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 Puerto Vallarta Real Estate | March 2007 
Puerto Vallarta Home Buyers' Top Five Questions
 Jim Morrison - PVNN
| | While Mexico real estate can be a lucrative investment, some foreign investors may feel uneasy about buying "south of the border." |
Everything is just a little different here in Vallarta, and houses are no different. What follows are the top five questions our home buying clients have for us, and our answers:
Will my house really be warm enough in the winter without a furnace?
Yes. During the coldest part of the year here, the average high temperature is 25ºC/78ºF and the low is 16ºC/62ºF. That’s one of the nice things about buildings made out of concrete. They are slow to heat and cool, so while you may find the mornings cool, they are never cold, and don’t really require central heat. That’s why you probably won’t find a chimney, either. On the other hand, summertime temperatures and humidity are very high (35ºC/95ºF and higher) and most of us gringos consider A/C a necessity. Remember, this is the sub-tropics!
Why aren’t there any screens in the windows?
Because during the summer, anyone who has air conditioning is going to have the windows closed and the A/C cranked. Most of the time there are very few bugs anyway. Screens are nice, but you don’t really need them here, and you’ll get more light into the house without them.
Why is the water heater so small? Why is it outside? And is that OK?
It’s small because in warmer clients, people use less hot water. Most people take showers here, too - not baths. You can have it replaced with something larger if you want to be able to fill the bathtub, but chances are good that you’ll use less hot water here than you did at home. It’s outside because it’s easier to install, repair, and replace them that way. Plus it doesn’t take up any interior space.
And yes, it’s OK. It’s best to have it sheltered from the rain as much as possible, because we still get over 50 inches of rain every year here in PV (and 80% of it falls between June and September.) Since most water heaters don’t vent into chimneys here like they do at home, you’ll also want your located somewhere where it won’t vent combustion products into the house.
Is it safe to shower, cook with the water here?
That’s one of the city's best features. Unlike the vast majority of Mexico, the water is filtered by the municipality and is very safe. It consistently exceeds the World Health Organization’s standards for drinking water. Most people drink bottled water here, just like at home, but cooking, showering, and brushing your teeth are all about as safe here as they are where you live.
There are so many locks on the doors and bars on the windows... is Puerto Vallarta safe?
PV is one of the safest cities in Mexico. However, it is a resort town, with loads of people coming and going all of the time. Add to that the fact that the local population is poor relative to the boatloads of tourists that flow through town every day, and you can see why locking your doors is a good idea. That said, violent crime is a rarity here.
 Jim Morrison inspected houses in the Boston area for 20 years before moving to Puerto Vallarta. His love for teaching people about the homes they want to buy ultimately led to his being featured on HGTV’s “House Detective.” In 2007, he teamed up with veteran inspector Charlie Wood to form Casas del Mar (CasasDelMarPV.com) a property services firm specializing in Puerto Vallarta area home inspections. You can send your questions to them at info@CasasDelMarPV.com. They are your real estate resource.
Click HERE for more articles by Jim Morrison. |
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