Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

The silver lining in Mexican real estate

Second-home purchases on rise despite drug violence in some regions

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Mar. 25, 2011

I also spoke at length with Thomas Lloyd who runs a website called Top Mexico Real Estate, which focuses mostly on Caribbean real estate in places like Cancun, Merida and Playa del Carmen, but networks to Realtors at other resort areas in Mexico.

"Violence is the topic," he said. "When you have someone calling up and is interested in buying down here, 'How safe is it?' is either (the) first, second or third question."

He, too, stresses the fact that except for Acapulco, the resort areas of Mexico have been out of the drug wars. What his company tries to do is bring people down to Mexico so they can see for themselves that life in, say, Playa del Carmen, is quiet.

"If you can get people to see for themselves, that makes a difference," he said. "Many who buy here have visited these places many times and they have fallen in love with the Mexican Caribbean. They have a comfort level and now want a second home."

Canadians have become a real force in the real estate markets of Mexican Caribbean resort towns. They used to number about 40-45 percent of the buyers, Lloyd noted, "and now they are 65-70 percent."

Those comments led me back to former Olympian Mullen. I ask: What the heck is a downhill skier doing in tropical Mexico?

From his office in Puerto Escondido, he said, "After chasing snow 12 months of the year around the globe for 15 years, I had enough winters. I wanted to live in a place where it was a little warmer and nearer to the beach. I went searching for a place from a lifestyle and business standpoint. After traveling to a dozen countries I found this little gem of a location."

Spoken like a true Canadian, eh.

Steve Bergsman is a freelance writer in Arizona and author of several books. His latest book, "After the Fall: Opportunities and Strategies for Real Estate Investing in the Coming Decade," has been ranked as a top-selling real estate investment book for the Amazon Kindle e-reader.