I did live in Mexico, I disagree that the land can be taken at will. Foreigners can own coastal land in a trust. Other land can be owned outright, none of it is leased. Coastal land is expensive, if you expect "Mexican prices" you will be shocked. There are large gringo communities, most in GDL area of Lake Chapala, personally I don't care for that area, but many love it. Really, in that area Spanish is not necessary, but nice. I do not believe medical care is very good, great for small stuff, but the big stuff I'd return to the USA. Make some trips to the area, coastal areas beyond TJ area get very hot in the summer.

I just have to believe those answering the OP are already in Mexico and don't want any more Norte Americanos to emmigrate. We lived there for 9 months about 2 years ago. No killings, no abductions, and all the services one is used to up here. Yes you can buy property in Mexico. The state insurance is about $30/person, and you can get personal health insurance very cheaply compared to the US. Dr. visits are so inexpensive that most of us just pay and forget it. We did live in the Chapala area, and there are many US and Canadian citizens there, so most of the natives speak passable English. Our next door neighbor was a Scot who played the bagpipes, so you never know. The border towns and Mexico city, some of the southern mountain states are questionable as to your absolute safety, but except for the border towns I wouldn't take any place off the table. Now I do have to say that Mexico is not for everyone. I personally felt like I had come home. It is like the 50's with shade tree mechanics, radios on, cervasas being consumed. I have to say my husband hated it, so like I said previously, not for everyone.

I'm glad I finally found the GW folks! I've been a member for many years but haven't posted much. Msmagoo, here is my experience in moving around without knowing anyone. I apologize in advance for the long post. After many years of the rat race in a large city, my husband was able to work remotely so we moved to Wyoming where we had vacationed for years. I was your age at the time. I had wanted to move to New Mexico but my husband convinced me that Wyoming would be the better place. So, I quit my job of many years and we moved. We lived in a small town with a great art community. Our neighbors were very friendly and I met a dear friend in pottery class and through her met other people. I was a little bored not working but we had a good time living there. After about 7 years, we (especially me) grew weary of the food situation. We were at the end of the line for produce and the restaurants were dreadful. Organic food was nowhere to be found. So, I got a wild notion that we should move. Thought we would have time to really look and make a wise decision as to where to go but our house sold in a few days! We, again, considered NM but ended up in the Pacific Northwest. I wanted to rent by DH insisted that we purchase. So - we bought a house and never really got settled there. There was organic food and wonderful fresh fish but.... it just didn't work out. We met only a few people and the gloomy wet weather was very depressing. So, back to the drawing board -- we, again, considered NM, then moved back to the Southeast to be near family and rented to figure out where we wanted to be. Our rental house went up for sale but we had not decided where to go - so we just panicked and bought a house in the neighborhood - a gated golf community with mostly retired people. Wrong decision - and I'm still looking at NM houses on the internet, LOL. If someone told me I would be living on a golf course in the South 10 years ago I would have thought they were crazy. DH is now retired and I've not worked in quite a while. We have no children or pets =:-0. We are both bored and are totally out of our element. I've not made one close friend in three years and I rarely see my sibling who lives nearby. I know - Bloom where you're planted and all that. But, for me, being in the right place with like-minded people who have similar interests is very important. I also have a hard time with the high humidity -- what was I thinking?

I can’t imagine moving elsewhere — we have too many friends and connections in our current town and I don’t want to start over socially. We just moved to our “empty nest” home in the same town we’ve lived in for 22 years. (Still have one out of three kids home, but she will go to college next fall.) Even though we‘re in the same town, our location is a bit more urban feeling, which is what we wanted. We are very close to the post office, library, shops, etc. I love it, even though it’s been a little crazy as our house has been under construction (mostly exterior) for about 6 weeks now. There are a lot of couples nearby who are similar in age — some we already knew, some we’ve met since we moved. The house is really too big for just two of us, but will be perfect for when our kids and eventual grandkids visit. And will prevent DH and I from killing each other in retirement. (We need our own space.) Once we are in full retirement mode, I can see us spending summers at our beach house, a month or so someplace warm in the winter, and most of the rest of the year at our “main” house. DH is planning to retire next summer (at age 57) but I can‘t see our full retirement mode kicking in until our youngest has graduated from college.