 This is Baja Mexico and this place has our heart. We are going to spend the next week looking for our new home or some land to build a home from the ground up. And you might be wondering why we flew across the planet to the bottom of Baja California to buy a new home. Well, it all started four years ago when we spent many months living in our van in this part of Mexico. And after many visits, we've fallen in love with everything about life down here. This is Tobias, our real estate agent who has been making our dream move to Baja happen. Constantly keeping us in the loop, he is the go-to agent we've heard from numerous people who have built their homes here. We have six places to check out and we can't wait to find our dream winter home with all of you. One minute away from meeting a real estate agent. It's feeling very real. Baja is a northern Mexican state that is entirely de-attached from Mexico itself. It's a peninsula located below California. It's a beautiful, welcoming place known for its endless sunshine, 350 days a year to be exact, mountain ranges and thousands of miles of coastline that meets the desert. It's remote yet accessible. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, hi. So excited. Tobias, everyone. We're excited. We are finalizing our list of homes and parcels of land we want to see in four different areas along the rugged Pacific coast of Baja. Tona Santos, Las Plaitas, Pescadero and Cerritos which are all in a span of about 20 kilometers. Team of black backpacks. We're doing drive-by the houses. We're scouting out tomorrow. Oh really? It's cute and it's in town. This is it? Yeah. Wall. I like it because it's walls. Yeah. But before we go house hunting, thank you to Better Help for sponsoring this week's video and for bringing therapy into our lives. Every year, therapy becomes more normalized and more relevant in our lives, in conversations while we're out and about at dinners and in chats with friends. Sharing therapy with all of you makes me so happy because both Jasmine and I have experienced the incredible benefits of therapy and having someone in your corner. Last winter was one of my darker times and having therapists during that time was really good for my mental health. Not feeling my brightest and my happiest, paired with being isolated and feeling quite lonely away from friends and family was a difficult experience. I can confidently say that having someone to support you and listen to you while you're going through some of life's harder times truly is a wonderful thing. If you want 2024 to be a better year, we cannot recommend therapy enough and Better Help makes it the easiest to get started. Go to betterhelp.com forward slash fan wives where you will fill out a questionnaire and they will match you with your very own therapist and Better Help not only offers video sessions but you can call your therapist or you can even just message them. Whatever is the most comfortable for you. If you're struggling with stress, anxiety, low mood or anything like that, you do not need to struggle alone. Click the link in our description or go to betterhelp.com forward slash fan wives for 10% off your first month of therapy. First stop is the Toto Santos area and we're going to go look at some lots. One hour north of Cabo, Toto is a unique town known for its colonial architecture and colors. It's a desert oasis on the Tropic of Cancer nestled amongst ancient orchards of mango and palm with spectacular views overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The very first lot that we're looking at is here in Toto Santos and it is just kissing the outskirts of the town. There's two lots up here and you get a beautiful view of the ocean. And what is so amazing about this right off the hop is the view. You've got the mountain behind. You've got some neighbors but not too close quite yet. This lot right here, it's two lots, both quarter of an acre. So you can get half an acre. We have 15 acres back in Canada. So it's a little bit different for us to think about this, but... What are your first thoughts? Half an acre is bigger than I thought. That's what I was just saying. Yeah, so I don't know. We must have a lot of acres back home. I should probably explore my land. Baja is a desert. So when you come by those palm trees they're normally because, well down there it's because of the waterway, right? Yeah, there's a water reservoir. Yeah, so that's when you'll see the palm trees. You'll know there's a reservoir underneath. The pros to this lot right off the hop, you have some neighbors and you're close to town. It's easy to get to. The only other thing is you can see it is not cleared and there is a heck of a lot of work if you want to start from scratch. The weather here in Baja is beautiful. As we've mentioned, it's consistent. Being off grid and having solar is priority. Off to lot number two. It's gonna be a little bit of a drive. Last plate is a little bit outside of Totocento. So we are gonna time it and see exactly how far it is. And it's something that I'm really excited about because where we live in Canada is as all you know, very remote. So this is a little bit of both worlds. The best of both worlds, as they say. What does the timer say? It says 18. Nice, 18 minutes. 18 minutes is a hot skip and a jump to us. The middle of nowhere everyone. Lot number two. Completely off grid, 18 minutes from the town. It's cleared in here, which is good because you want to keep some vegetation to feel like, you know, it's so exposed. Definitely wouldn't have to build a fence around this property for a very long time. I also like that it's elevated on top of the hill. So we'll always have that ocean view. This place is stunning. To sum it up, it's 0.79 acres. So a little less than one acre but a lot larger than a quarter or even a half which is amazing. Let's see what Jazzy has to say. Our thoughts for having a winter ball hop place is community. Old me would have been like, done. But I'm thinking ahead. It's dreamy. We've made it to Cerritos, everyone. This is a cute quaint little surf town that is actually growing quite a bit. There's quite a few- Big buildings. Big buildings happening here. And that's because the ocean here is not just swimmable, but it's surfable and it's very beautiful. A neighbor to Pescadero and often lumped together, Cerritos kind of has its own identity. It is a hidden gem with great surfing as well as safe swimming. You'll see locals walking barefoot and dust flying through the desert air. This is where we would take our van and spend most of our time while in Baja. As you can see, I think I have like the biggest smile on my face so far. We're just looking at the lot. Wanna see it? Our neighbor has a very nice house. Our neighbor. Our neighbor. I think jazz is sold on this one. I think what's really cool about this area is everything is kind of spaced out. So it does feel like there's a little bit of space in between things. Even though it's 10 minute walk to the beach, 10 minute walk to my favorite restaurant where it has really good espresso. I don't know. I get different vibes here. It's quiet. Like it is like everyone feels like they're relaxing out here. Like it's not like bustling, you know? Yeah. It's really a town. It's more of just like houses. All right. This lot is half an acre. Seems to be a trend. I absolutely love it. For context, we love a good project. Three years ago, we purchased this abandoned cabin without seeing it. That's what happens when you buy blind, everyone. And with no experience, we challenged ourselves to spend each day transforming it to an off-grid cabin to call home. Subscribe to our channel for more videos about building, adventuring, and off-grid living. The sunset would be real nice here. Let me tell you that much. While these are all looking very similar, this lot is in El Pescadero. El Pescadero literally means fishmonger. It's a small farming and fishing village to the neighboring town of Totos Santos. It's Baja Mexico's desert playground, still repping the rural feel with dirt roads as well as beautiful beaches. Here, again, really close to the ocean, lots of options. There's more demand in this area. There's a little bit of an established town along the highway, and there's more locals in this area, I would say. What do you say? Also, it's more farmland. This lot is definitely the smallest lot thus far. It is 0.24, so a quarter of an acre for my friends that work in acres. Today has been a long day of viewing. Just standing here physically and getting the vibe of each and every place really makes everything make so much more sense because we were looking for months and months on a map, but being here is so incredibly different. Yeah, and being here in a van, you just don't really look at places at all. No, you got tunnel vision. You're going to the beach. Yeah, but now you gotta think of like community. Shops, hardware stores, you know? How far is the walk to the ocean? You're not just parking your van on it, you know? How big can you build a house if we're having kids? Can they get a room with this lot? We're thinking into the future here, you know? We're not blind blind this time, y'all. We're here, IRL. Just have to point this out before we go anywhere here. I am looking at a lot that clearly just sold and there is a van lifer parked up on it with a barrel of water. That might be us soon, Jazzy. So many of these little signs say we get why you're here and I totally get why people come here. There are so many people who come down here in their vans and their buses fall in love and literally never leave. Pickleball court here. Pilates. Yoga. Yoga. A gym or a boxing gym. This is why we are going to be just driving around the neighborhood. There's so much for sale, so much that we have never even discovered going down on Pescadero. What are we driving on? Fun. A gravel road, everyone. I'd have to say Pescadero has community. I'm going to join a pickleball club. We've come down to Baja with Belen Izzy twice and both of our visits here lasted quite a few months and I have to say I am emotional. I am so excited and it feels so surreal. We could have never done this without you all. Thank you all for tuning in and watching our videos. It means the world to us. A project down here, whether it be a renovation or a build from the ground up, will be a whole new territory and it's going to be so challenging and so fun. I can't wait to get covered in cement. We're going to have a great time. Back. Day two, everyone. And today, we're house hunting. So much sand on my face. Oh. Oh, look at her. Oh, look at her. That's very Mexican. It works and you don't have to fix it. Would you? Why would you? Power's coming. Pretty awesome. It's beautiful. No kidding. Oh, yeah. Shower. It's actually big. Yeah, it's huge. Julie, who owns it now, she was a huge baker. So that's why the stove oven is the size that it is. So this was going to be a little kitchen area. Seating area and then the kitchen over there. It's plumbed for a bathroom. This was supposed to be like patio. So quiet. Look what you're looking at, everyone. This is way too beautiful. I don't even know where I am. And now we're going to go walk the garden so it's even. Chris is going to be buying this place tonight. The entire property is green. It's like you're in a jungle. Views 360, that way. Ocean that way. And just banana trees, everything. So they're doing a lot of cleaning up because the gardens are so big. Yeah. Look how long it's going to be growing. It's your dream. He planted a lot of these. This is a bamboo that he planted 25 years ago. Wow. I mean, if you cleaned it up and cut it back, it would be amazing. This is so dreamy. There you go. It's a pretty big lot, so the space back there. We could build like a garage, a little guest house on top as there's an entrance over there as well. It's a dream property. It's not in a royal, although water does flow through here. You don't have to worry about it going up on the banks at all. You could put River Rock in here and cooperate that into the landscaping. Love it. And it would be absolutely gorgeous. I'm sad. I'm sad. It's so green and so big and beautiful. And it's so much work. It has so much potential. Like there's so much to do. Like it just looks like such a fun project. And all of these beautiful plants and trees that have been growing wildly for 25 years, it just looks like a gardener's dream. A crystal's dream. You don't get that amount of lush with many properties out here, so to find that just feels like we won the lottery, even though I'm losing the lottery if I buy that place. Like the house is. Oh my gosh. The house is beautiful. It's great, but it's like the property is absolutely dreamy. Yeah. Like I can't even get over how pretty it is. You have mango, banana trees. What else? Oh, the list goes on. Yeah, the mango trees. Like are you kidding me? All summer you've got mangoes popping off your trees. Like I can't believe, well I kind of can, that we're signing ourselves up for this amount of work. And we've been learning a lot today from Tobias and the other real estate agents. Just everyone involved. YouTube videos are our own research. And you may think if we buy the house that's already connected to city water and has electricity, it would be a lot easier. And yes, it probably would be. We'd be a lot more comfortable at the beginning. However, you can uncover some mysterious things. You basically are just, that's what you get. There's no inspections, no house inspections, or anything of that sort. It's basically like how is the plumbing? You turn it on, it works, it works. And that's what you're given. So you never know when you're buying an old house as well as when you're building something here. You put in your architect plans and then you just get those approved in how eight to 12 months. And then basically there's no other inspections after no one looking at the plumbing work you did or the electrical work you did or any of that. So you really don't know what you're buying. So part of me thinks buying land might be a little bit smarter. However, that's starting from the ground up and we've done that, but this is completely different starting from the ground up. It's completely different territory with different building materials, different worries, different animals we need to think about. Everything's really different. Do you have anything, Dad? No. Well said. Well said. Exactly what I was thinking. All right, we're back in the Toro Santos area. We are in a half acre lot and it seems massive compared to where we just were. And the house is even bigger. This used to be an RV park. They are also hoarders. So there's just mountains and mountains of stuff everywhere. Oh wow. Did the tools come with it? Yeah. This outdoor area is like an amusement park. There is little RV paths everywhere. While it's a former RV park, there is just so much potential. Like little pathways all throughout the yard. So much character once again, built by a respected builder in the area who's no longer alive, but very good to hear. A new roof on here and clean up as well. We haven't even seen the house yet and we're doing an awning. There's so much to do here. What we could do here is endless. Think about the van life we could have here. Everything. This would be so cool. What a nice entrance, eh? Looks like dinner's on the table. Bathroom. There's three bedrooms as soon as you walk in and they all have their own bathroom. This is room three, but it has all of his stuff in there. So it is locked, but it looks the same as room one and two. This place is huge. Family. Are we gonna come down to Baja? I love how high the ceilings are here too. There's a good for you. It looks to 100. Two big bedrooms up here, a lot more light. But there's a great patio out here. Yeah, there's the ocean. Concrete is your friend. Off we go. There's another level. This is kind of a weird wall. I'm not really sure why it's here. Oh, like this wall is weird, yeah. Yeah, this is not really necessary. Whoa. Can you all just take this in right now? I don't even know how high up I am. Real high. This is magnificent. Oh my gosh. Access. This is number one in my heart now. It looks so fun. Like we could do so much around here. I'm just picturing like town mads. Sam and Kelly, your whole big bus can come in here. Like everyone's van, you're all welcome. Like this is wild of what we could do. We could make paths for everyone. There's just endless stuff here. And it's perfect place, you know? Neighbors have chickens for Bella and Izzy for eggs. That's from the main bedroom all the way down. Crystal? I lost her. It's so big here. This place has a septic because it used to be the RV park, which is a lot of extra. It's also on city water. So you could hook up to that for your septic. Pomegranates? Oranges or lemons. Yeah. Pomegranates, mangoes, lychee. And you guessed it. Jaz and Crystal are in love with another property. I think it could be scooped up so fast. Knock on wood. Yeah, I know. And we've made it. Beach, baby. Subaru crushing it. Wow. Morning runs on the beach, everyone. I'd say so. Let me hug you. Yes. You're the best. Thank you so much. I can't wait. We'll text you. Yeah, text me anytime. Thank you. I'm moving to Baja. We're signing the paperwork. This is happening. Submitted. It's official. It's just a big decision to sign that. That is really good. It's very real. I'm just excited. Excited, excited, excited. You too. I will be crying. It's real. Thank you all. See you soon. Love you all.