If you’ve ever been to San Miguel de Allende, you already know that it is a walking town. With few exceptions, everything you want to see and do is within a few minutes’ walk of the main plaza. Rarely do foreign tourists who fly in rent a car, and many expats live in San Miguel without a car. So, if you are interested in purchasing a seasonal home or a rental property in San Miguel de Allende that could generate some income when you are not using it, then “walking distance to Centro” should be your target.
In 2005, an expat did an informal survey of people who had a home for a vacation rental in San Miguel de Allende. The person asked several questions, but tracking the answers to three of them I found most insightful.
Three valuable questions to consider when purchasing a rental property in San Miguel de Allende
- How many bedrooms?
- How many blocks from Centro was the property?
- And how many weeks a year was the property rented?
Here are the gems I took away that I believe still apply today. These questions have turned out to be good advice to our clients looking for a rental property. The further from Centro, the fewer weeks the home was rented. For example, homes within three blocks from Centro were renting 34 to 38 weeks a year on average, where homes 10-12 blocks away were renting less than ten weeks a year. Further out, they seemed to rent only on holidays when the town was packed with tourists.
The other gem was that two-bedroom homes had 20% higher occupancy rates than three-bedroom homes. A lot has changed since this informal survey, but if I was in the market for a vacation rental, I would be buying as close to Centro as I could afford.
And how about a long-term rental property in San Miguel de Allende?
The same somewhat still applies to investing in a long-term rental. Most expats, who would rent long term, enjoy waking into town often and are without a car. However, long-term renters are willing to walk 20-25 minutes, where most tourists really don’t want to walk more than 5-10 minutes to be in the thick of the activities.
There are other good rental investments further out. Still, the two mentioned above satisfy 95% of what works best for our expat clients. If you are looking for a part-time or full-time investment property in San Miguel de Allende, our team has helped more than 1,500 people purchase a property. It would be our privilege to help you!
