Baja California Sur Real Estate and What is Real?

In the state of Baja California Sur  there are a lot of new developments as well as older ones that are finally being finished. Once again the question is what is really selling and what areas are finally going to see the development that has been promised to happen for years.

Areas like Loreto that had begun their development with FONATUR (Mexican department of Tourism and Investment) many years ago built a golf course and airport but not much had changed for years.  Now Loreto has finally begun to really take off with developments like the Loreto Bay Company leading the way.

Even further south in the capital city of La Paz it has just been announced that their will be a Gary Player designed golf course that they plan on breaking ground in the spring of 2007. It will be apart of the new CostaBaja Resort and Marina that opened just a couple of years ago. I have myself lived for over 12 years in La Paz and have said as many, once we have a golf course many more people will want to retire here. La Paz was mentioned in Money magazine a few years ago as one of the 10 best places to retire in the world and ever since

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South of this area you come to the San Jose del Cabo area that is also undergoing major developments like the Puerto Los Cabos and Alegranza condominiums just to name a couple. There are many more properties further east of San Jose which has been famous with surfers for many years. Those surfers now are older and have money and are buying up what use to be a fairly remote part of Baja Sur to retire or just have as a second home.

Heading west of San Jose del Cabo you will enter the “corridor” as it is called. This are is really under an incredible amount of development. Not only with older luxury developments like Cerro Colorado, the Palmilla and Cabo del Sol but many new and increasingly larger ones like the Chileano Bay Beach club which like Puerto Los Cabos will encompass a very large area with several miles of coastline.

people have been coming to see what they can purchase. The biggest problem has been the lack of inventory for the foreigners who seem to prefer gated communities and amenities like golf which have not been available in La Paz in the past.

The Gran Baja Hotel of La Paz as well which laid derelict for many years has now been purchased, is being remodeled and soon will be selling condos in a very affordable price range right on the beach in La Paz. This development is being offered by the Rivera’s, the same family that created the famous luxury home development; the Pedregal of Cabo San Lucas as well as there creating another Pedregal of La Paz.

South of La Paz on the Pacific side is the small town of Todos Santos that more and more people are finding to their liking instead of the major cities. In speaking with Notario (article on Notarios), Monica Avila, one that I personally have used many times they have seen such an increase in business that they are continually expanding their offices. Because of so many transactions that must be properly recorded with the government she explained “ It is taking more and more time to process the property transactions and have them properly registered due the fact the government infrastructure is not ready for this” .

Well they had better get ready because, Rodolfo Elizondo Torres, the Tourism Secretary of Mexico along with the governor of Baja California Sur, Narciso Agundez Montano, announced on October 23^rd, that the town Todos Santos is being designated as a “Pueblo Magico” (Magic Town). This is a designation given to 23 other towns in Mexico since 2001 and will represent the cooperation and major investment by the state and federal governments of Mexico.

A few kilometers south of Todos Santos you will fid one of my favorite areas of Baja Sur, Pescadero (see Pescadero Development). In Speaking with Bill Herrera owner of Paraiso California the only real estate company located in Pescadero has just recently begun to come out of the summer slow down that many areas seem to experience.

Due east of Todos Santos is the Los Barilles, Buena Vista, La Ribera and in general the East Cape area which for the last 10 years has been steadily growing. It seems there has been more of an explosion in the last few years as more developments are being created and more importantly sold. In conversation with the developers of Light House Point Estates of La Ribera, they have not only sold out but are now taking reservations for their new development which will have a marina with docks at the back door of many of the homes and villas that are to be built in this development.

In speaking with Evelyn Pepper owner and broker of ReMax Los Cabos located in the corridor, she says “While the market is just now ramping up from our typical summer low we are receiving many inquiries and most of our agents have clients arriving in November and December. While I cannot tell you for sure how the market will be this year I’m very optimistic. The buyers contacting us are “Baby Boomers” that already have their funds and are looking to retire here and are not that concerned with economy from where they are coming from”

I myself have had clients from England, Brazil, Canada, of course Americans and even inquiries from places like France, Ireland and South Africa. The Los Cabos area is now on the global market and seems to be popular with people from every walk of life. In the last few months we have had new car dealerships like Ford, BMW, Honda, Hummer, Saab and Cadillac all close to or already open for business.

In Cabo San Lucas proper there are more and more businesses starting up as well as more remodeling of the older stores, hotels and condos. The marina of Cabo San Lucas has rumored to have been purchased by Brazilians that plan on developing even more condos because of the lack of inventory here in the city.

According to several different publications over 100 people a day are moving into the Los Cabos area. The government announced a couple of years ago that 1 million people would be living here in 5 years. It is obvious to us that live here that that figure will be reached much sooner than that.

While many people, especially the old-timers are not happy with all this progress its obvious that people from all over the world want to be in or near an area that has great sport fishing, golf, great restaurants and nightlife. For those that were here before everyone they are moving out to the many other much more rural areas of Baja that is still the majority of Baja California. You really can find very remote areas to live that aren’t that far from these major city areas.

So in closing if you are looking not only for a place to live but invest my feeling is that the Los Cabos area is yet to grow for many more years. Other areas of Baja Sur and Norte are still doing well and definitely growing but may not have the insulation from the American economy as much as the Los Cabos area.

If you are interested in knowing more about what is real in real estate in just about any part of Baja California please contact me via this contact form link below. I work with many different brokers, agents, finance companies, notarios and investors to help people in making better and more knowledgeable choices as to where to invest, retire or live in Baja California.

Article written by James Glover who has worked, invested, traveled and lived in many parts of Baja California for almost 20 years.

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