SFandH
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Is the tourist/real estate business coming back?
On a recent visit to Rosarito I noticed work has restarted on a couple of the high rises between TJ and Rosarito. I'm wondering what the nomads
residents of the area think. Is the tourist/real estate business picking up?
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BFS
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In our small real estate office here in TS as of July 1, we have closed on 1 more transaction than all of 2011 combined and about 12 more than all of
2010.
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BajaGeoff
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Mood: Heading To Baja!!!
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It is definitely picking up...we have been super busy all year.
I am hearing the same thing from friends in the real estate and vacation rental business....
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mes1952
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I have lived in Rosarito near downtown and I would say 80% of tourism now is Mexicans...you rarely see American tourists walking on the beaches around
the Rosarito Beach Hotel area. Most of the rentals in the complex where I live are Mexicans from Mexicali. Those unoccupied highrises are still not
in demand otherwise they would have been completed much sooner than simply working on them periodically as it is now.
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woody with a view
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mes1952
Those unoccupied highrises are still not in demand otherwise they would have been completed much sooner than simply working on them periodically as
it is now. |
and meanwhile they just rust away. do they sandblast the beams, girders and columns when they decide to continue to build?
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oxxo
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| Quote: | Originally posted by woody with a view
and meanwhile they just rust away. do they sandblast the beams, girders and columns when they decide to continue to build? |
Good question! When those same beams, girders, and columns are partially completed and some of that steel is encased in concrete, the rust may
migrate down inside the concrete and weaken the steel infrastructure over several years. I'm not sure I would want to buy into one of those highrise
buildings with a potential structural defect and lack of structural integrity.
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Barry A.
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When building freeway bridges in San Diego way back when, we ALWAYS sandblasted the reinforcing steel before the next "pour" (that was my
job)----------it is SOP. I shutter to think that they may not do that in the highrises.
Barry
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Cisco
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| Quote: | Originally posted by oxxo
| Quote: | Originally posted by woody with a view
and meanwhile they just rust away. do they sandblast the beams, girders and columns when they decide to continue to build? |
Good question! When those same beams, girders, and columns are partially completed and some of that steel is encased in concrete, the rust may
migrate down inside the concrete and weaken the steel infrastructure over several years. I'm not sure I would want to buy into one of those highrise
buildings with a potential structural defect and lack of structural integrity. |
Since entropy always wins anyway, why fight it?
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Alm
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mes1952
I have lived in Rosarito near downtown and I would say 80% of tourism now is Mexicans...you rarely see American tourists walking on the beaches around
the Rosarito Beach Hotel area. Most of the rentals in the complex where I live are Mexicans from Mexicali. |
Doesn't surprise me. One reason is that US economy is down. There are buyers packed with money, but those are people that accumulated their wealth
long time ago and are now retiring. They are not "tourists", i.e. transient vacationers. Another reason - related to the first one - is that Mexican
manufacturing sector has grown a lot since NAFTA, especially along the border. This country is densely populated, and even if the number of people
that can afford a seaside vacation is lower per capita than in the US, but due to huge population there is enough people that can. I see a lot of
similarities to China - very low average standards, but ridiculously huge population, and therefore enough billionaires to drive luxury properties up
in other countries.
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Udo
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Speaks like an optimistic RE salesperson.
| Quote: | Originally posted by Alm
| Quote: | Originally posted by mes1952
I have lived in Rosarito near downtown and I would say 80% of tourism now is Mexicans...you rarely see American tourists walking on the beaches around
the Rosarito Beach Hotel area. Most of the rentals in the complex where I live are Mexicans from Mexicali. |
Doesn't surprise me. One reason is that US economy is down. There are buyers packed with money, but those are people that accumulated their wealth
long time ago and are now retiring. They are not "tourists", i.e. transient vacationers. Another reason - related to the first one - is that Mexican
manufacturing sector has grown a lot since NAFTA, especially along the border. This country is densely populated, and even if the number of people
that can afford a seaside vacation is lower per capita than in the US, but due to huge population there is enough people that can. I see a lot of
similarities to China - very low average standards, but ridiculously huge population, and therefore enough billionaires to drive luxury properties up
in other countries. |
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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captkw
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Barry
| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
When building freeway bridges in San Diego way back when, we ALWAYS sandblasted the reinforcing steel before the next "pour" (that was my
job)----------it is SOP. I shutter to think that they may not do that in the highrises.*** Hola,does the name "ricktor" or maybe "Rictor" ring a
bell in the highways in S.D. to you ???? a older custermer of mine a few years back stated his father built a lot of the early S.D. highways
???...K & T 
Barry |
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Alm
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Well, if this is an "optimistic" then I don't know what a pessimist is. IMO, the only "selling" that has been going on there - without my direct
involvement - was selling US and other Western economies out to the third world, stimulating the population growth in already over-populated countries
and increasing pressure on natural resources. Eventually we'll all have to pay for this, and pay dearly.
| Quote: | Originally posted by Udo
Speaks like an optimistic RE salesperson.
| Quote: | Originally posted by Alm
... |
[Edited on 7-14-2012 by Alm] |
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DavidE
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Let's hope it continues while it can. Mexican "booms" are so transient; a hotel site can be swarming with scores of workers one day, concrete mixers
lined up to dump, cranes swinging back and forth, and the next day, dust and a keening wind.
Gotta look a little deeper than the DJIA, or construction activities for clues I'm afraid. It's like judging the validity of investing by appraising
the clothes of the guy trying to make you buy his stock. You have to look at the "roots". There you will find reality...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18823668
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Alm
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David - yes, Mexican "booms" are transient.
Chinese "slowdown" in the linked article is not just transient - it's a short lasting anomaly, if you ask me. China is lobbying for building new coal
terminals in Pacific Northwest right now, because in the last 2 years they've turned from coal net exporter to net importer. Not because they are
mining less coal now, but because they consume more. When population is huge, the consumption by middle class - when such class appears - quickly
becomes huge too. No, Mexico isn't at par here, I agree.
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805gregg
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Doubtful, the only money is drug cartels, americans are out.
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Alm
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Cartels or not, somebody is buying those casas and casitas. More than last year, if the above posts are true. Demand from the US has dropped, but car
and furniture factories along the border are still running.
Besides, American baby-boomers have to go somewhere, the wave is still rising, should peak in the next few years. Everyday I hear that retirees have
lost their savings in the last crisis, yeah, sure... Somebody in his 60s is - usually - mortgage free and has a nice equity in his home NOB, purchased
decades ago, plus savings. Some choose to cash in and downsize to trailer or Baja shack, and enjoy life, why not...
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mes1952
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Most people I know who are around age 60 are still working rather than being in the "retired at age 60 stage" which is a pipe dream for many of us.
People are who are still employed have a totally different perspective of what's going on in the U.S. economy vs. those who are retired or not working
and living in Baja.
And if you believe the U.S. statistics that at least 20% of mortgages nationwide are underwater, there's not much in the way of equity esp. for those
who are supporting adult kids who are working minimum wage jobs and can't survive on their own.
And most Americans don't have the inflated pensions to buy all those currentlyt unoccupied/abandoned luxury places that dot the Baja coastline; more
likely they'll be occupied by the more affluent Mexicans. The current stream of Americans in Tijuana and Rosarito are renters...not homeowners as
they either lost their jobs and spent most of their retirement funds just surviving day to day.
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