Buying a Second Home Somewhere Warm

by John Youden Retired Journalist

For many Americans and Canadians retirement can often involve a lifestyle change, deciding to live full- or part-time somewhere where the weather is warmer during the winters, and perhaps the cost of living is less. When making such a decision, the following should be considered before one jumps into any form of second-home ownership. I suggest taking this list and prioritizing them in terms of their importance to you, list beside them the places you are considering and then grade them from 1-10. If you know excel this is a good use for it. For any of us, buying a home, first or second, is a big investment. You want to make sure you’ve done your homework before you make a commitment.

The Price of Real Estate: Whatever you buy, it has to affordable - that it will fit your budget. You’ll want to look for a place that offers a wide range of pricing as you’ll want the high-end, (even if you can’t afford it), because it attracts the amenities you will be looking for such as good restaurants and easy-access to activities such as boating, golf, fishing, etc. And you’ll want to ensure there is a wide variety of real estate types available, not just homes and condos but where they may be located: on a golf course, up on a hill for views, in a marina, or right in the center of town. And as well, you’ll want to have available to you as much information as possible regarding what is available for sale, so as to make the best decision. For this a good MLS real estate system is essential, so you know everything that is available in the marketplace.
Weather Conditions: You are trading off your current location for hopefully something with better weather, and most likely that would be in the summer months. So check out how much it rains, how hot it is, and how humid it may be, during the months you want to be there.
Close Proximity to Home: If it will be a second home for you, you'll want a place that isn’t too far away from your primary home so you have to deal with long flights and/or multiple layovers. You’ll want it to have an airport with good connections, so hopefully you can fly directly, regularly. Also, if you are away and something happens, you want to easily get back home, even if it means driving. We just saw this with the Covid-19 pandemic - if you owned somewhere in South America and flights got scarce it would’ve been next to impossible to drive back home. So you want to remain close and connected to home.
Cost of Living: Preferably the cost of living will be less than back home. There’s a lot to consider with this, such as the cost of flying back and forth, not just your day-to-day expenses.
Available Amenities: Most likely you’ll want to remain active, or take up a new hobby or sport. What is the availability of such activities in the area you are considering? This also includes restaurants, shops, galleries and supermarkets.
Ex-Pat Community: If you are considering anywhere south of the U.S border it will most likely involve a new language and culture. Until you learn the language, you’ll want access to people who speak your language, who are also retired, and share your interests. You don’t want to be lonely. So look for a strong ex-pat community.
Healthcare Availability: We are getting any younger so access to good healthcare services is essential.
Friendly People: People are not the same everywhere. There are definitely places where the people are more friendly than in others. So ask around and find out.
Cultural Discovery: If you are going to choose somewhere, why not something that is different than what you’ve had up until now, so you have something new to learn and discover? Moving to someplace that looks just like what you left, well, why did you ever leave where you were? Learning about a new culture is exciting for us at any age.

When you take all of the above into consideration, Mexico gets high marks. Millions of Americans and Canadians either call Mexico home or consider it their second home. And there are a few destinations within Mexico that stand out, when the above are considered. They are San Miguel de Allende and Lake Chapala in the interior of the country, while on the coast you have the Los Cabos, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit. There are certainly other great places in Mexico, but what usually lets them down is airlift availability and access to amenities.

But what comes out on top? In my opinion, after traveling, writing, and living in Mexico for more than 30 years, it's the Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit region. I’ve visited each of these locations, along with many other parts of Mexico. But nothing really comes close to Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit when you take into consideration the nine points listed above.

Now, that’s the conclusion I came to, but perhaps my wants and needs are different than yours. The only way you’ll really know is by making your own list.

A real estate MLS service really makes looking for real estate easier, and unfortunately the only areas with strong MLS systems in Mexico are Los Cabos and Vallarta/Nayarit. Of the two, Vallarta/Nayarit comes out on top for cost of real estate and the cost of living, available amenities and healthcare availability. You can find out a lot more about Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit at the website MLSVallarta.com, which lists more than a 1,000 properties for sale, but also has many articles so you can educate yourself further as to what it would be like to live there.