Keepin' It Real - Q&A Living in Mexico | Episode Two

Hello, hello. Welcome to Keeping It Real. One sec, gotta grab my coffee. Left it over here. So. Welcome, welcome. Hi. Diamonds and pearls. Kevin, what up? Thanks for joining me today. So happy you guys are here. Good morning. Or maybe afternoon, wherever you are. So, all of my wonderful friends, I want to spend today to answer some more of your questions about the, about what I did buying land, all of this. There are so many questions. So I'm going to try to get through as many as I can. Got through some last week. We'll see where we get today. I thought I would have you join me from the pool today. So there's beautiful things to look. Look at. And then also to let you guys know that today I will be posting a reel on a tour of the entire upstairs area, the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and how all that works. So, you know, I mean, I could walk this around with me and take you around, but might get a little bumpy. So where we left off last time, which was, you know, what qualifies someone? Basically, you just need money and you have to have cash. Like, you have to have the money. Getting a loan in Mexico is not easy. And it's very expensive. Very expensive. And it's. There are options here for Americans to actually get loans, but the money is like 10, 12%. Like, it's expensive. Do you need permission to buy land and where do you start the process? Yes, you need permission, but not just from the government, but you need permission from the, the spirits of the land here. Like you'll see on my feed, we did a ceremony to ask permission to build that it was okay that I'm here, that I will take good care and be a guardian of this land. And that's a very important part of the culture here. I highly recommend if you buy land, that you find a really great shaman and have them do a blessing on your land. I think that's super important, especially if you want to be at peace in your land. And like I said, ever since I did that ceremony, I've never felt scared. I've never been where I know nothing here wants to harm me in any way. And I've never been harmed here. I've been here four years now and living here four years. I bought it five years ago, but was able to start actually living here. I lived in a tent way out on my dance floor, my outdoor dance floor for six months while they were building my home. So you do need permission, but permissions here are a little bit different, like depending on what you want to build. If you're closer to the city, you have to get permits. Like. Like in the United States, you have to get a permit. Right. And if you have questions in regards to what I'm saying, I'll try to keep going with the feed while you're here. Like, where I live, I'm so far out into the jungle and they want people to actually build here. So I can produce up to 15% of my land. I can build on up to 15% of my land with no permits, which has been awesome. I've just been able to build anything I want. It's kind of cool. And so that's really nice. Is planning. Is it like the United States with general contractors and subcontractors? Yes and no. This is where, boy, you gotta watch your back. I cannot tell you how royally I got on multiple occasions, just straight out theft, like, took my money and ran, like. And then the greatest theft was the contractor that I hired. Since. I don't know. I don't know. I. I don't know anything about construction. I'm just. I'm hiring people I think I'm trusting that they know what they're doing right. And they are great at convincing you that they know what they're doing. But pretty much everything he built, I had to rebuild. So he took the money, paid the workers, did it. But since I didn't know what was being done right and being done wrong, and they knew that, they took advantage of that and used the cheapest materials, built it incorrectly. And that's my water systems, my house, my pool. My pool has been redone three times. Like, it's no joke. But I'll tell you, all of it's worth it. It's still less than what it would have cost me in the United States. Just so you know. Still would have been less. But now, like, especially if anyone's out there, like, I'm thinking of creating a resource, something for people, because I had to learn the hard way. And I didn't have someone like me that was going, don't use them, use these people. So now I have amazing contractors and I hire them all independently. I don't do subcontractors. I go directly to the people that do each individual job. So I'm actually the contractor and I hire the subcontractors and I pay attention. You have to. You have to watch everything that they do, because if you don't, they'll do it however they want. Okay. Yeah. And you really don't have any legal recourse. There's really nothing you can Do. There's a company that you can report them to called Profeco, which is like the customer service kind of thing, like in the United States, but it doesn't really do anything. I probably lost well over straight out theft, about $150,000 or more, maybe 200 when all is said and done. Like, yeah, that part sucked. That sucked balls. Like, hardcore. Thanks for coming on, you guys. Okay. Is it like the US with general contractors and say, okay, that. Do you pay property taxes? Yes, I do. So there is a property tax that is a lot less than in the United States. Maybe. I think I pay maybe $2,000 a year, maybe for two and a half acres of land. However, when you start to build, they lower your taxes. They lower the percentage of tax that you pay because they want you to actually develop the land. So they reward you for doing that by lowering your taxes. However, your property value goes up because you're building and now you have structures, so you end up almost paying the same or more because your value of your property goes up so high. But they try to balance that out with you. Can foreigners open a bank account in Mexico? Yes, you can. However, most banks do require you to have a temporary residency. It doesn't have to be permanent. It could be temporary residency. My bank, I was. This was four years ago. It's changed now. Now, like, you pretty much have to have residency. I didn't at the time that I opened my bank account. But there are banks that are in the United States, like HSBC and Citibank. So if you have accounts there, it's a lot easier for you to open them here because you've already established your account in the United States. So, yes, you can. But now it's harder and harder. Like, you have to have at least a temporary residency to open a bank account. How do you get visa or temporary permanent residency? You just apply. And this is kind of one of the things where we all know that Mexico is deeply rooted in corruption. Like, it's in your face. But I, you know, I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but the United States is just as corrupt as Mexico. It's just not in your face. It's very well hidden. But in Mexico, it's in your face. Like, yes, you get pulled over, you can pay the cat, the. The cop, you know, 200 pesos, and they let you on. And you don't, like, you don't have to go to court. You don't have to do all that stuff. So. And it's in your face. And then you can also use it to your advantage. Like, it's there, it's everywhere. And so, like residency, you can hire a lawyer, pay a little bit more, and expedite the service. So something that could take six months could actually take a couple weeks. Like, it just depends on how much money you want to spend and how fast you want it. Where do you apply? There's you have to go through. You can actually just Google that or chatgpt that. It'll tell you exactly where to go and the process to do it. I don't want to waste your time here. How much money do you need in savings in Mexico? I'm not really sure. It might be like $40,000 in the bank. I'm not quite sure exactly what the number is, but yeah, I really don't know. Can it be based on property ownership or assets? I don't know. How did you gain residency without cash savings? Well, I had money in the bank here, and I have two bank accounts here. Because to buy my land, I had to open a corporation. I had to open a business here to buy my land. There's two ways to do it. You either do it through a trust, a bank trust, or through a corporation. So I opened a corporation, and my land is my business now. Like, I actually rent it for events and stuff like that. So it's now actually a business. And so I. I shifted money from the United States to here. And that's what's kind of cool, is that if you pay, you. You have to pay tax somewhere. So my companies and my businesses actually reside in the United States. And so I pay tax in the United States and then I can send money here and I don't have to pay tax on it here. I only have to pay tax on money that I make here in Mexico. Like them, the money I make here for events, I have to pay tax on that. And taxes here are really interesting. Hi, guys. There is a 16% VAT. So, like in the United States, each state has its own local tax. Like whether it's 8% or 6% or whatever it might be. In Mexico, it's a 16% flat on everything. Your groceries. So when you build, you just have to plan on adding 16% on top of everything. Now some people think, oh, my God, yeah, it's a lot. But go to Costa Rica, it's 40%. Like 40% on everything you buy. So, yeah, that's wild. I don't know how people afford to live there. Like, Costa Rica is the Switzerland of Latin America. Just so you know, like, it is expensive to live there. How did I gain residency without. Okay, how did I get dual citizen? How do I get dual citizens? I have no family. To get Mexican citizenship, you have to go through the process just like you would in the United States. You have to apply, you get your residency. That's for a certain period of time. Then you apply for your permanent residency, then you can apply for citizenship. So a lot of the families, like, it's really cool. There's a lot of women that I know that have moved here with their young children, and there's a whole community where I go on Tuesdays to dance on the beach. And all of them are women from all different countries and families, and they brought their young kids and they're working towards getting dual citizenship. And because they like to go back and forth, they like to spend summers because it's so hot here in the summers. So they leave for the summers and they come back here for the winters. And so they go six months and six months. And there's a ton of people that do that. Does owning property help? Yes, of course it does. Yeah. If you're investing in this country, they'll. They'll reward that. If I share custody of kids and spend half the time in the U.S. is that worth getting dual residency? I don't know because I don't have kids, so that's never in my field. So, yeah. Should we go through a couple more questions? How much land do you have? Cost of land. Love your tower. Do you need permits to build? No, I didn't need a permit for that. How much land do I have? Okay, so I have. In here, in Mexico, they do it by hectares, not by acres. So I have 1.5 hectares, and every hectare is like one, is like 2.23 acres. So all in all, I have like 3.6 acres, something like that. That's how much land I have. Good morning. And so, okay, now we're talking money. How much did it cost? Okay, well, I've been. I've been debating on whether I should share how much it actually cost me to do this, but just to be honest. Okay, so in the area that I live out in the jungle, and the property values here are going up. Like, it's a great place to. To invest. And also because Mexico just built a massive train system all the way through the Yucatan, and that train is about 5km from me. So ever since that went in, and now there's easier transportation all around through Mexico, all the property values are going up, like, because more and more people are coming. It's easier to get around. And anywhere near these trains is property values going up. So when I bought five years ago, I scored so big time. You have no idea. So my land, this is what's so cool about my land is that it was never listed officially. It was only kind of privately listed. They were. It was a people from Bulgaria that owned it before me. And they had a Buddhist meditation center here. Okay. But with camping. So there wasn't all the development, like I built all of it. All that was here was like my kitchen was the meditation hall. And I tore that down and turned it into my kitchen and living room. And. And. And then they had a big. Where my dance, outdoor dance floor is, was a big stupa, a big Buddhist bell that I had to tear down when I built my dance floor. But that's all that was here. But it was a Buddhist meditation center for six years. So the energy here was insane. It was amazing. And I have a cenote. I have a huge underground water cave. If you go through my feed, you'll see the cenote, which is incredible. Like, I always dreamt of having a cote. They are such magical places. The water is pristine and mineral dense, and it's just like, ah, it's amazing. So when they first started trying to sell it, they were trying to sell it for $1.5 million. Okay. Now, keep in mind, the land right next to me, the land right next to me, it's like 120,000. Okay. It's because it had a cote and they had already done some like, building the roads. And you have to clear because it's raw jungle, like it's completely raw. You have to do the roads, you have to do all the infrastructure, everything. So they were asking 1.5. No, I'm not worried about the drug cartels. Hell no. No one wanted visitors. None of that. It's awesome. No. I'm out in the middle of nowhere and I'll go into it a little bit more of the level of security that I have here, which is awesome. So they were asking 1.5 million. They. They were desperate to sell because the owner, his wife became ill and they owned like six properties in Mexico. She became ill and they wanted to go back to Bulgaria so that she could die around her family and be there. And so they gave up their life in Mexico and wanted to start dumping their properties. I. It was synergistic, like, divine timing. So every month that they couldn't sell it, they would drop it about $200,000. They just wanted to get rid of it. So by the time I got my land, I got it for 300, like, and it was magic. Divine how it all came about. I was not looking. I did not go looking for this property. This property found me. It was so cool. My friend who works for me, who now lives in Mexico, her boyfriend is a photographer, and he was here taking photographs for the real estate agency. And she came with him just to spend the day with him. And she calls me the moment she walks on this land, and she's like, yo, Misty, I found your land. I was like, what? She's like, oh, yeah, you're gonna buy this place. I know you're gonna buy this place. I was like, okay, cool. The next day, I checked it out. I came, I saw the cenote, and I. About my pants, and I was, like, stripped naked. I didn't care. The real estate agent was right there. I didn't care. Got naked, swam all the way to the back of the cenote, came out, put my clothes on, and said, let's make a deal. I want. This is. I have to be here. I knew from the moment I came here. I was like, this is my land. And so that's magic how it all. That all came about. But I got a really great deal on it. But what was crazy is overcoming the fear of spending money, because I had never had money my whole life. So I finally had a little nest egg of money, you know, and it was so exciting. And I knew I wanted to buy land and start something, but I was like, this is all the money I have right now. Like, I'm like, I don't. I can't build, because I really don't know what I'm gonna do. But it was scary to, like, let go of all my money all at once. Like, I was like, I'm emptying out my bank accounts to buy this land because you have to pay cash. What? Wire transfer. So. But it all worked out because the moment I bought it, I knew I was supposed to be here. And then money just continued to. And even though I got screwed, more money came, and I just knew that I. I just had to stay the course. And I did, and it paid off. But land here varies in price everywhere. Like, there are. If you go deeper into the middle of the Yucatan, you can buy an acre, you can buy a hectare for, like, five, ten grand. Like, closer you get to the ocean, it gets more expensive. You're looking at a million dollars or more to buy land on the ocean, but you'll Never own it. Because the land on the ocean, you just have to lease it. You can never own it, but it is possible. I'm coming from Kona, Cocktails with you. Let's party. Cafecito in La Manana. Okay, so that's, you know, as far as pricing, it's too hard. It's just depends on where you want to live and how you want to live. And there's all different prices. But, like, the land next to me, that was one hundred and something. It's now two hundred fifty. Like, and that's just in four years. Like, the land here is, is going up, especially in this area, because all the cities are becoming really, really populated. And especially with a lot of foreigners, especially Tulum and Playa del Carmen, it's just, they're. They're expanding so quickly. And so a lot of people that are like me, I'm just like, okay, I'm. I got. I got. I got to Playa. When it was perfect 17 years ago, it was still just a beach town. It was a city, but it was more beachy and, and more local. And then over the last, you know, 17 years, it's just exploded. And so I wanted to get out. I wanted to just be like this all the time with the birds and the monkeys and the tarantulas and the snakes and the things. I'm happier here. How much did your setup cost from land to home build? I. I probably all in all, to this point, after four years of construction, rebuilding, all of the things I had to do, I've probably spent 1.5 million in total. Yeah, so there you go. That's how much I've spent so far. How much money do I need as a down payment? It all depends if you need. If you want to make a down payment. It's not really a down payment. It's more just to secure it. And it could be 10, 20%, but then you have to come up with the full amount within probably two to three weeks. When you do the signing of the paperwork and the money transfers, you have to have all of it. So it's not like in the US where you put a down payment, you finance the rest. It doesn't work like that. Is seller financing common or available for land? I don't know. Are there assistance programs for down payments or financing? There are, but like I said, money is very expensive here to borrow. They do have some programs for foreigners, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's very expensive. What is the average monthly cost of living in Mexico versus the Us again, it depends on where you're living and how you want to live. When I first moved here I like I went from it cost me $6,000 a month to live in Beverly Hills, my apartment, my car, my credit cards, cost of food, gas, all of that. I was spending $6,000 a month in Los Angeles here. When I moved here, my apartment dropped from $2,000 a month to $400 a month and I was living five blocks from the Caribbean ocean, two bedroom, absolutely adorable, little Mexican, so cute. And I actually still have that apartment. I refuse to give it up. And the rent now after 17 years is only $500 a month and I never signed a contract, no credit checks, Nothing. Now, now 17 years later, now there's contracts and now people have to do it. But since I've been in that building for so long and I know the owners, they're just, they know I'll always pay my rent. And in fact my friend from LA, 63 year old woman, left her life in LA a year ago and now she's renting my apartment in Playa, which is really cool. She's a dj, she's dope as I'll interview her at some point so you can hear her story. So hope we're getting through a lot. How much are the health care costs? And okay, you can get insurance now I haven't had, I hadn't had in health insurance for over 20 years. Never needed it, didn't bother with it, didn't have it in the us it's like what's the point? I'm not like I wasn't going to spend that money and healthcare costs in the US are so ridiculously expensive. So when I moved here I still didn't have insurance and if I ever needed to go see a doctor or OBGYN or just little things, you know, I have the best dermatologist, he's awesome. I go in there once every couple years just so he checks my skin and make sure everything's cool. It's the same technology as the US he speaks perfect English and it cost me $50 with no insurance and I spend an hour with him. Like the health care here is actually far like superior. Like when I go to my obgyn, amazing woman, speaks English, I go in there, we talk for an hour again, same equipment. She's got the thinger up my hooter and there's a camera and I can see everything that's going on and she's talking to me and wants to know about my lifestyle, how I Eat all the things like, are you kidding me? I've never had a doctor ask me all of these other questions about my lifestyle and my stress level and my partner. And it was amazing. It was like, oh my. Oh, this is what it's supposed to be like to have a doctor that like cares about you. They actually, you know, an OBGYN appointment with all the tests, $50. I needed to go have my blood tested. That cost me $25. So I didn't need insurance because it's cheaper. You can just go now. If I were to have an emergency and go to the hospital, there's different levels of hospital. There's hospitals for the foreigners, which is 10 times more expensive, or there's the local hospital. But I would probably, if I had an emergency and needed some serious help, I'd want to go to the foreigners. But now I do have insurance because now I'm in my 50s and I travel a lot. And so I actually got global health insurance. But the funny thing is global health insurance will cover you in every country of the world except for the United States. Why? Because it's too bloody expensive and everything's overpriced. So all these insurance companies won't cover you in the United States. They'll cover you everywhere else, but not in the US So when I go to the US I have to have coverage, a separate coverage, just when I go to the United States. It's crazy. But HealthC care here is great. They are very forward thinking. They don't have all the regulations. They've got lots of like stem cell therapy places here and regenerative places here. And they're just much more open and forward thinking about medical care. Where's my apartment at? My apartment is in Playa del Carmen. Yeah, it's a great little. Yeah. Am I, am I speaking in US dollars or pesos? I'm talking in dollars. I think in dollars because that's how I make my money is in dollars. And the peso goes up and down all the time. So it's like I equate things to how much it's costing me in dollars. So yeah, that would be dollars. Are utilities expensive? What about Internet, Water, fuel, off grid? Okay, great question. Utilities in Mexico, if you're living in the city, electricity is incredibly expensive, like weirdly expensive, which I don't understand at all. And they have this thing like in my apartment sometimes my electric bill was more expensive than my rent. And I mean that's not, I mean my rent was 400, so it's. But it was crazy because they'd also, if you would go over a certain amount of usage every month, they put you in this thing called dac. And what that does is it triples your cost of wattage. So for a year you have to stay under it, but you still have to pay three times the amount because you've been penalized for going above your usage. But now that I'm living off grid out here in the jungle and I've got my own solar, I've got my own batteries, I've got my own verter, I never run out of electricity. It's freaking dope. It doesn't get turned off and I don't have an electric bill. I can run my air conditioner all day, all night if I want. Like, yeah, I have an air conditioner out off grid because I. One thing I wanted when I lived out here, and this is like when you get really clear on what you want and how you want to live. I am older now. I've done the rough in it. I will not rough it anymore. I don't rough it out here. I live in absolute luxury. Like I, I created the most badass solar system so that I, I have a 2,000 square foot dance studio downstairs with two massive air conditioners, one in my bedroom. I can run all of them all day long, no problem. I've got four different water pumps pulling water from different places for all the. No problem. Like I, I built a of a system and it's awesome. And if it's cloudy, I have about three days worth of battery backup, so it's kind of cool. What else? Internet. I have Starlink, WI fi. Like I have my own dish way up on the top of my tower, so I get impeccable service. Better than in the city. And it costs like a hundred dollars a month. But I think that's the same as he charges everywhere. Like Elon charges the same everywhere. It's about a hundred dollars a month and it was about 400 for the equipment. Super easy, easy to set up. I set it up myself. So easy. And then I can take my dish and take it wherever I go. It's portable water. I don't have to pay for water in the city. I think you do. I never had a water bill because the apartment building covered the water bill. But yeah, I have unlimited. I have endless water. Like I empty about a third of my pool every other day. So I don't have to use chemicals because I have unlimited water. It's dope. Food is much cheaper here. Well, Depending on what you get. If you get imported products, like from the US they are more expensive. But in general, like, I can go to the local. There's a little, you know, down in the village that's about 20 minutes away. There's little local shops and I can eat a big beautiful meal for less than $10. Like, and that's with a margarita and a full. Like, it's crazy how much cheaper it is here. And so I'll stop there so I don't keep you all day, but keep posting your questions. Your house water is from Cenote? Yes, it is. So, like, this is the pool and then my pool overlooks this big cavern that goes down here and the Cenote down. I don't know if you can. I don't want to drop this. It's down there. And then that's my outdoor dance floor. First thing I built, of course, an outdoor dance floor because I started having parties right from the beginning. And then over here is my huge studio. That's my recording studio where I make all my dance videos for my Body Groove app. And I also have epic parties there. So, yeah, it's down, down there. And yes, all my water comes from the Cenote, but the cenote is all underground. Like, it's underneath my house. It's everywhere. That's just the entrance to the cave. So, yeah, so thanks for tuning in and keep posting questions and if you want to know more, I'll keep answering them. And yeah, you guys are dope and I look forward to more fun conversations and I'll get more and more into. I'll be sharing a lot of the before and after photos of what it looked like before I built to after I built and what I had to do. Can people volunteer to help here? That's a real tough one because I built this for myself and there's no room for anyone else to live. I have a little casita off to the side for when my dad visits and my mom and my sister comes. But I like living alone. Nice to see you too. We were supposed to see your bedroom. Yes, you were, but carrying this around. So what I've done is today, since you came in later on the call today, I'm actually compiling a really cool video of a tour of the entire upstairs through the kitchen, the dog place, my bedroom. So you'll get to see all of that. So keep stay tuned on my page today. I'll post that before the end of the day and you'll get the upstairs tour. And yeah, was there anything else I wanted to tell you before I let you go. I don't think so. But you will. See, my bedroom and all of it, it's dope. And the whole process. So thanks for being here. Hope you guys have a lovely, fabulous rest of your weekend. Cheers. And I'll see you soon.