We’ve spoken quite a bit about Little Italy in Playa del Carmen – the charming north half of downtown which offers Playa’s European flavor at its best – and we’ve mentioned Coco Beach, the northernmost and the newest of Playa’s downtown beachfront communities, new, hip and happening.
The beachfront a walk away from Zazil-Ha
Nestled just north of Little Italy, and just “back from” Coco Beach is a fairly unknown small residential community called Zazil-Ha.
Zazil-Ha has many location benefits similar to those of Little Italy and Coco Beach; it is a short walk to most of downtown and to the sand of Coco Beach. It is largely unknown for a couple of reasons:
- it is mostly residential – you have to go down to Fifth Ave. or to Little Italy for things to do; as I noted, this distance is a short walk, and this fact could change soon with downtown’s tourist district growing quickly northwards
- it is just beginning to be gentrified, with the modest working-class homes that were originally there being replaced by nicer condos
- since it has little that defines it, it usually just gets referred to as part of downtown or Coco Beach
The older, working-class apartments in central Playa del Carmen
However, for the sake of real estate, I think there’s a good reason to distinguish it as its own community; while it shares easy access to the beach and all the activities of Fifth Avenue and Little Italy, the prices are noticeably lower than in the neighboring communities.
Currently, there aren’t many properties available for expat buyers in Zazil-Ha. However, as the tourist district along Fifth Avenue grows northward,there will be restaurants, cafes, bars and shops right in the community (Fifth Avenue runs directly between Coco Beach and Zazil-Ha.) Coco Beach is already a happening community with its own lure. As more upscale condos appear in Little Italy, it can only be expected that this will overflow into Zazil-Ha. But it’s also very likely that prices will go up.
Tomorrow, I will offer a few examples of nice properties for excellent prices in Zacil-Ha.
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Doug Morgan was born in Dayton, Ohio and went to college at Buckeye State. Moving to Louisiana after college, he became President of his New York Stock Exchange company at the age of 28. His later career shifted to Florida and the investment business, where he was a financial advisor and branch manager for over 30 years. He bought his first condominium in Mexico in 2008 (from Top Mexico Real Estate), initially as a vacation home, but a year later he retired and moved full time to Playa del Carmen. Contact Doug at (512) 879-6546.
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Doug Morgan was born in Dayton, Ohio and got his education in the Buckeye State. He has enjoyed success in the life insurance business and investment business, and is now enjoying a relaxing retirement in Playa del Carmen. His great joys are his 3 wonderful grandchildren back in Ohio, and enjoying his travels and exploration of life in Mexico. His most difficult challenges in life at this point are trying to master the Spanish language and continuing to perfect his margarita recipe.
