Americans Go Ga-ga For Baja [California] (Bargain Oceanfront Mexican Properties Alert)

Chicago Tribune ^ | 10/15/06 | Michael Martinez

[goldstategop]

LA MISION, Mexico -- Every weekend, Carmen Tetelboin joins the Baja boom.

After work on Fridays, the Los Angeles resident drives four hours across the border to Baja California, where life is so good and living so cheap, it beats the other California, she contends.

Owning a condo on the coast, she and her husband are part of an American colony exploding during the past five years along 75 miles of pristine beaches, cliffs and towns south of Tijuana. What's drawing them are oceanfront homes at a fraction of the multimillion-dollar prices on the U.S. side.

A native of Chile who is bilingual and a U.S. citizen, Tetelboin jokingly calls this swath of Americans "gringolandia."

[endthematrix]

Baja traffic...

[Candor7]

I guess turn about is fair play?>>>>>>>>>

Yup! We get 20 per cent of the Mexican population and we get bargain condos on 75 miles of gringolandia?

Turn about would mean say, the annexation of Baja and the northern tier of Mexican provinces. Then I would agree that there is a balanced turn about.

[MistrX]

Only a fool would invest in Mexico.

[LibertarianInExile]

As usual, all the bad things here are said about Punta Banda without saying all the STUPID things that the expats did there to get themselves into the soup. See here and here for other perspectives on the mess besides the 'poor old seniors' article.

[stillonaroll]

Sound like a good deal, until a commie gets elected and natioanlizes everything.

Ding! That's the correct answer. Of course, let's not forget the MS-13 lawlessness.

[goldstategop]

Yes, that's correct. But foreigners can rent or lease land in Mexico. Its considered foreign investment.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[sully777]

Watch out for the bubble :)

[TankerKC]

"We complain about Mexicans illegally crossing the border for a $6-an-hour job ... in an attempt to take back the country, when in fact we're buying Mexico one lot at a time," said Patrick Osio, 68, of Chula Vista, Calif., a former consultant who leads conferences on Baja real estate.

He's joking, right. Comparing illegally entering our country to legally buying homes in theirs is ridiculous.

[Kozak]

Either get your beachfront in another country, or dream about it and never afford it.

Not true. I have bought an oceanfront lot and an oceanfront condo in NC. Very affordable.

[xcamel]

Plenty of beautiful beaches here in San Diego - corrupt and left wing.

There, that looks right now...

[Shuttle Shucker]

Mexico's immigration laws are still comparatively very racist against us gringos:

http://www.directory.com.mx/immigration

In contrast, the USA's immigration laws are very accomodating.

[TC Rider]

My Mom and Dad used to head down to San Felipe every winter from Vegas in the RV.

The placed where they parked made them 'buy' a lot on some rocky hillside. Though actually it was a 20 year lease. I got the impression the Mexicalis don't like yankees buying up their land.

[Old Professer]

My cousin and her husband sell those properties as brokers; business is booming.

[DownInFlames]

I believe the Mexican Constitution forbids land ownership by non-born citizens. Please let me know.

[chilepepper]

I have clients who occasionally mention Costa Rica, Mexico and other dictator run countries for investments.

errr, neither Mexico, nor specifically Costa Rica, is run by dictators... as far as property goes, Costa Rica is far superior to Mexico as there isn't this 50 year lease b***s***

[Ragnar54]

The US could buy Baja (making it a US territory). A reasonable plan would be to allow Baja to become a state after a few decades of self government. The local economy would skyrocket and siphon off illegals from the States (assuming appropriate immigration policies).

[xcamel]

Her name isn't Susan, is it?

[Old Professer]

No.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Your answer is at:

http://www.directory.com.mx/immigration

[bpjam]

Not technically, no. But Mexican presidents are dictators much in the same way that Gray Davis in California was a dictator. He had one party control and absolutely no morally compelling reason to respect the voters or the rights of those who didn't not contribute to his campaign. When the new ownership terms can up in Mexico, it was an 'elected' president who did it. And why not? Make up some tax revenue from some gringos to cover the corruption in Mexico City and stick it to those Americans who keep refusing to accept Mexicos poor and criminal unwanteds. If you go back 50 years, there have been lots and lots of changes. New changes could happen at any time and you could end up holding property which is too expensive to keep and to costly to sell.

I agree with you that Costa Rica is far superior. But what kind of control do you have over the factors governing the market there? I am certainly not an expert on Costa Rican politics and I don't have the connections there to be able to quickly establish a proxy owner there to avoid some new tax scheme there to take the money of the rich tax avoiders in North America.

If you spend adequate time to research these things, you can mitigate your risks. And then at least you will be aware of many of your risks. But the flight of capital down there is a repeating pattern which has occurred in other third world countries which have often left the second round of investors holding the bag while the first round got in early and out while the bloom was still on the rose (think Nasdaq winners like globe.com, globalcrossing, pets.com, etc.).

If you are buying in these places because you can't find better real estate investment opportunities in the U.S.(where you can infinitely more predictability), please, please, please let me know. I'd much rather see people keeping their money here and getting more solid returns AND being able to take advantage of the US tax laws which allow you to pay no taxes on your real estate investments.