After returning to Atlanta, Ken an I began the exhaustive process of planning and deciding what our next steps would be. We reached out to David, our PV realtor and decided we wanted to submit an offer on the house in Fluvial. Anyone that has purchased a home in the U.S. knows, it’s a pretty straightforward process, the offeror spells out the terms under which they wish to make the purchase and the seller has a certain amount of time to respond. This response can be an outright rejection or a counter offer. As we needed time to get our Atlanta home listed and sold, we submitted an offer that stipulated taking possession of the property in March of 2023. We also did not offer full asking. The offer process in Mexico involved a 2 column document, one in English, the other in Spanish. The scary part is that you have to trust that the parties involved know what they’re doing because if you don’t speak or read Spanish, you’re assuming the Spanish intepretation of the contract terms are on par with the English portion. David speaks Spanish and Tropicasa Realty has an attorney on hand to provide assistance with language, nuance, etc. The offer gave the seller 48 hours to respond. The thought that we were actually moving forward with our dream of retiring to PV was surreal! I began immediately immersing myself in fact finding and seeking sources of reliable information. There is a plethora of information available online, Facebook, YouTube, etc. The problem is filtering what is fact from fiction. Thankfully, I ran accross one resource: Mexico Relocation Guide https://mexicorelocationguide.com/living-in-mexico/ This resource contains everything you need to know from A to Z about making the move to Mexico. Another useful online resource is Expat Exchange https://www.expatexchange.com/ Expats in Mexico https://www.expatsinmexico.com/ also has a lot of useful information. These resources are free, however, the Mexico Relocation Guide offers a subscription with the promise of keeping you up to date with the latest information.

The forty-eight hour response timeframe came and went. We were left scratching our heads as to how to interpret this lack of response. Our realtor, unfortunately, wasn’t much help. He kept asking the agent for the seller who kept promising to get back to us. This was our first lesson in how things are done in Mexico! Apparently, the word “no” is avoided in Mexican culture! https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/5-things-mexicans-say-avoid-word/ Eventually, David was able to ascertain from the seller’s agent that his client was very busy and would respond. I am not by nature a patient man. The reality began to dawn on me that if this endeavor was going to be successful, I was going to have to readjust my expectations immediately! While we were waiting for a response from the seller, I continued looking at properties online and kept my fingers crossed that this would all work out.