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My husband and I visited the Rosarito area a few weeks ago and decided that we will move there. We have lived in the Lake Chapala, Jalisco area for almost ten years, so it will be a change for us ............. but we think it will be a positive one.

The weather is virtually the same -- and we will be closer to the U.S. border.

We want to rent something temporarily until we look around. I have sent emails to 3 different realtors who have advertised beachfront rentals, but have not gotten a reply from any of them. This is not actually much different from the Lakeside area, so we will just plan to come anyway and find a temporary place on our own.

We plan to arrive mid October.

We have a large house now, but are more than willing to make do with much less while we look around.

We would really like to be on the beach, if possible.... and we will take a condo, even though we have never lived in one before. It might be a good thing not to have to deal with gardeners and household maintenance.

This will definitely be a change of lifestyle for us!

Any suggestions or input will be appreciated, and even though we are sad to leave our friends here, we look forward to making new friends there!

Welcome to the board. Urrea Realty in San Antonio Del Mar has a lot of oceanfront rentals: URREA REALTY - BIENES RAICES
.

What made you think Rosarito Bach is a better fit than Ensenada? Distance?

Originally Posted by Woooosh

Welcome to the board. Urrea Realty in San Antonio Del Mar has a lot of oceanfront rentals: URREA REALTY - BIENES RAICES
.

What made you think Rosarito Bach is a better fit than Ensenada? Distance?

Wow, there are some very nice rentals right on the ocean that seem pretty reasonable to me!

Originally Posted by Bob H

Wow, there are some very nice rentals right on the ocean that seem pretty reasonable to me!

Rosarito Beach is a good value- plus you have no heat or a/c costs. Perfect weather.

Maybe have a look at Dennis's place? Not that far from where you're looking..

MiCasaEs.net

Originally Posted by edinnopolo

Maybe have a look at Dennis's place? Not that far from where you're looking..

MiCasaEs.net

Thanks for that, Ed. Appreciate the plug. Actually, I'm quite a ways farther south.....maybe 70 miles.


What I was gonna say about Rosarito is, when you folks get settled in and want to begin developing a network of expat friends, inquire about the Red Cross. It's more than just a First Aid outfit.........it's a group of nice folks who organize events of many types.
You'd probably end up with them anyway, but I'm just giving you a head start.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

Thanks for that, Ed. Appreciate the plug. Actually, I'm quite a ways farther south.....maybe 70 miles.


What I was gonna say about Rosarito is, when you folks get settled in and want to begin developing a network of expat friends, inquire about the Red Cross. It's more than just a First Aid outfit.........it's a group of nice folks who organize events of many types.
You'd probably end up with them anyway, but I'm just giving you a head start.

Thanks for the info. We will definitely do that. We have been involved with Cruz Roja Chapala for many years. It is a very active organization here as well. They have benefits, style shows, dinners, etc., several times a year.

Yes, we have done quite a bit of research on the weather there. It is actually a bit cooler there (Rosarito) than it is here in the Lake Chapala area -- but not much --- just a few degrees. We don't know what it will feel like in the winter with the lower temp and being close to the ocean. I guess we will just have to buy a few warmer clothes!

Originally Posted by Woooosh

Welcome to the board. Urrea Realty in San Antonio Del Mar has a lot of oceanfront rentals: URREA REALTY - BIENES RAICES
.

What made you think Rosarito Bach is a better fit than Ensenada? Distance?

Thanks for the tip about this real estate firm. We will check with them to see what they have. We decided on the Rosarito area because it is closer to the border, but we have not ruled out Ensenada. We did drive down there when we came to visit a few weeks ago. I thought the drive was beautiful, but I'm not sure I'd want to drive the curvy road often. On the other hand, I'm sure that we won't be going back and forth to San Diego that often, so it (curvy road) won't really matter that much. The other reason was because Ensenada seemed so large --- much like Guadalajara, and I never wanted to live in Guad. We do go there to Costco and to the larger Walmarts, so I imagine that we will go to Ensenada for the same reasons. However, if we found a nice place that we liked there --- and it wasn't in the middle of the city -- I'm not saying that we wouldn't live there.

Originally Posted by LivingNBaja

We do go there to Costco and to the larger Walmarts, so I imagine that we will go to Ensenada for the same reasons. However, if we found a nice place that we liked there --- and it wasn't in the middle of the city -- I'm not saying that we wouldn't live there.

Rosarito has a WalMart and Costco Tijuana isn't far away.
Ensenada does have a Sam's Club now and I'd be surprised if TJ didn't have at least one as well.

We be gettin' big time down here.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

Rosarito has a WalMart and Costco Tijuana isn't far away.
Ensenada does have a Sam's Club now and I'd be surprised if TJ didn't have at least one as well.

We be gettin' big time down here.

Tecate is a close option if you like rural.

Have you looked at Club Marena, KM 38.5, approx. 5 miles so of downtown Rosarito, as a rental site? Of course I am prejudice because we own a unit there, however, I consider it the finest condo development in all of Northern Baja.

Originally Posted by larry

Have you looked at Club Marena, KM 38.5, approx. 5 miles so of downtown Rosarito, as a rental site? Of course I am prejudice because we own a unit there, however, I consider it the finest condo development in all of Northern Baja.

Larry, we have not really looked at anything yet. We visited Rosarito a few weeks ago and drove down to Ensenada, but we didn't look at any houses or condos. We saw some high rise condos and some gated communities (from the road), but didn't see inside and don't have any info. We definitely will be there in October, and we will probably just try to find something small to live in temporarily while we look around. If you have any information about Club Marena, we would love to see it -- and thank you for taking the time to help! We might have to stay in a hotel for a week or so, since we don't have a definite arrival date and we are very hesitant to take something site unseen.
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Later .......... WOW! -- I just Googled Club Marena and it looks great! We have never lived in a high rise or condo .... however, we are really ready to give up a huge garden with all of the maintenance involved. We do need 3 bedrooms, so we thought it would be next to impossible to find that in a condo ........... but maybe not! Thanks again for the lead. We will definitely put this on the list and we do need to find out more "particulars", but it is a great start.

Would the weather really be similar to Jalisco? It never gets too hot in Rosarito, and I would think winters would be quite a bit cooler. There's often a marine layer that persists through the late morning / early afternoon and comes back in the evening in Rosarito. Overall I would think Rosarito would be cooler, especially in the summer. I imagine most of the year Rosarito would have cooler, but more pleasant temps and in the winter maybe gets a bit too cold, compared to Jalisco.

-Roger

Originally Posted by Uzun

Would the weather really be similar to Jalisco? It never gets too hot in Rosarito, and I would think winters would be quite a bit cooler. There's often a marine layer that persists through the late morning / early afternoon and comes back in the evening in Rosarito. Overall I would think Rosarito would be cooler, especially in the summer. I imagine most of the year Rosarito would have cooler, but more pleasant temps and in the winter maybe gets a bit too cold, compared to Jalisco.

-Roger

You are right. It appears that Rosarito is definitely cooler than it is here at Lakeside. It is a bit cooler in the summer and even cooler in the winter. We thought about that, but everything is a trade off. We want to be closer to the border, so it is worth it to us to put on a sweater in the cooler months. The views of the ocean will be worth it. We are originally from Texas, so we are used to very cold winters, very hot summers .... and VERY undependable weather. Anything is an improvement over Texas weather, in our opinion!

The weather around Rosarito is really dependable. It doesnt get much rain at all, and most afternoons are pretty sunny. It's just going to be somewhat chilly during the winter in stretches.

Originally Posted by LivingNBaja

Larry, we have not really looked at anything yet. We visited Rosarito a few weeks ago and drove down to Ensenada, but we didn't look at any houses or condos. We saw some high rise condos and some gated communities (from the road), but didn't see inside and don't have any info. We definitely will be there in October, and we will probably just try to find something small to live in temporarily while we look around. If you have any information about Club Marena, we would love to see it -- and thank you for taking the time to help! We might have to stay in a hotel for a week or so, since we don't have a definite arrival date and we are very hesitant to take something site unseen.
------------------------------------
Later .......... WOW! -- I just Googled Club Marena and it looks great! We have never lived in a high rise or condo .... however, we are really ready to give up a huge garden with all of the maintenance involved. We do need 3 bedrooms, so we thought it would be next to impossible to find that in a condo ........... but maybe not! Thanks again for the lead. We will definitely put this on the list and we do need to find out more "particulars", but it is a great start.

If you are interested in renting short term, If you google VRBO Listing #276754, you will see a 2 bd, 2 bath, 2,000 sq. foot unit on the 4th floor of the building that we own a unit in. You can email directly from that site the owners, Maureen & Jerry Riggs, great people. For a week, 7 nights, I think they charge $700, less than a 4 star hotel. I consider Club Marena 5 stars.

Also there are units with 3 bedrooms available for purchase. We own a 4,000 sq. ft., 3 bd, 3 bath unit.

some of those real estate listings make me want to take a month off and rent down there just to see what living on the ocean would be like!

Originally Posted by Uzun

some of those real estate listings make me want to take a month off and rent down there just to see what living on the ocean would be like!

It doesn't suck.

Originally Posted by Uzun

some of those real estate listings make me want to take a month off and rent down there just to see what living on the ocean would be like!

Ocean front or near ocean front living is a continuing maintenance nightmare.