pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
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Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Punta Banda - a cautionary tale?
I just read this article in the LA Times that recalls the saying "never invest more than you are willing to lose."
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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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.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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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.
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
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Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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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!
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RocketJSquirrel
Nomad
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Agree 100%.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6027
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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]
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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lizard lips
Super Nomad
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Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: EARTH
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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!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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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....
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6346
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
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Mood: TEQUILA!
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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 AsunciĆ³n, 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....
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Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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advrider
Super Nomad
Posts: 1863
Registered: 10-2-2015
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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.
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