Yesterday I met a couple on the street who had spent the winter in Puerta Vallarta Mexico. They were talking about the hot real estate market there. Bob Bruneau who was a Real Estate agent here in Seattle now sells Real Estate there for www.timothyfuller.com. The price of condos has doubled, tripled, or quadrupled depending on the project.
This is the perfect example of foriegn investment. You are close to the United States, there is an air port, and there is more than enough room for comfortable expansion. What really makes this viable is the established gringo community there. Like minded foriegn investors can add stability to an area.
Here, as in many other parts of the world, your purchase is in the form of a contract held by a trust at the bank. Those contracts are becoming so secure that banks will start making loans on them. In time there will be a system similar to what we have here in the United States. You have a mortgage on your house so you don’t really own it.
The second part is that you have a group to rely on if you should need something. You have advocacy to the local government by virtue of being a part of a larger economic force in the area. When you ask for police protection you can get. The economy is paying taxes that in turn goes into making this little corner of Mexico a safe and secure place.
In a way Puerta Vallarta has been settled by pioneers. You have all of the benefits of being in a foriegn country while enjoying a system set up to secure your investment. A good point has been made about the unbridled growth of other resort communities in Mexico. Some investments have not done well because of a glut on the housing market. Puerta Vallarta has had the input of developers in planning the community. Right now it’s working as an example to other resorts. Managed growth to correspond with infrastucture is possible here.
There has been a group in Puerta Vallarta who have worked towards building a community since I was in High School. There was talk about how sad it was that this community was not enjoying the type of growth other resort towns had in the 1980s. The truth was that growth was slowed by bureacratic obstacles from land owners in the area. A portion of those land owners were from the United States. There was a wait and see attitude and establishment of a plan.
You now have complete resorts built with foriegn invest from the ground up. There is no old town or architecure. It’s like a planned community in Arizona and in some cases it’s the same investors. Puerta Vallarta is different by blending old with new and having a local infuence.
Many foriegn countries have very poor people. The poor add to the labor pool to help with property and personal needs. Food has a tendency to be better, fresher, and local. One of the things that you have in a smaller resort is the ability to make a direct difference. I like food so I go out to local farms. Sometimes the people who go with me or drive are horrified that I would go bombing around the country side looking at tomatoes. When I buy my tomatoes directly from the farmer I feel it’s making a direct contribution to the farm. The fact that I’m able to have a driver at twenty dollars a day, plus gas is another personal investment.
The fact that my condo is going up in value is added to my lowered living expenses. Taken as a whole for my retirement there is a higher standard of living for me.
Bookmarked, thanks