Vancouver and Beyond

The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, January 12, 2008

- Check out International Living’s retirement havens and quality-of-life lists. (Go to www.internationalliving.com)

- It helps to make a list of what’s important to you. What factors will allow you to enjoy a good lifestyle? Is it warm weather you’re after? What cultural and leisure activities are important to you? Is it important to be a short airplane trip from home? What kinds of communications do you need — Internet? Cable TV?

- Once you’ve chosen a prospective country, you’ll want to zero in on a particular area that offers those characteristics. Climate varies widely in a country as diverse as Mexico. The central highlands boast what the locals call “perpetual spring.” The north is hot and dry. The south coastal regions are hot and humid.

- Once you’ve selected a possible country, contact the embassy or consulate to ask about health care, education, property ownership and residency requirements, culture, taxes, special benefits for seniors and any other topics that are important to you.

- Spend time exploring the country and specific area you have in mind. What a great excuse for a vacation — “I’m scouting out prospective retirement places.” Do not buy property impulsively on your first trip.

- Consider political stability, climate, housing prices, cost of living, red tape and whether foreigners can own property. And talk to Canadians who’ve done it already. They’re your best source of information.

- To obtain more information about moving to Mexico, go to www.canada2mexico.com or contact the Mexico Tourism Board in Toronto at 1-416-925-0704, ext. 24. Montreal and Vancouver also have Mexico Tourism Board offices.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Last Updated: Friday, October 12, 2007 | 11:49 AM ET
CBC News
Canadians settling in to spend the winter in Mexico are revelling in the way the loonie is stretching further, allowing them to splurge on everything from groceries to winter homes.

‘For Canadians the high dollar and the flat market, if they’re interested — this is the year to buy.’
—Paul Hart, expatriatePaul Hart, a retired senior civil servant from Manitoba, said the power of the loonie — which was trading Friday morning at $1.0268 US — is allowing him to trade up and buy a bigger home at Lake Chapala in central Mexico.

“The loonie’s doing terrific! We’ve been coming down here about six years,” Hart said of the community with a large contingent of Canadian expatriates.

“When we first came down, the dollar was really low. We were getting as low as 5.6 pesos to the Canadian dollar and now we’re getting 10.8, so it’s just fantastic!”

Hart said Canadians considering buying real estate should cash in now with market conditions being highly favourable.

“The market here is also flat because it’s been somewhat overbuilt and the flat housing market in the States has really impacted sales here,” he said. “For Canadians the high dollar and the flat market, if they’re interested — this is the year to buy, this is the winter to buy I think.”

Realtor Trudie Nelson says she’s seen an influx of Canadians in the area since she moved down from Toronto a decade ago.

“It’s the largest community outside Canada for Canadians to retire now,” she said. “I think larger than the American market at Florida. It is a huge market.”

But Nelson cautions Canadians against purchasing real estate hastily, saying it demands a strong commitment on the part of the consumer to relocate.

Rent burden eased by loonie’s ascent
Barb Madren, formerly of Windsor, Ont., now rents lodging in the lakeside community of Ajijic, also in Central Mexico. She describes the loonie’s ascent as “sensational” and has taken to teasing her U.S. friends about the flagging greenback.

“My rent is in U.S. dollars which means I’m doing better,” she said. “I’m not paying as much rent as I was before.”

For years Canadians in the region developed a reputation as being typically tightfisted, Madren said, a stereotype bound to change with more Canadians expected to flock to the region.

“The first joke I heard when I came here from an American of course was, [what's] the difference between a Canadian and a canoe? A canoe tips. Can you believe?” she said.

According to a Statistics Canada first-quarter travel report, sun-seeking Canadians made Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba the top three overseas destinations. Over half a million overnight trips were made to Mexico between January and March of 2007, up 24.6 per cent from first quarter of 2006.

Made in the shade?
TheStar.com – living – Made in the shade?

SEABREEZE VENTURES PHOTO
John Chicoine, formerly of Brampton, now lives and sells real estate in Mexico. “Getting a mortgage can still be tight,” he says. “In many areas the rule of thumb is still cash deals.” CLOSING COSTLY
Estimated breakdown of closing costs on a $400,000 (all figures U.S.) condo in Cancun area:
» Notary fees: $3,400
» Expedition of deed: $35
» Certificate of no liens: $25
» Transfer of property tax: $8,000
» Deed registration at public registry: $4,000
» Appraisal: $1,300
» Trust agreement fees: $880
» Set up of fideicomiso and first year trust fee: $1,300
» Miscellaneous: $50
» Total of notary fees, bank fees and taxes: $18,990
» Stewart title fees (closing costs): $5,280 *
» Total: $24,270

* Stewart fees include 0.7 per cent optional owner’s title insurance policy costs, which is recommended Source: Stewart Title Riviera Maya
Vacation real estate in Mexico can deliver great returns – as well as some headaches

October 06, 2007
Mark Keast
Special to the Star

CANCUN, MEXico–For Roberto Flores Castrejón, owner of an Isla Mujeres luxury resort called Casa de los Sueños, the gaudy four-level home next door that blocks a quarter of his pool-deck ocean view is daily confirmation of his worst fears.

“The builder is a cardiologist from New York,” Castrejón says. “When he built it, I told him he broke my heart.”

But questions about architectural taste aside, the cardiologist appears to be a wise investor. Isla Mujeres – an eight-kilometre-long, 750-metre-wide island off Cancun – is undergoing a building boom, re-shaping what was a sleepy fishing village just a decade ago.

Appreciation on an average-sized oceanfront lot (20 metres by 20 metres) has been well into the double digits since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Charles Simpson, an American retiree and his wife built a 3,500-square-foot home on the ocean in 2006. They paid $350,000 (all prices U.S.) in total for their land and to custom-build their dream home. The property would now list for more than $700,000.

But while politicians and many locals are focused on the money and jobs lured by the sudden growth, Castrejón and others on Isla Mujeres say the boom that’s driving the worth of their investments has come at a steep price. Too many days are spent in a tug-of-war with local government officials as some developers thumb their noses at the four-storey building restriction. Many see overdevelopment as a threat to everything that made the island special in the first place.

As for the increasing numbers of boomers from Canada and the U.S. – the people who are largely driving real estate frenzies in Isla Mujeres and across the country – there’s a lot to learn about investing wisely and safely in Mexico.

Canadians and Americans are looking to Mexico – from the Riviera Maya and Yucatan on the east to Puerto Vallarta and Baja on the Pacific coast.– as a cheaper alternative to traditional retirement locales in Florida or Arizona. And it’s not just the land prices that appear to be a bargain. Property taxes on a $400,000 condo will run you around $500 a year, with a discount if you pay it up front. (However, closing costs can be hefty and capital gains are taxed heavily).

A recent Fortune magazine naming Yucatan as one of the best places in the world to invest has only heightened the buzz – not only in Yucatan, but in other hotspots across the country. The red-hot buying and flipping craze in Baja prompted newspaper headlines in the U.S. last month after the U.S. sub-prime mortgage debacle spooked would-be buyers, causing speculators to sweat.

Mexican property brokers, including Mark Mercieca of Mundaca Real Estate, estimate that there are more than 100,000 foreign property owners in Mexico. “Sixty per cent of that total is American, 20 per cent Canadian and the rest European and other countries, with higher concentrations in places around Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Baja Peninsula,” Mercieca says, adding that the loonie’s parity with the U.S. dollar only stands to boost the Canadian percentage.

But while the weather is beautiful and the people friendly, the buying process requires a heightened level of due diligence.

“Mexico is not for everyone,” says Mitchell Keenan, operating broker for Mexico International in Merida, Yucatan.

If you talk for long with locals in the industry you’ll hear tales of developers suddenly jacking up prices during a buying frenzy and would-be buyers’ deposits disappearing without a trace. Purchasers are said to have discovered liens on properties after making their commitments. One Canadian buyer was told she had financing but then found it was anything but a sure thing. In Baja, some buyers didn’t discover until after the fact that they had purchased ejido land – communal property, bequeathed to agrarian communities by the government.

“You might buy something legally but whether it gets recorded properly is another story,” says Jeff Riegel, an American developer building La Isla Condominios.

It’s buyer beware throughout the country, in large part because the real estate market is still relatively new in many regions.

“Too many people leave their brains at the border,” says Jim Botaish, a Re/Max agent on Isla Mujeres. People get island fever, he says.

“It amazes me how many people will be so careful with their property purchases back home, then come down here, talk to a bartender and buy something with a signature on a napkin,” says Ron Brown, a native of Vancouver and president of Isla Realty, who has lived on the island with his wife for 10 years.

“There’s a slower pace here,” says John Chicoine, a native of Brampton who moved to Mexico and now is part of Keenan’s stable of agents.

He says it’s important to get a sense of how pricing can vary – sometimes wildly – for seemingly similar properties. For example, a lot and home that would go for as low as $35,000 in the area near his home in Chuburna, near Merida, might be a completely different deal across the street, all based on location, type of property, additional investment in remodelling and property maintenance.

“I know buyers who bought small, run-down colonial homes in Merida for $20,000, invested $10,000 in remodelling and fairy dust, then resold in 12 to 18 months for three times the total investment,” Keenan says. “That is the positive. That is nearly impossible to do these days. Nonetheless, we are still in an appreciating market and I don’t see that trend ending any time soon.”

There are areas of the Yucatan without landlines for phones, then there is Riegel’s project – a planned five-star, 69-unit, oceanfront condo development on Isla Mujeres, which will offer most amenities North American buyers might demand – if you’re willing to pay the average $475,000-per-unit price.

Riegel says his objective is to put in place infrastructure that covers off those popular concerns he hears from North Americans, such as lining up a mortgage lender, building a hurricane-proof structure, providing title insurance, and property security. “Simple is king,” he says.

Clear title is only as good as the attorney, notario or title company you hire to close the deal, he adds.

The buyer will need a notario to execute the fideicomisos – the primary vehicle for owning property in Mexico’s restricted zone (all land within 100 km of international borders, or within 50 km of any coastline), a trust agreement one establishes with a bank to hold title of the property, renewable every 50 years.

“Things are changing rapidly,” Chicoine says. “Getting a mortgage can still be tight. In many areas the rule of thumb is still cash deals. The biggest thing I find is a lot of people don’t understand the rules and regulations that surround purchasing. It’s totally different down here, and a lot of people find out the hard way.”

But Mauricio Guerrero, a spokesperson at the Mexican embassy in Ottawa, stresses it would be wrong to view the real estate markets or his country’s legal system as anything akin to the Wild West. Mexico is part of more than 30 international free trade agreements he says, adding that the country guarantees property rights, the government doesn’t interfere with the currency and the central bank is independent, as are the three branches of power – the executive, legislative and Supreme Court.

Mercieca, who works as a broker on Isla Mujeres, argues that the international community ensures Mexico respects rule of law.

“Look, Mexico is too tight to that umbilical cord,” he says. “Today in a global world you can’t fight an enemy like Europe and America, not for a few parcels of land. With its wealth, labour, location, natural resources, Mexico will be among the top developed countries in the world over the next 15 years.”

Keenan says younger buyers are now entering the market, with the slow onset of more reasonable mortgage products. “Eight to 10 years ago, almost all our foreign buyers were retiring couples or singles in their 60s,” he says.

Young couples like Toronto’s Floydilou Kerr and her husband, Michael Carlyle, who bought their condo new, say they have found the experience to be positive. Owners of a 1,600-square-foot condo in Bucerias, north of Puerto Vallarta, for a year now, they say the biggest obstacles have been organizing unit owners from across the continent into a cohesive, dedicated condo corporation, plus making sure they don’t under price the nightly rental price for their unit once they reset it in a few years.

More Canadians are opening up to the possibility of taking a chance and buying here, helping to fuel the appreciation in the marketplace. Whether the locals benefit or get caught under the wheels, as Castrejón fears, is another thing entirely.

——————————————————————————–
Mark Keast is a Toronto freelance journalist who has purchased a property on Isla Mujeres. To learn more about buying real estate in Mexico, email him at

questions@isla-mexicoproperties.com

TheStar.com – living – New species of snowbird eyes exotic nests in sun

Latin America hot with greying bargain hunters

July 21, 2007
Gail Swainson
Real Estate Reporter

Hal and Donna Grabowski – perched just this side of retirement – are busy, busy these days.

Both run succ

essful businesses; Hal is an accountant and Donna owns an insurance agency. But what really has the pair hopping lately is a slightly offbeat acquisition: a colonial home in Merida, a city of about one million on the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

The gracious heritage villa, which is undergoing a complete-gut renovation, was purchased as a vacation home with an eye to spending at least part of the winter there come retirement.

“It’s not a retirement home, not just yet,” Donna says. “But we still come as often as we can because we just love it there.”

The Grabowskis aren’t alone: they are part of a formidable and emerging trend – the baby boom generation on the move.

More and more, boomers are heading into retirement with plans to trade the snow shovel for a tall cool one under a palm tree, housing industry observers say.

“This is something that has been going on for 20 years, but it’s gaining a great deal of momentum,” says Klaus Rohrich, president of Taylor/Rohrich Associates Inc., a Toronto firm that specializes in adult-lifestyle communities.

To be sure, this get-out-of-town mentality is hardly new. Beginning with the Florida snowbirds, generations of Canadian retirees have looked for ways to take extended breaks from winter’s tight grip.

What’s different this time is that the number of affluent baby boomers preparing to head south, are – like the song says – going to do it their way.

Jam-packed, all-inclusive resorts or old favourites such as Florida hold little allure for this more adventurous generation. Instead, they are snapping up bargain-priced Panamanian condos, villas on the beaches of Belize, Roatan and Nicaragua or colonial fixer-uppers in Mexico.

Not only are they buying discount digs, the boomers are discovering that trading down from life in the fast lane is also bank account-friendly.

And with an estimated 10 million Canadian boomers and another 73 million in the U.S., the number of boomers planning to head south for at least part of the year could reach staggering proportions.

Merida, about three hours west of Cancun, has recently caught the eye of foreign buyers with a keen sense of value. Last July, Fortune magazine declared the Yucatan one of the world’s six best places to invest.

Colonials needing extensive work can still be bought in Merida for under $100,000 (all figures U.S.), while spacious, restored homes with a pool start at about $200,000. The Grabowskis first discovered Merida during their travels 30 years ago. When it came time to look for a warm-weather vacation home, the couple’s must-have checklist came up Merida.

They made a return visit and “within three or four hours, we knew this was the right place,” Donna says.

“We just realized it had everything – it is different and, really important, not too touristy,” Hal adds.

Merida’s thriving arts community and relative safety – with a notably low crime rate for a city its size – also struck a chord with the couple.

“Merida still has a small town feel,” Hal says. “We feel so comfortable there.”

Latin America has many advantages, says Lief Simon, a spokesperson for International Living, a print and online magazine that has been tipping subscribers on the best places to live on the cheap for 27 years.

“It is warm and it is close by for North Americans,” Simon says in a telephone interview from his Paris office. “Most people still want to be close enough to visit their friends and family and that’s what you get with Latin America.”

Right now, Simon is bullish on Panama, recently ranked first in International Living’s Global Retirement Index. “It has good infrastructure and telecommunications; it uses the U.S. dollar and many speak English because it is a world banking centre,” Simon says.

Panama also has a number of advantages for retirees, including its pensionado, or pensioner’s program.

With this comes an impressive list of perks – including huge discounts on everything from movies to meals to airfare – for retirees with a minimum monthly income of $500 U.S.

And buying in Panama is also easy on the pocketbook. Condo prices are climbing in Panama City; however, an older two-bedroom condo can still sell for as little $80,000.

“There are still great deals in the resale market,” Simon says.

Mexico, which placed fifth after Malta, New Zealand and Uruguay on the International Living Index, is also growing in popularity, Simon says.

A recent International Living newsletter says it all: “Our parents retired to Florida and Arizona. Today’s baby boomers are heading south of the border.”

While few deep, deep oceanfront discounts remain on either Mexico’s east or west coasts, the little-known Gulf Coast just outside Merida is still an affordable place to park a beach towel.

There, a modest, three-bedroom, oceanfront villa can still be bought for about $115,000. An oceanfront condo with pool in a desirable area clocks in at some $85,000, with about $30 a month in added maintenance fees.

And if you want it all, almost 10,000 square feet of off-the-dial luxury right on the ocean can still be found for a little more than $650,000.

Simon says that Eastern European vacation homes tend to be priced on the high side, though bargains for under $100,000 can still be found in Croatia and apartments for about 17,000 euros are available in Bulgaria.

“There are a lot of boomers coming into the market and prices are bound to be affected, but there are still a lot of opportunities out there,” Simon adds.

www.TheStar.com