Good news for Mexico?

From the Wall Street Journal:

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s economy, battered by the financial crisis, expanded for the first time in a year during the third quarter, growing 2.93% from the second quarter, official data showed Friday. The expansion followed three consecutive quarters of contraction. In Mexico, the slump put more than a million people out of work at a time when drug-related violence has soared amid a crackdown on drug gangs.

“With this result, the Mexican economy has left behind the worst recession in the last seven decades,” Alfredo Coutiño, director for Latin America at Moody’s Economy.com, wrote to clients. Mexico’s 2.93% expansion translates into an annualized growth rate of roughly 12%. Compared with the third quarter of last year, Mexico’s economic output was down 6.2%, according to the National Statistics Institute. That shows the effects of the slowdown in the U.S. economy, where Mexico sends more than 90% of its exports.

Mexico also has been hurt by lower oil prices and oil production, fewer remittances from workers abroad and a decline in tourism. The outbreak of swine flu in March hurt restaurants and other businesses. The U.S. cash-for-clunkers program fueled demand for cars and helped Mexico’s export-oriented auto industry in the third quarter, when several plants lifted technical work stoppages.

Talk over Thanksgiving dinner with real estate friends, it continues to be very positive – they are busy! And the outlook of existing, returning PV homeowners, with regards to Vallarta/Nayarit, is positive as well. It should be, with the fantastic weather they are all returning to…

Google Maps Real Estate Update

Google has launched another upgrade to their Google Maps that gets closer to looking like a national or international real estate search engine, as noted at SearchEngineLand. This follows with Google’s delivery of “Place” pages; information pages on businesses, landmarks, or, individual properties. If individual properties is the case, is Google looking at providing information on every real estate property, every home or condo in the countries it services? Hmmm… sounds a lot like what NAR just announced at their conference with the Realtor Property Resource (further explained at AgentGenius).

Google provides in the real estate listing place pages property information, photos, map placement, Street View imagery and functionality, nearby public transit details, and even AdWords ads. They are moving fast on this, with a major upgrade to what they have to offer for information on real estate in July and again earlier this month. A sample page from a home in Seattle shows the pictures and information Google is providing, so far.

Not sure what this means for sites like Trulia, Zillow, or eventually mlsvallarta.com, although I’m sure its going to take some time to make its way down into Mexico. Its all quite interesting, watching this unfold. The way real estate information is marketed and distributed is going through a major transformation.

New Vallarta Condo Price Record set

A Realtor informed me recently that a condominium on the South Shore of the bay sold for $3 million this month. That’s definitely a record high price for a condominium in Puerto Vallarta, by a long shot. Good to hear there’s still that type of money floating around town looking at real estate…

UPDATE: Just informed that the actual sales price was actually $2.5 million. Still a big number for the Vallarta market…

FM-2, FM-3 or FM-T?

If you are not familiar with any of the acronyms above, they stand for different forms of immigration status for foreigners in Mexico. When you enter as a tourist, you are given a three-month visa called an “FM-T” with the “T” standing for Turista or Tourist. I believe it is still possible to get an additional three-month extension for this. If you are going to stay longer than this, if you plan to work, to study, and a long list of other reason you may be here, you would apply for FM-3 status. And after five years of FM-3 you can apply for FM-2 status. After that its “Landed Immigrant” status, which not too many make it to.

I’m not here to write about each of these and what they entail, but more about what is really necessary if you are a homeowner in Mexico. If you come down here for less than three months at at time, and don’t spend the majority or your time here, FM-T status is all you need. This way you avoid all the long line-ups at immigration and don’t have to have your little booklet stamped every time you leave or come back into the country. Even if you stay longer than three months, you can always get a three-month extension.

So why do American or Canadian Vallarta homeowners apply for FM-3 or FM-2?

Well, at one time it was to try and not have to pay capital gains on their Vallarta home. But those days are over. Unless you are really living in Vallarta for the majority of the year, and you can back it up with telephone and utility receipts that it is your principal residence, you are not eligible for capital gain exemption. You will be paying the taxes, just like you would be back in Canada or the USA.

So if you don’t live here more than six months of the year, why hassle with anything other than FM-T? Keep it simple – those line-ups at immigration aren’t worth it!

Conversations with Local Vallarta Realtors

Met with a few local Puerto Vallarta Realtors yesterday for lunch and  presented some marketing strategies we are currently undertaking. Afterwards there was time to talk about the Vallarta real estate market and how they see things going. The opening remark to get the discussion going was by one Realtor who said, “Is it me or has there just been a significant up-tick in activity recently?” And that got them going. All agreed that there has been more activity and gave stories to back it up. One had recently just taken a listing and had it sell the same day, for full price! That hasn’t happened in awhile. The price ranges still tend to be the mid to lower end of the market, up to $300,000, but they all agreed that there was more interest and activity in the $400,000 to $650,000 range as well. The million-plus market is still weak, the “discretionary”  market; they haven’t seen a strong return here yet. Although they did talk of a few deals/offers currently in the works in this price range, it wasn’t much.

I was having suspicions that the market had been improving as it became nearly impossible to schedule the meeting – they were all just too busy. Two that were supposed to attend just couldn’t make it. All during lunch the blackberrys and iPhones were constantly ringing. It sure made for an upbeat mood for the meeting!

Punta Sayulita, Sayulita’s newest (and first) big development

Took advantage yesterday of a beautiful day to visit Punta Sayulita, a new land and home development that’s situated just south of Sayulita. And as the seas were calm, decided to go by jetski from Punta Mita. It was a great trip as this an amazing part of the Riviera Nayarit coastline. There are some beautiful homes built on the cliffs here and tucked into a very green jungle landscape.

When we arrived we anchored the jetskis and swam in to the beachclub/presentation room for Punta Sayulita, which is located right on the beach next to Don Pedro’s in Sayulita. They have beach chairs set up, a great lounge area under a palapa roof with a bar, and plenty of information about the new development. They have kayaks, surfboards and paddleboards, so if you want to spend a day at the beach and also become familiar with a great new real estate development, keep this in mind.

Punta Sayulita is being developed by Brett Ellsworth and Kevin Roberts of Contact Development Company (CDC). They have been active in Mexico for many years, primarily as real estate consultants. But a few years ago they decided to get into the development game and Punta Sayulita is their first project.

Punta Sayulita consists of a point, lush with jungle, that juts out into the Pacific just south of Sayulita, offering both northeasterly views up the coast  and back to Sayulita, plus all the way around until you are facing southerly towards Punta Mita. The elevation is steep, so there are great views available. The beachclub village is unique, a central gathering spot for owners with a gym, restaurant, pool and bar and sports facilities. There are two types of homes they will be building, Casitas and Casas, offering very nice floor plans and a style that will fit in well to the jungle landscape. There are also a few choice lots available on the very point. They start the infrastructure in January, but for now there are trails to follow to see the lots that have been roped in so you can see their size and views (but take good walking shoes!).

They have now begun their sales launch and you can find more information by visiting their beachclub in Sayulita or on their website, www.puntasayulita.com. Sayulita’s always fun to visit, this just gives you one more reason!

Before heading back we had lunch at Don Pedro’s – as good as ever! A big of a chop heading back, but the wind was with us, so it was an enjoyable trip.