January 2011 Newsletter

Sales of new single-family houses in November 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 290,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 5.5 percent (+/-16.2%)* above the revised October rate of 275,000, but is 21.2 percent (+/-13.3%) below the November 2009 estimate of 368,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2010 was $213,000; the average sales price was $268,700. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 197,000. This represents a supply of 8.2 months at the current sales rate.

Guadalajara Reporter, Tom Marshall
December 16 2010
Guadalajara-based U.S. businessman Ed Juline was asked whether the Mexican economy is back to its pre-recession levels or just rebounding slightly from a disastrous 2009.

The World Economic Forum’s 2010 Global Competitive report places Mexico at number 12 in the 139 countries analyzed in terms of the size of its internal market. The theory goes that although GDP may be lower than other North American and Western European countries, the large population and growing GDP are causes to be optimistic.

Juline, who helps represent foreign companies wanting to sell their products in Mexico, believes Mexico has a decent domestic market and that makes his job much easier.

“Most foreign clients already know about the strengths of Mexico’s internal market,” stresses Juline. “Just look at how many Walmarts, Costcos and Home Depots are springing up.”

Deborah Rinder, the chief economist at the American Chamber in Mexico City, is also confident about the state of the Mexican economy, although she admits that structural changes are still required.

Learn more about Mexico’s economic outlook...

HEALTHbeat Extra
Harvard Medical School
November 30, 2010

No matter what your age, you have the power to change many of the variables that influence how long you live, and how active and vital you feel in your later years.

Actions you can take to increase your odds of a longer and more satisfying life span are really quite simple:

• Don't smoke.


• Enjoy physical and mental activities every day.


• Eat a healthy diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, and substitute healthier monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats for unhealthy saturated fats and trans fats.


• Take a daily multivitamin, and be sure to get enough calcium and vitamin D.


• Maintain a healthy weight and body shape.


• Challenge your mind. Keep learning and trying new activities.


• Build a strong social network.


• Follow preventive care and screening guidelines.


• Floss, brush, and see a dentist regularly.


• Ask your doctor if medication can help you control the potential long-term side effects of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis, or high cholesterol.

Read more about the actions to increase your odds of a longer and more satisfying life span…

Live on Vacation at La Reserva Ajijic, Mexico

PRICE RANGE from $223,500 to $392,000 USD
Exceptional Value. Get in on the front end of this great investment opportunity.



Welcome to La Reserva, Ajijic's premier marina, country club and exclusive home development on Lake Chapala where you can enjoy the elegance of an exclusive lifestyle, every single day.

Perfectly located in the Micro climate, La Reserva Yacht and Country Club is a one-of-a kind concept in Ajijic. A large clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts and marina will be right on the lake boasting spectacular lake front enjoyment. A restaurant and a myriad of services and activities will attract residents to enjoy the outdoor activities in this active lifestyle community. Imagine Tai Chi and Yoga right on your doorstep, or how about kayaking early in the morning, a work out in the fully equipped gym (to keep you fit), or walk the dog along the jogging trail and so much more. Or, how about sailing in the sunset on Lake Chapala -- the perfect end to a perfect day.

• High red-brick domed ceilings and open floor plans - great for entertaining.


• Dome cupola in (large) kitchens and foyer (in some models).


• Open airy floor plans featuring skylights and lots of windows for natural light.


• Two bedroom plus den or 3 bedroom plus den models with 2 and 3 baths.


• Granite in kitchens and marble in baths.


• Stainless steel appliances.


• Fountains and fireplaces (some even have a fireplace on the terrace).


• Quality finishing is standard fare. No upgrades necessary.

Learn more about La Reserva, Ajijic's premier marina, country club and exclusive home development...

Tere Ruiz and Karen Mc Connaughey

In Focus on Mexico we experience the joy of meeting lots of wonderful people who come on our Focus on Mexico Program and who have enriched our lives in many ways. Every individual who makes Lake Chapala their home offers our community their knowledge and personal experience to enhance our wonderful lives in our pocket of paradise. When we have the opportunity, we like to showcase some of our alumni who have improved our days and our souls.

This month we are very happy to introduce you to Dr. Kuelewa Furaha (Swahili for Understanding Happiness), who came to the Lake Chapala area with a one-way ticket and participated in our August 2010 Program.

Learn more about No-Needle Acupuncture and Karen and Tere's experience...

Read more about an individual's name in Mexico...

"2010 is your chance. 2010 is your year. Beyond the media view of our world is another one, where every turn brings not worry and fear but discovery and adventure. This other world continues beyond the financial meltdown, the War on Terror, and Health Care. And this other world is way more fun.

"This other world can also boast a lower cost of living, near-perfect weather, a dramatically reduced tax burden (how would you like to pay no taxes?), safe cities, friendly neighbors, privacy, security, investment markets that continue to offer both upside and yield...plus a generally enriched and expanded quality of life that you have to experience to appreciate.

"This is a great big world bursting with opportunity. Seize it."

Read more about a New Year, a New Life, and a New World in Lake Chapala...

5 Million Baby Boomers will turn age 65 each
year in the next 20 years.
13,700 Baby Boomers per day.
9 Baby Boomers per minute.

Read Marie Dwyer Bullock’s insightful article “Beat the Boomer Rush.” Amazingly, it’s just as relevant now as it was in 2006 when she wrote it. Don’t be left behind...

By Karen McConnaughey

The symptoms and, possibly, the duration of a cold or the flu may be helped by using the following home-care treatments. There might be something here you haven’t thought or heard about...like Oil of Oregano for one!

We’re just giving you a complete list of things we know have worked for us and others!

• As always, wash your hands frequently, which will help prevent the spread of your cold or flu to others.


• Drink extra liquids (such as juices, water, tea, or chicken soup) to avoid dehydration. Staying hydrated will keep the moist linings of your nose and throat from becoming dry. Mucus will stay moist and flow out of your body. (A runny nose is better than a stuffy nose.) My father, who was a family practice doctor, always said to drink plenty of "clear liquids," He also said that milk and milk-based drinks are bad for the mucus, so avoid them when you're sick. Another specialist said that "there is some correlation between dairy and mucus production. She recommended avoiding milk and milk-based products during respiratory flair ups, sinus infections and colds and says instead to pump the clear fluids - specifically water, clear juices and chicken broth to help thin out the mucus/phlegm, which makes it easier for your body to expel." However, other web sites, like WebMD, say that dairy products and mucus have nothing to do with one another!

Read the complete list of things we have discovered...

These days many people are finding second homes in overseas locations; others are moving overseas lock, stock, and barrel. I live in Mexico, and I'm here to stay.

Talking to my friends in the states, I get a sense that most people are ready to make the move but have questions concerning overseas medical care. I never worried about medical care in Mexico before I moved here, because for years I've known a lot of U.S. citizens who are living here comfortably and in good health, largely due to a great health plan available to anyone and everyone residing on Mexican soil.

So impressed am I of Mexico's health care program, I thought I'd write this letter and give Escape from America Magazine readers something to think about.

Read more about what Jerry Draughon has to say about Mexican health care...

By Tere Ruiz

New Year, New Beginnings… and we know that most of the time people make resolutions for the beginning of the Year. So for the ones who made “learning Spanish” one of their resolutions, or for the ones who couldn’t make a new year’s resolution list, this year we would like to help you learn more Spanish by introducing you to a new verb every month.

This will be a regular column conjugating Regular and Irregular verbs in Spanish.

So first, let’s talk about the verbs in Spanish…

Canadians are the world's heaviest web users

Maybe it's the long winters

Canadians spend more time online than users in any of the other countries tracked by measurement company comScore, the Canadian Press reports, also noting that Canada had the highest penetration of Internet access measured.

About 68 per cent of Canadians are online, compared to 62 per cent in the United Kingdom and in France, and 60 per of Germans, 59 per cent in the United States, 57 per cent in Japan, and 36 per cent in Italy.

Canada was the only country whose users logged an average of more than 2,500 minutes online a month - nearly 42 hours, while Israelis in second place averaged some 2,300 minutes weekly.

Canadians' per capita use of YouTube also ranks first in the world, with an estimated 21 million of some 33 million Canucks visiting monthly, compared to 147 million of roughly 308 million Americans, so Canadians are far ahead on a per capita basis in YouTube utilization as well as viewing more videos, watching an average of 147 compared with 100 per U.S. viewer.

Canadians were among enthusiastic early adopters of Facebook, but according to socialbakers.com, Canada at some 17 million users is now neck and neck with India for 9th and 10th most Facebook accounts, although Canada's penetration rate with just over half of its population on FaceBook is still among the highest.

The average Canadian netizen also visits 16 Wikipedia pages monthly, the highest level of Wikipedia access in the world, slightly greater than more than German, Polish and U.S. users.

Statistics Canada reports that In 2009, 80% of Canadians aged 16 and older, or 21.7 million people, used the Internet for personal reasons, up from 73% in 2007, and 98% of people aged 16 to 24 online, up slightly from 96% two years earlier. Among Canadians aged 45 or older, two-thirds (66%) went online during 2009, up from 56% in 2007. Presumably the percentages would be even higher for 2010.

Source: www.thinq.co.uk

Editor’s Note: All of us have been involved in situations like this where one adventure turns into something completely opposite, like Marie’s blog, “Thirty Minutes to the Airport.” We’re so glad Paulette shared her experience with us. We really do love the people in Mexico…we are constantly reminded of this every day.

Focus team member, Paulette Coburn, shared something with us just recently, and, of course, we had to share it with you:

Hi: This happened to us in Guadalajara yesterday as you can read from Randall's email below to Spencer at S & S Auto here in Ajijic. When it happened, we didn't know who to call, so we called S & S auto, the place where I bought my car and the place that also services our vehicles. This is the email that Randall sent to thank them for all their help.

"I was driving on a very busy Lopez Mateos today when our vehicle shut down due to electronic component failure. I was blocking traffic in the middle lane. A nice gentleman pedestrian came to help me, and with the aid of a Police cruiser with flashing lights blocking the traffic, he pushed it across two lane of traffic and onto a side road at a parkade (shopping center). Who to call? We could only think of you folks at S&S Auto. Thank you so much…You did a great job getting us a tow truck. The driver called and I enlisted the help of the security guard at the parkade who helped us with Spanish to guide the truck to our exact location.

The tow truck came and a very pleasant driver loaded the van onto the deck and took us to the Mercedes Dealer. The service people understood my description of what had happened and diagnosed the problem. They hooked up the diagnostic computer and zeroed in on the failed sensor. They also said they had one and would replace it. I asked them also about a complete filter replacement, fluid check and oil change. They did everything in about 6 and 1/2 hours. We would likely have still been there if it were not for your help.."

We were literally stalled on a busy six-lane street in Guadalajara with the traffic flying past us! Everyone was so helpful and especially the pedestrian, who was a car washer, who crossed three lanes of busy traffic to come and push the vehicle across our three lanes of traffic. Thank goodness for the policeman who stopped all the traffic so that we could get to a safe spot. At the time I didn't realize that there was a policeman stopping traffic and I was quite on edge as this kind man pushed our vehicle across to safety. I was very concerned that we would get hit from the rear by the speeding traffic. The people from S & S called a tow truck for us and the security guard from the shopping center where we were stalled spoke to the tow truck guy in Spanish to give in directions as to where we were located. Also we were going to Guadalajara with friends of ours who were ahead of us, so I called them on the cell and they came back to where we were. Randall went with the tow truck and I went with them. Later we picked up Randall then we went to a fantastic restaurant for a lovely lunch, finished going to Costco & Home Depot then went to pick up the vehicle. By then it was 6:30 p.m. so we all drove home in our own vehicles. We had an absolutely beautiful and fun day. Randall and I were so thankful that the sensor went when we were so close to where we could get it fixed. The dealership had an emergency mechanic on duty, so they were able to fix the problem as they had the part in stock plus do a regular servicing which we were planning to schedule in the near future. This is just another example of the wonderful people in Mexico and our wonderful friends down here. What could have turned out to be a complete disaster and thanks to the wonderful generosity of people down here turned out to be a great experience and another story for us to tell about living down here in Mexico.

Just wanted to share this story with you.

Have a wonderful day,
Paulette

To see the rest of Marie's response to the question about RVing around Lake Chapala Mexico, click here...

For more information please see the brochure for this class...

If you haven't visited our community events calendar, now would be a good time see what is happening in the area...

To all Focus alumni ladies...remember our Ladies Luncheon meets the third Wednesday of each month, so if you know you're going to be in town, please join us!

And, any Lady Alumna can join us...whether you're visiting temporarily, finally moved, renting...whatever. We want to introduce you to the other wonderful Focus on Mexico ladies who live in the area.

Terri Hensley is our new Keeper of the List. Thank you for taking over, Terri...we really appreciate your help! Contact Terri (terrieh26@yahoo.com) to find out where the luncheon for the month you're going to be in town is going to be held. A big thank you again to Sue Ochs.

Please join us if you're going to be in town. We'd love to see you again, and it's a good way to meet the other ladies who have chosen this particular piece of paradise in which to settle down.

Our next luncheon will be Wednesday, January 19. It's ALWAYS the third Wednesday of the month, except in December when we go shopping in Guadalajara for Christmas. So...If you are in town, please check with Terri to find out where it's going to be.

The Men's Table

And, a new tradition seems to have started too. Occasionally, some of the ladies are dropped off by their husbands. A few of the husbands decided to stay and start their own men's luncheon at their own table...no eavesdropping! How about that?

So...now you Focus men have an opportunity to get to know other gentlemen in the area...no grousing about your wives being at a 'hen party' ever again! As long as you're not sitting too close to us, we think it's a great idea, and you are more than welcome!

C'mon down...whether you're single OR married. It's a great way to get to know other Focus on Mexico gentlemen.

So...You single men out there...let us know if you want us to add you to our email list to receive information about the luncheon, or you can contact Terri Hensley to find out where it's going to be. It's always the third Wednesday of the month. Love to see you!

A few memories of a past luncheons...