds, linens, etc. It needs a good cleaning, but it is in move-in condition.

The price, though, was an obstacle. My friend agonized over making an offer that might be considered offensive, but she has only so much to spend. She decided to offer $85,000. Then she crossed her fingers and got on a plane to go home.

The next day she forwarded me an e-mail from the real estate agent. “Congratulations,” it read. “You’re now a Merida homeowner.”

The deal is not done, of course. Contracts must be signed and money needs to change hands. But my friend found what she was looking for and it’s only a wee bit over her budget. But as I reminded her, she would have spent more than $5,000 on appliances and furniture if she had stayed within her budget and bought an unfurnished house for $80,000.

Credit is due to both my friend and the real estate agent she worked with. She was honest with him about how much she had to spend and what she needed for that amount. He didn’t waste her time (or his) showing her properties that wouldn’t work for her. And he was honest about what she should expect to pay for any required renovation work on the houses she looked at.

The moral of the story: hard work pays off. Prince Charming is out there….

Regards,

Suzan Haskins
Your Latin America Insider, International Living

P.S. Want to move to Mexico but don’t know where to start? Start with International Living’s Live and Invest in Mexico seminar, Nov. 6–8, 2008, in Merida, Mexico’s No. 1 retirement destination. Find out more here.

Read related IL Postcards:

- Searching for an $80,000 Dream Home in Merida

- The Four Cs of Merida

- Anger Management, Mexico Style