Many foreigners have the dream of coming to Mexico, buying a piece of land, designing a home built to their tastes, and living their dream along the ocean or on a majestic mountain side….at half of the price it would cost in their home country.
Is this a fairy tale? NO, not completely. Below is a story on how one Canadian couple chose to buy land in Tulum Mexico and are taking on the challenge of constructing their Mexico dream home. “Many people from my home town said we were crazy, but we surrounded ourselves with qualified help, we did our homework and we discovered great investment return potential in the Tulum real estate market, a project in an ideal neighborhood, and data that helped us make our decision to build versus buy.” stated Craig a proud new Canadian owner of land in downtown Tulum, Mexico. With the current low quantity of services and infrastructure available in this fishing village and projected new jobs coming to the region these factors are catching the attention of many buyers and investors. The number one factor which entices hundreds of Mexican foreigners to purchase land in Tulum is the investment potential of the region.
In Tulum Mexico, real estate has been a hot topic, given the quick growth being experienced and with the history of the booming towns of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, odds are that this fishing village will have the same success and demand witnessed in the past 15 years in these two nearby northern neighbors. “We did our due diligence, and researched hard on the internet till we found a good, experienced Mexico real estate agent of the area. With our criteria in hand, the agent led us away from where we had initially started our search in developed and established municipalities up north and he took us to this small village called Tulum” explained the couple. Existing condos and home properties in Tulum are still very scarce. At the same time, there have been increases in the constructions of hotels and resorts along the southern half of the Riviera Maya where Tulum is located. In the past couple of years, the quantity of hotel rooms in the Riviera Maya surpassed the number of units located in Cancun making this zone one of the highest growth potential areas in the state of Quintana Roo. A new double lane highway has been under construction and is projected to be completed in the summer of 2009 which will connect Playa del Carmen with their southern neighbor. “All of these factors gave us the confidence that our investment into Tulum land should create great appreciation returns” added Craig. The decision of where to choose along the Mexican Caribbean was their first task and led to their second important question; where should I buy land in Tulum?
As suggested by many experts in purchasing residential properties, a comparison of the neighborhood’s pros and cons was prepared and evaluated. The criteria were jotted out along with reviewing a list of those items the buyers thought would be required to make their lives comfortable and happy while living in Tulum, Mexico. Craig shared his thought process “We began evaluating the different locations around town ideal for our needs and we ended up investing into a rather large planned community that had an existing building restrictions code.”. Tulum is a new municipality and there still exists many properties with unclear legal deeds. There have been instances of transfers of physical possession, yet the legal transfers are unable to be completed given the lack of proper transfer rights. There also exits several projects, where developers have gone through the process to privatize larger sections of land, subdivide, develop the infrastructure, and begin selling the smaller individual parcels. “I wanted to focus my attention to the designing and the building, I did not want to go in having to worry about my title, I am hundreds of miles away and the last thing I wanted was a legal obstacle, so we decided to purchase a higher priced property compared to other land for sale in Tulum” Although Craig bought within a planned community, many other foreigners have elected to purchase properties in the downtown zone and direct from individual owners. There are parcels of land with and without structures that are located in the downtown area that already have existing electric and water services. Other areas in the southern half of town are within the planned zoned areas of the municipality but the area has yet to develop paved roads, no water nor electricity services exists. A large concentration of foreign buyers has built in this area. “They are betting on the future and the odds are in their favor” states Hector Moreno a real estate broker with many years experience of working in the Tulum region. “The city has to grow, and the city will need to begin paving the roads and adding the basic services, when this happens, the property values will go in one direction and that is up”. Many people are predicting a strong growth in the Tulum real estate market, so what type of properties are the most appealing to the foreigners coming for these purchases and investments?
One of the difficult questions that Americans and Canadians contemplate when buying into the new Tulum market is which type of property will best meet their expectations and dreams. Oceanfront property is usually the number one choice and if this is not in the budget a common response is “find me the closest possible real estate to the Tulum beaches.” With a population of only 15,000, this new municipality is still a quiet little village. There are only a hand full of Tulum condo projects available for sale and several of these are in pre construction stages. “Single family homes for sale in Tulum? I can only think of 3 or 4 and these are in the Region 9 area.” Was the response from Andy Welbourne an agent whose job is to find properties and represent buyers in the Riviera Maya region “These homes are good quality, new constructions and very unique designs with strong Mayan culture influence. A lot of the non-Mexicans like that style for this area.” When buyers choose the option to build, it allows the owner the flexibility to create a living dwelling specifically to his habits and likes. Owners can choose the location and size of the window that looks upon the back yard or pool for example. Changing the layout of the patio or the location of the columns in the last minute are options that can occur, and such adjustments can give your retirement home those special personal touches that will return hours of future living comfort and enjoyment. “We also felt much more at ease with the idea that we are going to know the quality of materials that will be inserted into our winter home” said the Canadian couple. Craig added the fact “I had a special two and a half car garage designed in our home. The half car slot is where I plan to park my little golf cart with electric outlets and other special features that I asked the architect to add” These issues were the decisive points that led Craig and his wife in their decision to build in Tulum and have their Mexico home constructed to their particular tastes and needs.
There is a growing quantity of Americans and Canadians who are buying Mexico homes and making the move to the warmer climates of this southern country. Tulum is one of those regions experiencing the first stages of a population boom with a large amount of those being Mexican foreigners. Many of these buyers are betting that with Tulum’s favorable future expected increase in prices, the municipalities limited existing neighborhood options, and the personal benefits of designing their own home has led to an increasing amount of foreign real estate investors to choose “buying a lot and build” rather than “buying a finished residential home”.
