Job Discussion Forums

[Olivia]

Hey everyone,

How did you go about finding your apartments/houses when you taught in Mexico?

Did you wait until you got there? If so, where did you stay in the meantime?

I'm specifically thinking of Mexico City or Monterrey.

Any advice on areas, and what is the price range I should be looking at if I'd be making around 16500 pesos a month?

Is it common to find furnished apartment?

Do landlords sign contracts?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Olivia

[thelmadatter]

You are being offered a good wage so you already have an advantage. Who are you going to work for? I work for ITESM and they set me up in a place for a month.

The conventional advice is to find a place by word of mouth. I think that is the best for smaller places but it works well in cities too. Talk to the person that hired you and see if they can set up something for you, at least temporarily.

I live in Toluca, which is about 60-70 km west of Mexico City and a decent-sized city. While not usually recommended, I found my current place through an ad in the classifieds, with help from a Mexican co-worker. Ask your new co-workers for advice/tips. You can also walk around a neighborhood you want to live in and look for signs on windows, telephone poles etc advertising apts for rent. If youre comfortable with this, walk into the "tienditas" in the neighborhood and ask if they know of any places.

You need to know what you want. # of bedrooms obviously but what kind of amenities do you want. Basic is really basic but it shouldnt be decrepit. Basic means walls and tile floor. As far as furnished, "furnished" can mean that all furniture is there or can just mean that it has a stove and hot water heater and maybe a frig (for many, you provide your own). My casero (landlord) provided me a hot water heater and a stove/oven (his wife told him that norteamericanos cant live w/o an oven! ) Ovens are rare here. If you want something fancier, you will pay more, of course. Prices vary widely. Make sure you have reliable electricity (learned this one the hard way). Electricity, water may or may not be included in the rent. For most places, you will have to get bottled gas for hot water and cooking. Find out when garbage pickup is too. You have to stand outside and give your garbage to the guys in most cases so you want them to come around when youre usually home!

If you plan to be here a short time (1 year or less) then try for furnished. Otherwise, try to get a place that provides only a water heater at least (I sure dont want to figure out how to intall one!) Go ahead and buy basic furniture. Furnished places can cost quite a bit more than unfurnished and over a certain period of time comes out to be more than an unfurnished place with buying stuff. The furniture can also be crappy. You can sell the furniture when you leave.

One other tip, if at all possible take a Mexican friend with you. Vero was invaluable to me. She knew the ropes and I got treated more fairly. My first place was a disaster but my current one is basic but comfortable.

Some places have contracts, others dont. If you do sign a contract, try not to sign for more than 6 mo for the first time. You wont really know if the place is for you until you live there a little bit. (again hard experience talking here) That way, if your place is a dud, you wont be trapped there for a long time and you have time to find a better place. You take some risk that the casero will raise the rent after the 6 mo. but IMHO its worth it.

[lozwich]

Fantastic advice Ms Datter!

The only thing I would add is if you are wandering around town looking for signs posted in windows that are on the second storey, look out for light poles and holes in the pavement. I unexpectedly met a few of them a couple of times!

Lozwich.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[thelmadatter]

ROFL lozwich!!!!

[MixtecaMike]

If you are thinking of renting a place in Mexico City it is VERY different to what people have described above.

To get your own apartment, as opposed to a room with shared facilities, you will need to have a contract, you will need an aval which is a guarantor who owns property in the DF or EdoMex. You can pay for an aval, however the better agencies won't accept this. You will need to pay a month's rent as a "refundable" deposit, almost nobody does get their deposit refunded, though. You will also pay a month in advance, and quite probably a pro-rata rent for the rest of the month in which you sign the contract. You will also pay a fee to the agent. If there is a telephone line you will probably asked to pay a deposti for that, too, I paid $1500 in 2000.

Your payment for your aval will depend on how much rent you pay, allow at least a half month rent for this. If you know any property owners in Mexico City and they are willing then obviously you won't pay this.

The BEST place for rental properties in Mexico CIty is El Universal classifieds, online at www.aviso-oportuno.com.mx This is in Spanish, of course, but easy to get around. It is a MAJOR hassle renting in Mexico City, not just for us foreigners, but for everyone, chilangos included.

An alternative would be to either share a place, many people sublet rooms, or to stay in a Casa de Huespedes, cheaper and no paperwork required, but almost always shared facilities.

Prices range according to where you live, but a one-bedroom apartmentin a crappy neighborhood will probably start around $1500 a month, and a big three bedroom in Bosques could set you back arounf $25,000 a month or more. Check out the aviso-oportuno link for a realistic idea of current prices.

Just be aware that rent is a major expense in the big city, and take that into account if you are looking for a job before you get here.