BajaNomad

Punta Banda - a cautionary tale?

pauldavidmena - 10-12-2020 at 04:29 PM

I just read this article in the LA Times that recalls the saying "never invest more than you are willing to lose."

thebajarunner - 10-12-2020 at 04:49 PM

Old news.... your article is dated 1999

I drove through Punta Banda last year
It still looks partially boarded up and a real mess...

Ejido dealings are treacherous, for sure
I owned a lot in La Mision which turned out to be ejido
I gave it to a local Mexican friend and was happy to not have any further funds invested.

pauldavidmena - 10-12-2020 at 04:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by thebajarunner  
Old news.... your article is dated 1999

I drove through Punta Banda last year
It still looks partially boarded up and a real mess...

Ejido dealings are treacherous, for sure
I owned a lot in La Mision which turned out to be ejido
I gave it to a local Mexican friend and was happy to not have any further funds invested.


Doh! Yes, this article pre-dates my first visit to Baja, so for that I apologize. It seems that the potential still exists for similar mishaps, so let's just say that I plan to measure twice - or more - before cutting once.

BajaBlanca - 10-12-2020 at 05:22 PM

One hears so many horror stories of ejido land problems.

Also, leased land as well, can become a nightmare.

Safest is titled house or simply take the chance by not investing more than you can walk away from!

RocketJSquirrel - 10-12-2020 at 05:26 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaBlanca  

Safest is titled house or simply take the chance by not investing more than you can walk away from!


Agree 100%.

AKgringo - 10-12-2020 at 05:46 PM

For about six years now, I have known a woman who has a home in San Jose del Cabo. While she was gone one season, someone else moved in, and showed her paperwork stating it was theirs.

This woman is competent enough in both English, and Spanish that she teaches both languages, and translates legal documents from one to the other, so she went to court!

The short version on this story is that she prevailed over a course of years, and legally she has rights to the property. Unfortunately, as of this February, she had not been able to evict the tenants from her house!


[Edited on 10-13-2020 by AKgringo]

lizard lips - 10-15-2020 at 06:53 AM

I saw this post a few days ago and wasn't going to post something but I have decided to inform all on what I experienced at the Baja Beach and Tennis Club in Punta Banda. I was working in Santa Ana as a PI for my fathers firm and had just finished investigating the Randy Kraft serial murder case. I was really stressed so I decided to take 6 months off and stayed at our families water front home in PB. I would run all the way down the beach to the tennis club every morning and once there have a cup of coffee then run back. Every morning there were two girls that worked there that would walk down the stairs and both were beautiful. One of them has been my wife for 30 years now! I was talking to a sales person there one morning and he said why don't you get a job here for a few months so I talked to the director and was hired and became the "Residential Director" which was to assist the people who just bought lots at the project to build homes. I knew a lot about construction and it was a great job and met all of the home owners at the project. Eventually there were approximately over 90 homes built. The entire time I worked for Carlos Teran I heard rumors about problems with the land ownership but you never know who to believe and assumed they were just rumors. Eventually I left the project and was offered the sales manager at the Baja Country Club and was there for 4 years. After that I began working for US insurance companies and it was great working all over the world. Then I heard about the evictions of all of the homes at the Baja Beach and it was terrible. I assisted with some people I helped build their homes and invested all of their retirement money to do so and this was so hard. Some of these homeowners moved back to the US and rented apartments and trailers. When I worked at the Baja Beach and Tennis Club the project seemed like a dream for all of the residents. The hotel was great and the restaurants served excellent food and there was entertainment from celebrities that were famous. What a sham. I was sick to my stomach when I found out about this tragedy and even now get emotional about what occurred. I was there when the military kick everyone out. As mentioned in the article some lost millions of dollars! I was at the project about a month ago and drove through. It looks like a deserted ghost town with weeds everywhere, houses in disrepair, abandoned cars and trash everywhere. What a shame. In Mexico just remember if it's to good to be true then it is!

thebajarunner - 10-15-2020 at 10:04 AM

I believe Nomad UDO lives at PB
We had some dialog on it a couple years ago.

I know that years ago it was such a nice place
and last year when we drove through Teresa couldn't stop pounding on my arm to get out and back to Guadalupe.

Somehow I had thought that the charm of the place might get her interested in finding a nice beach house.....
Not there!!! Was her very firm response.

I feel really bad for all who invested, lost or even those still there that no longer have such a nice place to enjoy, Sad....

Udo - 10-15-2020 at 02:33 PM

This is kinda like Facebook...someone told me they saw my name on Nomads, so I looked.

Yes, I have been living in Punta Banda and having Dennis (now deceased) as my neighbor. He was the reason I moved to the neighborhood.

The Punta Banda area is quite a community! I think we have about 1,500 gringos living all over the area. If you are not too familiar with the area, we live about 2 miles from the world-famous blow-hole.

2020 notwithstanding, we have a very active community with people going to lunch clubs, wine clubs, supper clubs, yacht clubs. There is something going on in Ensenada all the time on weekends (again, 2020 notwithstanding), Lots of excellent restaurants, and the Valle has about 130 wineries in service to the public (about 18 are now open because of Covid 19. The US border is about 2 hours away. San Quintin is also about 2 hours away.

As far as a serene Baja-lifestyle, one could not find a better place. I Did find a better place in Bahia Asunción, but a major medical condition dictated otherwise and I could not live 16 hours away from the USA doctors. Ensenada doctors are well-renowned, and I have visited several of them just to check what their diagnoses' are compared to the USA, and they were right on.

Am I a proponent to living in the area? Perhaps.

I like tequila and wine.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. (BTW, I am the president of a wine association and own a large piece of a tequila manufacturing label.)
Quote: Originally posted by thebajarunner  
I believe Nomad UDO lives at PB
We had some dialog on it a couple of years ago.

I know that years ago it was such a nice place
and last year when we drove through Teresa couldn't stop pounding on my arm to get out and back to Guadalupe.

Somehow I had thought that the charm of the place might get her interested in finding a nice beach house.....
Not there!!! Was her very firm response.

I feel really bad for all who invested, lost or even those still there that no longer have such a nice place to enjoy, Sad....

advrider - 10-15-2020 at 07:19 PM

UDO, good info and nice offer to answer questions. I finally was able to see your other place early this year but it had just sold! I missed a good one there, what an amazing location and house.