RexC
Nov 30, 1919, 12:00 AM
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Cost of Living in Cuernavaca/more than you ever wanted to know
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I am an American, we live in Cuernavaca, we have only lived here for two years, but I can tell you a little about this place. I can't tell you anything about San Miguel De Allende, as I have never lived there. We have no school aged kids, so no help there either.<p>Cuernavaca reminds me of my home town of Anchorage. Both are cities, but are really more like a big town, rather than a city. There are no high rise buildings here. The official population of Cuernavaca is 338,609 people. I have seen reports that it is 500,000 to a million people. There are many nearby towns so it is anybodys guess as to the total for the area. The whole State of Morelos has an oficial population of only 3 1/2 million. Census figures in Mexico are notoriously inaccurate.<p>If you need anything from the big city, we are only 52 miles from Mexico City. It is a beautiful drive over the mountain on an excellent toll road. The toll is just $75 Pesos. To find what days you can not drive in Mexico City, look on page 12 of the Cuernavaca phone book for a list of non driving days for your car. There is also a large sign over the highway as you leave Cuernavaca. <p>While pollution is just about everywhere these days, here it is no problem. Cuernavaca is reasonably pollution free. There is some occaisionally, but very little. <p>The crime problem is something that doesn't affect the ordinary person, any more than it does in any other urban area. Cuernavaca is in The State of Morelos. Morelos is one of the states rated as having the highest crime rates in Mexico. The crimes usually cited are mostly government corruption, kidnapping of wealthy persons, drugs, etc. There have been several kidnapping rings broken up here in the last year. Gang members included several high ranking police officials, I beleive the kidnapping industry here is on the wane. <p>I don't know where you are, but I will assume you are Americans, or Canadians, may not speak Spanish, and have never been to Cuernavaca. If I'm wrong about any of this, it will be a lot easier for you. I will also assume you will have a car, and intend to rent a house. It is always wiser to rent for a while before buying in most places in Mexico, as houses can take many months, or years to sell if you want to change locations later.<p>Cuernavaca has at least four different climates, depending on where you are. The further south in the city, the hotter it is. The closer you are to the mountain, the cooler it is. <p>If you want to maintain an American standard of living, do not expect your costs to be reduced dramatically. Except for housing, and some fresh foods, clothes,linens, dining out, etc., prices are about the same for most things here as in The USA, and higher for some, electronics, appliances, gasoline, etc.<p>I think the median range for house rentals here is probably $9,000 Pesos per month. You can find houses for as little as $2,000 Pesos per month, they are usually pretty grim. We are in our second leased home now. The first place was in the Fraccionamiento of Burgos. It was big, three bedrooms, three and a half baths in the main house. It had an actual two car garage, with maids quarters, and another bath. It also had a pool, and large yards.<p>We paid $9,000 pesos per month rent there. The utility costs were correspondingly high. Our water bill was between $200 and $400 Pesos per month. Our electric bills averaged around $2,000 Pesos every two months. These bills were unusually high because of the pool, and large yards to water in the dry season.<p>We now live in Colonia de la Selva, in a three bedroom, two bath home with no pool. Our rent is $6,000 Pesos per month. It took several weeks of searching to find a nice house at this price. Our utilities are much lower here. Water is about $90 Pesos per month, Electricity is about $1,500 Pesos every two months.<p>There are two main electricity companies in Mexico, both are owned by the government. C.F.E. and Luz De Fuerza. Prices are pretty much uniform throughout the nation.<p>When looking for a house, or apartment be sure to ask if it has off street parking, not all of them do. If you have more than one car, be sure to find out how many parking spaces the house has. Most have only one parking space.<p>Basic Telephone service is about $200 Pesos per month. Be aware that you are only allowed 100 free local phone calls per month, after that there is a 1 1/2 peso charge for each local call. This can add up, if you go on and offline with a computer a lot. Mostly, it is just annoying as hell. <p>We have cable TV with all the available decent movie channels, the cost is $261 Pesos per month. We also have cable internet service, the cost for both services is $563 Pesos per month, so the cost of the internet access portion of our bill is 302 Pesos per month.<p>Cable internet is a good option for me here. I used to use Prodigy Internet access. Prodigy is problematic in many areas of this country. It was very reliable for me here. Prodigy costs about the same as in The US if you pay for it by the month. However, you can pay for it in advance, in six or twelve month increments. I used to pay six months in advance. That lowered my cost to $98 Pesos per month. Cable access is a little cheaper than getting a second phone line, and continuing with Prodigy would be. Cable internet broadband is slower than most here, only 128 kbps, but it works for me.<p>Back to renting a house. It is not a simple matter to rent a house here. I don't know how hard, or easy it is to rent an apartment though. Most owners of a nice house want another property of equal value to be pledged as security. Some owners will accept a very large cash payment as security, usually between three and twelve months rent in advance. <p>The reasons for this are many. The perception of very protective laws shielding tenants from eviction, and usually from not paying any rent while evicton proceedings are pending. The comparative ease of a tenant filing for ownership of the property after a few years of occupancy, etc. Regardless of the rational, or irrational reasons for it, virtually all owners insist on an air tight lease for a nice house here. One owner refused to accept a property in Mexico City as security for a lease of his house that we wanted to rent here. He would only accept a property in the State of Morelos as security. <p>My mother-in-law had a bad experience several years ago with this problem. A lawyer she had rented a house to in Mexico City tried to get ownership by claiming he had not been paying rent, but had been making payments on a purchase of the house. It took 3 or 4 years, many lawyers fees, and court costs to get him out. He stopped paying rent when he filed his claim. She never got a dime of that rent due, after she won her case.<p>Before anyone starts flaming me, I want to say that I am talking about Cuernavaca, not a tourist area where they are used to dealing with ex pats.<p>I am including a few URL s of sites of interest in Cuernavaca. You might want to contact the Newcomers Club. I have never contacted them, but I think if you don't speak Spanish, they can help you with interpreting. This is not a tourist area, most businesses do not have anyone that speaks English. That includes Real Estate agencies.<p>One man that I will recommend is Eduardo Moran. He has a Real Estate agency and does speak English. He doesn't have a website, but he does have Email. He showed us several properties, and did lease the house we are in now to us. He has become a friend. So I guess you could say this is a plug for my friend. But he is good. Of course, there are other good agents here. Eduardo is the only one I know personally though. <p>Moran's Real Estate
Eduardo Moran Dosta
Tel. 01 777 313 73 89
Fax 01 777 317 52 77
Email: nikeomoran@yahoo.com<p>One thing I found to be very different here is that many Real Estate salespeople do not have a car. You usually have to go to their office and pick them up so they can show you properties.<p>One local newspaper, The Diario De Morelos, has a large listing of houses for sale or rent every Wednesday, or Thursday. It is in their print version only, not in their online edition. It is of course, in Spanish.<p>If you want to read an English language paper here, you can subscribe to The News from Mexico City. I do, it is delivered by 8:30 every morning.<p>The currency converter URL I have listed has been customized to convert Pesos and Dollars using the interbank rate plus one percent, that is a charge that all banks charge for any international exchange, including ATM withdrawals,it will not show up on your bank statement. The regular URL for the Oanda currency converter is also on the first page of the online version of The News. <p>About Curernavaca: http://www.mathopt.edu.mx/cuernavaca.html<p>Cuernavaca, Morelos. Mexico: http://www.cuernavaca.cjb.net/<p>Newcomers Club: http://www.clickoncuernavaca.com/newcomers/Newcomers.htm<p>Freeman Real Estate: http://www.freeman-realestate.com/index.htm<p>Primavera Real Estate: http://www.primavera1000prop.com/<p>Oanda Currency Converter: http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic?margin_fixed=1&expr=USD&lang=en&pref_list=USD_MXP&menu_rows=7&date_fmt=us&exch=MXP<p>English Language Newspaper in Mexico City: http://www.thenewsmexico.com/<p>Newspapers in Curnavaca:
http://www.diariodemorelos.com.mx/
http://www.launion.com.mx/<p>Telecable de Morelos
http://www.cableonline.com.mx/<p>I hope all this is of some help, Rex<p> <p><p><p> <p><p>: Hi, we are planning to relocate to Cuernavaca mid-late 2003. I've heard the cost of living in Cuernavaca is even more expensive than in San Miguel Allende. Can anyone tell me anything about cost of utilities, rent (nice neighborhood, but not the "ritziest". We will bring a 10 year old, are the bilingual schools any good, what about fees?
: Any information about Cuernavaca (crime, pollution, etc) will be appreciated.<p>: Thank you for your time,<p>: Ines<p>
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