Moving to Grenada
Submitted by skas99 on Sun, 2005/05/15 - 23:24.
Hello Everyone, I am considering on moving to Grenada, Nicaragua but I have a few questions before I do that. My first question is whether living on $500 dollars a month is good enough to live by? Also, where can I get information regarding renting an apartment in Grenada? I am not looking for anything special. I am single with no kids so a 1 bedroom would be sufficient. How do I find out whether they carry the medications I am currently taking? Any information regarding these questions will help tremendously. Thank you for your time.
It's Relative
What are your expectations for 500.00 a month? There are many people in Nicaragua living on 100.00 per month. I'd consider not living in Gringolina however.
in response
you have a right to be concerned with a budget of only 500 a month. The good news is they problably have all your pills here. this is granada 2006, not 96. check it out first. Yours, TDL
rental information
Skas & c203,
What looks to be legit information on rentals is on a website I found. www.bolsanica.com I of course don't know if it is legit or how often it's updated but it might help give you an idea. If anyone else knows this site to be b.s., please comment. Note- it is in Spanish but pretty easy to figure out the $$ amounts.
Shorter-term rentals
Many places seem cheap, and some are, but you need to ask a lot of questions if you might be a long term resident-renter. There is no shortage of places which are only available for 3 or 6 or 9 months (because that is how long the owner is away each year) at a time. For example, in these, you would not be able to have successive 6-month lease contracts, because someone else will be living there, probably the owner or a friend of the owner (and not everyone always goes out of their way to point this out to you when you look around, or start that first lease). You also have a lot of speculation, and long-term renovation projects. Some people are sitting on the building a short time, and want to flip it for a large profit. When you leave such a place might be determined by when they “flip” the sale. Other people have bought in, and are at various stages of renovation. This can be good and bad, depending on your time-frame and fix-up skills. If they haven’t started remodeling, and wont for some time, they might want someone living there if for nothing else security reasons. Such places can be great short term rentals. I know of people there who have lived for free in return for very basic and very select labor on the building, or for handling other tasks, even the supervision of laborers. These are the kind of arrangements you only find while living there, unfortunately. The very best options, short of blind luck, will come to those who reside there for a while, because your possibilities increase quickly and in all directions once you meet people and see what is going on there, on a regular basis.
It is possible to live there on $500 per month, but you will not be living the life of the average "gringo resident" in Granada. If you are not interested in the tourist-town life, or the wealth of places to eat/drink, there might not be a good enough reason for you to be here instead of some other place in Nicaragua. As others have said in reply, the traditional "small apartment" or "1-bedroom" is definitely not the norm in any colonial city. Most all medications which have been on the market more than 2 years should be there. Those that arent, should be readily available in Managua. With a few exceptions, prices will be less than the basic retail or discounted price in the U.S. It will be hard to locate apartments under $500 per month, using the world wide web. Not imposible, but hard, as only the higher end places end up on most pay-to-show internet sites.
Close Call
If that is the city you want, and if you want a year lease or more, and if you do not want to furnish a place yourself, and if you need medicine(s), you will really be cutting it close – I think; probably too close (you would not have much left, in case a problem arises or there is a travel emergency or whatever might occur). Of the 9-11 places I have seen there, I would say you double the monthly rent or more if you move from “nice empty building” to “nice furnished apartment”.
The final math would depend on some of the things other people have listed for you. The cheap places there tend to be unfurnished, larger places. To furnish one, you might need to spend the equivalent of many months of your pension, upfront when you move in.
One other thing to consider is the “social thing”. If you end up spending free time with foreigners there, expect to spend a good bit when you go out, because Granada is not famous for cheap food and drink. It is there, but that is not what most foreigners living there do. I am not recommending that people move to Granada and hang out with or only with English-speakers, frequenting only foreign-owned places, but there is a lot of that in any “gringo town” in Latin America.
One thing said many, many times here and on other pages, is that “you really need to go and see…”. Often comments are just clichés, but sometimes they are so for a reason. It is not the clear and cut answer you were probably hoping for, but there are just too many variables. If you decide to make a trip down, the family stay has benefits beyond being cheap, as often you see everything, right-out in terms of costs and everyday life there.
"good enough to live by"
A lot depends on what you mean by "good enough to live by". If you need a nice furnished apartment, because of the nature of the places there in Granada which come furnished (often restored, all the ammenities, sometimes with a quasi-U.S. rental price), you might be spending a huge chunk of your money on rent and related costs. There are cheap rentals available, and I have seen some of them. But, you would need to furnish them, with everything, and that may or may not be quite expensive, depending on your needs and tastes.
Also, it depends what you need, or what you consider to be essential and what is a "frills". No frills everyday life in Nicaragua is not for everyone; it depends what you want and how you will spend your days. There would be many questions, and you do not need to answer them here in the forum, but they are things to think about. Such things are: Granada is very hot, so do you need air conditioning? Do you need internet access regularly? Do you want/need cable tv? Do you often read books and newspapers, and if so how is your Spanish? Are you accustomed to having a pet of any kind? Will you be using the postal service or Fedex or anything, regularly? Will you be traveling around Central America, or Nicaragua? Do you like to eat out, and do you often buy wine or beer or whatever? If you cook at home, will you need things usually not made in Nicaragua, and imported from the U.S.? Will you need to make a trip home, every year, or more than once a year? Etc., etc., etc.
If you start answering yes to very many of these questions, and you need a furnished apartment, you will have to watch the pennies (or Cordobas). If you have not before lived in a Latin country, the best advice someone could give you is to make a trip there for a few weeks (preferably longer, if possible) and see if it is for you. Unless you want to rent a perfectly restored house or new condo set-up, it will be hard to find rental info on the web. As someone else said, and not just regarding Granada but the whole country, the best deals are not advertised in print or online.
Renting
There is no shortage of rentals there. Finding them via the www is a challenge though, because the best deals are via local advertising, or word of mouth (or a simple paper sign in a window). Be forewarned that many, many buildings are not or were not intended to be apartment buildings in the normal sense of the phrase, rather they are large, old colonial buildings. So, in many cases the house is for rent, as a whole, not as an part or portion. And, finding the equivalent of a one-bedroom place is very difficult; they exist, but are usually rented. This sounds bad, but isnt. Large places do not cost very much, so you simply pay for a place bigger than you probably need. I have friends renting giant houses for under $200 per month.
I do not know where you have rented in the past, but in Latin America, usually apartments are either furnished or not -- and when "not", which is the norm, they do not come with what apartmentes often do come with in other countries, namely a refrigerator and stove or whatever. In many cases, there is not a thing in the room/house, so keep that in mind. One other option is a "family stay", which might serve your needs for a week or two while you look around. These are for pensioners and students and people studying Spanish - mostly. Just a bedroom and meals if you want them. In the house of a normal, everyday family there, maybe $50-70 per week; in a wealthier place, perhaps $100 or so.
I was just down there for another trip. Ask around and you will be shown many apartments. Also, many foreigners have places there which they use only part of the year, and they sublet or rent them the other times. If you do not mind moving, this can be a nice option since the place is furnished. Finding such a place (easiest via foreign owned bars and cafes) is a nice way of getting an introduction to the city for a few months, without paying hotel rates, etc.
As for medicine, almost anything would be available in the country, but whether or not it is in Granada is another matter. There are farmacies everywhere. Worst case scenario is a trip to Managua occassionally, but you might find you need (like?) to do that anyway.
$500 would cover things, of course it depends what you do, and if you travel, and where you eat/drink. Expect to pay more the first month than later months, as you have to sort out your life and get organized.
Grenada
Hello skas99!
I too have the same questions as you do so I will be very interested in what you find out. Good luck! Chris.