A crap shoot

We have been told the crew will be here to do some work on the sliding doors to the balcony. Apparently there is a handful of units here whose glass somewhere needs attention. It is not easy to get a vendor here for one little job but it gets easier if there are more than two at the same location. Part of the issue with workers is they are mostly tied up in Acapulco fixing the damage Otis inflicted in October.

Samana Santa looms next week, being the lead up to Easter Sunday on March 31. With a lot of Acapulco out of service, we expect the crowds here to be bigger than they were over the Xmas week(s). We do not get any real updates on how the restoration of Acapulco is progressing. As I mentioned a while back, the tennis park was restored before the shelters destroyed making many homeless were attended to.

it's been quite a run in Zihua this year. The plan stands for the third week of October ... Chapala then Zihua. The 4-6 days in Chapala will give us an idea as to whether renting there is suitable from many standpoints. Dominique is most curious about whether she/we can stand the 5,000 feet elevation. There seems to be lots of places available in our price range so that should not be a problem. When I was in Addis in 2009-2010 the 9,500 foot elevation did not phase me. Granted, I was 60 in those days not 74.

We have found from some surfing we have done to date that price range in both Ajijic and Chapala is from $700 to $1,400 USD which rings in at $952 to $1,904 CAD. This higher end would be quite a jump from what we are paying to own in Zihua. The more I crunched the numbers, the more it looked like the best way to proceed seems to be renting Zihua for between $250 and $300 USD per night which would more than cover the rental expenses in one of these two towns. Thinking of that ...

• Rent in Jalisco (state where these two burgs reside) using $1,400 CAD as a ballpark which is close to 42,000 MXN
• Rent out Zihua at $250 USD per night which, over a 30 day month, checks in close to 130,000 MXN
• That leaves us with a surplus of 88,000 MXN per month rented
• The expenses together of renting in Jalisco and renting out in Zihua run about 39,000 MXN leaving us something around 49,00 MXN or 3,951 CAD

Sounds like the way to go BUT it depends on whether we feel like taking on the tsuris (see here for meaning) of renting Zihua. Time will tell. At least, based on the number crunching we have done, we know where we stand financially on the two options ... sell Z/rent Jalisco or rent in Jalisco and rent out Z. If we go the root that rents in Z, the only people we would consider would be friends, family, or close friends of friends/family. We would not go the AirBnb or VRBO route as renting to strangers is not attractive especially in Mexico. As you can see, the burgs around the lake are numerous ...

An intro to Ajijic can be found here whereas one for Chapala is located here. With the April 14 departure from Zihua looming, the prep will begin over the next few weeks, peaking the week before. With the administrator changing April 1 from Hugo to Paddy, we will be initiating some discussions with her shortly.