宇宁: Our new house journey (in Mexico Valle Guadalupe)

How it all begins

We bought a house in Mexico San Antonio de las minas, in Dec 2015.

Our place in the valley

A lot of people asked us why we did it, how we did it. This is a story of our journey.

I first visited the valley 2 years ago, with Bill.

We were enchanted by the valley.

View from El Cielo, Dec 2013

El Cielo

El Cielo's vineyards

I remember thinking this would be a great place to own a vacation home. It's such a nice valley, great wines and yet so tough to find a decent affordable hotel.
In case you haven't heard of the Guadalupe Valley, this is a nice article on this wine region in Baja.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2014/nov/22/valle-de-guadalupe-baja-travel/

1.5 years later, 2015 August we visited Bud's winery in the valley during Vendimia.
http://www.discoverbaja.com/event/valle-de-guadalupe-vendimia-wine-harvest-festival-2/

Bud's Vineyard

We had a great time visiting Vena Cava, Troika and Victor Torres.

Troika

Vena Cava

Victor Torres, with a little piece of France backyard

On that Sunday am, we were sitting in a nice restaurant for brunch in San Antonio de las Minas, called Hacienda restaurant (http://restauranteyviverolahacienda.com/index.html)

Hacienda backyard

Bill said to me: "I don't mind spending more time here" and that cemented the idea of finding a vacation home down in the valley.

After we got back to San Diego, we found Jo Ann Knox's website advertising several places in the valley for sale and we met her at the Musfata restuarant in the valley and viewed some houses with her.
http://www.bajastylerealestate.com/Valle_de_Guadalupe/page_2039293.html

Jo Ann's Cava and vineyard

Most of the places in the valleys are meant for big ranches but there's this place caught our eye as it's well built, reasonable size land/house with a great view.

The Front of the house (Before Renovation)

View from the back of the house

The purchase process
We made an offer in September 2015, and officially went into the due diligence process in Oct 2015, with Carlos Rudamentkin, a lawyer introduced by Jo Ann.

As we are both non-Mexicans, we have to get a bank trust or a corporation to hold the land.
As the land was 5 acres, it's too big for Fedeicomiso (bank trust) option. We decide to setup Primavera Torina Corporation, a B&B in the valley.
Carlos was a great help as he went through the corporation setup with us and did all the paperwork to finalize the corporation setup.
On top of the corporation, he also finalized the notary documents which involved due diligence checks on deeds and taxes etc.

Finally, On 15th Dec 2015 we all converge in Ensenada notary at 10am and signed on a big book that signifies the transfer of the deed from the seller to us.
It's worth noting that that's the final day before Posada begins and all of the offices close for the holidays. In fact, the notary are closed at 12pm for their own Posada party that day!
http://www.haciendatresrios.com/special-occasions/posada-christmas-in-mexico-traditions/

Nicole

Bill

Jim the Seller and Carlos

The final page with everyone's signature

Oscar, our power of attorney in case of emergency

The renovation process
Now the real work begins! We were introduced to the builder of the house Alejandro Morales via the owner. Alex was great and introduced us to a few places to purchase building materials in Ensenada. Reformer Street is THE place in Ensenada to get tiles, sliding doors, furniture etc.

Our first morning and breakfast in the new house

We are in full camping style for 2 months!

Air mattress, sleeping bags, folding chairs and table!

Our first job was to clear out the yard area and we accumulated this random pile of metal, wood in 2 days.

Pile of metal and wood

Somehow this picture feels right =)

Also, as the house has no trash service, we built an incinerator out of the cinder blocks that Jim left behind. This will reduce the amount of trash that we have to carry out from the house

Home-made burning area

Our first task was to put in bigger sliding doors in living room and 2 bedrooms in order to get more light and better exterior access.

Before renovation: Living room

After renovation and furniture

Second was to remodel the kitchen to make it more useful and modern-looking

Before renovation: Kitchen

Kitchen Island installation

Kitchen new doors and cabinets installation

The Final Kitchen

The 3rd task is to remodel the current bathroom to make it more user friendly and less dated

Guest Bathroom Before renovation

Guest Bathroom after renovation

4h task was to add a 2nd bathroom so that 2 person can poop at the same time =)

Alex completing the floor to the new bathroom

The inside of the bathroom coming along

The final Bathroom

5th was to remodel the bedrooms so that we maximized the size and optimize storage options

Master Bedroom Before Renovation

Master Bedroom After reno

2nd bedroom before Renovation

2nd Bedroom after reno

After working on the interior, we shifted to the exterior and did some work on the outside area.

Front of the house after repainting

Back of the house Before Renovation

Back of the house After Renovation

Ginormous truck delivering the lock and load

Loading the lock and Load into the ground

5th was to work on a pergola for an eating/BBQ area

Pergola

6th was a retaining wall build with a way to get to the pergola area safely and easily

Current area that's meant for retaining wall and pergola area

Side of the house after stairs are done

Finally it is to establish a succulent garden and plant some trees around the property. Our first attempt at tree buying is comical and entertaining (to the seller). It is definitely stressful for B driving back with the trunk popped open and stressing up when the trunk chopped on the tree with every little bump/s!

Olive tree # 1 - figuring out how to buy trees and bring it back with us in the sedan

Olive tree # 2 (much better prepared)

Finding all these little "friends" as we are gardening

Friends, acquaintances and good food along the journey
On the night that we went to sign for the corporation setup, Carlos told us to have dinner at Toni's.
It's an Italian restaurant and Tony came out to explain his menu in English for 10 minutes.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g150770-d6758021-r287805117-Da_Toni-Ensenada_Baja_California.html
We had a great meal!

Meal at Toni's - Baja Mussels, Burrata cheese salad, Uni pasta

Jo Ann also brought us to Latitude 32 as a celebration for closing our place. It's a beautiful restaurant inside El Cielo. It seems poetic that we celebrated the closing at the same place where we first thought of buying a place in the valley.

Food at latitude 32, Asian-Mex fusion

This is the apple pie that the San Antonio town is famous for.
We had our first wine and apple pie tasting after pulling all the junk from the house =)

Our first wine tasting as a house owner in San Antonio

She also showed us a very good pizza place in the town, hidden further away from the road. The view is great and so are the pizza!

View from Ochentos Pizza

Ochentos Pizza

As we started exploring more on our own, we discovered more food gems. This is a taquiera near Ensenada. You go to each taco person and order what you want. Start eating it fresh and hot and pay at the counter after you are done eating! $1 for a street Taco, and 3 of those are plenty for dinner portion

Ensenada Taquiera

This is a lamb truck that only runs till 11am or so every day. We noticed it's always crowded but didn't have a chance to try it till 2 months later, as it is sold out before lunch. The meat is really tender and not gamey at all. Again, $1 for a lamb taco with unlimited garnish and salsa. Free lamb soup as well.