San Miguel de Allende Travel Forum

I will be visiting San Miguel for the first time February 06 I need to have contact with some American folks that have retired and are living there I need information on relocating to Mexico from the States I also need to find a nice reasonable B and B or Hotel I figure I will be staying for 3 or 4 days I would love to have some nice people to talk with before I travel there\
Best regards dnd Happy Holiday

Gary Grosbeck
gfg1941@sbcglobal.net

Hi, We recently took a coach tour of Croatia and Slovinnia, we went mid October and the weather was good, not too hot, some people were swimming but it looked too cold. Days were about 20C.The tour was great , 9 days and good accommodation with plenty of attractions and meals included. Croatia is still a cheap destination. If I went again I would go early Sept as I like to swim, the water looked fantastic. If you are interested email me and I will give you a web site for tour. My VT page on Croatia will not be up until mid January as I am still doing the other countries we visited.
Good Luck, Mikebb

While VT is very helpful, I think you want to google for forums in the San Miguel area to contact locals there. If you don't find anything appropriate, try the 7 day free trial of www.mexconnect.com

You need to do lots of research, if you've not already done so, and the Internet can help. I have listed a number of urls and boldfaced/asterisked two that should be in your SMA bookmarks folder. Portalsanmiguel will give you weekly updates relative to events and will also lead you to RE agencies, etc. Googling 'san miguel de allende real estate' will bring up many others. Buying property is almost always in USD and it's in cash (no mortgages or, rather, mortgage rates and upfront fees are very high compared with the US, so no one goes that route). Getting a title is very important. Using a real estate agency is advisable unless you have SMA connections that can provide the critical advice needed for buying property outside of the US, and especially in Mexico. The process is not at all difficult but you really need to be well informed about everything from purchasing to selling, taxes to household obligations and utility issues.

If you are very serious and have done your homework, as they say, some of the people on the Tripadvisor Forum will be able to advise you. But they usually will not provide information that they have posted in the past, so you really must read the many entires that have been submitted over the year(s). Btw, Tripadvisor's travel site on SMA (different than the forum) is terrific for scoping out hotels and B&Bs in SMA. People post their recommendations/reviews in the general SMA travel section. If you have specific questions about the places in which you're interested (distance/convenience/flat or hill-location/noise), you then can post them to the Forum section of Tripadvisor.

When in SMA, do not hesitate to stop people and ask questions about living in SMA, etc. People are extremely friendly. I am not sure 3 or 4 days will give you much of a picture of living/retiring in SMA. But I am sure you'll have a great time. I also suggest that you seek out your local Mex consulate's website regarding more information relative to visa requirements for nonnationals living in Mexico.

1. Three sites with Mexico/general information and specifics relative to retirement/visas/buying real estate/etc. It is a handy primer.
http://www.solutionsabroad.com/index.asp

http://www.mexconnected.com/ (to the best of my knowlegde, there is no trial membership or any other fees involved for viewing this site, although someone who replied to your VT post said there was)

http://www.stewart.com/ (they are a leader in Mexico, including SMA, for obtaining title searches and title insurance)

2. The SMA government (in Spanish) website
http://www.sanmiguelallende.gob.mx/home/index.php

3. Two SMA websites/portals:
**http://portalsanmiguel.com/

http://www.sma-info.com/index.php

4. Two SMA forums where you can read through many questions/answers that might prove helpful before posting your questions, and the second one is more mundane in that people who live there and have needs (painters, plumbers, etc.) will use the forum.

**http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g151932-i472-San_Miguel_de_Allende_Central_Mexico_and_Gulf_Coast.html

http://vivasma.com/smf/index.php/

One thing you really want to get is input from locals, not just travelers. And not local government outfits or realtors because their interests are not the same as yours.

I would say that ANYBODY thinking of moving to Mexico should subscribe to Mexico Connect immediately and start reading and posting there. Yes, you can read some of the stuff for free, but asking questions on the forums (and their SMA forum is pretty much THE one) you need to subscribe. It's $30 a year to join...a bargain, considering what you can save in not making bad moves...and you can try it out for a week free.
As it says right here http://www.mexconnect.com/subscription/subscriptionintro.html

Have fun