The\ndream became reality in minutes.  What to\ndo?  What to do? There is no checklist.\nWhat have we done?  Most couples of\nretirement age change their lifestyle somewhat when they become empty nesters.\nShrink the house size so the kids can\u2019t come back. We, on the other hand, have\nsold our house and are moving to another country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nconfirmed closing dates on our Canadian home and the house in Mexico we got\nstarted.  All of our belongings except\nsummer clothes had to go.  Knowing our\nkids would want many of our acquired gems, we kind of stressed about who will\nget what. Nobody wanted anything.  Not my\nstyle, it won\u2019t fit in my living room, and on and on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nwife and I threw our hands up and decided to go sailing. Yup, yard sailing.  We managed to sell some stuff during three\nlong weekends of dragging items out of the house onto the front lawn.  Did you know serious buyers of yard sale\ntreasures start at daybreak!?  What we\ncouldn\u2019t sell we gave away.  What we\ncouldn\u2019t give away, we donated to stores operated by charities.  When even they started to turn their noses up\nat some of our stuff, we headed for the dump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nthis time, we got started on the residente permanente process.  Not too difficult, but time-consuming.  I aced it when asked why I wanted to live in\nMexico\u2026three reasons, the people, the climate and the food.  First time at an interview that I didn\u2019t sneak\nat least one little kind of fib thing in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\nare we going to bank? How do we access monthly pension funds that are paid in\nCanada?  Are our Canadian wills valid in\nMexico?  Do we pay personal taxes in two\ncountries?  Should we keep one of our\nvehicles, load it up with stuff and drive to Mexico?  Any problem with bringing a vehicle into\nMexico?  Every answer gained us three\nmore bonus questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nfinally did get rid of all of our belongings, and boarded our one-way flight to\nPuerto Vallarta with five suitcases and two carry-ons.  We arrived in July of 2017, and learned an\ninstant lesson in heat and humidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(spellcheck\nreplaced humidity with humility – both words fit pretty well!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nstarted out innocently over what might not have been our first glass of wine\nwhile vacationing in Bahia de Banderas, \u201cYou know what?  We could live here,\u201d remains to this day,\nBEST DECISION EVER!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nday I will share some of the knowledge you acquire in a big hurry, when your\nreal estate agent says \u201cHere are the Keys\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surprise! You’re actually buying that Mexican home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-trends"],"yoast_head":"\n