In Mexico, the Prices Are Right, in Dollars or Pesos
|
|
THE distinction between Mexico and the United States can seem unclear along parts of the coastal highway in Baja California, given the proliferation of billboards in English that advertise housing developments with ”Models Open.” Paying for a home can be just as disorienting, with prices in dollars, not pesos. Thousands of American retirees and weekend vacationers, lured by the low cost of living and the spectacular views of sunburnt hillsides and rugged seashore, own homes here in Rosarito, a town of 13,000, located 20 miles south of San Diego. The local real estate agents aim at Americans for much of their business, hence the brochures that list home amenities like ”breakfast bar,” ”Jacuzzi tub,” and ‘’spacious pantries.” Sales to Americans are just starting to recover from Mexico’s economic and political turmoil of the last few years, which left many development projects under construction looking deserted. The country’s reputation for beautiful whitewashed villages and glorious beaches was supplanted in the minds of many potential buyers by worrisome reports of drug trafficking and corruption. But most veteran homeowners like Donald R. Thompson, a retired sales manager for a publishing company, only gloat about their decision to move to Mexico. As ocean swells crashed on the beach just a few dozen yards from his second-story balcony, Mr. Thompson told of his weekly games of golf on a nearby course, frequent games of tennis and the exorbitant cost of buying a similar home on the beach in California. ”It’s heaven here,” said Mr. Thompson, 75, who moved from San Diego to the Club Marena development in Rosarito four years ago. ”I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I have everything I need here.” ”People who haven’t been here talk about crime and all of that,” he added. ”But it’s probably safer here than in the United States, and the people are just wonderful.” Mr. Thompson’s three-bedroom condominium apartment, which he shares with his wife, Julie, is in an 11-story tower that overlooks a lawn, gym and swimming pool. The 2,800-square-foot apartment, which he bought for $315,000, features red tile floors, arched doorways and a dining area with a domed ceiling. It has conveniences like a dishwasher that are typical of a middle-class home in the United States. ”There’s no way I could afford a place like this in California, if one so close to the shore existed,” said Mr. Thompson, who, when he lived in San Diego, could afford only a small condominium three miles from the beach. Club Marena, which was opened in 1990 by a Mexican developer, Jamie Garcia, has expanded to four buildings from one. Prices of the 96 units range from $240,000 for a 1,400-square-foot apartment to $500,000 for one couple’s 4,800-square-foot custom-built penthouse. Vacancies are rare. EXPERTS say housing costs in Mexico are 30 to 40 percent cheaper than for a comparable home in the United States, and that property taxes are about half those in California. So it is no surprise that Americans make up nearly 90 percent of Club Marena’s occupants. Most owners use their homes only on weekends or vacations. But about 10 are full-time residents, many of whom drive 45 minutes once a week across the border to San Diego to shop at a mall, see a movie in English or attend a concert. With so many Americans in northern Baja California, some living in luxury with maids and cooks, others in trailers on dusty lots not far from slum neighborhoods, the area’s traditional rural atmosphere has become enmeshed with California’s beach culture. One restaurant operating from a roadside shack in Rosarito specializes in ‘’surfing tacos.” Mexican real estate laws have not been similarly Americanized, however, and buyers from north of the border may find the regulations unfamiliar. That fact, plus lax research, has led some Americans to be swindled out of their money by buying property from someone who did not own it. One difference is that real estate agents in Mexico are unlicensed and not required to have any professional training. Second, foreigners who buy a house within 31 miles of the coast and 62 miles of the border are forbidden from holding title to their property. Instead, the property title must be held by a Mexican bank and placed in a trust called a ”fideicomiso,” with the home buyer designated as the beneficiary. More : query.nytimes.com |