#1358 – The Expat Files: Real Estate, Maintenance, and Healthcare in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Alright, I'm back in live whether you like it or not Sort of live anyway Let's talk about real estate in Latin America for a second You know over the years real estate and construction have been sort of a hobby of mine

[00:46] You long-time listeners heard me say that I've built at least 13 or 14 or 15 or even more Apartments and houses here in Latin America And if I haven't actually been the general contractor myself, I've overseen projects Made a lot of mistakes too Mostly because I put my trust in others Because you know down here in Latin America when you hire someone plumber electrician cement contract or whatever When you give them and lay out specific instruction give them the plan They'll always smile and promise to do it according to spec But I learned the hard way very early on that if you're not there to watch Or at least pop in frequently to make spot inspections to keep them on their toes

[01:32] You'll be kicking yourself later. I've got permanent bruises for all the times I had to kick myself now. I haven't built or overseen any kind of construction for a couple years now Though I did a complete remodeling of a place I mean complete about three years ago now completely remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms and even Replacing every single floor tile That's one way to give a beautiful facelift to a classless place put in all-new tile everywhere By the way, there's a lesson and a good story in that too. They're almost always is isn't it get this I bought a nice used apartment But the floor tiles and down here in Latin America almost every apartment and house is completely tile The tiles were ugly and scratched and the grout was all chippin ugliest beige color you ever saw

[02:20] Thank God almost no one uses wall-to-wall carpeting, which is a good thing You know because of the humidity and bugs and animals and dogs cats, etc Oh, and how about this the fact that almost no one has a vacuum cleaner? I mean even rich people don't have a vacuum cleaner Which makes you wonder a man that I wonder when I first got down here How could you possibly clean a house completely or thoroughly without a vacuum cleaner? Well, I can tell you many years ago when I first got down here, Latin America I bought a vacuum cleaner right away. Yep. The hardware stores have them. No one buys them Well, I bought one but I can tell you this you're gonna have to teach a cleaning lady how to use one Or let's just say she knows how to use one. She's seen people on TV use them But there's almost a hundred percent chance

[03:07] She doesn't know how to open or empty or replace the dirt collection bag The fact is I've had a lot of cleaning ladies over the years But I haven't had one yet who even knew there was a bag inside the unit that had to be changed or emptied Oh and believe me once you get down here one of the best things you could ever buy is a shop vac You know wet dry vac. I know I know you might say or your significant other might say those things are pretty ugly They look like r2d2 and they take up a lot of space. So stick it in the closet somewhere One day you'll be really glad it sucks water as you longtime listeners have heard me say over and over again Latinos just do not know how to waterproof things long term They just do not know how to handle water problems They put a band-aid on everything if it leaks they don't get to the root of the problem

[03:54] They just cock it on top of that visually There's nothing uglier than a layer of caulk on top of a layer of caulk on top of a layer of caulk And when you glop on enough caulk, certainly it'll stop the leak Problem solved, right? Let's put it this way. What does not leak today Will most certainly leak in the future and at the most inopportune time too, isn't that how life goes? Even in a brand new building. I'm telling you many times a wet dry vac has saved the day for me. Oh And here's another tip try to buy a vacuum that has reusable bags because two reasons one costs money to keep buying bags Right and the other thing is the right size bags aren't always in stock at your local hardware store or stores And sometimes you're waiting you wait and you wait and they never restock them though

[04:43] The stock boy at the hardware store will always tell you the same thing that they're coming in They just don't know when you'll find out in a hurry once you get down here to that Latin Americans Just don't want to give you bad news It's sort of a universal cultural personality trait That's why when you're lost and you pull up to someone and ask for your directions They're always glad to give them even though they might even know less about where you're trying to go than you do But still they won't let on they don't want to disappoint so they'll give you some kind of directions So by all means try to buy a vacuum cleaner that has reusable that is cleanable bags Though I have to admit those kinds of vacuum cleaners are hard to find only what maybe one in 20 vacuum cleaners has that feature I mean, hey, they want you to buy the bags over and over again, right a paying customer for life

[05:29] Now if you have a regular old shop vac, it might be the case that you just can't find the bags anymore They don't stock though. Of course, you can get everything on Amazon these days, but who wants to keep ordering that junk through Amazon? Remember, it's not just what you pay on Amazon You got to pay for shipping by the pound to your Latin American country to by the way, the Miami mailbox service I'm using these days costs about five bucks a pound not bad at all if you're talking about vitamins supplements and the small stuff But suppose let's say you wanted to order a specific kind of food processor weighs 20 pounds That'd be five bucks times 20 pounds a hundred bucks just for shipping So it's a balancing act you have to do the numbers before you order anything heavy through your Miami mailbox

[06:15] Now, of course, you could get just about everything down here in Latin America now except Anything imported is gonna cost a lot more The retailers down here like Walmart and Costco yet. They're down here, too They passed the import taxes and then some on to you So for example your favorite Cuisinart food processor on Amazon might cost 200 bucks Down here you might find the exact same thing maybe in a different color for 300 bucks in that case It's even Steven you ordered from Amazon pay the shipping It's the same price and in cases like that even if it works out a little bit better buying it from Amazon and paying the shipping if it's something electronic or Mechanical you just might want to buy it down here because you will get the year guarantee Which you will also get from Amazon

[07:00] But if it breaks or has a problem you'll have to send it back and that is no good at all because you'll have To pay shipping both way. So again, like I said, it's a balancing act You have to do the numbers to see if something is worth ordering up in the states versus buying the same thing down here Anyway, having been involved in so many construction projects down here in Latin America Naturally every time I see a new building or house going up by slow down and take a look at it Sometimes I'll even stop and do a walkthrough if they let me Now I've noticed in the last maybe six months something odds going on here in Latin America I'm looking at real estate towers residential towers, etc Going up and you can get in on those pre-construction prices, but is that a good deal? Is that a good thing to do? You usually get a 10 to 15 percent discount for pre-construction amazing

[07:48] How much new constructions going on you drive by a lot and you see they're suddenly digging a hole a big hole and they're pouring concrete Suddenly, there's a big galvanized steel fence wrapped around the project They put up some big fancy signs with full-color photos of what the place is gonna look like Including the floor layouts and the cost of each apartment unit Well, that's how they do it it's pretty common, but what's not common is I'm seeing extra lettering that says no Airbnb Yeah, that's right. I've mentioned this before Airbnb's are no longer welcome and nice and decent neighborhoods now That's the kiss of death for many a gringo I know who thinks he's gonna come down here buy a cheap apartment and make an Airbnb out of it Well, you know, that's a plan I heard over and over again from gringo

[08:34] Expats with little dough to invest and I'm telling you in big cities here in Latin America You see they're not friendly to Airbnb. It's not anymore. Now. It's true I never thought it was a good idea to have an Airbnb off the gringo tourist trail because hey Who do you think comprises most of the Airbnb clients gringos and expats on the gringo tourist trail? Not off the trail on the trail So when you're off the trail where there's no gringos around why in the world? Do you think it's a good idea to have an Airbnb on the gringo tourist trail? Yep, a totally different story. The concept was working well for a long time in tourist spots and the big cities But now the natives are restless or I should say the neighbors are restless the local population with families Especially hate having an Airbnb nearby and local residents who live in residential towers, man, do they hate airbnbs?

[09:25] Different people coming in and out all the time often, you know, an Airbnb is party central It's just a generally insecure situation altogether So let's just say the future of airbnbs here in Latin America is pretty dim But still I run into green gringo expats all the time who think Airbnb is a great investment Well, it used to be just like in the early days of uber drivers could do pretty well But not so much anymore now speaking of renting a condo or apartment here in Latin America I get lots of questions from people about condo and maintenance fees Now as with maintenance and condo fees, it all depends on location and proximity to areas like the beach or the city That's why you'll see all kinds of different fees up and down Of course depending on the square footage too

[10:11] And if you've got a gym in your building or a pool, whatever now before we talk about condo and maintenance fees here in Latin America I looked up the average cost of the monthly maintenance fees and some of the major North American cities Now again, we're just talking about the monthly maintenance fees in New York. The average maintenance fee is $1,300 Los Angeles 600 Chicago 400 Houston 416 Philadelphia 450 bucks a month, Toronto 520 bucks a month for your average maintenance or condo fee Vancouver 480 bucks a month Calgary 116 bucks a month now as you can see up in the States in Canada Depending where you live the fees are all over the place

[10:56] For example in New York the average condo fees are three times as much as they are in Chicago Now to be perfectly honest when I look this up just a day or two ago I swallowed and practically choked on my own tongue because even the least expensive maintenance fees on that list in Houston at 416 bucks in Calgary 416 bucks a month Those kinds of fees were shockers to me because down here in Latin America You could get a nice clean safe apartment for 400 bucks a month But note that normally down here in Latin America, you're responsible for all the repairs Your landlord doesn't fix things. It'll say that right in your contract Oh and your condo or maintenance fee is included in your rent And you know gringles and expats find it strange that the landlord will not fix things And since this is Latin America, even if he promises to fix stuff, he probably won't

[11:45] So for example, if you're interested in renting a furnished apartment and let's say the refrigerator goes on the blink Don't go calling the landlord call the repair guy because your landlord is not gonna do a thing about it He's not just being mean and that's the way the contracts are set up down here. That's the way it's always been done Now I gotta tell you after being down here a long long time There are lots of things that could go wrong or cause a problem in your apartment But note there are three things that go on the blink the most they by far need more repair than anything else. That would be Kitchen and bathroom drains. They're always clogging up because well, you know the pipe situation here they downsize everything and Scringles and expats are used to flushing toilet paper down the toilet. You know, I mean they don't call it toilet paper for nothing

[12:31] The second biggest problem in most all apartments condos and houses would be the water faucets themselves You'll find because lots of contractors put in the cheapest Chinese junk the faucets a leak or corrode To the point that it could happen so often when your plumber comes over you say hey Look just replace it with a high quality brand like Chicago faucet or mowin or fister Which will cost you 50 bucks or more not the landlord Because that ain't part of the deal the contract says you're responsible not him Oh and the third object in your house that's bound to go on the blink if you have one is an air conditioner And if you live in the lowlands or on the coast you're bound to have an air conditioner or two or three The thing is you'll be running those things a lot just for comfort when you sleep unless of course you're in the LT

[13:20] Plano then you won't need one at all, which is one of the big reasons I really like the LT Plano, but most people don't live in the LT Plano most gringles and I suppose have never even heard of it But that's another story anyway if you do happen to live in the hot tropics near the coast or inland But low elevations you better at least learn how to clean the filters in your split AC units It's easy to do just go on YouTube and watch how the service tech does it by the way You'll want to have a vacuum cleaner to do that efficiently Yet another reason you should have one around the house anyway if you have air conditioner And you're using it a lot your internal air filters are gonna get clogged up in a hurry And you usually got to clean them every maybe three or four months If you don't your AC units gonna have to work harder and harder to keep the room cool

[14:07] And that's gonna cost you more on your electric bill every month The thing is if you don't know how to clean the air filters you'll have to call the AC guy He'll come over it'll cost you 30 to 50 bucks every time and believe me. He's not doing anything You can't do yourself even if you're a klutz It's a no-brainer, but a lot of people I know are afraid to open up the unit and of course your AC maintenance guy Will make it seem like only he knows how to do it Don't believe it those little split AC units are pretty tough They can last for years without any real serious technical maintenance like purging the lines or fixing a gas leak Believe me nine out of ten times when the repair guy comes over. They don't do anything technical They just clean the filters and you could save yourself 40 or 50 bucks by watching a five-minute YouTube By the way, I've noticed one particular problem will pop up a lot in those mini split AC units

[14:58] I've seen it happen in apartments Airbnb's houses You'll turn the thing on or sometimes late at night You'll hear a noise and you'll see it dripping water ever so slowly Dripping on the floor drip drip drip and you're thinking oh no gotta call the AC man There's another 50 bucks or more. Well guess what nine out of ten times maybe even ten out of ten times there's a little drainage hole for condensed water that you could clean with your finger or the head of a screwdriver or Suction from your vacuum cleaner. Yeah, just have to clear the hole that's been clogged with dust and lint So remember if you see an occasional drip coming off one of those split AC units. It's no big deal You could fix it yourself in five minutes But guess what most gringles and expats never attempt to do that

[15:46] They're thinking oh, no gotta call the AC maintenance guy. This is something serious Guess what the guy'll show up take out and clean your filters dig around in there getting out all the lint and dust and charge It 30 to 50 bucks You won't feel foolish giving him the dough because he's made you think he's the only one who could perform Such a complicated technical feat, but I digress. Where were we? Oh, yeah talking about Monthly maintenance fees for condos and apartments. Well, you've heard the average fees for big cities up in the states in Canada Down here in Latin America works like this if you're going into a brand new place a new residential tower, for example the average maintenance cost for a hundred square meter place that's about a thousand square foot is

[16:31] 50 bucks a month even in a nicely appointed upscale high-rise tower a Thousand square foot 50 bucks a month. Now if the place happens to have a community gym or a workout room It might run you 75 bucks a month for a thousand square foot apartment And if you've got a gym and a pool well pools, you know They have a lot of maintenance might cost you a hundred bucks a month in For a 1,000 square foot place if you're renting a much larger space Let's say a penthouse and it's 2,000 square foot in that case. You might have two floors So you'll pay double a 2,000 square foot Luxuried high-rise apartment you might pay $200 maintenance fee a month Let's put it this way figure out no more than 10 cents a square foot

[17:20] No matter where you are in Latin America, though generally more like five cents a square foot So thousand square foot apartment 50 bucks a month double that for a nicely appointed Newer sleeker high-rise though again, I'd say 95% of the time The maintenance is included in your rent. So you don't even know you're paying it So if you're paying 500 bucks a month for rent, most likely 50 is coming from that for maintenance All right moving on. I've often said it's a very bad idea to plan your expat plan B Move based on the idea that you could move to a Latin American country and get on their national health care plan I can't tell you how many gringos and expats I've met who've done that and lived to regret it Though I can see that there are lots of gringo expats up in the states who are sort of desperate

[18:09] They only live on a social security check around Medicare That's failed them in so many ways and decide well I'm getting the hell out of Dodge knowing and appreciating They can't live a first-world life up in the states on a mere social security check So they do come down to Latin America where the cost of living is really cheap They can live just fine and comfortably to and do it The question then is what do you do for medical insurance if you don't qualify for a private plan because you're over 65 You longtime listeners know that I've been telling you for years not to believe the propaganda you hear about Latin American national health care plans No matter what the glossy first-world rags like AARP and International Living tell you the truth is every single Latin American Government national health care system is a monumental failure

[18:56] And since most of you listening to this are not down here to see that for yourself I know a lot of you are thinking why should I believe Johnny? That's why right now I'd like to read you excerpts from a letter written by a gringo who's had the usual terrible experience with the national health care System here in Latin America. He titles it my expat nightmare national health care experience the Ecuador I ESS system Subtitled they will be the cause of my death and I'll paraphrase this as usual cut out the boring parts boring to me that is It starts out if you've been reading gringo publications over the past few months You will have read about the corruption and mismanagement within the Ecuadorian national health care hospital system Needless to say the gringo expat community are less than happy with the I ESS national health care system

[19:47] You've read that cancer radiation machines are broken Surgeons not available drugs not available bad treatment experiences all around including unanswered inquiries and unavailable appointments That said I'd like to share my experience with the I ESS. This is no writers embellishment eager Every word is true. I'm 73 years old now But I located from New York City to Ecuador 11 years ago in July of 2013 That's when I enrolled in the I ESS Ecuadorian national health care system for 10 years. Everything was okay. I had very little interaction with them That's nothing to complain about until last December I had sudden pain and lack of feeling in my legs and back and could hardly walk So naturally I try to get an appointment with my I ESS national health care general practitioner

[20:38] I made many phone calls and went to the I ESS website. No appointments were available Remember I started calling up in early December. It was now mid January And still no appointments available So I gave up and due to the severity of my problems I thought it best to try to go outside to a private health care clinic But I only live on a monthly Social Security payment, which makes extra expenses very very difficult So I went to a private clinic and from mid January to mid February. I paid out of pocket for medical services over a thousand bucks 50 bucks for an endocrinologist office visit an MRI for 255 bucks two more visits with the orologist another hundred bucks and a hundred bucks for related medication in the pharmacy Etc. Etc. Finally at the private clinic. I was hit with a biopsy cost of 450 bucks

[21:28] I had no more money available. So going to the private hospital was out of the question So back again, I went to the national health care system I thought I'd give it another shot since I rarely used it and had been enrolled for over 10 years So in mid February to mid March this year I tried and I tried with the help of my medical facilitator all attempts to secure an appointment with The national health care general practitioner had failed You see you need to do that follow those rules which will lead to an appointment with a specialist first You must go to the general practitioner who will then refer you to a specialist in my case a urologist That's how the system works But no appointments were available even for the general practitioner

[22:13] Then on March 18th of this year in frustration and despair from pain and numbness again I went to the emergency room of the hospital Jose Carrasco Artega for help one of the national health care hospitals They turned me away I was told that my condition was not an emergency and to call the national health care line the IESS line To schedule an appointment with my general practitioner I couldn't believe it telling me to do the same thing. I've been trying to do for the past three months without success Finally on March 23rd my landlord and friend of eight years a man of considerable importance in Ecuador Interceded on my behalf and through his business contact Secured me an appointment with the national health care system general practitioner for April 25th

[23:00] Even so that was one month in the future all the while. I have daily numbness and pain So I tough that out and waited on April 25th He ordered a bunch of tests. I went downstairs to the scheduling window to schedule those tests. I was told There would not be any blood urine or ultrasound testing spots available till June 3rd five weeks later In actuality my ultrasound was then scheduled for June 27th, which was two months later Now if you think that's bad and absolutely unacceptable listen to this When the tests were done, I had an appointment to discuss the results of the blood and urine test I was advised that my PSA score was 12 Extremely high. I had a severe case of prostate cancer

[23:47] Normal was four mine was 12 and the doctor said if you have a 10 you're ready for surgery I'm at a 12 Anyhow due to the severity and urgency of my situation the general practitioner tried to get me an emergency appointment with a urologist He made some calls and guess what no appointments were available with any national health care urologist to that end An emergency form was filled out online Immediately by my national health care doctor and sent out to private clinics To try to get me an appointment with a urologist outside of the national health care system I was told I would receive an email within two weeks to have an appointment in the private health care system That's what happens. It seems if the national health care system is too overloaded

[24:35] They'll make an effort to get an emergency patient into the private health care system so they can be seen right away Apparently they'll pay for it. I was told if I didn't get an email Scheduling an appointment in a private clinic. I was to come back right away two weeks later no email no appointment I was told to wait another three weeks, and if no email was received come back immediately by now. It was July 8th seven months after my initial Emergency pleas and emails to the national health care clinic and their website then finally a miracle I got an email it said quote at the moment our agenda is Oversaturated no specialist appointments are available We suggest you look in the private sector for treatment I was beyond furious after paying ten years into the national health care system

[25:24] And I'm now being told to look elsewhere for treatment, so where is that leave me now? I have no idea So much time wasted to get appointments with doctors to get necessary tests to get follow-up appointments What a terrible experience This really does look like the end of the line for me So due to the inability of the national health care system here to provide the necessary medical services to me I'm not at all hopeful for a positive outcome the national health care system in Ecuador is designed for failure failure meaning death Me Johnny here sad, but predictable by the way you heard me mention in a previous program if you sign up for a national health care System in a place like Ecuador you still have to pay and I believe in Ecuador you pay 15% of your monthly income

[26:09] That includes your Social Security So for example if you make a thousand dollars a month on Social Security you have to pay 150 of that every month To the national health care system if you elect to be in that system so if you make 500 a month on Social Security you'll pay 15% of that or 75 bucks a month to the national health care system if you make let's say a thousand a month on Social Security or that's what you receive from a pension of some kind 15% of that is 300 a month to pay the national health care system if you elect to be on it Which I'm sure you can guess from today's sad story is a fool's errand I mean look to think it might cost you over a hundred bucks a month to be in a failed national health care system When it's as much or less than that to get private insurance

[26:56] You're nuts not to go private beats me why the poor guy who wrote the previous greed did not buy private insurance Instead of signing up for national health care when he first got down Sounds like he was ill-informed got bad information, and I'm blaming rags like international living in AARP They're at fault expats especially older expats with not too much Do take their advice as gospel those rags will praise national health care systems here in Latin America though I bet they never sent a single person down to investigate to check it out Shame on you lame assholes at AARP and international living You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America if you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com

[27:45] And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat Insider seminar in Central America where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos