 Finding Housing in Guanajuato
I must receive hundreds of emails each year, from readers of my thousands of articles and several books, asking me how to find a place to live in Guanajuato. In recent years, the capital city of the state of Guanajuato, that bears the same name--Guanajuato--is now officially on the Gringo Radar. They are coming in droves and all those Gringos need a place to live. This book, I hope, provides a start to what you will be up against in Guanajuato, Gto., Mexico! I provided lots of advice as well as resources to get you started looking or a place to live. Not only is this a small primer on how-to find a place to live but is a primer dealing with a philosophy of expatriation.
Free ArticlesAvoid Real Estate and Contractual Scams Part I[Real-Estate:Leasing-Renting] Not all Mexican Landlords, without exception, will do what I have outlined in this story. Some are actually very honest. There are blemishes, however, in the landscape of trying to find housing in Mexico and you need to know them before trying to rent in Mexico...BUYING A HOUSE...Read More
Avoid Real Estate and Contractual Scams Part II[Real-Estate] A Mexican landlord would rather die than ever return a deposit to a renter...BUYING A HOUSE...Read More
More tourists are coming for seasonal stints and need long-term vacation housing. Have you ever wondered if mass tourism actually spoils the very thing it comes to observe in a foreign country? I've been wondering this a lot lately. Does the onslaught of tourists flooding into a particular place to enjoy what that place has to offer end up becoming the source of that place's ruination? This is both confusing and, of course, a bit hypocritical of me, a travel writer, to even suggest. It has, however, been on my mind. More than once, I've met or corresponded with those who have visited my adopted home of Guanajuato because of the articles my wife and I write. Based on our first two books, one couple attributes their moving to Guanajuato to us. So, in a very real sense I am a source of this problem. I am drawing people here. Hypocrisy? Massive tourism can put a strain in the infrastructure of any place. Basic services such as water gets stretched to the max. Water, something Americans take for granted, is not as renewable a resource in Guanajuato as it is in most places in the States. Guanajuato is a mountain desert with a Steppe Climate. It is dependent on the annual rainfall (or lack thereof) to refresh and replenish its reservoirs. The current problem is the last two rainy seasons have not been "up to snuff." The rains have been sadly lacking and now we're in trouble. The influx of tourism this year is making it worse. It seems the tourists just keep coming and coming. This is a good thing for the merchants but how will the city keep the water flowing? Normally, the city implements water rationing measures. The city cuts off the water supply to certain residential areas throughout the city in hopes of conserving water. Rationing in the neighborhoods is even more severe when the tourists come in hordes, straining the system in the hotels and hostels. The city officials cut water off from the residents so the tourists can bathe and flush the toilets. The priority here seems a bit a skewed. Are not the city services meant for those who support these services by paying their taxes? I mean, who should come first, the tourists or the citizens of Guanajuato One of my wife's private ESL students told her a horrifying example of how this water shortage works: 1. They have to take sponge baths with their bottled drinking water that they heat on the stove. 2. They have to find a friend or family member somewhere outside the neighborhood with running water to take a weekly shower. 3. Her husband and son have to walk to a public water source to fill buckets with water to flush the toilet. This goes on while water for the tourists' flows freely. I can guarantee you the tourists don't have to go in search of water to go potty or to sponge out their pits. It would be lovely if there were a steady and renewable supply of water all the time for everyone. There isn't. And it seems to me that those who live here, who raise their families here, should have priority. The main problem is the tourism season for most Americans and Canadians is June through August. That is our rainy season, and if the rains don't come—there is no water.Would the tourist season suffer? Maybe. But, the tourists would then be able to have an opportunity to see first hand how real Mexicans in Central México are often forced to live. Urbanization is another contributor to pollution. If someone burns trash in the country no one blinks. If you do this in the city you send half a dozen people in your tightly bunched housing to the hospital with asthma attacks, or worse. The more tightly packed people are in the city housing, the more likely an individual's actions will affect his neighbor. It is unavoidable. It is rainy season right now as I write this chapter. The rains should be a time of refreshment. But as I walk down my street here in Guanajuato I look each day at a river of brown milkiness. There is no clarity to the water. There is no life there. What is there are old car tires, plastic bottles, shoes, old machine parts, and anything else you can imagine someone might throw into the river as their garbage dump. No one seems to care. It seems to me that being rich or poor has nothing to do with the individual who can make the personal choice of how to deal with their trash. Who exactly is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to throw anything into the river, on the streets, or in the bushes rather than walking to the trash bin and tossing it in? I mean, really, tell me, who is forcing you? Another issue that is every bit a pollution problem is smoking. If subjective observation means anything then it appears that the vast majority in this town smokes like dragons. What is so alarming is to see how many very, very young people are addicted to cigarettes. The American tobacco companies probably laughed their heads off at the thought the American anti-smoking activists actually believed they could break these companies financially. What a hoot. They have addicts all over the world smoking their brands and most of them seem to get hooked at extremely young ages. This is such a perfect example of México having thousands of laws on the books but no rules to guide ethical behavior. Each store or kiosk I've seen has the signs stating that it is against the law to sell to minors and yet you can see them selling to kids all over the place. It is pathetic and so sad to think of the deaths of these addicts where they will choke to death from the lung cancer they are destined to contract. It is extremely hard to avoid the cancer causing and heart attack inducing second hand smoke. Few restaurants have smoke free zones and even then you are forced to smell it and walk through it to get out the door. And smokers in Guanajuato seem just as careless and thoughtless of how what they do behaviorally affects others. If they care so little for their health that they would inhale that crap into their lungs what makes you think they care a wit about your lungs? Truly, they love their neighbors as they love themselves—which is not much. They care about your health about as much as they care for their own. Again: Which is not much. If you have any sort of respiratory illness then you will not be going out to eat a lot. Sad. I cannot believe the prices some of the landlords want for vacation housing. This is a popular for those contemplating staying in Guanajuato to escape their harsh winters back home. What I will list here tend to me housing that appeal to those who are monolingual and need a place to land. I am assuming this is so since few people can actually afford the prices being asked except on a temporarily basis. I would be extremely cautious in entering in more than a three month lease with any landlord in this town. You will get a better rental rate the longer you stay. I know one lady who charge $800.00 a month for a month to month lease for a studio apartment. Isn’t that incredible? Vacation housing in San Miguel is even higher than Guanajuato. I have listed homes in both Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende.
THE CHOPPERThrough website forums and personal contacts, many potential expats to Guanajuato learn that a weekly publication in Guanajuato called curiously, THE CHOPPER, is the place to find rental housing. There are even some "for sale" properties in the classified section. The problem potential expats are finding is how to secure current copies of THE CHOPPER. There is NO website, the folks at THE CHOPPER are Spanish speaking only, and if you could secure a subscription sent via Mexican Mail Service, it could take weeks before it reached you in the States or wherever you live. I offer a service whereby you can obtain current postings of the rental properties from The Chopper. I can send you an email full of current listings. I will tell you where the property is located, the current listing date, and contact information. If you want an evaluation of the location, check out the H-E-L-P button on this site on the left. All we will do for this fee is send you the current listing of the amounts you indicate on the form below: TEN CURRENT RENTAL LISTINGS - $10.00 ELEVEN OR MORE CURRENT RENTAL LISTINGS - $20.00 FILL OUT AND SEND THIS FORM BEFORE CLICKING ON THE PAY BUTTONS BELOW!!!PAY HERETEN CURRENT RENTAL LISTINGS - $10.00....ELEVEN OR MORE CURRENT RENTAL LISTINGS - $20.00...
|
