Mexico Real Estate Blog

I have always had the image of the water on the Gulf of Mexico being the same as what I see off of the west coast of Florida.  I even heard and read from some people that the beaches in Campeche Mexico were ugly because of the high concentration of the oil industry operations off of Ciudad del Carmen coast line in the southern corner of the state.  But, the Campeche Beachfront real estate that I visited ripped all of my previous assumptions!   These were definitely some of the most desirable Mexico real estate properties that I have visited.

As soon as we drove over the summit of a large hill as we approached Champoton driving in from the north from the capital,  we caught a glimpse of a completely different type of water shades and beaches.  This was turquoise green, transparent water, shades of green tones for approximately 300 meters on white beaches.  Once we passed Champoton (sea food heaven which I will chat about in a later post), we stopped at a l little beach side restaurant and walked on the sand.  SEASHELLS GALORE.  In less than 10 minutes my kids had ran out and gathered about 15 – 20 shells which we never see on the Mexican Caribbean.

The Campeche beaches with white sands run for approximately for a 60 mile stretch south of Champoton till the Isla Aguada.  Most of the Campeche real estate on the beach is rocky except for this 60 mile stretch.

On the backside of these Campeche beachfront lots you will find a lagoon.  The lagoon on the back side connects from Sabancuy water entrance south till the Bay of Terminos.
Nice calm waters and hundreds of miles of waterfront for exploring. Campeche beachfront lots have varying sizes but the majority have 20 meters of beach frontage.  These go back deep with some of the lots having at least 900 meters depth until you reach the back side.  Homes in the area are normally designed to open up onto the beautiful gulf of Mexico and beaches.  There is a 3 story height build restriction and much attention is placed rightfully so in protecting the wild life and natural settings of the zone.

In the past three years, a large project developed by a Spanish group has invested nearly 200 million dollars.  This project is estimated to begin deliveries of their residences in the summer of 2010.  With a Jack Nicklaus golf course and 115 slip marina, it promises to bring much publicity and attention to the region for the following decade.   In the two nearby fishing villages private money is following suit by making some investments to the area preparing for the inflow of new tourists and winter home owners.   Companies such as Chedraui and a private hospital group.  Home depot, Walmart, Mega Comercial Mexicana are all other companies with plans for near future openings in the areas.  Along the coastal highway, we saw men and machinery busy at work with government funded projects placing water pipes and tubing underground.  New bridges and a new by pass are underway to divert the traffic of people driving to Villa Hermosa and other northern destinations away from having to drive through Ciudad del Carmen and along the coastal road.

The Campeche real estate properties along the coast line  that we visited were a surprise of the natural beauty that exists on this hidden little corner of the Gulf of Mexico.  Turquoise green waters and beaches lined with palm trees are what many people dream about for their winter homes.  With large amounts of private and public money being injected to the zone over the past three years, the opportunities on waterfront Mexico real estate is growing on a monthly basis.  If you want to read an article on some information of the CAMPECHE REAL ESTATE market in the capital click here.

Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 15 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the current president of TOPmexicorealestate, you can contact him at (512) 879-6546 or through the company’s web site www.TOPmexicorealestate.com NETWORK

“Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!”

The first morning that we spent in Campeche I was off and running early in the morning to see the city first hand.  I have been whispered that the Campeche Real Estate market was getting ready to take off.  There have been some significant investments by a European developer in the zone and several local, state and federal offices as well have been injecting money into the region.

The Campeche real estate industry has been receiving studies from major hospital groups and retailers over the past 5 years and this was evidenced during our visit.  It is a smaller state and capital when compared to other Mexico real estate options in general, and although we did see various European tourists, it still was a small percentage to the tourist flow of Cancun and Riviera Maya.  But…. this might be a good thing for real estate investors.  Cheap Mexico beachfront real estate is still available, while this region is still not well known nor visited.

The Campeche city officials and state realized several years ago that Mexico has some absolutely beautiful land, beaches, countrysides, and picturesque villages and colonial cities.  These resources though, if not properly maintained and preserved, would be eye sores and with the predicted decreases in oil exports that will be affecting this country and the Campeche real estate region…. a plan was urgently required.

Campeche has a very rich and interesting history.  A past full of pirates who ravaged their capital and countryside leading the Spanish leaders to begin construction of walls and forts in order to protect their city and people.  A fort exists on the southern and northern parts of the city on overlooking hills and a large stone wall ran from the coastline and protected nearly 50 city blocks of the downtown city region from attacks of Pirates and Buccaneers.

Today, over 10 museums dot the downtown colonial city, a pirate museum exists in one of the forts and light shows with actors re-enact battles between raiders and the defending soldiers are very popular shows and attractions.  With an infrastructure  project co-sponsored by the Federal Electric company, all cables of electricity and poles have been removed from the Campeche real estate downtown zones and placed underground.  The city also enacted a program with the goal to become Mexico’s cleanest city!  Schools of all ages participated which a) helped clean the city physically and also b)  helped educate the young children of the importance of placing trash in the correct and indicated places.  These programs and the early detection by the city and state over five years ago is starting to pay off as Campeche, this hidden jewel, is slowly becoming discovered as a tourist destination and interesting second/retirement home market.

Along with the public money support and investments the private sector has also been placing close attention to this small capital and state.  As we drove around the Campeche real estate areas, we found retail stores such as Office Max, Commercial Mexicana ( A large Mexican grocery retailer), Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Mega Commercial store was one of the largest stores of this chain that I have seen constructed with a beautiful facade investment respecting the building guidelines of the city.  ( I was unable to take a photo but will on my next trip to Campeche).  I also found it very interesting to see Walmart store and a Sam’s Club in the city.  These stores have a very extensive analysis of urban trends and when this corporation chooses to invest within a community, there are strong probabilities that growth is projected.   Private hospitals also are available but due to time restraints, I was unable to study closely the status.  What we do know is that a very healthy upper and middle class community exists in Campeche and their health requirements are met with the local health care suppliers.

The Campeche real estate market is a treasure chest of fixer upper opportunities.  If you real estate investment portfolio includes old colonial homes,  please contact us.  As stated above, the city, state and federal offices have initiated a fantastic program to restore the city and their guidelines have created downtown blocks that are stunning attractions for tourists and visitors.

With the “Malecon” boardwalk  only recently face lifted, the visitors coming to the city have been increasing exponentially and several, such as myself with the idea that Campeche would be the ideal Mexico retirement community.

Campeche over the past several years has been investing into their local real estate market.  They have been working on their city’s curb side appeal to begin attracting more tourists, more visitors, and more second home snow birds.

Programs such as restoring the old colonial facades, running underground services, and restoring of the boardwalk have been important investments that will be paying off over the next ten years.  Private investments have been following suit with large multi-national companies introducing their presence in the past three years and so.  If you combine all of these factors, including the waterfront location of this community, it has my full attention and a follow up trip has already been scheduled.

If you wish to see a post about the Campeche Beachfront properties click here.

Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 15 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the current president of TOPmexicorealestate, you can contact him at (512) 879-6546 or through the company’s web site www.TOPmexicorealestate.com NETWORK

“Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!”

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The “baby boomer” generation is reaching retirement age and even with this current economic downturn, is the wealthiest generation ever.
4. 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 formula”. 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!”

Campeche is the state capital of Campeche state on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. The Campeche real estate market has caught our attention and TOP Mexico Real Estate decided to make a discovery trip to find out first hand what is going on in this region. Bob McCain, a good friend of ours who has been working very successfully in the Playa del Carmen real estate market for the past 6 years, invited us out to see some cheap Mexico beachfront real estate!

We left Friday morning and decided that we would take a road “less traveled”. We wanted to see the countryside in the Yucatan peninsula and drove south from Playa del Carmen, passed Tulum, and travelled for another 2 hours until we reached the city of Carillo Puerto. At Carillo Puerto we decided on traveling west across the peninsula leaving the Mexican Caribbean to arrive to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. We needed a map so we began searching the town. Usually a gas station would be a good place to search. Without luck here, we began looking in “papelerias” or a stationary shop. The best we could find was an elementary map of the Yucatan that we had to blow up in order to see the roads. So there we go, 4 hour trip across secondary roads through Mayan country with a black and white blow up copy of a state map.

The Yucatan region is rich in history and ruins from the ancient Mayan culture. You will find world famous pyramids such as Chichinitza, Tulum, Uxmal. But the locals say that there are still thousands of sites that have not even been revealed nor have been found throughout the deep thick jungles. That is very interesting and exciting to think about the many artifacts and articles that are still laying out in the countryside, waiting to be discovered. The history of the Mayans have been examined closely due to their surprisingly advanced knowledge of mathematics and their understanding of the solar system, the sun, Orion Nebula and many other astronomical observations. I picked up a high interest myself on this civilization and started collecting and trying to understand some symbols here and there so I could try to identify and recognize on ruins.  Below for example are the symbols used for counting and you can see these symbols on the Mayan calendar.   The seed type of symbol represents the 0 and the bar is equivalent to 5.  Very interesting.

Our road took us zigzagging through many small villages where we would see the traditional Mayan huts. No corners, but rounded oval walls and thatched roofs.

In one little village we saw in the center square an old church that was built in the 16th century. Haciendas were also seen in the trip which were large plantations of farming communities.

We stopped during our trip at an orchard where many trees for lime and Maymey were being harvested. At the front end of this large parcel of land they had an outdoor, road side kitchen with fold up chairs and tables. They were announcing Maymey fruit, rabbit barbecue food, and roasted chicken tacos. It all sounded good so we stopped and to our pleasant surprise… we had an extremely delicious lunch with Maymey ice cream to round off the meal.

Two hours later, we started to pull into the capital city of Campeche. It was night but immediately we noticed that the downtown area was extremely…. clean. All of the electric wiring had been wired underground and all of the buildings had color combinations that ran the length of the streets. There was not one corner that my wife yelled for me to stop in order for her to take pictures. The Campeche real estate area was looking very exciting as the city was looking very tourist friendly, there were people on the streets and it felt full of life, and the boardwalk along the coast line had people jogging and biking. Campeche definitely had a comfortable inviting curb side appeal.

To see Day 2 visiting the downtown Campeche real estate market
CLICK HERE   MEXICO REAL ESTATE BLOG

Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 15 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the current president of TOPmexicorealestate, you can contact him at (512) 879-6546 or through the company’s web site www.TOPmexicorealestate.com NETWORK

“Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!”

As record snowfalls hit the eastern coast of the United States, many people have started daydreaming of being down in old warm and cozy Mexico. Some northerners are even taking steps to deal with all that excess cold weather by jumping on the plane and coming down as February is producing record number of passengers channeling through the aisles of the Cancun Airport. Even in the Mexico real estate arena, I can say that the attention is high and people are looking once again for warmer climate areas, and if the buyers have a tight budget, this is another reason for their high interest down here south of the border. Some are looking for cheap Mexico beachfront real estate, others are looking for non- tourist cities such as what you find in the Campeche real estate regions, and others are just looking for a place with quick and easy access by plane.

Today, in Playa del Carmen I was with a couple from Canada who are in the process of selecting their dream winter home. “We need a place now that we can run south to escape from those chilly winters” said the Mexico real estate buyers. “We plan to be down starting from November, December, and be flying back and forth throughout the spring” This is a typical requirement or usage for the homes being purchased by the average northern snowbird. And because the Canadian dollar has been quite strong in the past several months, many Canadians have been taking advantage of some fantastic opportunities from a slow 2009 season. “I am in the real estate investment game back in my home state, and from everything I have been studying about the Mexico real estate market, I think the next ten years will
continue to bringing many new buyers”

Cheap Mexico beachfront real estate are what many Americans and Canadians expect when first arriving to the popular cities such as Cancun, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas. And when they see the market prices, they become a little disappointed as if their dream home has been snatched away. “It depends on where you search for your property and at what stage of the investment cycle you want to come in” is a comment that Bob Mccain shares with many of the non-Mexican buyers. Bob has been working in the Playa del Carmen real estate market for nearly 10 years and has now been working on a new project on the gulf of Mexico in the Campeche real estate region. “each person has a different need, a different budget, and a different dream” he stated over the phone. “I am excited about this new region because of many reasons but most of all, these prices give many Americans and Canadians that have been hit with the financial crisis, a chance to get that waterfront property they’ve dreamed about.”

Apart from some amazing Mexico beachfront real estate properties, Campeche is also a very exciting city for downtown colonial style homes. Follow us or send some questions that you may have regarding this regions as I will be making a Campeche Real Estate discovery trip in the next several days. If you want to know what the average price per square foot, what are the local shopping centers, what activities occur in the region, what style of beaches, what can you fish. Contact us so we can look up the answers.

Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 15 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the current president of TOPmexicorealestate, you can contact him at (512) 879-6546 or through the company’s web site www.TOPmexicorealestate.com NETWORK

“Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!”