{"id":3301,"date":"2011-04-15T18:38:48","date_gmt":"2011-04-16T00:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.topmexicorealestate.com\/temp-blog\/?p=3301"},"modified":"2017-08-29T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T20:48:29","slug":"la-paz-real-estate-market-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.topmexicorealestate.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/la-paz-real-estate-market-update\/","title":{"rendered":"La Paz Real Estate Market Update"},"content":{"rendered":"
Welcome to our first quarter, 2011 newsletter about the La Paz real estate<\/a> market, and the first of the new decade. Do you recall the news just before the start of the last decade – in fact, just at the start of the new century? All was doom and gloom, a world wide crisis was on its way. A crisis came a few years later. It was not the type expected, but rather a global economic crisis. Millions of people from a wide array of countries have suffered immensely. One exception I know of is Hong Kong. Faced with a surplus of millions of dollars the government has decided to share. Each household will receive about $ U.S. 700. The only stipulation is that it must be invested in government bonds.<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"At the beginning of the decade, neither the U.S. Department of State nor U.S. cable TV stations had started their relentless campaigns to inhibit U.S. citizens from coming to the Mexico real estate<\/a> regions, doing tremendous damage to both the tourism and real estate industries. More on that below.<\/span><\/div>\n
Mexico Wins prize at Major International Tourism Trade Show<\/strong>:<\/span><\/div>\n
Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s state of Michoacan was the big winner at the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain. The state won the prestigious prize at the sixteenth annual contest for the best international tourism product.\u00c2\u00a0 Taleb Rifay, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization presided at the awards ceremony. There were eighty entries in the contest.<\/span><\/div>\n
Michoacan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entry was the called Ruta Don Vasco. This project was created in honor of Don Vasco and to help celebrate Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 200th Anniversary of the war of Independence\u00c2\u00a0 and 100th Anniversary of the Revolution. The Ruta (route) was the trail Don Vasco, the first Bishop of Michoacan, followed as he taught the Purepecha Indians a wide array of crafts.\u00c2\u00a0 The heart of the route covers 16 municipalities and 40 communities, offering contact with 63% of Michoac\u00c3\u00a1n\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s indigenous people. In this article, I will not attempt to detail the many crafts found in the villages. Suffice to say that Santa Clara del Cobre (where you can go into stores and\u00c2\u00a0 watch copper items being forged) Patzcuaro (a place with carved wood, painted gold plates, fine woven fabric and more) Pichitaro (known for carved furniture) and Paracho (where world class guitars and\u00c2\u00a0 violins are made) are all villages worthy of a visit.<\/span><\/div>\n
Then there is the Morelia real estate<\/a> area.\u00c2\u00a0 This city, the state capital, is a good place to start the route. It is known as the city of festivals (International Music, mariachi, dance, film and more) and as Latin America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s illuminated city. The latter is due to the many buildings and monuments lighted at night.<\/span><\/div>\n
The natural beauty and cultural sites to be found in the state are too numerous to list in this edition. For more information go to: www.michoacan-travel.com<\/a>. You will find an excellent bi-lingual web site<\/span><\/div>\n
New Hotel Opening in La Paz<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
The owners of the Seven Crown hotels announce that a new Seven Crown will open in La Paz during Semana Santa. (Holy Week.) Located in the center of La Paz adjacent to what has become known as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153restaurant row\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it will have 54 standard rooms and several suites, some with kitchen facilities.<\/span><\/div>\n
According to Hector Manuel Castro one of the owners and Past President of the La Paz Hotel Association, it will target\u00c2\u00a0 the business traveler and tourist who wants to stay in La Paz for five or more nights. The new hotel will create 40 new jobs for La Paz.<\/span><\/div>\n
In other La Paz hotel news, I recently attended a meeting at the renovated Fiesta Hotel, now operating under the Grand Heritage banner. It is located at the Costa Baja Resort. I was impressed with the d\u00c3\u00a9cor and the improvements made to the building.<\/span><\/div>\n
A new Hotel Fiesta Inn is scheduled for construction at Costa Baja.<\/span><\/div>\n
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World Class Museum Opens in Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Capital<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"When the person listed by Forbes magazines as the wealthiest in the world, you would expect when he undertakes a new enterprise it would be big and of the highest quality. This is the case with Carlos Slim, his new world class museum and commercial\/residential development.<\/span><\/div>\n
Located in the ritzy Polanco district of Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capital the project was opened in late March. The center piece is the Museo Soumaya, named after his deceased wife, already has the reputation of being among the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finest. The opening of the new museum, an architectural gem, also took place in March. Attending were luminaries from the world of culture, communications, show business, politics and jet setters. President Felipe Calderon along with Larry King and his wife Sewan were among the guests assembled to christen the new project. Also attending were Fernando Romero and Alfonso Miranda, architect and Director respectively.<\/span><\/div>\n
The magnificent building houses six galleries. Exhibits range from coins and medals for the days of the Emperor Maximiliano of\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Habsburg (1863-1867) and items from the 16th and 17th centuries. to original works by Rodin, Daumier, Carroer- Belleuse among others. Gallery number four contains paintings by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec Gaugin and Picasso.<\/span><\/div>\n
A second Museum ( Museo Jumex) is included in the complex as is the Teatro Cervantes with 500 seats. Plaza Carso, the shopping center and commercial area,\u00c2\u00a0 covers 78,000 square meters and will create\u00c2\u00a0 5,000 jobs.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Stores in the mall include Saks Fifth Avenue, Alexander Mc Queen, Balenciaga, Diane Von Furstenberg, Valentino and Versace. There is a movie theater (Cinepolis) and several well known Mexico City restaurants.<\/span><\/div>\n
The residential section has a five star hotel, four towers with 628 condominiums ranging from 1,270 to 1,400 square feet with prices ranging from $ 242, 000 to $376,000.<\/span><\/div>\n
In short, Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capital now has a new cultural, business and residential jewel.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Travel In Mexico <\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
During the last two years, the U.S. economy, the cable news stations (and some others) along with the United Sates Department of State have inflicted serious damage to the Mexican tourism industry and, in turn, to our\u00c2\u00a0 Mexico real estate<\/a> industry. What is annoying are the many inaccurate and exaggerated stories. There is a tendency to pick up on something that happened many months ago and repeat the story, over and over.<\/span><\/div>\n
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It is pleasing to me that we now seem to have a growing back lash to these emotional warnings. I have seen stories in the New York Times, Reuters news service and other media that are attempting to set the record straight. Below is an excerpt from a New York Times (NYT) story from February 18th. .<\/span><\/div>\n
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First we have some statistics generated by the Mexican Tourism Board, as quoted in the NYT article:
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