Whale-ista
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Mexico Weighs Opening Up Wider to Foreign Property Buyers (WSJ report)
MARKETS Updated July 9, 2013, 7:03 p.m. ET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732486790457859...
Mexico Weighs Opening Up Wider to Foreign Property Buyers
Possibility of Lifting Restrictions on Property Purchases Has Developers Excited
By LAURENCE ILIFF
CANCÚN, Mexico—Mexico is poised to lift century-old restrictions on foreign ownership of property along its coasts and borders, a move real-estate
developers believe could boost the nation's vacation-home market.
Mexico currently prohibits foreign ownership of land within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the coast or 100 kilometers of an international border. The
limits were written into Mexico's 1917 constitution because of worries about U.S. expansionary ambitions at the time. Mexico lost about half its
territory to the U.S. in the mid-1800s after the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American war. An exception was created in the 1970s to allow
foreigners to acquire property through a special trust in partnership with a bank, a time-consuming and complicated process that many potential buyers
find unappealing.
But now, Mexican real-estate brokers and developers are backing a constitutional amendment that would remove those prohibitions, though only for
residential properties. The amendment—sponsored both by the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the National Action Party—recently passed the lower
house and now is in the Senate.
Leftist legislators opposed to the move say the constitutional change amounts to a selling out of sensitive lands to foreign interests and have vowed
to protest the move. But the leaders of the two main parties say they have the votes to get it signed into law.
Miguel Angel Lemus, president of the development and marketing firm Lemmus Inver Mexico Real Estate, says the constitutional change now making its way
through Congress is more than a little overdue. "It's no time to be concerned about an invasion by the shorelines," Mr. Lemus said. "It's time to make
money by the shorelines. We're going to have a boom with that."
For developers such as Mr. Lemus, there is a lot at stake. The company and its partners are finishing two large beachfront resorts: the 225-unit Be
Tower condos in Puerto Cancún on the Caribbean Sea, which are priced from $180,000 to above $1 million; and the Peninsula resort condos in Nuevo
Vallarta on the Pacific, which will include 240 units priced from $225,000 to $3 million.
Currently, foreigners can buy residential property not along a coast or border in the same way Mexican nationals can, receiving deeds in their names.
But to buy in the restricted zone that includes popular beach resorts, foreigners must apply for special land trusts, or fideicomisos, that allow
foreigners to partner with banks to exercise property rights. The trusts last for 50 years and are renewable.
Some lawmakers note that, in areas where the fideicomisos aren't required, including the central Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, the economy is
thriving thanks to retiring Americans, Canadians and other foreigners.
But the restrictions on foreign purchases have been a drag on development in Mexican beach-resort areas because many buyers find the bank-trust
bureaucracy frustrating.
Michelle Holguin, a library media specialist in St. Helena, Calif., who bought beach property at Bucerías north of Puerto Vallarta, said going through
the bank-trust process was more complicated than expected.
"There were so many obstacles in getting title that we wondered if we'd ever have it," she wrote in an email. "Each time the government would change,
the rules would change. There were hints here and there that we should be 'greasing the wheel,' but we never did." Ms. Holguin said she welcomes the
opportunity to own her property outright.
Salvador Romero Domínguez, the commercial director for Fonatur, the government agency that builds much of the nation's resort infrastructure, from Los
Cabos in the west to Cancún in the east, says allowing outright ownership by foreigners is part of a greater push by the federal government that took
office Dec. 1 under President Enrique Peña Nieto to develop the tourism market.
A weak Mexican peso compared with the U.S. dollar and other currencies makes the country attractive to foreigners, whether to vacation or to buy a
second home, Mr. Romero said in an interview: "A crisis creates opportunity."
Mr. Romero said the recent global slowdown set back some of Fonatur's work under the previous administration, including at Litibú, a master-planned
community north of Puerto Vallarta in an area dubbed the Riviera Nayarit. Most of the investors in the project were from Spain, and they suspended
construction plans as financing dried up with the European economic crisis.
Now, he says, the Mexican export development bank Bancomext has stepped in to help a Spanish firm finance a stalled Litibú hotel, which is scheduled
to open later in the year and drive construction on other parts of the development.
Fonatur is planning another Riviera Nayarit development and is also more aggressively promoting older projects in Huatulco on the Pacific, and Loreto
in Baja California Sur, which haven't developed as quickly as its Los Cabos project, in part because of limited airline connections.
An improving image of Mexico and the recovery of the U.S. should bring back foreign buyers, especially at current prices, said Andrés Rossetto,
managing director of the Punta Mita resort in Nayarit. "When the U.S. economy improves, there is going to be a surge here, because people are getting
older and they are looking for a place where they can buy for $250,000 or $350,000," he said.
Canada also is a major market, developers say.
Michael Neyedli, 65 years old, and his wife, Victoria, 69, are looking for a place to retire from Vancouver, Canada, and have bought fractional
ownership in a development under construction in Nayarit. The couple, which also has looked at Panama, said they may eventually become permanent
residents of Mexico. "We've been thinking about retiring abroad and we love it here," said Victoria during a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta.
While lifting restrictions on foreign ownership is likely to help attract some American buyers, Mexico still has to deal with the perception the
country is unsafe.
Jay West, a broker with U.S.-based real-estate firm Windermere in Los Cabos, said the constitutional change along with Mexico's image as a place where
safety is improving should give a shot in the arm to his business. "Will it go up by 20%?" he said. "I hope so."
Two new studies—one conducted by the government and another by a private group—show the murder rate is falling in Mexico, although some areas along
the border and the Acapulco area continue to experience high levels of violence.
Write to Laurence Iliff at laurence.iliff@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared July 10, 2013, on page C1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Rooting for a Rule
Change in Mexico.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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rts551
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Another perspective (not mine, just one I found) basically says that Mexicans are losing free access to beaches in Loreto due to tourist
development.
http://vizcainohoy.com/index.php/noticias/del-estado/item/11...
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mrfatboy
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Wall Street Journel: Mexico Weighs Opening Up Wider to Foreign Property Buyers
from wall street journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732486790457859...
By LAURENCE ILIFF
CANCÚN, Mexico—Mexico is poised to lift century-old restrictions on foreign ownership of property along its coasts and borders, a move real-estate
developers believe could boost the nation's vacation-home market.
View Graphics
Laurence Iliff/The Wall Street Journal
See Related Video on #WorldStream
MIguel Lemus Says Foreign Real Estate Boom Coming
Mauricio Mendoza: Foreign Real Estate Purchases a Positive
Mexico currently prohibits foreign ownership of land within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the coast or 100 kilometers of an international border. The
limits were written into Mexico's 1917 constitution because of worries about U.S. expansionary ambitions at the time. Mexico lost about half its
territory to the U.S. in the mid-1800s after the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American war. An exception was created in the 1970s to allow
foreigners to acquire property through a special trust in partnership with a bank, a time-consuming and complicated process that many potential buyers
find unappealing.
But now, Mexican real-estate brokers and developers are backing a constitutional amendment that would remove those prohibitions, though only for
residential properties. The amendment—sponsored both by the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the National Action Party—recently passed the lower
house and now is in the Senate.
Leftist legislators opposed to the move say the constitutional change amounts to a selling out of sensitive lands to foreign interests and have vowed
to protest the move. But the leaders of the two main parties say they have the votes to get it signed into law.
Miguel Angel Lemus, president of the development and marketing firm Lemmus Inver Mexico Real Estate, says the constitutional change now making its way
through Congress is more than a little overdue. "It's no time to be concerned about an invasion by the shorelines," Mr. Lemus said. "It's time to make
money by the shorelines. We're going to have a boom with that."
For developers such as Mr. Lemus, there is a lot at stake. The company and its partners are finishing two large beachfront resorts: the 225-unit Be
Tower condos in Puerto Cancún on the Caribbean Sea, which are priced from $180,000 to above $1 million; and the Peninsula resort condos in Nuevo
Vallarta on the Pacific, which will include 240 units priced from $225,000 to $3 million.
Currently, foreigners can buy residential property not along a coast or border in the same way Mexican nationals can, receiving deeds in their names.
But to buy in the restricted zone that includes popular beach resorts, foreigners must apply for special land trusts, or fideicomisos, that allow
foreigners to partner with banks to exercise property rights. The trusts last for 50 years and are renewable.
Some lawmakers note that, in areas where the fideicomisos aren't required, including the central Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, the economy is
thriving thanks to retiring Americans, Canadians and other foreigners.
But the restrictions on foreign purchases have been a drag on development in Mexican beach-resort areas because many buyers find the bank-trust
bureaucracy frustrating.
Michelle Holguin, a library media specialist in St. Helena, Calif., who bought beach property at Bucerías north of Puerto Vallarta, said going through
the bank-trust process was more complicated than expected.
"There were so many obstacles in getting title that we wondered if we'd ever have it," she wrote in an email. "Each time the government would change,
the rules would change. There were hints here and there that we should be 'greasing the wheel,' but we never did." Ms. Holguin said she welcomes the
opportunity to own her property outright.
Salvador Romero Domínguez, the commercial director for Fonatur, the government agency that builds much of the nation's resort infrastructure, from Los
Cabos in the west to Cancún in the east, says allowing outright ownership by foreigners is part of a greater push by the federal government that took
office Dec. 1 under President Enrique Peña Nieto to develop the tourism market.
A weak Mexican peso compared with the U.S. dollar and other currencies makes the country attractive to foreigners, whether to vacation or to buy a
second home, Mr. Romero said in an interview: "A crisis creates opportunity."
Mr. Romero said the recent global slowdown set back some of Fonatur's work under the previous administration, including at Litibú, a master-planned
community north of Puerto Vallarta in an area dubbed the Riviera Nayarit. Most of the investors in the project were from Spain, and they suspended
construction plans as financing dried up with the European economic crisis.
Now, he says, the Mexican export development bank Bancomext has stepped in to help a Spanish firm finance a stalled Litibú hotel, which is scheduled
to open later in the year and drive construction on other parts of the development.
Fonatur is planning another Riviera Nayarit development and is also more aggressively promoting older projects in Huatulco on the Pacific, and Loreto
in Baja California Sur, which haven't developed as quickly as its Los Cabos project, in part because of limited airline connections.
An improving image of Mexico and the recovery of the U.S. should bring back foreign buyers, especially at current prices, said Andrés Rossetto,
managing director of the Punta Mita resort in Nayarit. "When the U.S. economy improves, there is going to be a surge here, because people are getting
older and they are looking for a place where they can buy for $250,000 or $350,000," he said.
Canada also is a major market, developers say.
Enlarge Image
Laurence Iliff/The Wall Street Journal
Victoria and Michael Neyedli, of Canada, relax in Mexico, where they have bought into a new development.
Michael Neyedli, 65 years old, and his wife, Victoria, 69, are looking for a place to retire from Vancouver, Canada, and have bought fractional
ownership in a development under construction in Nayarit. The couple, which also has looked at Panama, said they may eventually become permanent
residents of Mexico. "We've been thinking about retiring abroad and we love it here," said Victoria during a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta.
While lifting restrictions on foreign ownership is likely to help attract some American buyers, Mexico still has to deal with the perception the
country is unsafe.
Jay West, a broker with U.S.-based real-estate firm Windermere in Los Cabos, said the constitutional change along with Mexico's image as a place where
safety is improving should give a shot in the arm to his business. "Will it go up by 20%?" he said. "I hope so."
Two new studies—one conducted by the government and another by a private group—show the murder rate is falling in Mexico, although some areas along
the border and the Acapulco area continue to experience high levels of violence.
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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Double-edged sword...not really looking forward to more people along the coast in Baja.
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El Jefe
Super Nomad
Posts: 1027
Registered: 10-27-2003
Location: South East Cape
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Might bring more home investors, but I think the state of the economy is a much bigger factor. I will just be happy to not have to pay HSBC 650
dollars per year for absolutely nothing. What a cash cow for the mostly foreign owned banks!
No b-tchin\' in the Baja.
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bledito
Nomad
Posts: 420
Registered: 7-6-2013
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will all the fido be closed and land, property titles just be handed to all the foriegners. Me thinks there will be some charges for switching out of
your fido then, last grab at the cash for the banks.
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schwlind
Nomad
Posts: 362
Registered: 8-30-2008
Location: Daytona Beach, FL/San Antonio Del Mar (Colonet)
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Mexitron...
I'm with you on this.... Not looking forward to the influx of peoples spoiling the beautiful beaches of Baja. If we wanted Venice Beach... I guess
that is where we would be...
Linda
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 8-5-2011
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The decision by the Senate is scheduled for October.
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13196
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Interesting article and perhaps not too far off the truth....
When we went to Cancun, we parked and walked into a huge hotel, with the intention of seeing the beach. We were stopped and told we could not walk
thru the hotel. I looked at the guy and said, i am walking to see the beach! He said he had to follow us, which he did, but I was surprised and not a
little disappointed.
There are other accesses to the beach for the public, but since this was our first time there, i was so looking forward to seeing the white sand blue
green waters.
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6346
Registered: 4-26-2008
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Try to find a beach access between Pescadero an just north of Todos Santos, Blanca.
We found three by taking some unmarked dirt roads last February. The other 17, or so roads, led to someone's house (all had 10' block walls...not my
way of wanting to live in Baja)
BTW
Sure was an elating feeling to actually stay in OUR OWN HOUSE in Bahia Asunción. The people are just the greatest!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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monoloco
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Posts: 6667
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Location: Pescadero BCS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Udo
Try to find a beach access between Pescadero an just north of Todos Santos, Blanca.
We found three by taking some unmarked dirt roads last February. The other 17, or so roads, led to someone's house (all had 10' block walls...not my
way of wanting to live in Baja)
BTW
Sure was an elating feeling to actually stay in OUR OWN HOUSE in Bahia Asunción. The people are just the greatest! |
Actually, there is access to many nice beaches between Todos Santos and Pescadero, there just aren't any "beach access" signs. You
have to know where to go, there are also some really nice spots that have no road access. I'd be happy to show you the next time you're in the
neighborhood.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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| Quote: | Originally posted by monoloco
| Quote: | Originally posted by Udo
Try to find a beach access between Pescadero an just north of Todos Santos, Blanca.
We found three by taking some unmarked dirt roads last February. The other 17, or so roads, led to someone's house (all had 10' block walls...not my
way of wanting to live in Baja)
BTW
Sure was an elating feeling to actually stay in OUR OWN HOUSE in Bahia Asunción. The people are just the greatest! |
Actually, there is access to many nice beaches between Todos Santos and Pescadero, there just aren't any "beach access" signs. You
have to know where to go, there are also some really nice spots that have no road access. I'd be happy to show you the next time you're in the
neighborhood. |
So true....
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Islandbuilder
Senior Nomad
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How does changing the way ex-pats hold title impact beach accesses?
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CortezBlue
Super Nomad
Posts: 2213
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Location: Fenix/San Phelipe
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Good reading
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