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| Buenos Aires - Retirement Haven? |
By Jamie Douglas
Right up front, let me establish, that my opinion of the AARP (American Association of Retired People) is very low. I was a long time member, before I came to understand what they were really up to, selling unnecessary supplementary insurance policies to their members, who assumed that because it was AARP, they were not getting ripped off, when in reality the organization made most of its money from acting as an insurance peddler, everything from the above mentioned product to life, health, property, and car insurance, getting hefty commissions from the large insurance companies from whom they received millions of dollars in sales commissions as well as advertising money from their monthly magazine. They are preying on the very people that they pledged to protect and represent.
The worst thing they ever did, in my opinion, involved that Bush era Medicare Bill, which was essentially written by the insurance and Big Pharma lobbyists. Not only was it a horrendous bill that screwed the public out of untold billions of US$, but AARP, which also makes many millions of US$ in advertising revenue from the pharmaceutical companies for products, many of them dangerous as well as useless, but they went right ahead and shafted their membership again by endorsing one of the biggest rip-offs in the entire Medicare Bill, the provision that explicitly forbade the US government from negotiating discounts on the hundreds of billions worth of drugs that were to be dispensed under this program. It was during their lobbying campaign for this looting of the treasury that they changed from being the AARP, to the AASRPAOT, The American Association for Screwing Retired People and All Other Taxpayers. This fiasco did not go unnoticed by their membership, and literally had millions forsake their membership.
So a while ago, Ken Budd, the AARP Executive Editor, published a list of the 10 best places to retire for the US seniors, all of whom apparently have been completely unaffected by the economic crisis and real estate crash and are just floating in money. Below is the list, in the sequence it was presented, and the reason why you should hurry there, followed by some realistic comments from someone who has been to all of them in my travels. Of course they are all very charming and scenic, so here we go:
The top of the list is occupied by Buenos Aires, Argentina, where according to their research, you can rent an apartment for as little as US$700 per month, and condominiums start at about US$200.000.
My view: Buenos Aires is a very exciting city, with a crumbling infrastructure, daily protests, dangerous at night as well as daytime, and expensive compared to the rest of the country. When crossing a street, you may as well hang a bull’s-eye around your neck, because when the lights change, cars and especially motorcycles will continue at breakneck speed for a few seconds. It is a charming city of about 20 million people, who all honk their horns constantly, and the sirens of emergency vehicles never seem to stop. The saddest part is being in the center of the city, and seeing all the boarded up storefronts with piled up garbage, and the really magnificent buildings from the early part of the 20th century abandoned and neglected.
Next on the list is Corozal, Belize, where the main attraction is that they speak English, sort of. Just recently the immigration requirements have changed drastically, and nobody ever speaks of the crime problem, nor the unavailability of just about anything, coupled with the high cost of expat living.
If you like to be in Europe, France to be exact, Ken recommends Langevedol-Rousillon, where medieval castles are never far away, and the cost of living is slightly lower than, say, Paris. That speaks for itself.
Le Marche, in Italy is another one of those charming areas that retirees and expats don’t know about. Unfortunately real estate is going out of bounds for foreigners and locals alike, and Italy is facing massive inflation, along with hostility against most foreigners. They have been overrun, making property prices in large swaths of the country only suitable for the very rich.
Then, highly recommended, comes Puerto Vallarta, a place I have loved and enjoyed for many years, but I wouldn’t want to live in a country that is presently embroiled in a narco-civil- war. Gated communities or not.
The next place is been on my list of favorites. Granada, Nicaragua is a Jewel, with the old colonial center of the city being completely vehicle free, with the walk down to the lake offering an unobstructed view of the volcano in the middle of the lake. Granada now sports an expat community of over 1000, many of them having recently run away from “the Socialist Regime of Barack Obama.” They apparently don’t have a problem living in a country run by a Marxist-Socialist named Daniel Ortega, the long-time leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. If that name sounds familiar, it is probably because they were in power in Nicaragua during its US-inspired civil war, when things like the Iran-Contra, CIA Drugs for Arms, the mining of the Gulf of Fonseca, and secret US Military Bases in neutral (?) Costa Rica and Honduras were going on.
Boquete, Panama is another lovely place where the price of real estate has gone up 3000% since gringos arrived and built their villas. Hot and humid for most of the year with a lot of rain and terrible roads, it formerly had a low cost of living, but that is all in the past, just like most places in the central valley in neighboring Costa Rica.
The list is rounded out by two unlikely places.
Cascals, Portugal, another country where the economy is on the verge of complete collapse, is a mere 15 minutes from Lisbon, and (according to Ken Budd), is completely off the radar. You can rent a cheap house for around US$1000 a month, while a nice house can be purchased for around US$250.000. Wintertime there is very cold and windy, as it also is in the next and last destination:
The Costa del Sol in Spain, which during the best time of year is completely overrun with millions (I am not making that up) from all over Western Europe and The Federated Russian Republic, leading to beaches that are so crowded, it reminds you of cartoons where people literally lay next to each other for miles on end, and every hustler has something to sell to you. A fixer upper away from the beach can be had, during these dire economic times, for around $180.000.
While the planet abounds with great places to retire, I feel that this list is really not very objective, and I suspect that Ken Budd is getting his information from his latest incarnation. MASRERB, (My Association to Sell Real Estate to Retiring Boomers).
Argentina has a lot more to offer than Buenos Aires. Check out Córdoba if you must be in a city, or many other locations in the world’s 8th largest nation.
As always, if you have any questions or need guidance in your selection of a place to settle down for a while, I will gladly communicate with you, at no charge. I am not selling or renting anything, and my advice to all is always the same. Go there and rent a place before committing yourself to buying.
Greetings from Patagonia
Jamie Douglas
Jamie Douglas is an Adventurer, Writer and Photographer with an amazing array of Nikon equipment, and a lifetime of experience traveling and documenting. He is always available for assignments and new adventures. email: jamie.douglas [at] yahoo.com
See more of Jamie's writing at Expat Daily News Latin America.
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