I'm so confused!!!

So I've been in my apartment for almost four months now. I have a six month lease which expires the end of January. I know I don't want to stay here. It's a nice place, but the rent is pretty high and it doesn't include anything like cable, internet, water, etc., like a lot of other apartments do in the area. But when I sold my house last July, I had to find something fast and didn't have the opportunity to shop around. Besides that, I don't like the fact that no one so much as says "boo" to you when you walk around...very unsociable place.

So I was looking in the newspaper on Friday and saw an ad for a condo apartment. Out of curiosity, I went to take a look at it to see what else is out there. It was owned by an elderly woman and was in an older community of mostly professional people as opposed to students. It was $800 a month for two bedrooms/two baths, tiled living/dining room and kitchen, carpeted bedrooms, large patio, fireplace and wetbar in the living room. The rent includes cable and water. It was cute and had more character than the place I have now. But since my lease isn't up until the end of January, I'd have to pay rents at both places, which would just be throwing money away.

I took Jared by it yesterday and he thought it was cute, too, but it's still just an apartment. So after talking about it over breakfast, we went by the new subdivision that I did a post on last month. After viewing all the models, we agreed that this one would best suit our needs. It's called a "courtyard" home in which the grounds and exterior are maintained by an HOA for about $75 a month.

Although I'm not crazy about split levels, it has two totally separate living areas which would be great for both of us. Even though days can go by where we don't see one another in the apartment because of work and school schedules, when we ARE there together we kind of feel on top of one other.

I would have the upstairs area...

...with an extra room for an office...

And Jared would have the downstairs with a separate kitchen area...

Living area with a separate entrance to an outdoor patio area...

And bedroom...

We talked to the sales guy for about two hours on how much it would cost and the extras you can get. I can't get the $8,000 tax break because I've owned a home too recently, but the guy said that if Jared went in on the mortgage, HE could qualify for it...especially since he has excellent credit with a car loan and an American Express card. So, bottom line, with the considerable down payment I would put down, the monthly payment would be around $800 which includes the HOA fee and upgrades like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances (which I would want to do for resale purposes).

Sounds like a great deal, but I hesitate because I've heard lots of people say that the economy is going to get worse and I'm almost afraid to buy anything for fear of what's going to happen in the future. And I really question the resale value of these places. I had thought that I it would be an investment because I could always rent it out, but the HOA will only allow 20% of the homes to be rented out.

Then last night, Jill met a retired guy in Merida who's into real estate and she sent me his link:
http://mexintl.com/index.html So I could get this cute little place in Merida Centro for $59,900...

Look at these floors!

Or this little fixer-upper (also in Merida Centro) for $39,000...

Yeah, it needs a little work, but I could do wonders!

This is a yard I could handle...

Now I'm more confused than ever.

Mexico

Kind of a serious post today. With all the depressing things going on with the economy in the United States these days, it gives one pause. Everyone says it will be years before we get out of this mess, so it makes you wonder what we have to look forward to. People are being laid off left and right, and businesses are closing. And remember that empty new strip mall just down the road from me?

Well, they just built another mini one right in front of it...with nothing going in. You can see the larger strip mall to the right behind it. It seems like stupidity at its finest.

Here's the huge sign in front of it. Lowe's is the only place that's doing well.

And the sign in front of the larger strip mall is still empty...with a few more holes in it. Looks like it's making good target practice for bored kids.

Everyone has become paranoid and no one really wants to discuss the problem. I am one of the lucky ones being employed by the state. Texas State instituted a "flexible" hiring freeze, but they're not laying anyone off. But while I consider myself temporarily fortunate, I still wonder what's going to happen in the future.

If you are familiar with Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," you'll probably know that experts are saying that her fears of socialism back when she wrote the book in 1957...

...are gradually becoming fact rather than fiction. That is a very scary thought. And I don't think I want to be around when it happens.

So I read people's posts from Mexico on pretty much a daily basis and see a totally different life. Sure, Mexico has its problems, but I think the United States could take a few lessons from them. One thing I've realized more and more about America is how arrogant we are. We've only been around for a little over 200 years and yet we think we have it all over countries who have been here for thousands of years. We want our granite counter tops and pool in the back yard...and feel deprived if we don't have them.

I watch a couple of shows on HGTV called "Househunters" and "Househunters International." The difference is so obvious in Americans looking for homes as opposed to foreigners. American couples will walk into a master bedroom of a home which could be about 20' x 20' and they will say, "This is way too small...we were really hoping for something much bigger." But a European buyer will walk into a bedroom half that size and say, "This room is so big!" I guess it's all relative, but I think when we set our expectations so high, we will inevitably wind up being disappointed...unless we have unlimited funds to buy anything and everything we want.

And it's not only the material aspect, it's the "deep-down" happiness you feel living somewhere. I really don't know of anyone feeling that way these days. I told a friend not too long ago that between all the crap I've dealt with this past year, the only real happiness I felt was during the two weeks I spent on Isla last summer. The needs are simpler there and yet the pleasures are greater...and life seems to mean more. I'll have to say the people in Mexico seem happier than we Americans who supposedly have it all.

The American Bloggers in Mexico seem to be genuinely enjoying life there. I'm envious in many ways. I've taken the liberty to share some photos from some of my favorite blogs capturing the essence of Mexico. The first three live in Mexico, the last two don't, but I love their photos of life on Isla Mujeres. I hope they don't mind.

This is billieblog's blog...and the post that featured this photo is here.

In one of Billie's posts, she wrote:

"If we were living in Houston, or anywhere in the USA, would we have had the same opportunities to be with so many interesting people from so many different countries and experiences? I don't think so. It seems to me that in most places in the USA as people grow older their horizons narrow down. Friends die or move away and it is harder to make new friends and have new experiences. Here in San Miguel, I feel like my horizons continue to expand everyday. Always something new just around the corner."

Sad, but true, about living in the states.

This is Deb Hall's blog, ZOCALO de Mexican Folk Art...and the post that featured that photo is here.

This is IslaGringo's blog...and the post that featured this photo is here.

This is Jamqueen's blog...and the post that featured this photo is here.

This is Life's a Beach! blog...and the post that featured this photo is here.

And here are some of my own...

There is more to life than having granite countertops.

I have a friend who's spending the next month in Belize. I'm betting he will find a way to stay there rather than come back. And I know someone else who's thinking of moving to Mexico...it will probably happen. There are tough times ahead in this country. It might be beneficial to be somewhere else.

Bad times in Texas...

I was reading Beck's blog (Life's a Beach!) this morning about how the economy is affecting the area where she lives. She writes about businesses closing and construction stopping on homes being built. The same thing is happening in my area, so I thought I'd do a similar post.

When I first moved here about 4-1/2 years ago, this field with the cows was all I saw from my back yard. In the past two years, this subdivision went up on the other side of the field. (Thank God the little field with the cows is still there!) They also started building houses on the other side of these homes.

But in the past few months, work has stopped and some of them are just standing there as a grim reminder of the times.

The streets are there...with no houses. This has been like this for about nine months.

This is the entrance to a subdivision down the road from me. They built this sign about nine months ago and for about six months after that, a rusted wheelbarrow and big clump of overgrown grass stood in front of it (without the "Loma Verde" on it). I think some of the homeowners must have gotten together and got rid of the grass and wheelbarrow and put the words on it. But there's no landscaping and I think it looks pretty sad...especially considering the fact it's been almost a year ago that they started working on it.

The homes in this area sell for between $100,000 and $200,000. That sounds low compared to the rest of the country, but the incomes are also much lower here so I guess it evens itself out. If you picked up my home and plunked it down in Los Angeles or San Francisco, it would probably be worth over $1,000,000. It's all about location.

About a year ago, they started building a little strip mall less than a mile from where I live. It was finished about six months ago. Here it is now...

There are 12 stores in it and all of them are vacant. Eight of them have "For Lease" signs on the front. The four that don't are empty with no indication that anyone is moving in. Here's the big sign out front advtertising all the businesses:

Here is the Office Max next door to it. There's an Office Depot a mile down the highway, but I guess they thought they could get business. Every time I drive by, I never see more than two or three cars in the parking lot. I'll be surprised if they stay in business too much longer.

This is across the lot from Office Max. That's a new IBC Bank going up. Just what we need is another bank.

What gets me about this whole deal is that even though there are no businesses in this strip mall, they keep all the parking lot lights on all night. How ridiculous is that? And so energy efficient, too! None of it makes any sense.

Driving north on I-35, here's a used car dealership that closed recently...

And a sports bar...

Here's the Office Depot I mentioned. It always has about the same number of cars in the parking lot as the new Office Max. I wonder which one will go out of business first.

And just across the road is the Circuit City where my son worked during the holidays. The management swore up and down to their employees that they weren't going to be closing. then after Christmas, they let a bunch of people go...because they were closing. Go figure.

But on the north end of New Braunfels, they're building a big shopping area with a new theatre and another little strip mall just beside it. The Super Target is already open...soon to be followed by a JCPenney, Best Buy, Ross, Famous Brand Shoes and PetSmart.

It looks like they're building all this fancy stuff around it which may include water features, etc. Who knows.

I don't know what's going in to the little strip mall beside it...there are no signs. Makes me wonder if it's going to end up like the little strip mall by my house.

Personally, I can't believe JCPenney is putting in a store. They're also putting a new one in in San Marcos, which is only about 15 miles north of New Braunfels. AND...keep in mind that Texas' largest outlet mall is in between San Marcos and New Braunfels and has about a gazillion stores. It just gets crazier and crazier. (On a personal note, I can't even remember the last time I was in a JCPenney. They didn't have them in South Dakota, and even when I lived in St. Louis, I never went there. Maybe I'm missing something??)

I guess the Best Buy is going to take over the business of the failing Circuit City.

Here's another little strip mall on the other side of town which I drove by today. Doesn't look any better.

One strange thing I have noticed recently, though. These businesses seem to be all over the place.

I mentioned that to my son the other day and he said, "When times get hard, beauty will be the one thing that a woman wants to hang on to." And he's only 20 years old! He wants to go into psychology...sounds like he may actually be good at it. Well, I guess I'm not the average woman, 'cause I'll definitely pay my utility bill before I get my nails done.

Times are hard...and pretty depressing with no apparent light at the end of the tunnel for quite some time. Tell that to this guy who's playing a fake guitar on a street corner to get people to buy a pizza at Caesar's Pizza.

Maybe I need to change my line of work.