Job Discussion Forums

[BreccaBee]

I am wondering if anyone knows how much an average homestay would be in the cities of Guanajuato, Progresso and Merida? I am looking for a fair size city in Mexico that is not too polluted and doesn't have a lot of expats as I want to practice my Spanish without being distracted by a lot of expat English speakers. It is too easy for me to let my mind get lazy when there are alot of English speakers around. Any ideas, thoughts? I am thinking about going to Mexico next Jan.

Thanks,

Brecca

[Cdaniels]

Don't know about homestays, but http://www.luzenyucatan.com/rate3.htm in Merida is about $30+/day.
I assume you are referring to school-sponsored homestays like: http://www.modernspanish.com/family.html which is $20+/day in Merida
In Playa del Carmen, Mexico, the expats weren't nearly as distracting as Spanish-speakers who wanted to sell me something using English!
Using Spanish all the time while learning is exhausting! Even if you don't use English from time to time, you might just start tuning out after the mental effort.
What level Spanish are you?
Maybe you should be asking these questions on a Spanish-speaking forum?

[Ben Round de Bloc]

Progreso hardly qualifies as a fair-sized city by anyone's standards. On an EFL teacher's wages, you can't afford homestay in Merida. You won't have much exposure to expats speaking English in Merida unless you seek them out and go out of your way to spend time with them. However, in the parts of the city frequented by tourists, you might find locals wanting to practice their English (and/or sell you things) to be bothersome if your goal is to improve your Spanish. In most situations throughout the city, as long as your level of fluency in Spanish is higher than the other people's level of fluency in English, conversations tend to be in Spanish. I almost never hear or use English except when I'm at school or happen to run into English-speaking acquaintances downtown.

[tortuga]

Could anyone recommend any in either Puebla, Guanajuato or San Cristobal de las Casas?

Thanx.

[M@tt]

i'm not totally sure what you mean by homestay. anyway, i used to live in fortin de las flores. it's a village, but most of the people there are middle class, so the cost of living is probably comparable to some bigger cities, especially in the south, like merida. anyway, i lived with a family, in a room in their house, and i was like an extra son. at the time i was 26-27. the sons were 27, 28, and 29, so i fit right in. i learned most of beginner's spanish from them. i paid 1200 pesos/month and it included everything but phone calls. a very good deal. if you want to show up in a city, you can probably find housing like that just by asking around. that's what i did and it was cheap, agreeable, very interesting, and probably the best thing i could have done for my first year living here.

good luck. i think connections are your best bet. you won't have any when you get here--just start telling everyone you meet what you're looking for and they'll come up with an aunt or cousin who wants to rent a room.
be careful too.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[M@tt]

hmm i didn't mean to suggest that it included meals, sorry about that. it was rent + utilities, and of course it was furnished because i was occupying one of their bedrooms.

going through a homestay mechanism, i'm sure this would be impossible. but asking around through people, i think it's realistic. regular rents for a furnished, one bedroom apt in fortin were about 3000-4000, so the deal i had was about 30% of the normal rate for rent. i don't imagine that merida is more expensive than 3000-4000 for a one bedroom furnished. hell, there is cheaper stuff in mexico city. fortin was a rip-off in my opinion, but i got that deal by asking everyone i knew about renting a room. it was the aunt of a co-worker.

[MELEE]

In my town a lot of people rent rooms to students and some to single teachers. These are sometimes separate rooms, or special buildings of just rooms to rent, and sometime rooms within the family home. And they range from having no contact with the owners, to being treated like a son or daughter. In the case of rooms within a family home, they are usually older couples or widow who's grown children have moved out leaving them with a big house to themselves. Those are the people most likely to have more contact with their boarders. Rooms start about 400 pesos a month and go up to 1800 a month. Rooms are almost always furnished (were as apartments almost never are) though there is a lot of variety in the quality of the funishings! Sheets and towels are often included and laundered. Other laundry can be arranged, and sometimes meals, or just breakfast can be arranged. The upper end of the price range I mentioned above would include laundry and partial board, possibly a satelite TV connection (but not the TV provided).

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[snorklequeen]

Ben said: However, it's the Yucatecan way for landlords to hold out for high rent and to double it if it's a foreigner who's interested.

******************

i have an unpleasant feeling that this is common all over Mexico; my Spanish isn't good enuf to pass for a native, tho' i might be able to on appearance. guess it's time to brush off those bargaining skills!

any tips on how to keep it reasonable would be appreciated!

what kind of legal paperwork is required to lease?

any suggestions on scams to avoid?

********************

Melee, thanks for the info on peach pie; i would have never guessed it was half mango; we only have one kind of mango in Houston, TX so it'll be great fun to have more variety in Mexico

i went to Mexico for the first time at age 15, and the hotel we stayed at in Acapulco had a breakfast buffet; until then, i had no idea that pineapple does NOT grow in a can; who could eat the canned stuff after having the real thing???

Queenie

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[ls650]

Sad, but true. When I went apartment hunting, I found that the average rental prices quoted to me were about 2300 pesos for a 2-bedroom. When a local person checked the same apartments with me, the average price magically dropped to only 1800 pesos per month.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[MELEE]

I know that in my area Landlords are SUSPOSED to pay income tax on income generated by rental properties. My first land lady had rent reciepts with her RFC card printed on them and I know she had a personal accountant who handled everything for her. I rented 3 other places after that, and not one of them was on the up and up in terms of paying their taxes. Because of the university, this city lives on rents and most the landlords are not paying a dime in tax, but yet everyone is complaining that the city hasn't fixed X street or Y street and have you seen the condition of Z street? The city, the state and the country are crippled by tax evasion. This city could repave all its streets and probably put in a subway system! if only everyone would start paying 100% of the taxes they owe! I just paid my property tax, it was only 180 pesos! and they gave me a discount because I paid it on time! Like I did them a favor by paying my taxes.

Sorry, I haven't had my coffee yet and all that just blurted out.

Queenie, I have a list of questions to ask landlords when looking at apartments that I can PM you. Its made with out city in mind, but it might be of some use to you.