By Fabio Rodriguez
San Miguel de Allende is a charming town northwest of Mexico City. It seduces visitors with its Spanish Colonial city center, cafes and restaurants. It helps that it is driving distance from Texas, but one of the major allures is that the cost of living is much lower. For example, a gardener charges around $2 an hour, a house cleaner that cooks and cleans is around $80 a week (in the states, this would cost a minimum of $80 a day). More than 10% of the town’s residents hail from the United States or Canada. As millions Americans face retirement in an economy that has ravaged their savings, places like San Miguel de Allende have an extra appeal. Another area where savings are to be had is in the real estate market. In Florida, property tax on a $500,000 home is around $10,000 a year and you’d have to add another $10,000 or more for hurricane insurance. The property taxes on a nice house in Mexico range from just a couple hundred dollars a year to a thousand. Most of the homes in San Miguel don’t require home owners insurance because houses are stone and stucco so they don’t run a high fire risk.
Despite the recession or maybe because of it, many Americans are still coming to San Miguel. On the edge of town you can find condos for around $250,000, you’ll find starter homes on a golf course for $200,000. It also may surprise you to find Starbucks, Home Depot, Office Depot, Costco, Blockbuster and of course a McDonald’s, however if you are in Mexico, I would suggest the Posole instead of burgers!
Jack Watson, President Carter’s former Chief of Staff, is now a San Miguel resident. He was recently asked, “As this town grows and becomes more American, is there a danger that is it going to lose its flavor?”
He responds, “Absolutely, I’m concerned about the influx of lots of people because one of the really special things about this place is the nature of the place, so if it is overwhelmed by people coming from the United States or from where ever, you’ve got lots of problems.”
Hurricane insurance! San Miguel is in the center of Mexico. Many of the big stores you mention are not in SMA but in Quretero.
Hi Georgene,
Thanks for stopping by. I am familiar with the location of San Miguel, the reference to hurricane insurance is meant to compare the additional costs associated with owning a home in another retirement destination, Florida. You obviously don’t need hurricane insurance if you buy a home in the center of Mexico. Thank you for the corrections about the location of the big stores. How far are they from downtown SMA?
Costco, Sam’s, Walmart and Home Depot are in Celaya (about 45 minutes from San Miguel) and Queretero (about an hour from San Miguel.) San Miguel does have an Office Depot, Starbucks, Blockbuster and, sigh, MacDonalds.
Thanks for the info Hope. It would be nice if the golden arches would try to assimilate their menu a bit more to the location the store is in…at least something besides the monotonous quarter pounders. At least you arent from Kentucky like I am. Everywhere i go i get “¡ahhh, como Kentucky Fried Chicken!” Yes, just like KFC.
San Miguel de Allende, know for its culture and diversity is a nourishing city with an exotic population and although small the town is very know world wide. The city located central Mexico which makes it a major tourist attractor is also a great retire location for all ages. I strongly recommend that families with children below the age of 20 do not come to this city due to increased drug abuse within the town. Although the cons may be strong the city is great for elder people, and as a resident with the time of ten years i still love the city and its people.
Boy, watch 48 hours tonight, and the kidnapping, 7 months in a hole, husband mexican, wife from U.S., no thanks. Even the wife said, they want it swept under the rug not to hurt development. Too close to the Denzel Washington movie (which was somewhat based on fact of Mexico City Kidnappings, Man on Fire). If your living down there, better know how to defend yourself and family, then start that thought process for a month and you will find you can just get small town USA. The police are on the take, the politicians are worse than ours, their FBI is a joke, your on your own, don’t think your going to get help without paying cash for it.. Sounds great, prices great, construction beautiful weather great, too good to be true, maybe it is. Take your chances, read the stats on kidnapping on San Miguel, then look at them on Mexico City (unbelievable for Americans). The drug cartels are getting so large, they own condo’s down the shore in Cancun. Last year saw army trucks of troops running all around to prevent their economy. Scary while your eating your dinner, looks like your in a war zone for a few minutes.
My trips are done, not bringing two teen age girls to the area anymore, or allow them there, you get hurt, your paying cash, forget your health insurance, you will wait in an E.R. until you wire money. Too much risk, some seedy characters, sad, but true. If you got a few million, good, pay a Blackwater agent in your servants quarters.
After watching the Dateline special “Desperate Hours”, I wouldn’t step foot in Mexico, let alone a city known for attracting monied expats, who can attract these horrible kidnappers. That family lived through hell. The government of Mexico is filled with corruption. My heart broke for that beautiful family. They are decent, lawabiding people who just wanted to live a good life. They employed local people and follow all the rules and the gov’t. of Mexico failed to protect them. I will not step foot in Mexico ever again.
It is interesting how people feel confident in making such broad, firm statements (unsubstantiated) statements, such as S. Musial does about life in Mexico. Yes, there are problems, but the drug trade & crime related issues are located in specific zones, many of them close to the U.S. boarder.
The Dateline piece on the San Miguel kidnapping refers to one, specific case, and there is much talk in the town of San Miguel that the individual in question had involvement with many shady deals himself, and wasn’t above reproach. My point being that this individual was targeted for specific reasons beyond just being “an American”.
How much crime goes on in the United States? As a Canadian, I would certainly be uncomfortable going to many locations in the U.S. (Chicago, Houston for example, with the highest murder rates in the country), Cleveland had 140 murders last year, this for a population of 420,000! To a Canadian, these types of murder statistics are mind boggling. In Toronto where I live, with a population of 2.5 million people, we had 59 murders last year. So, let’s get some perspective. This is why I find it fascinating that an American would vilify Mexico in such extreme terms. Someone is watching too much TV!
I’ve spent time in San Miguel de Allende, and it is a truly beautiful, stunningly beautiful place. There is an expatriate population there of close to 15,000. The infrastructure for expats in unparalleled, and the community is robust with culture. The media loves to focus on a sensationalistic story .. but, if you believed everything the media told you, you’d hide behind your bed and never leave the house!
Come LIVE in San Miguel!
David
David, Aren’t your comments typical! Blame or accuse the victim? The Bamboo Telegraph (aka gringo gossip) is the problem. This man was the son of a (deceased) newspaper mogul in Mexico and the kidnappers seriously screwed up in thinking he had tons of money. He didn’t. Kidnappings are done for money, not for business deals people didn’t like? Hello!
That was NOT an isolated incident in the area and if you think it is, you are seriously misinformed. Remember the guy missing all the fingers, when his wife couldn’t come up with the ransom demand?? Most of them don’t get talked about, ever, so you have no idea. I live in Mexico and have for 10 years, so I have a pretty good idea what goes on. It’s a reality, and for you to poo-poo it as an isolated incident shows your ignorance of things THROUGHOUT Mexico. SMA is NO exception.