La Paz, BCS, Mexico - Welcome to our Second Quarter 2017 newsletter. In this edition, we feature an article on Safety in Mexico which appeared in Mexico News Daily. Also covered are articles on meetings of the National Association of Realtors® and real estate education, the development of new hotels in Mexico, and the international success of Mexican winemakers.

Safety in Mexico City: a Traveler's View
By Norma Schafer | Mexico News Daily

When The New York Times picked Mexico City as No. 1 among 52 places to go in the world in 2016, I felt like doing a somersault. Finally, my much beloved and unfairly maligned Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX) - so deserving because of its remarkable history, culture, architecture, archeology, fashion, great food, and sophistication - was being recognized as a top tourist destination. The World Tourism Organization Mexico recently named Mexico City the eighth most popular travel destination, garnering 35 million foreign visitors a year. Yet many still consider Mexico City a dangerous place, fraught with robbers, drug lords, pickpockets, scammers, muggers, kidnappers, purse-snatchers and other sordid folk ready to take the unsuspecting visitor for a ride to who knows where. I've been blogging about personal safety in Mexico over the years. It always comes up for me when someone says, You go to Mexico City? It's not safe. Writing about it is my attempt to dispel the myth and misperception that around every corner lurks a bad hombre, ready to take advantage of the unsuspecting tourist. Read the full article on Mexico News Daily »

New Hotels for Mexico
Mexico News Daily

Two hotel owners have announced investments that will bring 24 new hotels to Mexico in the next 12 months. Grupo Hoteles Misión will invest some US $250 million in 10 new properties this year in the cities of Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Toluca, Mérida, Celaya, Irapuato and Cozumel. The company's chairman of the board, Roberto Zapata Llabrés, said the hotels will open under a new tourism concept. During the next two months two will open in the Angelopolis zone of Puebla and two more in San Luis Potosí, one at the World Trade Center and the other near the new BMW automotive plant. For Marriott International, 14 new hotels are in the plans, with a focus on business travel and luxury. The company's vice-president for global sales, Laura Santoni, said new luxury properties will open in Los Cabos and Mexico City. Read the full article on Mexico News Daily »

REALTORS® Congregate in Washington D.C.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) stages two major events each year. Each November the larger one, called, "Conference and Expo", is held in various cities such as Anaheim, New Orleans and Orlando. In 2017 it will be in Chicago. In May REALTORS form the U.S. Canada and other parts of the Globe assemble in Washing to D.C. That session is called, "REALTORS® Legislative Meetings and Expo." The words, "Legislative Meetings" are key. For Many years the May gathering in Washington was called, "The Mid- Year Meetings." Under the new scheme more emphasis has been placed on "Visits to the Hill." Individual REALTORS® and association's representatives meet with members of the Congress and Senate, to lobby for such items as property rights and tax deductions for mortgage payments as well as changes need to lending practices on Wall Street... For example the Florida Association met with Senator Marco Rubio. State associations "caucus" and some hold elections during the week. Click HERE to learn more »

Mexican Winemakers Bring Home 18 Medals
Mexico News Daily

Mexican wineries submitted 18 wines to the Brussels World Wine Competition and came home with 18 medals, six of them gold. The 2017 edition of the Concourse Mondial de Bruxelles attracted 9,080 entries from 50 countries competing for grand gold, gold and silver medals. A panel of 320 international judges - journalists, buyers, oncologists and sommeliers - gave Spanish wines the highest number of medals, followed by France, Italy, Portugal and Chile. Another country in the top 10 was China, which doubled its medal count this year. Read the full article on Mexico News Daily »

International Education Comes to Playa del Carmen

The National Association of Realtors® offers a plethora of designations and certifications to equip REALTORS® with the tools they require for success. One of the most popular around the world is the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR®) designation.

This designation is for real estate buyer agents who focus on working directly with buyer-clients at every stage of the home-buying process. A few years ago it was presented in Los Cabos. Doug Christensen VP of MLS Los Cabos was one of the students. At the time, he said, "This class should be mandatory for every member of our MLS organization."

A few weeks ago, the ABR® designation class was presented in Playa del Carmen. It was sponsored by TOP Mexico the leading real estate company in Quintana Roo. Linda Neil, CIPS, was the Instructor. Thomas Lloyd, Broker/Owner of TOP Mexico said, "The information from this two day class will be invaluable for our selling agents. All of us thank Linda for coming here and sharing this information."

During the two days, Alicia Parra, Executive Closing Agent from The Settlement Company® and Lic. Mario Canto, Notary Public #86 in Quintana Roo, made brief presentations on Mexican real estate law, followed by a question and answer period.

Linda Neil said, "It was a pleasure meeting the 30 students and sharing the ABR® material with them. I look forward to presenting this class in other parts of Mexico this year."