Cautionary Tales

By our reckoning, this is our tenth trip to the Todos Santos / El Pescadero area. It took several visits before it occurred to us that we could see ourselves settling down here for at least part of the year. We’ve been here not only to escape New England winters, but also to dip our toes in the water during a Baja summer. During that trip, we met with a realtor for the first time for a quick primer on options in the various neighborhoods. By January of 2017, we found what we thought to be our dream home in El Pescadero.

Given that all of our funding was tied up in our existing Wayland, Massachusetts home, we could have made it work if we had been able to take out a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) on our house. In a quirk of property laws, however, we couldn’t take out a HELOC on a property that was in a revocable trust, which was the case with our home. Given that the terms for nearly all properties in Mexico was cash upon purchase, we had to back off.

Given 20/20 hindsight, we wouldn’t have been able to spend much time in the house before I retired, and we didn’t have the stomach to rent it out when we weren’t there, so we don’t see it as missed opportunity as much as we do something that didn’t quite work out. A few months later, we bought a house on Cape Cod and sold our house in Wayland, continuing to make trips to Baja each winter.

Having skipped last year due to the pandemic, the changes we’ve seen over the course of two years been eye-opening. Las Playitas, where we are staying, and El Pescadero, where we nearly purchased, are experiencing tremendous growth. With growth comes the needs for infrastructure improvement, and sad to say, that tends to lag behind in Mexico.

Even more sobering is the sight of abandoned construction projects, ruins of cinder block and rebar – an eyesore with unobstructed views. It’s not unusual for life circumstances to turn what had once been a dream home into a liability. Financial downturns can dry up funding sources, and changes in health and family obligations can present unforeseen challenges. For now, while I’m still working and unable to take too much time off, we’ll continue to rent when we can, hoping property prices don’t get out of hand when we’re finally able to make a move.

Hasta la proxima...