3 replies to this topic

[NuttBoxer]

We have spent the past month looking for a rental in Tijuana and I thought I'd share this experience as a word of caution for others looking to rent in Tijuana. There's a guy who advertises on craigslist that he can find you a cheap rental in Playas de Tijuana. His slogan is "Let your neighbors be my reference." He showed us a very nice place right by the beach and we were ready to move in but something about the owners name raised some suspensions with my wife. After doing a quick google search we found out the owner of the property we had been shown had recently been involved in an altercation with the military. Unfortunately for us we had already put down a partial deposit, and the craigslist guy had specified the deposit would be non-refundable.

The individual who runs these adds has been on craigslist for a while, he finds renters for owners for a commission. This owner with apparent narco ties is his cousin according to him. See the below link for the story. The incident took place in December according to news sources. We first saw the place in the beginning of January and most of the owners stuff was still there(the owner had been living there, and then quickly moved out, hint hint). When we decided to take it and put a deposit down last week, we were told the owner was currently in Sinaloa(hint). So after seeing the story we put two and two together. If you want more specifics beyond the news article, you can email me at uscitizen1776@gmail.com. I don't want to trigger any searches to this post from google for obvious reasons. I guess we should've added "Make sure the owner is not a mafioso" to our wants list when we first started looking.

On the brighter side we found another place in playas with very nice owners and will be moving down by the end of February. This experience hasn't deterred us at all from wanting to live in Tijuana, but it has reminded us that we are moving to another country.

http://www.oem.com.m...as/n1880227.htm

VERY IMPORTANT: Please do not post warnings on craigslist as the individual who posts these adds will probably assume it is me. I have two small daughters and I don't want their safety jeopardized.

[Mary Ellen]

We have spent the past month looking for a rental in Tijuana and I thought I'd share this experience as a word of caution for others looking to rent in Tijuana. There's a guy who advertises on craigslist that he can find you a cheap rental in Playas de Tijuana. His slogan is "Let your neighbors be my reference." He showed us a very nice place right by the beach and we were ready to move in but something about the owners name raised some suspensions with my wife. After doing a quick google search we found out the owner of the property we had been shown had recently been involved in an altercation with the military. Unfortunately for us we had already put down a partial deposit, and the craigslist guy had specified the deposit would be non-refundable.

The individual who runs these adds has been on craigslist for a while, he finds renters for owners for a commission. This owner with apparent narco ties is his cousin according to him. See the below link for the story. The incident took place in December according to news sources. We first saw the place in the beginning of January and most of the owners stuff was still there(the owner had been living there, and then quickly moved out, hint hint). When we decided to take it and put a deposit down last week, we were told the owner was currently in Sinaloa(hint). So after seeing the story we put two and two together. If you want more specifics beyond the news article, you can email me at uscitizen1776@gmail.com. I don't want to trigger any searches to this post from google for obvious reasons. I guess we should've added "Make sure the owner is not a mafioso" to our wants list when we first started looking.

On the brighter side we found another place in playas with very nice owners and will be moving down by the end of February. This experience hasn't deterred us at all from wanting to live in Tijuana, but it has reminded us that we are moving to another country.

http://www.oem.com.m...as/n1880227.htm

VERY IMPORTANT: Please do not post warnings on craigslist as the individual who posts these adds will probably assume it is me. I have two small daughters and I don't want their safety jeopardized.

Unfortunately most Americans who contemplate moving across the border fail to perform due diligence
about living in a foreign country whether Mexico or another. Perhaps because Americans are not world travelers esp. compared to Europeans and most Americans who visit Mexico confine themselves to a resort so consequently have an unrealistic perception. I live in a complex predominantely Americans and to my surprise the Americans are the ones who have such a difficult time adjusting, i.e., don't plan for emergencies or think that Mexico is just a cheaper version of the U.S. Living in Mexico does require a certain degree of "street smarts" in order to successfully live here and many Americans don't adjust very well and return to the U.S. after a short stay in Mexico.
There are several posts on this forum about the Playas area and drug cartels so becoming educated and aware of everywhere in the area is vital to finding a safe place.
And Craigs List is not the only source for rentals which you will discover when you do more research.

[NuttBoxer]

Unfortunately most Americans who contemplate moving across the border fail to perform due diligence
about living in a foreign country whether Mexico or another. Perhaps because Americans are not world travelers esp. compared to Europeans and most Americans who visit Mexico confine themselves to a resort so consequently have an unrealistic perception. I live in a complex predominantely Americans and to my surprise the Americans are the ones who have such a difficult time adjusting, i.e., don't plan for emergencies or think that Mexico is just a cheaper version of the U.S. Living in Mexico does require a certain degree of "street smarts" in order to successfully live here and many Americans don't adjust very well and return to the U.S. after a short stay in Mexico.
There are several posts on this forum about the Playas area and drug cartels so becoming educated and aware of everywhere in the area is vital to finding a safe place.
And Craigs List is not the only source for rentals which you will discover when you do more research.

This guy has been posting on craigslist for a while, so I'm not sure if most people are aware of his "connections". Also, the landlord of the place we almost rented owns numerous properties in the area. Maybe some feel comfortable renting from such people, but we felt it was an unnecessary risk, and prefer to stay clear of such associations.

We searched several listing sites, and drove the areas we wanted to rent in before deciding on a place. craigslist tijuana and el mexicano tended to have the best listings. Driving actually returned few results surprisingly.

On the Americans thing I think you meant gringo's or whites specifically. My wife is American, but her ethnicity is Mexican and she was born in Tijuana. Didn't help us recognize this situation in time to save our deposit. Regardless of ethnicity, we all tend to encounter a few surprises during such a big change. Hopefully this will be our only unpleasant one.

[Cyanide41]

Unfortunately most Americans who contemplate moving across the border fail to perform due diligence.

It took me 5 months to figure out that my landlord speaks english.