Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Mexico’s Economy Fairs Well Against US Slowdown

Mexico’s GDP growth is expected to end up between 2-3% for 2008 [1], a positive sign that Mexico’s economy can overcome the effects of a US slowdown and still be productive. Joydeep Mukherji, the team leader for the Latin American soverign ratings at Standard and Poor, praised economic progress in Mexico while urging further reform to deal with weaknesses in oil dependence and monopolies in a recent policy paper for the University of Miami.
Stable Financial Environment
One factor that is helping Mexico weather the storm to the north is their stable financial environment. Mukherji recognizes Mexico’s government for being fiscally responsible in their borrowing to slowly improve their infrastructure. In addition, credit availability is slowly growing and 80% of the banking sector is foreign owned. Inflation has been kept in check at 5% for 2008, despite rising global costs. As a result Mexico was given an investment grade sovereign credit rating and is one of the most financially stable environments in Latin and South America.
Economic Vulnerabilities
On the other hand, Mukherji points out vulnerabilities in the government’s reliance on oil revenues and the tolerance for monopolies. Oil revenues accounted for approximately one third of total government revenue in 2007, and production fell 5% in 2007. Mukherji suggests that falling oil prices may actually benefit Mexico’s economy since it could lead to increased demand for Mexico’s manufacturing goods which account for over 80% of their total exports. Mexico’s strength in manufacturing makes them less oil dependent than many of their Latin American and South American neighbors. Mukherji is also critical of the government’s tolerance of monopolies in industries such as energy and telecom which stifle investment and keep prices artificially high.
Mexico has appeared to turn the page from the days of rampant inflation and financial stability in the early 90’s. Mexico is a trillion dollar diversified economy with internationally owned banks and improved government oversight. As a result, investments in Mexico presents lower risk than less developed economies such as Nicaragua. Economic and financial strength is a great advantage of investing in real estate in Mexico.
Source:
1. More Mexico Reforms Necessary by Joydeep Mukherji

Saturday, August 16, 2008

A Brief History of Real Estate in Merida, Yucatan


When people think of buying real estate in the Yucatan Peninsula, they often concentrate solely on resort areas like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya, while overlooking other parts of the region. Many of these alternatives might be perfect for you, and can offer some quality of life benefits you may not have considered. Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatan, is one such region.
What makes this area attractive as a property investment opportunity for you? Keith Heitke, a New York City transplant and owner of Hacienda Mexico Real Estate in Merida, gave us his take on the Yucatan. “This is a real city,” he said, “with a symphony, private and public schools, good infrastructure, and most of all, a wonderful sense of history, often lacking in the beach resorts of our beautiful peninsula.”
The area’s market of buyers consists mostly of Americans, Canadians and Europeans, but it is a developing market, and one that holds real promise. According to Heitke, “if people find us here, they usually are either totally set on coming here to live, or are convinced quickly once they look around. These people don’t rely normally on selling anything in their home state (to finance their purchases); they’ve allocated monies for this move. So I see it as a steady incline of buyers, that is, until it is really on the map, at which time it will be a big jump in interest in our area.”
Returns on investment are varied, and Heitke has seen returns for his clients varying anywhere from twenty to two hundred percent. “A good friend of mine bought a ruin in the right place for 30k, cleaned out the junk, watered the small yard, and sold it for 90k.” Not all sales net 200 percent, and few properties can be found for 30k, but you can still find gems in the area. And many of them have a three hundred year head start over their cousins to the east in Quintana Roo.
The area has no shortage of older homes, and many are historic properties. Many of them are located in the centro, or city center, of Merida. “I love Centro and its old houses,” said Heitke. “I live there and give the Merida English Library House and Garden Tour there each Wednesday from October through March, and there are some great houses in neighborhoods very near the center.”
Some of these older properties are more well-preserved than others. You’ll find beautiful vintage residences that have been brought back to their original splendor, others that have been adapted to modern life, and yet others that are just begging for some TLC. These properties have good bones and architectural treasures like beamed ceilings, moldings and mosaic floors. Some of them have been forgotten for years, and with some time, love and money, they can be the right real estate investment choice.
Merida has existed since the Spanish came to the area in the 16th Century. Walking down the streets of central Merida, in the city square by the Cathedral, you can feel its history. It has the conveniences of being the state’s capital, yet it retains a certain old-world charm. Visit it once, and you just might put down roots in a new or antique place of your own.

Work Gets Underway on $150M Wellness Resort in Mexico

Aug 15, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Construction has commenced on Taheima Wellness Resort & Spa, a project in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, spearheaded by Whole In One Nuevo Vallarta S.A. de C.V. To be developed at a cost of $150 million, the upscale condo-hotel will ultimately feature 400 units. Whole In One is targeting the baby boomer set in North America and South America, highlighting the property's wellness-centric attributes.

Taheima sits on the El Tigre Golf Course fairway in Paradise Village, approximately 10 miles from Puerto Vallarta International Airport. In addition to space to accommodate offerings such as yoga, T'ai Chi and lectures ranging from cooking to public affairs, the resort destination will incorporate an outdoor amphitheater. Additionally, water will be a central theme, as the seaside property will feature swimming pools and lagoons, as well as sand-bottomed lakes and canals, from one end of the site to the other.

Mexico's resort market is teeming with activity. Last month Bald Mountain de Mexico SRL announced it had broken ground on Rosewood San Miguel de Allende, a 63-residence spa resort in San Miguel de Allende. In May, ING Real Estate revealed plans to join forces with Grupo Carrousel and Operadora Punta Maroma to develop a $150 million beachfront resort on Bahia Maroma, about 30 minutes from Cancun International Airport. The 254-acre property will consist of an 86-villa hotel, 127 residential units, a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse and an 18-hole signature golf course. The pipeline of lodging facility developments in Mexico as of the close of the first quarter included 136 projects accounting for 25,610 rooms, according to a recent report by hotel real estate research firm Lodging Econometrics.

Construction of Taheima is on target to reach completion in 2009. The project marks Whole IN One's first foray into the resort market.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Big Land Grab in Mexico

POSTED: Thursday, June 12, 2008
FROM BLOG: Contrarian Profits - Stock marketing investing news and opinion from a contrarian perspective. Insights about value investing, commodities, gold, oil, energy, China, the Fed, inflation, deflation, and global markets.

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

More than a million foreign nationals have crept into the costal regions of Mexico already… but that number is growing.
They are seeking cheap, easy access to the 2,000-mile border with the United States, and the Mexican government is helping them, even creating laws to aid them. Why? Because these people pump $5.3 billion into the country’s economy every year.
Mexico’s being paid off, and certain U.S. agencies are joining in. They want to make it even easier for foreign nationals to creep into our southern neighbor’s towns and cities.
In one popular nest, the wave of zealots has reached 60 people a day. That’s about 15% a year as the size of this camp has grown to over 200,000. The state government in the area is allowing this group to run rampant; the incoming cash is too hard to resist.
Not a single alarm has been raised, even though this one camp is a mere two-and-a-half-hour flight away from the heart of Los Angeles.
Who’s in charge, anyway? The Mexican Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Governance? The United States Customs and Border Protection? The Department of Homeland Security?
Try none of the above.
No, we’re talking about the NAR and the AMPI, who’ve been working together for the past six months while governments and activists were removing obstructive, inefficient laws that hindered their “clients.”
NAR stands for National Association of Realtors, and AMPI stands for Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliaros. And no, these groups are not helping fund terrorist cells in Mexico. They are helping individuals buy real estate.
I know, I know… Every time the business circle talks about housing there’s an overtone of fear: lower housing starts, homes staying on the market longer, rising interest rates, rising number of foreclosure. It all adds up to make one scary picture. The U.S. housing industry is in dire straits.
But while the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border. Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.
Most of this recovery - for it is a recovery, and we’ll talk about that in just a minute - is in vacation or recreational properties. And despite the cooling investments in the U.S. housing market, Mexico is seeing investment growth.
In 2005, foreign investment in Mexico was $17.6 billion. In 2006, that number was around $20 billion, with resort and vacation property investment holding more than 25% of total investment. In fact, in the first half of 2006, 500 acres of new resort property on the Pacific Coast was snapped up for $125 million.
The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with $5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year. Most of the activity is centered on new markets such as Puerto PeƱasco and San Felipe in Baja
California, but we’re also seeing new growth in well-known areas like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.
For example, one gentleman in Los Cabos has well over $100 million in property sales to his credit: condos, villas, homes, home sites and commercial resort properties…
Many buyers are coming from America. Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens living abroad are living in Mexico. That’s about 1 million Americans - quite nearly an invasion.
Folks in Southern California can retire just over the border to Baja California and buy a comparable home for 20% less than U.S. market prices. An estimated 78.2 million people are on the edge of retirement, and a 20% savings on a retirement home with great views sounds pretty tempting.
With billions of dollars in foreign investment being pumped into Mexico’s economy, there’s been a full-blown real estate revival that extends to low-income, affordable housing.
The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with
$5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year.
Real estate, especially in the residential arena, may be among the country’s hottest sectors.
With the scorching hot resort and vacation industry in Mexico, you may be tempted to buy your own retirement home down there. The country has made it a lot easier, and less risky, to do so.
Investors are now protected by U.S. title insurance, bonded escrow accounts, extensive title searches, and Fideicomisos, which is a renewable Mexican property trust established specifically to protect foreign investors.
You have all the rights of a property owner in the U.S. or Canada, including the right to enjoy the property, to sell, rent, or to improve the property, whatever you want to do.
If you’re a real-estate investor, Mexico is a great emerging-market for you to consider.
–S.R. Nunnally
Source: The Big Land Grab in Mexico

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Real Estate in Campeche

There are many opportunities in real estate investment in Campeche state. In Campeche City there are many affordable properties for sale, although by enlarge these are bought and sold to local residents and other Mexican nationals. Even though Campeche City dates back to the 16th Century, it is only recently, in the past five years or so, that the city and the state started to attract international tourists, mostly from Europe. Consequently, there are very few properties owned by foreigners and there is no ex-pat or retiree community there yet. This will change in the coming years as investments in new developments begin to grow.

South of Campeche City, all the way to Ciudad del Carmen City, there are many potential spots for development, some with beach fronts, some without. Beachfront property is in high demand with few large plots available at any time. The areas around the towns of Champoton and Sabancuy look very promising for developers with vision, talent and experience.

For the individual buyer there may be many opportunities to buy land or fixer-upper properties in Campeche. Prices in 2007 and 2008 may still be a bargain for North Americans and Europeans. However, in a few years time, prices will be more comparable to other areas of Mexico. All you have to do is look at the 90 million baby boomers in the US and Canada retiring within the next 5 to 20 years to realize the kind of demand there will be for winter and retirement homes as well as leisure services. Add European baby boomers to the mix and the numbers are staggering (Compared to the South of Spain, this part of Mexico is extremely inexpensive at the moment)

The Campeche Playa Golf Marina & Spa Resort is the largest development to date in Campeche. It's being built by Grupo Mall, one of the largest developers from Spain. Phase I is under construction. Clic here. Campeche Playa

NOTE: whatever the opportunity, it is very important to remember that there are specific Mexican laws and procedures that apply to purchases and sales of real property in Mexico - especially when foreigners buy property within what is known as the "zona restringida" ("restricted zone," an area near the coasts and the borders). It is strongly recommended that foreigners obtain appropriate advise when buying property in Mexico and that Title Insurance for the property be obtained. Stewart Title is an American title insurance company with offices in Mexico City that can also provide escrow services

Homes in Merida

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

We search for Investment Opportunities for You

We don't sell Real Estate...
We search for
Investment Opportunities in Mexico
for YOU!!!

We offer researched real estate investment opportunities in Mexico.
Investments that range from as low as $20,000 up to $300 million.
Our territory of concentration is in the Yucatan Peninsula which includes the booming state of Quintana Roo (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum, Costa Maya, Lake Bacalar, Chetumal)

Our options include:
oceanfront properties

investments (big beautiful properties for development)

pre-constructions projects (condos / commercial centers)

community developments
Hotels
Resorts
WHY WOULD YOU, THE FOREIGN INVESTOR, USE OUR SERVICES?
1. We are on your side, the buyer / the investor….
2. In Mexico, you the foreigner need to be fully represented and protected:

Negotiate on your behalf

Knowledge of the market, knowledge of trends…history and projections

Foreign Investment laws in Mexico and how it applies to you

Tax reduction strategies

Ensure clear titles and contracts that protect the foreign investor

Zoning issues and history of properties

Ensure the prices are competitive and not over priced compared to local market rates
3. We get paid by you the investor and not by the owner of the real estate. Our incentives are to protect our client.
4. We can be contracted to research particular markets, history, present, and projections.
5. We notify and keep our clients updated on new local developments and future business opportunities.

1.
Playa del Carmen... investor friendly and booming market

2.
It is projected that a rising inventory of new homes in the American market, along with a continued increase in the Federal Interest Rates during the spring of 2006, will suppress overall real estate appreciation throughout the USA.
Speculative Real Estate activity in Florida, Nevada, California will flatten and most likely decrease as investors search for other markets to maintain their double digit returns.

Business Week on the other hand has named Mexico as one of 4 counrtries with highest growth potential for the year 2006 “investor friendly, fastest growing and emerging markets” .

Learn how to invest in Mexico and prosper

The Riviera Maya, located on the Caribbean coast of Mexico is identified as the fastest growing region of Latin America. The current population is expected to quadruple in the next 6 years. The astonishing factor is that 35% of this increase is projected to come from Mexican Foreign investors and retirees!!! (USA / Canada / U.K. / Spain) Hotel and condo occupancy rates continue to be at an all time high, averaging over 80% annual rates. There is currently an 11,000 room deficiency in Playa Del Carmen, making it the ideal location for the real estate investments, both short term and long term

Learn About the local Real Estate Market in Mexico
Playa del Carmen Real Estate
I invite you to learn more on these investment options. Research the data, visit and see for yourself why the Mexican Riviera, Playa del Carmen, Tulum areas are BULL markets for the next 5 years.



LEARN MORE TODAY
Caribbean ocean front properties are in LIMITED QUANTITIES
Would you like to learn more?agavalar@yahoo.com


The Mexican government is actively encouraging the expansion of tourism and investment in Mexico. Mexico has thousands of miles of untouched coastline including magnificent colonial cities which feature architectural wonders stretching back many hundreds of years. The expatriate communities of Americans and Canadians spread throughout this amazing country is continually on the rise. Anyone can purchase property in Mexico. Mexico Draws Land Investors that set their sites on lucrative markets and are savvy to the simple rules that need to be followed when purchasing property.
Be sure to check out our Lots And Land listings page. If we don't have what your'e looking for be sure to sign up with our listing notification service, you’ll be notified immediately by email as new land for your next development in Mexican Caribbean becomes available. If there is a particulare area you are intrested in, please Call or Email we have many parcels and Hotels available to us that never make the listings page.
Fox Says Successor Calderon to Inherit Strong Economy (Update3) By Thomas Black
Mexico will have a fiscal surplus, create more than a million jobs this year, pay out to states 75 billion pesos ($6.9 billion) more than allotted under the 2006 budget and receive $12 billion of automobile-industry investment in the next two years, Fox said in a speech during a border conference in Mexicali, Baja California.
"This year is a good year as will be next year in what promises to be an accelerated start for the next government and the economy,'' Fox said

Trump Resort seen as Boon for Region
The entry of a world-renowned group such as that of Mr. Trump validates completely what we have been saying for many years,” said Gabriel Robles, the president of ADETUR, a major association of Baja resort developers.
Trump plans to build a 526-unit condo hotel, with units ranging from 532 to 2,200 square feet, selling from the mid-$200,000s to more than $1 million. Construction is expected to begin this year and finish in 2008. The cost of the project is undisclosed.
“The Baja Norte market provides tremendous opportunities for investment in a secure, government-supported business climate,” said Robles. “The Trump Organization is first-class and its presence in our region will certainly go a long way in providing our buyers and investors with a real confirmation that they have made a sound decision to buy in this area.”