Your Offer Has Been Accepted….
The dream became reality in minutes. What to do? What to do? There is no checklist. What have we done? Most couples of retirement age change their lifestyle somewhat when they become empty nesters. Shrink the house size so the kids can’t come back. We, on the other hand, have sold our house and are moving to another country.
With confirmed closing dates on our Canadian home and the house in Mexico we got started. All of our belongings except summer clothes had to go. Knowing our kids would want many of our acquired gems, we kind of stressed about who will get what. Nobody wanted anything. Not my style, it won’t fit in my living room, and on and on.
My wife and I threw our hands up and decided to go sailing. Yup, yard sailing. We managed to sell some stuff during three long weekends of dragging items out of the house onto the front lawn. Did you know serious buyers of yard sale treasures start at daybreak!? What we couldn’t sell we gave away. What we couldn’t give away, we donated to stores operated by charities. When even they started to turn their noses up at some of our stuff, we headed for the dump.
During this 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 Mexico…three reasons, the people, the climate and the food. First time at an interview that I didn’t sneak at least one little kind of fib thing in!
Where are we going to bank? How do we access monthly pension funds that are paid in Canada? Are our Canadian wills valid in Mexico? Do we pay personal taxes in two countries? Should we keep one of our vehicles, load it up with stuff and drive to Mexico? Any problem with bringing a vehicle into Mexico? Every answer gained us three more bonus questions.
We finally did get rid of all of our belongings, and boarded our one-way flight to Puerto Vallarta with five suitcases and two carry-ons. We arrived in July of 2017, and learned an instant lesson in heat and humidity.
(spellcheck replaced humidity with humility – both words fit pretty well!)
What started out innocently over what might not have been our first glass of wine while vacationing in Bahia de Banderas, “You know what? We could live here,” remains to this day, BEST DECISION EVER!
Another day I will share some of the knowledge you acquire in a big hurry, when your real estate agent says “Here are the Keys”
