Real Estate Articles

When you begin your search for Playa del Carmen real estate, you will almost always be starting off from the comfort of your home back in the U.S. or Canada.   This means you will be relying on Playa del carmen, Mexico MLS listings on the internet; since there are no universal Playa del Carmen MLS listings (like you would find throughout your home country) you will have to be more selective in finding the best MLS listing service.

Essentially, you will need to look at this stage as getting to know your market; until you contact a professional, experienced agent and make a trip down to Playa, it's unlikely you will identify your dream property just by what you see online.   You want to be careful not to limit yourself at this early stage.   For this reason, the following are aspects that you will do best to avoid.

Too Limited

Playa del Carmen has dozens upon dozens of properties for sale at any given moment (upwards of 300 during late 2012.)   If you open listings and there are just a handful of condos on the beachfront, you will not get a really good feel for the variety available.   Besides plenty of properties, locations include downtown, gated communities, golf courses, marinas, next to new shopping centers and more.   Besides the condos, there are also plenty of homes, especially in the golf course and other gated communities, as well as lots.

Too Broad

There are properties in Playa del Carmen which will probably not be of any interest to you.   For example, a quaint little casita in a working-class community 15 minutes back from the beach - it may be OK, and a very low price, but not the lifestyle you're looking for.   If the listings are over-loaded with properties that aren't appealing or suitable for Americans and Canadians, you might want to look for listings that have had a little more pre-screening.

Not Enough Information/Details

Just one picture and 2 lines probably won't give you a very good feel for what the property is all about.   There should be a medium description with all basic details and several pictures.   Location should be mentioned.   Perhaps “Playacar” doesn't mean anything to you now, but if begin to notice the same community name pop up in properties that catch your interest, than perhaps there's something to it.

Too Much Information

You don't need an essay about every listing.   Of course, there will be variation in description size depending on interesting points each property offers; however, it will be hard to make the most of your search time if there is too much text.   (However, usually, the more photos the better.     It would be very unusual to reach the point of having too many pictures!)

Overly Limited Use of Multi-Media

Real estate listings can include maps, videos, Google Street View and other similar details.   Not each particular listing will include these items.   However, spotlight listings (which should be easy to identify) should have a bit more multi-media to help you get a feel for what they're all about, as well as a clear indication as to why they are in the spotlight.

Finding this balance between of features, avoiding extremes, you will be off to a good start in getting a feel for Playa del Carmen's market, and - eventually - identifying that dream property for you!