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Budget for living in NicaraguaSubmitted by aswicks on 2 August, 2007 - 09:25.
Greetings all, For those who are living in Nicaragua can you give me a realistic budget for living in someplace like Jinotega, Matagalpa, Esteli, etc. This would be for a family of three, me, my wife, and a teenage son. This budget would be for living reasonably comfortably but not the sort with shopping trips to Miami twice a year. Will you please break it down into general categories such as housing, food, transportation, services, utilities, etc? The project I might be working on is getting more probable since they are now discussing my income - and of course they think it is too high ;) Thanks, Alan S. Wicks ( categories: )
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Reasonable rental for 5 days at a time in July. (last 2 weeks)
Myself and 3 others are visiting Nicaragua in July, does anyone know where I would look to find a small house to rent for 5 days, we'd love an Ocean view, on the Ocean, we'd love to be near or in Leon or Granada or SJDS and a something to rent for a few days in Ocotal. (We need something on the cheap side.. we're not rich folks, something safe but clean but of course gorgeous would be great)
Thanks, blue cayuga
SJDS rental
Bluecayuga-
I sent you a PM- not sure if the dates would work, but drop me a line.
Costs
Alan...there doesn't seem to be much of a response to your specific question about costs of food, housing, transportation etc (there is info about utillities however). Have you figured out what an average monthly cost of living is there? I once read that a single person could live comfortably on about $600 US a month. I can retire now after 30+ years with the US government and would like to get a realistic estimate of what it would cost per month to live fairly comfortably there. Any insights would be appreciated.
Cost to live
The big unknown is housing cost - supply and demand.
If buying/building a house is cash only, with two tiered pricing (same house, local price/gringo price), possible short resale if you pay gringo price but need to move later on. Rental housing quality versus US standard of living expectations.
These are the biggest areas of concern to me looking at Nica and knowing I want to do something within the next 3 to 6 months.
Housing
I don't think it is that big a problem. The "different prices" I hear about can be divided up as follows:
Three years ago I looked at a couple of new houses in Estelí. $20,000 each. Small lots but 2 (or 3, I forget) bedrooms, garage. Not like your Miami house but totally ok for here.
The right answer is to move here and rent. Even if you paid $300/mo rent (on the high end in most areas) and spent a year making contacts, checking out what was for sale (and what was selling) and such, you would save more than your year's rent from what you learned.
1- We don't want a Miami
1- We don't want a Miami house. Not our style.
2- You're giving us the advice and info we need to not be suckers. Might be smart to listen to what you're saying.
3- It would be desirable to know other gringo ex-pats, everybody needs friends and you can't have too many. We would hope to be able to live where the locals live, eat local food, be part of the local community, at a comfort level that works for us.
Our biggest concern, being 60-ish, and I'm in a wheelchair, is to be part of the local community without being taken seriously advantage of, or unsafe.
I've lived in Dominica, W.I. where any "gringo" can go about safely and be welcomed warmly. And, I've lived in Jamaica, where any "gringo" would have to be a total fool to wander about on his own (and I love Jamaica, it's people and culture, and my Maroon family). Nica is an unknown but we're making plans for late February.
For example
In San Juan Del Sur $ 350.-- per month with AC for a nice apartement is possible. A house in town with 2 bdr. large living room and kitchen and a back yard. $ 500.-- mo. Bedrooms are als AC. We have rentals in all price ranges with all kinds of different levels of comfort.
Just look around and take your time. You'll find something you like.
SJDS
Thank you for the very specific information. As a single male could I make it comfortably on about $600 US per month in SJDS (rent, utililties, food, beer, transportation) while working on finding a place to purchase? From what I have read, and knowing my lifestyle interests, SJDS sounds in all respects like the kind of place I want to live in. Thanks
Come check it out
I rented in a neighborhood here which seemed Ok. I asked friends in the center of town for advice and got meaningless. paranoid replies. I asked a couple taxi drivers and they said it was a good area (crime wise, etc) I came a night before renting to check it out. Seemed ok. A month later, a neighborhoodd kid got a stereo, a new screaming church opened up in somebody´s side yard, and the drunk down the street discovered Mexican music. It reminds me of living in a small apartment behind a bar in a working class area of LA many years ago, except the bar was only noisy on Fridays and Saturdays! Also, while living in the center my allergy problems went away. I coldturkeyed on 2 prescription mendecins within a few weeks of arriving in Nic.. Not so in my new neighborhood. Just crossing the filthy Panam can have me sick for hours.
My point? Look before you leap, rent first a whole year, and really play detective. Also, realize you have practically no ¨rights¨down here. If your neighbor wants to burn car tires upwind from you, live with it. ps: I just finished with a conversation with a store owner while on vacation in Panama (clothes are much cheaper and better here, so the family is on a shopping spree). He says that there are 2000 gringo retirees living here in David, a modern small city of 90,000. Not to mention all the gringos up the hill in Boquete.
¨pata de perro¨
Earthquakes in western Panama
But, the David Boquete area is probably more earthquake prone thank the Esteli-Matagalpa-Jinotega region.
You never know when the big one will hit western Panama.
jinotega, family of 4
Check out http://www.nicaliving.com/node/7564 for my November December figures.
Things have settled down a bit now. I give Veronica 9,800 cordobas a month and that covers everything basic including food. Luxuries are extra.
Family: me, veronica + Rodney 14 and Anahi 9
Location middle of town, Avenida Central.
Electric phone rent and taxes are all a bit elevated because its a business. But I don't live like a Gringo. Phil lives in absolute luxury compared to my place.
Tony X Robins, Jinotega
Undate on September 1
Before you posted this I told Ana we were going to keep track of expenses in August just to see what we are spending money on. So, we are and maybe she will still be speaking to me at the end of the month. :-)
In any case, I should have something that reflects reality. This month (it really does change each month) "the family" consists of myself, Ana, the 16 year old son of a friend in the US and some usual assortment of "drop-in friends and relatives". The one thing you learn here is that no matter how much food you prepare, you will get the right number drop-ins to eat everything. It's a quite amazing concept.
Utilities
For a family of 4 in A 800sf 2 br 2 bath house in Esteli with a small fridge, small tv, washing machine, 1 suicide shower, a medium sized fan for each room, and microwave. (numbers in cords, divide by 18.3 to get greenbacks).
electric 400+ cords per month (there is a sliding scale, the more you use the higher your rate)
water and sewer 100+ cords
gas (tank for stove) 215 cords (if you bake this would probably go up fast)
Phone about 400 cords. We do not have calls to cell phones blocked by the phone company, which is fairly common here. We do have the phone locked up in a wooden box to allow only incoming calls without the key. Welcome to Nicaragua!
Cable tv 300 cords You get to watch reruns of the Simpsons in Spanish. I´d prefer Married with Children
cell phone kinda like going to a casino: give them all you´ve got before they let you out. I´m beginning to think that cell phones are a primary cause of poverty in this country. I limit my losses by giving the family one $20 card per month.
Cheaper than the states, but keep in mind that you are not heating, probably don´t have an AC, and don´t bake.
"Poverty is the best recycler"
Trying to understand phones
Great info, thanks!
So does that phone bill include calls, or am I misinterpreting Enitel's website that says a phone line (before calls) is about US$6/mo. (a little over 100 cords)? It also has phone calls priced around 3-5 cords/minute (1-2 cents), depending on the time of day. But I'm supposing that's maybe just for calls to landlines? How much are calls to cell phones?
And what will that $20 cell phone card get you? I can't find anything on Enitel's site that really explains that (at least not that I can understand). Are incoming calls free? Or not? How much are outgoing calls? Here again, I'm supposing it depends on whether you're calling a cell phone or landline?
land lines. cell phones, movistar
Land line
Basic cost 109.56
Per minute to a Claro cell phone prorated by second 2.77
...to a Movistar cell phone prorated per second 3.69
+taxes NVA in this particular bill 61.52
Incoming calls from Movistar cell phones are just a block with no details. In my case 6.65 described as "recaudo en nombre de movistar"
Outgoing calls to Enitel land lines seems to be included with the basic charge.
Cell phones prepaid
A prepaid card buys 2 things -
- a credit towards making calls minute by minute
- a definite period of phone activation. The voice tells you when the activation will expire. you can also do a *810 and find out that date and the balance of account in dollars.
It is easily possible to have a phone with many dollars on the balance but activation has expired. It is also possible to have a zero dollar balance and several days to go on your activation. In both cases, you cannot make outgoing calls but can receive calls (from Claro or Enitel) and text messages.
90 days after the expiration date, your phone goes dead and when you revive it with a visit to an Enitel office, you'll probably get a new number.
Other stuff
Some land line owners will ask Enitel to block outbound calls to Claro and Movistar cell phones. Some will block incoming calls from Movistar. Just because you have a phone and they have a phone guarantees nothing connectivity wise.
Claro Enitel does not publish their per-minute rate for prepaid cell phones. Anyone..??
Tony X Robins, Jinotega
Prepaid Cost per Minute?
I found an old post on this site from 2005 that said calls from prepaid cell phones were US$.30 per minute (which would be about 5-6 cords). But I know better than to blindly trust 2-year-old data, especially when it comes to the ever-changing world of cell phones. Anybody know if this is still a good figure or not? Or if it makes any difference whether you're calling to a cell phone or land line?
Probably close
Enitel (Claro) does a great job of not publishing the information. The page for prepaid cel phones is here. You find out about the prepaid cards, how to enter them and even which models of phones you can get (all too many). But, no rates.
My understanding is cel-to-cel and fijo-to-fijo are cheaper than going between them and Claro to Movistar is just disgustingly expensive. But, while I have a cel phone, I cannot remember the last time I actually called someone on it. Last time I checked my balance was about $100.
Note that the postpago page (link off the prepaid page) does have rates. They are probably close to the prepaid rates.
What types of thinks don't you spend money on?
Hi FYL,
Looking forward to the numbers.
Question: What sort of thinks do you and yours NOT spend money on that other usanos & expats do?
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Looks like I may move down there in September - we are discussing compensation package so things are getting serious.
Alan S. Wicks Kennewick, WA
Steak
Ok, Ana eats meat. I don't. Being vegetarian here certainly does decrease costs. My big spending is electricity and internet connectivity. Other than that, I think we are pretty normal.
I do have a truck. That was a $20k investment--basically because I was sick of unreliable alternatives. But, ignoring the investment, operating costs are minimal as I drive it maybe once a week. $75/yr for insurance, some fuel and service very 5000 km.
I own the house so there is no rent (but I talk about that in the other post). Property taxes are about $60/year.
cars
I´ve managed to dodge (no pun intended) owning a car here because getting away from the automobile society was part of my reason for coming here. But, as good as public transit is here, it can be a nuisanse and is particularly hard on someone who always wants to have a project going which requires moving building materials, etc.
New cars seem to cost about the same as in the states, except for much cheaper Chinese brands that aren´t marketed there. I´m looking at a no-frills Suzuki pickup for about 12k. There´s a new Chevy pickup available (with an 800 cc motor) for 7k, but its short on legroom and I don´t trust American car brands, even if they are made in Korea.
Gas is pricey, but you can fix that by not driving much. I´m told insurance, registration, etc. are cheap.
"Poverty is the best recycler"
A little info to get you started...
Courtesy of the 'How To' section of the site:
http://www.nicaliving.com/node/9190