#510 – The Expat Files: Security, Trust, and Legal Challenges 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 I wonder Hello there all you expat 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 Well today we have some very interesting emails and comments that I promise to take care of you're gonna like this And by the way, if you hear some construction noises going on in the background hammers chisels three stooges sound effects and such That's because yes

[00:45] I'm broadcasting right next door to a construction site and you know being an engineer in my past life I do have a love for gadgets and I decided to put in a very high-tech 16 3 megapixel camera surveillance system at a certain property meaning a property owned by a certain SA Corporation if you know what I mean now these days, of course They have surveillance systems where you can check every single camera zoom in etc on your smartphone or on any computer anywhere in the world Now admittedly, I don't have a smartphone don't want one However, if you travel a lot, you know every hotel you go to these days has some kind of business or computer center So you can check your cameras there if you like and of course everyone else seems to have a smartphone or two everyone

[01:31] But me of course So it's easy enough to borrow a phone for a minute or two Perhaps to check to see what kind of mischief your dogs cats lizards or pythons have gotten into lately Okay, so now you're thinking man if Johnny's putting in a huge surveillance system like that. He must be worried Could it be that Johnny's got a security problem? Well, it's not that of course You can never be too cautious now The fact is my particular subdivision is a gated community and I have little worry that someone's gonna come in and raid the place But oddly enough a camera system like that sure does make an impression on the local gardeners maintenance guys and cleaning ladies scares the hell out of them now if you've been listening to this show any length of time remember I've been doing it for Five years or so now if you've been keeping track you'll have noticed

[02:18] I've told a few stories about how I fired a few cleaning ladies over the past few years all of them because of petty theft And in some of those cases the word petty is a huge exaggeration And now of course with my new security system I can watch every move the cleaning lady makes or at least it will be recorded for posterity Well, the fact is I'm just not worried a bit anymore that my cleaning ladies gonna make off with the family jewels or the laundry detergent Oh, and by the way some years ago I did catch my cleaning lady stealing laundry detergent, so how'd she get it out of the house? She had put a layer of the powdered stuff in the bottom of her purse Can you believe that but now that they're on camera? I can guarantee it that won't even be stealing a toothpick now cleaning ladies don't go for the big stuff They go for the basics vegetables potatoes

[03:05] I told the story once of one of my cleaning ladies who every week without fail would hide a small plastic bag full of potatoes Below the outdoor wash basin and then about a year or so ago another cleaning lady I had was a great cleaning lady by the way I hated to lose her, but she did steal a throw rug So how'd she think she was gonna get away with that wouldn't that be obvious well not so it was a rolled-up spare rug I had in a laundry room that I never used I guess she thought well if it's not being used I'll take it in the poor and lower middle classes that soften the logic they use when they swipe something from someone who's better off than they So then how'd you get away with it? Well, I believe I'd never would have found out if it wasn't for the guard at the entrance to my subdivision Well, it appears she rolled it up and threw it over the fence to an empty lot next door

[03:54] And when she left that day she walked over to the lot tucked it under her arm and kept going Now the next day the guard at the front gate clued me in when I was driving out He said this scooper made on Johnny, which means excuse me, mr. Johnny Did you give your cleaning lady permission to leave the subdivision with a carpet? So that's how she got caught and by the way guards are supposed to tell you those things They're watching for stuff like that and when they see something unusual They ask that person for a note from the owner because you know a lot of us do give things away like toasters and coffee makers shoes, etc So when you do give stuff away like that You'll write a note or call ahead to the guard and say the cleaning lady is carrying some stuff out And by the way, like I mentioned in the past show when you hire a cleaning lady or a maintenance guy unless it's the very first job

[04:45] They've ever had before from the very first day they report to work They'll open their purse or lunch bag backpack whatever for you to inspect That's very commonplace down here in Latin America and when they leave for the day They'll open up that purse or backpack for you to inspect too. Now, of course, that's the same thing workers do at factories Including Walmart Costco Sears, I suppose even McDonald's. That's true down here and in the first world Now I have to admit it's kind of awkward at first to go through your cleaning ladies purse or your maintenance guys lunchbox But as it turns out, they really do expect you to do that. So my advice get over it However, I've had the same maintenance guy now for about eight years and picked him out as the guy I wanted to work for me permanently because he was the hardest working guy on the construction crew that built the place

[05:36] He was the guy that carried three cement blocks instead of two like the rest of them the guy that was always moving faster than the other Workers he would sprint when everyone else was walking got twice as much work done than the average guy So I thought I'm gonna hire that guy that said he's been with me eight years now And because from the beginning he proved he was very honest and loyal I would never embarrass him by asking to see what was in his backpack or a lunchbox Even though in the beginning when he entered and left he'd always stop and open the thing up I can't tell you how weird that feels when a worker invites you to do an inspection for us Gringos Anyway, it's kind of uncomfortable Anyway, you'll find when you've had a worker that's around that long They often become part of your family and soon enough their kids are even doing odd jobs for you

[06:25] But a word of warning here Don't assume the kids are honest and trustworthy like their dad or mom might be in fact some small stuff went missing when I had My maintenance guy's 16 year old son keep an eye on my place for a long weekend So sometimes you let that stuff go and sometimes you don't and each time you get a little bit smarter So bottom line when you hire help like that You're gonna have to decide for yourself how strict your Shakedown policy is when they enter an exit or perhaps they're a long time very trustworthy employees and you don't have to do any of that So bottom line are you gonna be mr Friendly and smile and wave when they come in your place and when they leave after work Or are you gonna pull the homeland security TSA bit, you know, put on the plastic gloves and do a cavity search

[07:10] Now as far as being a gringo hefe a boss It's well known that we're all pretty much soft touches when it comes to the help Which is why the locals love working for gringos and as for Latin hefe's Latin bosses Well, they're in a constant state of suspicion and believe their help is stealing from them all the time They'll tell you right out that it's just inevitable with the lower classes They'll tell you if you're gonna have help you're gonna get robbed and they pretty much resigned themselves to that and since working class people Know that's the boss's attitude. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy Which is why when you hire someone that's been working for Latin families for a long time They could come with some baggage and some very bad habits and believe me

[07:56] All seasoned household employees will come with glowing recommendations from former employers In fact, it seems down here when an employee is fired. They always get a good recommendation. That's part of the deal Most Latin bosses like to take the non-confrontational easy way out Which leads me to this interesting email about construction in Latin America having to do With what I've said on various shows over the years goes like this Hey, Johnny was listening to some of your 2011 archives about your house building experiences interesting and entertaining Seems like you have a house in a gated guarded gabled private community in Guatemala or somewhere in Central America, right? Well, really Johnny. What's the point? I also heard the story about your stolen building supplies stashed in a hole on the property

[08:45] You say the property has a 24-hour guard and his family living on it the entire time of construction Could you explain that please? Signed Panama Rick. Okay Panama. I assume when you say what's the point? You're thinking why build a house in a gated closed community. Is that it? We'll assume that okay Let's go through this a step at a time now I always recommend that you live in a gated guarded community If of course you want to have a nice house in a garden in the yard and everything and of course if you have kids A gated community is the way to go. Yes. There are lots of advantages many gated communities have their own health clubs park space pavilions for events Recreational spaces and much more not to mention gated communities have their own wells and you're not at the mercy of that crappy polluted

[09:32] Intermittent municipal water. However, if you want to live in the big city You can live in a nice tightly confined middle-class neighborhood with common walls and such but that's not my style of living you see too noisy too many families too many chickens and dogs and Though those places are quite cheap. Maybe two to three hundred fifty bucks a month They're considered lower middle-class by our first world standards so then panama Rick isn't it part of the plan to live like a first world person down here in Latin America and Not like a white trash carny or a backpacker unless of course you are a diet in the wool backpacker type It was chronically short on shekels then a scruffy crowded lower middle-class Latin neighborhood Just might fit the bill. So that said I like to think that my show the expat file slipping in Latin America

[10:21] Mostly appeals to people who want to live First world life when they get down here and don't want to lower their standards Which is why I preferred to live in a gated guarded community myself and note You'll pay just a slight fraction of what should pay for virtually the same thing up in the first world So why not? For example, I've proved by getting involved in more than a dozen building projects myself that I can build a beautiful First world style home thirty five hundred to four thousand square feet for around $120,000 and if you do your own cipher and you'll see that's like $30 a square foot for a first world upper middle-class property now a house like that in the States depending where you are Probably will cost you anywhere from 300 to 500 thousand. That is if you're contracted it out from scratch

[11:10] So the question panamorrhic is not why would you go and do that? It's why not? Now for those of you who would like a big spread a couple acres Whatever that would be out in the boonies and you probably would not be in a guarded gated community Then you have to understand that if you leave that place for a couple days to a week or more unattended That is eventually you could be a target for thieves But then again if you had a big spread up in the boonies Let's say in Minnesota or Cleveland could you leave that place unattended for a couple of days a week or two even more? Well, if you pull a move like that, you're taking a chance anywhere in the world Nope, you're not in Mayberry and it's not the 1960s anymore So then what do you do if you own such a place and you're gonna be gone for a week or two or whatever

[11:56] Well, most people who have big spreads have their cleaning lady or maintenance guy stay on if they go away for a while Remember seems like every house over a thousand square foot has a maids quarters So they'll not necessarily be staying in your house In fact, you can set up your house so that it's completely locked out from the main parts of the house In fact down here most of maids quarters have an outside steel door entrance But the rest of the house set up so that you can lock all the doors and the maid only has access to her Own personal room and the laundry room. In fact, I wish you were down here So I could give you a personal tour of some of these places and how you lock out your house while you're away And by the way, when gringos buy an existing place They almost always have to do some renovations even if the place is brand new

[12:42] Often you'll find even with brand new houses that look quite nice from the outside They've got a crazy-ass floor plan. Latins don't seem to be into ergonomics. Yep There is that typical lag time there, too In fact, one of the things that drives gringos nuts is that you'll go to a new subdivision Loaded with first world style upper middle class even ritzy houses Well three out of four times you'll find the guest bathroom on the first floor Can only be accessed by walking down a half a flight of stairs into a tiny little cramped dark Pissant cubbyhole and it's so small you can barely turn around worse yet There's a tiny little window or no ventilation at all So there's always a faint smell of urine and crap and fresh ass Which is why as I mentioned before so many gringos do a bit of remodeling before they move into a place

[13:33] Priority one a high-powered exhaust fan for that dungeon bathroom. But where was I? Oh, yeah living on the boonies In fact, I know some gringos living on the boonies who hire a trusted guy or a neighborhood kid To just sit in the house or hang around the patio when they're gone I know one gringo who sets up a cot gives them a mattress a radio a flashlight a hot plate a cooler Even a box with some snacks and some food and the guy kind of camps out in the garage while they're gone And the reason why this particular gringo does that is because he has a very small house that he built himself and he was Not smart enough to build a maids quarters into it, which would have solved that problem and made life a lot easier Oh, and by the way, he pays this 16 year old kid about ten bucks a day to house it

[14:19] Oh, and by the way, if you go to olx.com my favorite Latin American Craigslist clone You can contract young traveling gringo tourists or a local Latin college kid or two to house it for you Usually they come in pairs by the way, of course, that's not for everyone I personally don't like strangers staying in my house Even though expat gringos report pretty good luck finding house sitters that way Who knows you might have dogs cats tarantulas or pythons that need feeding but I digress as usual Now as for Panama Rick's last email point. He mentioned that story I told back in 2011 about the tools that got stolen from one of my construction sites I guess he's wondering how that happened with a 24-7 guard living on the premises with his family, by the way

[15:08] So how'd that happen? Well, Rick, you know the old story people are poor down here and Latin construction workers are the working poor too And there's always a bad apple or two in any construction crew The thing to remember is that when you hire a construction company to build your house if that's what you're gonna do He'll put the guard there. They'll build a tin shack for the guy and he'll live there 24-7 You'll smell the burning firewood see the clothes drying on the line outside and often there's a few driveway chickens, too Now remember this guy's gonna live there for a whole year. Sometimes he's with his family. Talk about poor He's got one lone water spout and no toilet and no sewage system Bottom line the world is his outhouse That's just the way things are down here in Latin America even in gated protected high-end communities

[15:58] So then what's inside that tin shack? Well, it's one big open room smaller than a single-car garage and that 24-7 guard lives there sometimes with his family amongst the bags of cement tools Steel and all the other construction materials that have to be kept out of the rain Now most of the time when you hear stories of things being stolen at a house building site It's because the owner jumps the gun instead of bringing household Processions and tools and such weeks before the house is completely sealed up and ready to move in Come on, how safe is that? In fact, I've seen it myself The owner shows up with a pickup truck and starts unloading stuff into a spare room and the windows aren't even in yet Now remember if you're building a house down here Sometimes it'll be a dozen or more workers around the place and you won't know any of them workers hired by your contractor usually and

[16:50] delivery guys and at times Of course, they'll have access to rooms that have valuable things in them Especially if you've dropped some stuff off like so many people do So sometimes things can and do go missing So could it be that 24-7 guard living on the premises stealing from you? Well, it could be anyone or no one because in fact I know of many gringos who've built houses and I've had no pilferage problems at all Then again, I know other gringos who were plagued by it Mostly gringos by the way who didn't show up much to check out the building site Take the example of one of my gringo buddies who showed up on the job site on weekends only one Saturday He arrived to find there were two hundred cement blocks missing. That's around 2,000 pounds how'd that happen and the so-called 24-7 guard what he say the usual no say no love it

[17:42] Nah, that means I don't know. I didn't see nothing But you know these days you could say the discussion about building a house is moot I don't suggest anyone do that anymore because the real estate bubble is so big any time now when it blows You'll be able to buy exactly what you want for 20 30 or 40 cents on a dollar So why in the hell would you ever want to build though? That's not to say if you scoop up a really nice deal like that You won't want to go in and do first world improvements That always seems to be the case because remember we're dealing with lanterns here And although their houses and structures might look totally first world to you They're always short on the details, but you knew that already, right? So then why go through all the hassle of building when you could buy something brand-new

[18:28] That's never been lived in and possibly never even been walked through by a prospective client That is the state of things down here. You really do have to get boots on the ground yourself By the way when you come down to one of my Latin insider seminars We do a boots on the ground real estate walkthrough, so you will see for yourself Okay, and now an email that's been forwarded to me by my friend John Galt The email originally came from a guy named gringo without a name. That's his name gringo without a name How about that he asked this if you have an essay corporation in Latin America? That would be a society that an Anima corporation. That's an anonymous corporation How do you know if the lawyer that's controlling your essay corporation for you in other words?

[19:14] He's got signatory rights over it How do you know if that corporation and the bank account that's been set up in its name is secure? What keeps a Latin lawyer? He says from taking the money from that essay account once they control or have signatory over your essay corporation Again, that's from mr. Gringo without a name well, let me start by asking you this what if you had a corporation up in the States and Your lawyer or your accountant whoever had signatory power Rated your account or pulled some other shenanigans. You would have to hire another lawyer go to court pay a lot of money Maybe that crook would get the spart or maybe just skip. Yes up in the States We've all heard personal stories about crooked lawyers. In fact you read about it in first world papers all the time

[20:01] So does that happen down here? Well, of course, but 95% of the time it's happening to Gringo's on the well-worn tourist trail Somehow it seems where there are large gatherings of Gringo's It brings out the worst in the Latin population in general including Latin professionals now as far as personal eyewitness accounts I saw it happen to three of my close gringo friends in Costa Rica So it is all about trust, which is why you have to find a faithful ethical lawyer Now you might recall a hundred or so shows ago I mentioned I had two lawyers in Costa Rica a nice straight arrow lawyer who wrote poetry taught law at the university Just a real nice soft-spoken gentle guy. And if you recall the story He once phoned me up and said Johnny we're in a tough spot and some bribes have to be paid

[20:50] And I'm not that kind of lawyer. So we'll need another lawyer who works that side of the street I know just the guy so who had to get bribed Well, it was a local Costa Rican zoning board turns out when they found a gringo was doing some construction They disallowed the building permit and just wanted to get paid a few hundred bucks each under the table And when the cash came through miraculously the zoning board gave the aok So then how do you find that good honest ethical lawyer who'll stand by you through thick and thin as a friend? Now believe it or not what most green gringos do is they check out a lawyer on the internet bad move Or check out the local classified ads and throw a dart Worse yet many go into a gringo expat bar and just ask around. Hey, who do you have for a lawyer gringo?

[21:39] Probably 75 percent of gringos get their lawyers that way That said with my 25 plus years down here. I've met some very bad and some very good lawyers Now one of the best proven ways to pick up a nice ethical lawyer Is to come down to one of my expat insider seminars If you come down you'll definitely meet some of my recommended guys Now that's not to say these guys are perfect. Most of them operate on manana time That means frustrated high strung gringos are often going to get pissed because things don't happen yesterday today or even tomorrow But eventually things do get done. This is latin america. So relax a bit Anyway, like I said if you come down to one of my latin seminars You'll personally get to meet eat and schmooze with some of these people

[22:27] That said i'd like to read you an excerpt from an email that come from my friend john gault Who of course you probably all know by now runs the website? www.thenewexpat.com Now he's been down here in central america something like three years or so And since he's located permanently down here now He's run the gambit of things that gringos find they necessarily need to hire a lawyer for So let me give you john gault's take on lawyers Now remember he came down to one of my first expat insider seminars And one of the first things I did was hook him up with our seminar lawyer Now since mr. Gault is the one who sent me the email from the gringo with no name He's got his own take on latin lawyers. And here's what he's got to say dear. Mr. Gringo without a name

[23:13] It's a great question you have about lawyers and even a greater question for people like me Living where supposed illegalities are sometimes taken for granted now pertaining to your question My latin lawyer has total hypothetical control over my hypothetical essay corporations and hypothetical bank accounts Exactly the case in question you referred to So do I sometimes think about that? Well, yes Do I lose hypothetical sleep over it? Not so much anymore for a myriad of reasons Now if you have a lot of money, which I hypothetically don't Obviously hiring a lawyer is a step that can't be taken lightly Now in my case when I first came down I listened to many people and made my decision

[24:00] To select my latin lawyer whom i'll call joe Now I had met some of his clients when down here. I had also met johnny And i'd met some of the long time expats down here and I mean long time and well respected And they all vouched for joe's ethics Still it was my personal decision to use joe in my newly chosen country Now recently my decision to use joe was bolstered even more. I was worried for a while My lawyer was running for high political office But the voters in this central american country seemed to feel he was just not corrupt enough to represent them Though it would have been nice to have direct access to one who had a front row seat to the public trough

[24:46] In a way his losing actually made me feel better about having him as my lawyer And note finally I like to say I would have never made that decision had I not come down to johnny's seminar And met these people in person Including meeting many of johnny's long-term expat friends past seminar attendees to and lawyer joe and his staff That said I hope that sheds a little more light on the lawyer question. Thanks, john gault All right, speaking of john gault and lawyers remember to go to www the new expat.com and you'll find a real live english-speaking latin lawyer there He'll be writing a blog every week or two covering everything gringos especially new expats should and would want to know

[25:32] Regarding the various steps and processes gringos and expats sooner or later find they need a lawyer for so Do check out that legal blog to find out how gringos and expats wind their way through the latin legal system So go to www.thenewexpat.com and you'll find you can communicate with him directly, too Do check out his contact information and ask him a question if you like And finally, you know my january 2016 latin insider seminar will get underway in about two months now Looks like we're a little more than three quarters filled up already So don't dawdle go to www the new expat.com click on johnny's 2016 latin seminar link at the top of the page to get the full information and sign-up details

[26:18] Now remember the early bird sign-up discount ended on november 1st But as I mentioned on the last show, I hate to say it john gault Has a small block of seminar tickets available for sale And he's willing to pass on that early bird discount that he obtained from me a long time ago If you're interested in getting in on his great deal, just email him directly at johngault at startmail.com That's johngault at startmail.com. Oh and believe it or not. I've already got four repeat offenders signed up Those are people that have already taken one of my seminars and obviously are very serious about moving down to latin america. So Even though seminar attendees get the business end of the proverbial fire hose. They keep on coming back for more

[27:05] How about that, huh? So get in while you can there's only a few spots left Remember the seminar is limited to 25 people. Oh and finally do tune in to my expat files youtube channel Check out the running slideshow along with my commentary One lady listener emailed me just two days ago and said It has another clever dimension to the whole expat files experience So go to youtube plug in the expat files and do subscribe south of the border You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com And if you want me to help you sort out your own latin american plans schedule a one-on-one console with me

[27:52] Just send an email and let me know at the expat files at gmail.com. No es vemos