| | |  Puerto Vallarta Real Estate 
AMPI Members Meet to Discuss the Status of Tourism Real Estate
 John K. Glaab - settlement-co.com
September 27, 2010
Nearly one hundred members of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals, (AMPI) met earlier this month in the Nation’s capital. The purpose of the all-day meeting was to discuss the status of Mexico’s real estate market in the “tourist” zones and develop strategies that might help a recovery.
AMPI national President Hector Obregon participated in the Inauguration and welcomed those attending. Raul O’Farrill from Puerto Penasco moderated the panels and acted as Master of Ceremonies.
Presidents of several AMPI Sections in the tourist areas of Mexico participated in an opening panel. Each reported on the situation and outlook in their market. Basically the market is in distress. Wayne Corcoran from Puerto Penasco reported a drop in sales of fifty percent and prices dropping in the same amount. All welcomed AMPI creating the platform that will help enhance and advance the market’s recovery.
Bruce Greenberg a property appraiser from Tucson, Arizona delivered an inspirational message. Bruce is a Vice Present of the Mexico-United States Chamber of Commerce. He reported the Chamber will be presenting seminars on Mexican tourism in five U.S. cities.
He called for the real estate industry including government agencies, developers, AMPI and realtors to come together as ONE and work for a recovery of the Mexican real estate market. Bruce urged all of us to create and distribute "good news stories." This is aimed to help combat the negative and sometimes incorrect information, emanating from the U.S. media.
Five round tables were set up to explore issues pertinent to the real estate industry. Subjects were; creation of government programs that would entice "baby boomers" to retire in Mexico, marketing and public relations, laws affecting real estate in the tourist areas, and communication with the media.
I participated in the fifth group. Our focus was on technology and how to use it to improve communication to benefit AMPI members. Following the round table sessions, representatives from each table highlighted their discussions. AMPI will distribute reports from the individual tables and the groups will meet soon, electronically, to keep the discussions going forward.
Mitch Creekmore of Stewart Guaranty Title and Pablo Marti of Fidelity National de Mexico made presentations. Their companies were among the sponsors of the Symposium. Both stressed the importance of title insurance as a mechanism to help avoid, "bad news" stories.
The meeting concluded with an invitation to attend a panel discussion, immediately following the closing ceremonies. The subject was a discussion regarding the proposed law to prohibit cash real estate transactions in Mexico.
The event was produced by CCIE, AMPI’s new Training and Statistics Institute. The panelists were Reyes Corona, Procurador Fiscal de Transparencia and Hector Galiano, a notary public. A questions and answer period followed their presentations.
The consensus seems to be that passing of the legislation in its current form is unlikely. During the presentations two memorable comments were made. One was, "the banks have been laundering money for hundreds of years." And "What do you think an agent would do if a capo came with a bag full of money to purchase a property? Risk his or her life by reporting this?"
 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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