Great question! After giving this careful consideration, I have come up with a magic formula that will tell you the exact time to buy real estate, right down to the day! There are clearly some good buying opportunities right now in Puerto Vallarta. Last year’s global economic crisis, large inventory of available properties, and “swine flu†pandemic, brought fear and uncertainty in the marketplace. Nobody wanted to be the one who “overpaid†for their Puerto Vallarta home. My experience is that sale prices in the Puerto Vallarta real estate market fell approximately 15 percent. We are seeing a lot of buyers return to the market (December was one of our best months ever), but many sellers are still willing to negotiate in order to make a sale.
There are some factors unique to our area that has helped stabilize prices:
- The vast majority of sellers do not have a mortgage on their property. Hence, they are not under tremendous pressure to make a mortgage payment. Many owners are retirees, already have their “nest egg†and are not concerned about an imminent job loss.
- In the last couple of years Mexico mortgages have become readily available for new buyers. This increases their buying power and greatly increases the amount of potential home buyers.
- The “baby boomer†generation is reaching retirement age and even with this current economic downturn, is the wealthiest generation ever.
- Puerto Vallarta homes are still seen as an inexpensive haven in comparison to many other world class vacation and retirement destinations.
So that may be a bit of bad news for you now, but it will be good news when you are ready to sell. From your letter, it looks like you have several important criteria that you are looking for in your property. If you were willing to settle for just any generic condominium, you could probably wait to see what happens, as I do not expect the market to turn around overnight. However, if the property you are looking for must have several unique features, you should give serious consideration to purchasing if you find just what you are looking for. I can tell you from experience that, there are active buyers looking in the market right now, (we had a multiple offer scenario last month) and your “ Puerto Vallarta dream home†could certainly be purchased by someone else. Well, enough of this. Lets get down to the reason you have read this far, the “magic formulaâ€. It is really quite simple; the exact day you should buy your Puerto Vallarta dream home is: the day you decide to quit worrying about what everybody else thinks, (myself included) and invest here with a time horizon of at least the next 5 years!
Anything else will just lead to “analysis paralysis†and frankly, you are just better off renting. The time to buy is when YOU decide the time is right. So make your decision, and when the time is right, go out there and make the best deal you possibly can, quit stressing out about it, and enjoy your new home in the sun!
Do you have a question about Real Estate in Puerto Vallarta? Just ask!
Michael Green moved to Puerto Vallarta to take advantage of the unsurpassed lifestyle PV offers. Today, with over 12 years of experience, Mr. Green is one of the most recognized brokers in Vallarta. TOP Mexico Real Estate “Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!â€