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The Typical Options for Living in Cozumel
Renting: A appartment in town with A/C can be rented for about $200 USD per month. A 2-3 bedroom home in town without a pool can be rented for $500-800 USD per month, and a home with a pool for about $900-1500 per month. Homes and condos on the beach rent for $1500 USD per month and up.
Owning Real Estate in Cozumel: Contrary to many rumors, it is legal for foreigners to own real estate in Mexico. The property deed or title merely needs to be put into a trust, which is similar to a Living Trust except that is managed by a Mexican National bank. Larger properties can be legally owned by a Mexican corporation, the stock of which can be fully owned by two or more foreigners. The most important thing for foreigners who buy property in Mexico to remember is to carefully manage their investments. Contract law is strongly enforced here in Cozumel, but as anywhere, that only works in favor of a property owner if he or she is careful to continuously monitor their investment to make sure everything about it is in 100% compliance with the law.
The easiest way to buy property in Mexico is with cash. Mortgages are available in Mexico, though the rates are a couple points higher than in the US. Though interestingly, there are few defaults compared to many other countries, and that means mortgages are a good business for bankers, which include foreign banks such as Citicorp, HSBC, and Bank of America (through its partnership with Santander).
Purchasing a condo or a home in Cozumel is what most people do. It is not very different from doing so else where. You can pay cash or get a mortgage, though interest rates a a couple points higher than in the US. Homes on the beach provide their owners with wonderful views of the Carribean Sea.
The wonderful Caribbean ocean as viewed from a condo!
Late afternoon at the beach at a residential development!
Ah, a Cozumel sunset...
The problem for many people is that beach front property is very expensive, there is a lot of maintenance due to the salt environment, electricity costs are very expensive (especially running A/C), and even some of the most expensive homes on the beach have neighbors very close by. So as in many places, beach front living in Cozumel is high density living like city living without much privacy. And that does not appeal to many people.
An alternative is buying land in Cozumel in the forested areas away from, but near the beach. The forest is not only beautiful, but it offers protection from the salt environment, as well as the surf and winds from storms that greatly increases maintenance at the beach. If you live in the forest, espeically off the power GRID, you get many benefits, and the beach is still only a short ride away. And when you get to the beach, you can enjoy it for free!
Buying Land to Build a Home: Most lots in Cozumel are relatively small, 10-15 X 20-30 meters (approx. 30-60 feet). However, that is large enough to build a nice sized home with a pool or a garden or both. Land in Cozumel varies in price depending in the location, as anywhere. For the following, keep in mind that a square meter is about 10 square feet. Rural land is $2-50 USD per sq meter, in town land is $50- 300 USD per sq meter, on or near the beach land is $300-1000+ per square meter, and in city commercial zones in Cozumel $500-1500+ per sq meter. So for example, in town you can buy a 350 sq meter lot for $40,000 to $300,000 USD depending on the neighborhood, but in a more rural area you can buy a 20,000 sq meter forested lot for about $80,000 USD, or less than $5 USD per sq meter. The problem with rural land is that most of it is in huge pieces of 50-70 hectares (250-300 acres), which have no services, and the owners do not want to subdivide these huge lots. There are, however, a few places where smaller parcels can be found, such as Mariposa Estates, a residential development on the southwestern side of Cozumel. Building costs for a turn-key finished home range from $500-800 USD per sq meter, or $50-80 USD per sq foot, depending on the contractor and building materials. Home construction takes about a year from architectual drawings to a finished home. Much of that time is for the permit process, which takes a few months because an environmental study is necessary to determine the impact of the "footprint" of the new construction on the forest. Here are some examples of what country living in the Cozumel forest is like.
A future forest driveway
Yes, there is electricity in the forest in Cozumel, or you can go "off-grid" with solar and wind power.
Finished driveway and transportation to the beach!
Future home site
Future garden
Garden path with shaded flowers
Tropical hardwood in bloom
Tropical plants
A well and palapa house under construction
A different palapa house completed
A hot tub for chilly winter nights!
Ah, what a relaxing place for morning coffee...
Moving to Cozumel: Once you have the right visa (see visas below), you can move to Cozumel very easily. You can even bring your pets (with a valid health certificate from a vet within 10 days of your departure) and most of your belongings duty free. You can drive down with your belongings, have them shipped by truck, or by container out of Miami or Galveston. Any moving company that ships internationaly can give you the details.
Registering a Car: You can drive a US car to Cozumel and legally drive it here as long as you have a valid US driver's license and registration, and an FM3 or FM2 VISA from Mexcian Immigration (see visas below). You will have to buy Mexican liability insurance, but that costs less than $200 USD per year in most cases. The biggest problem is that very few parts are available in Mexico for cars built for sale in the US, so if you plan to live here for a long time, you are better off buying a car in Cozumel. The prices are much lower than in the US. A brand new small car can be purchased for less than $10,000 USD.
Options for Working in Cozumel
Jobs: There are not may jobs in Cozumel that pay wages US or Canadian workers are used to, except selling timeshares perhaps. But that requires a special kind of sales-oriented personality that most people don't have. And all jobs here are seasonal and depend on the number of tourists that arrive and their willingness to spend. So don't count on the local economy to make you rich. On the other hand, you can make survival wages here depending on your needs, or you can start a business on the Internet, and potentially do very well.
Starting a Business: On the internet, you could run a US company from Cozumel. Or, you can form a Mexican corporation and do business in Mexico, or both. The main advantage of having your own Mexican company is that you can then sponsor your own FM3 VISA (see visas below), and not be dependent on your employer for your visa, which you could loose along with your job. Business customs are very different here, as are tax laws and accounting practices, so if you start a Mexican business you will need a trustworthy Mexican lawyer and accountant too. But there are opportunities here to make a reasonable living with your own business in Cozumel. One business that could be profitable is hydroponics or aquaponics (raising plants and fish together). Both can be done here because there is plenty of fresh water and a need for garden fresh vegetables and fresh fish.
For example, there was an article in the local newspaper that says the following:
"Hydroponic Vegetables - The municipality is looking for investors interested in agriculture, cattle ranching and fisheries, because the economy needs to be diversified and depend less upon tourism. Because there is not an abundance of land available for agriculture, hydroponics is a logical solution, where the climatic elements the plan needs are artificially reproduced. Fluorescent lighting, fertilizers, machines, mosquito nets, pipes and pumps for water permit the cultivation of plants. The locations chosen for hydroponics must not impact the ecology or destroy the environment. The government would support the project with funds and education."
So this is one area that could fit well with the use of home power in some of the forested areas of Cozumel.
VISAs and Citizenship: You can move to Cozumel for a short time using a standard FMT VISA or tourist visa. The immigration office at the airport usually gives 180 day (6 month) visas as their policy. If you fly out and return just before it expires, you will get another 180 day visa when you return. So you can stay as long as you want that way, if you don't plan on working or buying real estate. If you do, then you need a FM3 VISA to enable you to legally sign documents, retire here with a retirement FM3, or work in Mexico as a non-resident. Your FM3 must be renewed annually. After 5 years, you can get a new FM3 or a FM2 VISA which makes you a resident of Mexico. After 4 more years, you can apply for Mexican citizenship.
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Rojo Vivo Consultores, S.A. de C.V., Cozumel, Q. Roo, Mexico