Boomers Go South

It is the reverse of what Washington fears; instead of hoards heading to el Norte, our friends in Mexico and much of Central America are experiencing a southward invasion of gringo Babyboomers. I'm seeing lots of articles and websites about the rush to buy up prime real estate and retiring in Mexico, Guatamala, Panama and Nicaragua.

From Marketwatch:

While retirees tend to gravitate toward places that complement their active lifestyles or provide them a lower cost of living, they're also getting more comfortable with the idea of owning real estate in other countries, Prescott said. Mexico offers retirees warm weather, lower property taxes and more affordable health care, while areas including Panama and Costa Rica offer tax breaks to foreigners seeking to retire there, he added.

AlterNet takes it much further:

Yes, in former California Governor Pete Wilson's immortal words, "They just keep coming." Over the last decade, the U.S. State Department estimates that the number of Americans living in Mexico has soared from 200,000 to 1 million (or one-quarter of all U.S. expatriates). Remittances from the United States to Mexico have risen dramatically from $9 billion to $14.5 billion in just two years. Though initially interpreted as representing a huge spike in illegal workers (who send parts of their salaries across the border to family), it turns out to be mainly money sent by Americans to themselves in order to finance Mexican homes and retirements.

Although some of them are certainly naturalized U.S. citizens returning to towns and villages of their birth after lifetimes of toil al otro lado, the director-general of FONATUR, the official agency for tourism development in Mexico, recently characterized the typical investors in that country's real estate as American "baby boomers who have paid off in good part their initial mortgage and are coming into inheritance money."

Indeed, according to the Wall Street Journal, "The land rush is occurring at the beginning of a demographic tidal wave. With more than 70 million American baby boomers expected to retire in the next two decades... some experts predict a vast migration to warmer -- and cheaper -- climates. Often such buyers purchase a property 10 to 15 years before retirement, use it as a vacation home, and then eventually move there for most of the year. Developers increasingly are taking advantage of the trend, building gated communities, condominiums, and golf courses."

I'd love to live in a warm, inexpensive and hospitable climate. Can you buy Prilosec in Costa Rica? Time to learn Spanish, gang!