Opening the door to a new life as homeowners didn't come easy for Stacy Garcia and Manny Flores. The married couple’s path to the American dream of homeownership took a detour in Tijuana, Mexico.
"We had to do it. It was our only option if we wanted to buy a house. We had good jobs and still, were never going to be able to save enough money," explained Garcia.
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So the two former journalists packed their bags, left their two-bedroom Normal Heights apartment behind and headed south of the border where they rented a house for $350 per month.
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"We had a three-year plan to go down and save $50,000," Flores said. "By year one we saved zero because we started traveling because we had extra money.”
Garcia and Flroes aren't alone in their decision to move across the border. At least 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico, according to the U.S. State Department.
Real estate broke Luis Bustamante says a quarter of the people he's helped move to Tijuana are from San Diego and other U.S. cities.
“Because your rents and prices in the United States are getting so high they can’t afford to live there unless there are two or three in a home," said Bustamante.
The cost of living is about 62% lower in Tijuana than in San Diego, according to cost of living database Numbeo. That allowed Jodi Cilley to rent a spacious two-story, two-bedroom apartment just blocks from the beach for around $700 per month. The San Diego City College teacher and president of Film Consortium San Diego moved to Tijuana from San Diego in 2018.
It’s allowed her to follow her passion instead of chasing a bigger paycheck.
"I am running my own small business. You know, it's not financially lucrative but I get to live the life I want to live, I get to work on the projects I want to work on," said Cilley.
Cilley and others say the landscape is changing in Tijuana with new restaurants and shops within walking distance, making Mexico more familiar and appealing to San Diegans who are thinking of making the move and making their homeownership dreams come true.
"Noting in life is easy,” says Flroes. “So I say if you’re willing to make a sacrifice, go for it. It was worth it for us and I don’t think we would have had any other option to buy a house."
