Assisted Living in Mexico - by L. ILIFF

Some developers are shifting their traditional condo and townhouse developments to include assisted-living wings focused, in part, on Americans who want modern facilities with quality services rather than the informal operations that now exist.

"This is not going to be a simple niche market; this is going to be an entire industry with a tremendous growth," said Eduardo Alvarado, of La Moreleja, a residential development in San Luis Potosí, a colonial city in northern Mexico that also sports Wal-Marts, Home Depots and almost every restaurant chain in the US (fast food or not) and many other businesses familiar to Americans.

"We already have the pioneers here, but what we are seeing is that many people will come perhaps not because they want to but out of necessity," he said. Many will find Mexico far more modern and far safer than they had imagined, he added.

Mr. Alvarado said, the drug cartel violence that gets so much U.S. media coverage rarely touches civilians. Mexico "is safe or even safer than the U.S.," he said. You only have to compare the numbers and crime rate in cities in the US like NY, LA, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta or New Orleans and you will see that there is virtually no difference with DF, Monterrey, Morelia, Guadalajara, Culiacan and so on. What makes it so loud and big is the 24 hour coverage that media does when talking about crime.

The U.S. Embassy warns Americans to be extra careful along the U.S.-Mexico border but otherwise considers attacks against the millions of U.S. citizens who visit and live here to be isolated and rare.

Many of the assisted living facilities in Mexico will charge a one-time inscription of $9,000 and a monthly rent of about $1,250 that includes a full range of services, including meals.

Unregulated industry

One problem, developers said, is a lack of regulations. The private assisted-living and nursing industry is so new in Mexico – there are about a half dozen facilities under construction – that laws need to be written to cover its activities. The Mexican Association of Retirement Communities (AMAR in Spanish) is lobbying for legislation similar to that in the U.S.

Marisol Ancona Velten, director of planning for Le Grand Senior Living, an assisted-living development in MIexico City, warned against informal, "clandestine" senior housing that caters to Americans and offers substandard care in converted private homes.

She also said many Mexican resort cities, like San Miguel and Puerto Vallarta do not have the world-class hospitals found in the Mexican capital. Mexico has a national health care system (which Americans can buy into for $350 a year) along with many private hospitals and clinics with U.S.-trained doctors. Average life expectancy for Mexicans is 75 years, just three less than in the U.S.

Since most Mexicans take care of their parents often until death, there is not much of a nursing home industry at all, except for those run by charities or the government.

Texans have long retired in neighboring Mexico, but they have often been adventurous types willing to learn the language and traverse the obstacle course of setting up a home, securing quality medical care and adapting to cultural differences.

Jonathan Taylor, 78, came to San Miguel de Allende almost six years ago. "I reached an age when I didn't want to work anymore, and I couldn't afford to quit in the U.S.," he said.

Mr. Taylor, from Dalhart, Texas, now spends his time running, playing tennis and socializing but can imagine the day when he might need to move into an assisted living facility. "I hope I don't have to consider it for a while, but if you get into your 80s and need assisted living, what could be better than this?" said Mr. Taylor, who can get on a bus in San Miguel that takes him to Dallas to visit his brother. "The people are so friendly and the scenery is so beautiful."

At another location favored by American retirees, on Lake Chapala near Guadalajara, several small retirement homes have sprung up, often operated by locals, to serve Americans as they get older and can no longer take care of themselves.

What's coming now, developers say, is completely different: brand-new, turnkey developments, for sale or rent, that come with a buffet of services (from a maid to full alzheimer’s care) at about a third or less the cost of that in the U.S. (that is 70% off).

A report last month by the MetLife Mature Market Institute put the average rate for an assisted-living facility in the U.S. at $3,031 a month. Generally, that included room and board, at least two meals a day, housekeeping and personal care assistance.

The Luma beachfront development in Puerto Vallarta, for active 50-plus baby boomers, is building condos that cost half a million dollars – minimum. But what buyers get is still far more than they could purchase with the same money in the U.S. – even with the depressed real estate market.

"One of the huge advantages of retiring in Mexico is the lower cost of living. Property taxes, medical expenses, groceries, and other monthly costs are significantly less," said Alexander Urrutia, Luma's sales director, who calls the development "the first active-adult beachfront community in Mexico."

Javier Godinez-Villegas, president of the Mexican Association of Retirement Communities, thinks there are up to 40 Mexican cities and towns that are ideal for assisted-living facilities aimed at the U.S. and Canadian markets. "There are many developers who are willing now to build these types of facilities, and more are coming," he said.