Yucatan Living
Expatriates living, working & playing in Merida and the Yucatan
Real Estate FYI
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Mexican Septic Systems
We promised to explain why you should not put paper in a Mexican toilet, and we’re not going to let you down...
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Rebuilding History - Casa Kinich
An Architectural Adventure
In January 2000, my son grown and ready to graduate college, I left my home of twenty seven years, p...
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8 Tips for Selling Your Yucatan House
Mitch Keenan, the director of Mexico International, a leading real estate agency here in Merida, passes on eight useful tips for preparing your Yucatan house for sale...
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Real Estate Reverie
Guest writer Ann Marie Brown waxes poetic as she observes the Maya workers constructing her new home...
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Yucatan Plumbing
So you have just bought your colonial home in the historical center of Merida, moved in all your furniture and planted a couple of bougainvilleas in the patio. You step up to the bathroom sink to wash your hands, but when you turn on the faucet, nothing h
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Buying Furniture in Merida
Shopping for furniture to fill up that beautiful new home you are buying or renovating in Merida? Here’s an update on the lowdown on some of the best places to buy furniture in Merida and what to keep in mind when you are buying…
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Real Estate in Yucatan: Closing Costs
When a house is sold in Mexico, there are various closing costs that should be anticipated. Here is a rundown of those costs for your planning purposes...
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How to Build a House in Yucatan
Here are eight important steps to follow when building or renovating a house in Yucatan. They come from our hard lessons learned, newly updated in 2015...
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Mexico Real Estate Horror Stories
Nearly every week, we see another article in the press about gringos buying real estate in Mexico. Most of these stories are none too pretty, but they are not stopping the tide...
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Renting a House in the Yucatan
One of our readers shares her and her husband's experiences renting multiple houses in the Yucatan...
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Living in North Merida
There are so many different choices when it comes to buying or renting real estate in Merida. Here is one couple that chose to live in the north of Merida, with the many reasons why they made that choice...
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Neighborhoods of Merida
Merida is a city of a million people... and hundreds of different neighborhoods. Where to live? Where to buy? We can't possibly talk about all of them, but maybe this will help. Now updated as of August 2014!
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American Modern in Ermita
For this episode of Houses of Merida, we take our video camera to a different kind of house. This house was built only a few decades ago, and has been renovated for modern living, with very few "colonial" touches. The house has parking, a swimming pool and a great Ermita location...
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Merida Real Estate Predictions
Whether you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Merida or on the Yucatan Peninsula, it is helpful to think about what the future may bring to this part of the world. Dr. Steven Fry sheds some light on the subject...
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Houses of Merida Video: Restoration
To really understand both the innate beauty you can find in an old colonial in Yucatan, and the effort and vision it takes to rescue one, we’ve decided to show you something different...
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Merida House Video: Affordable Modern
Our latest house in Merida is a small home, designed with a modern feel and located just a half-block from one of Merida's main streets. So much about it, starting with the facade, is unexpected and delightful...
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Houses of Merida Video: The Good Life
One of the first gringo homes that we know of that was built south of the zocalo, this spacious and luxurious home and gardens provide a perfect backdrop for la buena vida in Merida...
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Hacienda Sac Chich
The first hacienda we ever visited is the subject of our next video in the series. A lot has changed since we first saw it eight years ago...
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Yucatan Hacienda Chenche
For the first of our hacienda visits, Jennifer Lytle takes us to Hacienda Chenche de Las Torres, forty minutes outside of Merida.
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Colonial Renovation in South Merida
South of the Plaza Grande are a growing number of renovated colonial homes. Episode Six of Houses of Merida takes you on a tour of one of them...
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Casa de Los Venados in Valladolid
Outside of Merida, in the colonial city of Valladolid, is a house of grand proportions, filled with a wealth of modern Mexican handcrafted art. Come with us as we explore the Casa de Los Venados...
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Be It Ever So Humble...
In response to multiple requests, this episode features a small, owner-designed and decorated home. Enjoy!
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Mid-Century Modern in Buenavista
And now for something completely different... a renewed mid-century modern home in one of the neighborhoods north of the colonial downtown. The original home has been updated to join the 21st Century... come take a look!
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Colonial Chic in Santiago
In Episode Three, Eric Partney takes us to a large 2-bedroom colonial in Santiago whose renovation stripped away architectural elements to reveal the modern structure underneath...
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Houses of Merida - Episode Two
Episode Two finds Eric Partney in a small modern house that was renovated in 2008 in the Santiago district of downtown Merida. Join him as he demonstrates how even the smallest colonial can be transformed...
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Houses of Merida - Episode One
Episode One in our new video series, The Houses of Merida, features a renovated colonial with one of the most beautiful facades in the centro. In this case, the beauty of the facade is repeated in room after room in the interior. Come with us inside...
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Building Our House - VIII - The End
Click here to read the last installment in the "Building Our House" series...the happy ending to the eight-part installment that follows the Working Gringos as they build a house in Merida, Yucatan...
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Saving Energy in the Yucatan
We all get our electricity here in Mexico from the same place: CFE. Here is important information about how rates are calculated and more...
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Merida Colonial Home Purchasing Tips
Colonial homes in a tropical city like Merida are nothing like most of the homes we extranjeros are used to living in. We fall in love with these stately beauties... but then we have to take care of them. We have a lot to learn. Let's start with what to look for at the very beginning with some tips from Jorge Sosa, the Handyman...
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Building Our House VII
Yes, the Working Gringos are still building their house. As the scheduled deadline is two months away, we're hoping to bring the project in just a little bit early. But as everyone who has ever built a house knows, this "last little bit" can seem endless...
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More on Yucatan's Decreto 801 Law
Mitch Keenan got back to us with his view of the new Yucatan beach law, called Descreto 801, and compares it to a similar law (POET) on the coast of the Mayan Riviera...
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New Yucatan Beach Law
The law was signed into effect last summer, but the actual impact is just starting to be weighed by real estate professionals in Merida. Here's our first report...
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Building Our House VI
We've just emerged from la temporada, the traditionally slow summer months in Merida, then submerged in one of the wettest rainy seasons we can remember, so you might think we haven't written an article about building our house because there hasn't been much progress. Al contrario, Yucatanistas!..
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Building Our House: Progress Video
It's time once again to update our readers on the progress of building our house in Merida. Yes, it's time, but we don't seem to have enough of it. So as a teaser for the article to come, we offer this video...
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Best Real Estate Agency
If you are living here in Yucatan, chances are one of the first things you had to do was to buy or rent a home. Many of us spent our initial days here tagging along with a helpful real estate agent...
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Merida Antiques
Where do you go in Merida to find old doors, statues, wrought iron and other lovely things to add that special touch to your colonial home? Well, we've made a list...
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Building Our House V
Join the Working Gringos on their continuing saga (or is it now an epic?) about the ups and downs of building a house in Yucatan...
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Building Our House IV
Here's our next installment in the continuing series of articles as we report on building a house in the Yucatan. It's been a long time since we updated this series. Now you'll see why...
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Building Our House III
As our regular readers know, we're building a house here in Merida. The design is done, the perimeter walls are up and it's time to get serious...
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Features of a Yucatan Colonial Home
Many people come to Merida to investigate and invest in the real estate market these days. What's the attraction?..
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Building Our House II
A few mornings ago we set out early to check on our new property. The designers/contractors had told us that the albañiles (workers) had begun demolition and we wanted to check it out for ourselves...
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Obra Suspendida
Earlier this week, when Working Gringa was visiting a friend around the corner from our office, we were dismayed by the sound of heavy construction two houses away...
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Adding to an Existing Fideicomiso
Sometimes, no matter how badly you want something, the system is so stacked against you, it just isn't worth it...
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Building Our House
Buying, restoring and building houses is a favorite gringo pastime in Merida, and the Working Gringos are no exception...
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Love those floors!
One of the first things we noticed about properties for sale here in Merida was the floors. No kidding. Because many of the floors, even in the most humble of stores or homes, are covered with beautiful mosaico tiles...
