Year: 2023

The first house in Mexico is officially on the market. We have a lot of interest to both purchase the house or rent apartments in it (of which there are now six). One party wants to rent the whole thing. We have another house identified just a few blocks away that we would like to purchase and remodel if we can sell the first one in time.

We have learned much about how to go about this. The key to all of it, of course, is sufficient capital to keep the builders working at a reasonable pace, but there are a lot of other things, too. How to buy a house suitable for a project like this requires knowledge of the neighborhood. What seems like a good deal, might not really be that good if there is insufficient parking, drainage problems, recalcitrant neighbors, or some other defect. It is not like buying a house in the US.

We are excited about moving forward to the next project. It all depends on selling the first project first. If things come together and we get the house we want, we will almost certainly just tear the thing down and start from scratch. Location and price are what makes it an attractive property for us, not the current structure. If we do not get that one, there are other options.

This post is an update because I have not written for a long time. We continue to make progress on both our little places down in Mexico. As a reminder, we bought the first one because my lawyer brother-in-law who also has a construction business ran into a very good deal for a house with a nice view on the less affluent side of the valley that passes through San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon Mexico. Right about when he had finished up the demolition and cleanup, a deal came up for another great place on the last street with houses further up Sierra Las Mitres, the mountain where both of the houses are located. At that point, we decided to turn the first house into a small apartment complex and build out the one up on the hill for ourselves when we stay in Mexico with Lorena’s mother Conchita.

That was quite a while ago. The apartments are almost finished. At first, we were going to stop with four apartments and an azotea (grilling and entertainment area on the roof), but Lynn, the lawyer, figured out a way to add an additional two apartments for six total and an additional azotea on a roof at the back of the house. Construction continues, but we are in the process of getting the apartments appraised and hope to put it on the market soon. The picture at the left is the appearance of the apartments from the street. The one below is the view of the mountains on the other side of the valley from the second azotea that will be poured in the the next few days.

There is a lot of work going on at the house further up the mountain, too. Most of the demolition is complete, electrical and plumbing infrastructure has been add, and new stairways to the basement, second floor, and azotea are in process. I will save a description of our progress on that house for another post, but Lynn sent me a video of the valley from the balcony at the back of the house that I thought was nice, so I included it. Construction on the new Tesla Giga-Factory is planned to start in a few months. We are about 15 minutes away and there is a good chance we will be able to see it from the azotea which is higher than the balcony from which the below video was captured.