The homes
Almost no two homes here are alike.
Lakeside homes are made by hand, by local craftsmen. Brick ceilings curved by eye. Stone carved just down the road. Floor tiles made from local clay. That’s why you really need to see a home in person, and why a listing can’t tell you which one is right for you.
What “handmade” means
Six things you’ll see in almost every home
Brick dome ceilings (bóveda)
A skilled builder curves these brick ceilings by hand, with no mold, working in from the corners until they meet. No two are the same, and the best ones are stunning. It’s the ceiling everyone photographs. It’s also the roof, so it’s worth checking.
Carved stone (cantera)
Volcanic stone, cut and carved locally into columns, fountains, and door and window frames. It comes in grays, pinks, and a green that darkens in the rain. Each piece is carved to order, so no two front doors are the same.
Clay tile floors (barro)
Clay tiles, fired in batches and laid by hand. The color changes from tile to tile, and that’s part of the charm. It also means that replacing a cracked tile years later can take some searching.
Painted tile (Talavera)
Glazed tiles painted by hand, usually in kitchens and bathrooms, and often on stair steps. Three homes on one street may have three different patterns, and the tiles are often older than the house.
Wood doors and beams (parota)
A wide local hardwood used for doors, kitchen counters, and the beams over a terrace. A parota door is often a single slab of wood, and it swells and shrinks a little with the rainy season.
Ironwork (herrería)
Gates, stair rails, and window grilles, all bent and welded by hand in a local shop. On older homes, the ironwork is often the best clue to when the house was built.
What a listing can’t tell you
Look up almost any home here and you’ll see the same few words. Construction: Brick. Roof: Flat. Floor: Tile. Style: Mexican. True of half the homes around the lake, and they tell you nothing about any one of them.
A listing won’t say who laid the floor, or how skilled the ceiling builder was. It won’t say the kitchen tile was saved from an old house in Guadalajara, or that a beam over the terrace has shifted over time. It won’t tell you which rooms get the afternoon sun.
You can only learn that in person, and that’s what a showing is for. We take our time in each home and tell you what we see: the beautiful work, the repairs, and anything that might need money spent on it in a few years.
And the street outside
Every home comes with a village
The home is only half of it. People here still walk everywhere: to the plaza, to the Wednesday market (tianguis), to a friend’s terrace in the evening. A cobbled street two blocks from the plaza is a very different life from a gated community up the hill. Both are right for someone. A listing won’t tell you which one is right for you.
There’s a lot going on for a town this size: a choir, two theater groups, the Lake Chapala Society, and plenty of invitations in your first month. It’s small enough that you’ll soon know lots of people, and most of them are lovely.
Four ways to get to know a street before you buy
- Stand on the terrace at four in the afternoon. You’ll see which way the house faces and where the light falls.
- Walk the street after dark. Listen for dogs and traffic, and see how well lit it is.
- Visit the plaza on a Sunday evening, then again on a rainy weekday. It’s the same town, in two moods.
- Walk to the shops in the rain, on the cobblestones you’d really use.
We live just minutes away, and we’re happy to spend an afternoon exploring with you, long before you’ve decided anything.
Come and see
Let us show you around
Tell us about a home, a street, or a neighborhood. We’ll tell you what’s really there: how it’s built, what’s been done to it, and what the neighborhood is like at night.