| | |  Puerto Vallarta Real Estate 
Mexico Resort Real Estate Update from The Settlement Company - Part 2
 John K. Glaab - settlement-co.com
April 21, 2010
AMAR Will Meet In San Antonio – May 7th & 8th
Asociacion Mexicana de Asistencia en el Retiro (AMAR) is an organization dedicated to encouraging and helping people from outside Mexico to retire in this country. There are 100 million North Americans in the target market. AMAR’s 2010 meeting will be in San Antonio, Texas on May 7th and 8th.
Last year, 400 attended the second annual Conference held in Mexico, DF. The Conference heard about 60 projects that are being built for those retirees heading for Mexico. The value of the projects being built or on the drawing boards was estimated at $100 million.
Linda Neil, Founder of Mexico’s The Settlement Company, attended the conference. She participated in a Panel, "Living in Mexico." (Linda has been a resident since 1972.) Following the meetings she commented, "Is this the niche market that can help the Mexican real estate market come back?" She also wrote an article Active Living - Assisted Living, which can be seen HERE. Copies are available on request.
Following is a partial list of speakers slated for San Antonio:
Jim Moore, Founder of Moore Diversified Services. His company is heavily involved in market feasibility studies, detailed financial pro forma analysis, strategic planning and investment advisory services.
Margaret Wylde, Founder of Promatura Group, LLC. Her company has been doing research on mature consumers for more than 25 years. During her career, she has designed, developed and managed age-qualified housing projects.
J. Patrick Butler, a successful developer of Mexican real estate.
Eduardo Gomez Mont, Director of FONATUR, the promotional and funding arm of Mexico’s Department of Tourism, and
Paul Crist, Founder of Americans for Medicare in Mexico. (AMMAC)
How to Access the Canadian Market will be a new feature this year.
The following is from AMAR’s website:
We have prepared for you an event with the mottos "Mexico is the most affordable Destination Abroad Close to Your Home." There are two concepts. 2B Alive will share information from experts in the Sector and Ventana de Mexico Expo, aimed at our target market - and where better than San Antonio with its bi-cultural mosaic and tourist attractions.
New Head of Mexican Tourism
Earlier this month Gloria Guevara Manzo was appointed as Mexico’s new Secretary of Tourism. She replaces Rodolfo Elizondo Torres, who has had a distinguished career in the post. Rodolfo will be in charge of the logistics and planning of a United Nations conference on Climate Change. That event will take place in Cancun, Quintana Roo, next November.
The announcement of Gloria Guevara's appointment took place in the Salon Manuel Avila Camacho at Los Pinos, residence of Mexico’s President. In making the announcement, Present Calderon stated that Gloria has had a successful career in the tourism industry, including working as Vice President and Director General of Sabre Travel Network Mexico. That organization is a world leader in travel reservations.
Her academic background includes a degree in information technology from the University of Anahuac. Gloria also studied at the Kellogg business school at Northwestern University. Her majors were marketing and administration.
Real Estate Survey in Mexico’s Tourist Areas Brings Mixed Results
The team of Posch and Parks at Prudential Cabo Gold in Los Cabos write:
The first quarter is already gone and we can say that activities have drastically increased. There are buyers out there that are looking for a good deal. Properties that are priced at the fair value hardly see any activity. Properties that are priced attractively see multiple showings a day. Little by little we will see the market picking up here in Cabo. There are still good deals out there and more coming on every week.
This from Harriet Murray at Casas and Villas in Puerto Vallarta:
Americans do not have a lot of presence in this current market for obvious reasons in the US economy and inaccurate media reporting. Canadians, Mexicans are creating the major activity. There is a large tract of ejido land under contract on the ocean front south of PV. Now is the time to buy, rather than sell unless one is really motivated.
Thomas Lloyd from Top Realty Mexico writes from the Riviera Maya:
In March 2010, the Riviera Maya has seen an increase in visitors both for tourism and for exploring real estate options. The amount of people inquiring has reached the level of February 2010, having already passed January 2010. The demand has been strong in the price range of $300,000 USD and below. There is also interest shown in higher priced properties and homes on the beachfront, but many have made lower offers, which have not been accepted by the sellers.
What has increased are the financing options. People are researching purchases using bank loan options with the Mexican property as collateral. Interest rates dropped for non-Mexicans from 12% nearly 2 years ago to the 7% range in 2009; at the beginning of 2010 we are seeing some packages at 6.5%.
Other factors which have been catching the attention of investors and end users are the strong public investments into the area’s infrastructure. The government is betting on long term continued demand; thus, the area is booming with new bridges, new roads, beach recovery projects, and a new international airport in the region for which the private bidding has already begun.
For real estate appreciation these are key factors for future growth and people have been eyeing the region for their 2 – 5 year investment plans. Developers, still recovering from the slow 2009 season, are very anxious to hear offers. On the other hand, individual sellers, on the whole, are less flexible in negotiations.
The Team from Paraiso del Mar, La Paz, BCS, Mexico writes:
Buyers continue to look for value. In lieu of price reduction, golf membership and turnkey furnishings are a value-add at Paraiso del Mar. A sure sign of economic recovery is indicated by the fact that condo rentals have sold out on several occasions this quarter.
New buyers are hard to come by. Closings at Paraiso have come from under-contract buyers with renewed interest to close first quarter. News of our award-winning golf course (the first in La Paz with a second course planned to open this fall) has increased traffic numbers.
With the completed highway from Todos Santos to La Paz and the connection from Todos to Cabo under construction, two daily shuttles from the Cabo airport to La Paz and the ever-increasing influence of Volaris Airlines into the La Paz market we're optimistic about increased traffic and conversion to sales. Canadian interest and inquiries from the Mexican market continue to play an ever-increasing role in sales activity. Product $350,000 and below continues to be our strongest sellers.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Brokers in Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo were sent a request for comments, but did not reply. However, we do know that reservations and sales are brisk at the Sotavento Resort in Zihuatanejo. It appears that Trevor Redfern and his team already have more than sixty units sold since the first of 2010.
 John Glaab has been a member of NAR's International Section for over a decade. He has earned the Certified International Property Specialist designation and is a founding member of AMPI Los Cabos. He spends half the year in La Paz, Baja California Sur and the other half in Uruapan, Michoacan. For further information, contact John at John.Glaab(at)settlement-co.com. |
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