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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 12:06 AM
Hi all,
Has anyone been Tulum?
It looks gorgeous, and is growing a lot.
Seems like it could be a good investment. You can get a nice little condo for about $200k.
Cost of living is good, of course.
I live in Chicago and somewhere to go for a few months a year has a lot of appeal. It's easy to get there also via Cancun direct from O'Hare.
I'd look to rent it out on AirBnB.
Would love to get people's thoughts/experiences.
Cheers.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 09:40 AM
I will rent it when you are not around.....
Bruising cervix since 96
#TeamBeard
"I just want to live out my days drinking virgin margaritas and banging virgin señoritas" - Uncle Cr33pin
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 01:49 PM
I looked into this a lot. I was debating between Miami, Playa del Carmen, Tulum or Medellin for a long time. Ultimately ended up going with Colombia but Mexico is still interesting. Tulum is coming up very quickly. The problem with Mexico that I found, was that they price everything in USD so you don’t get any currency advantages like you do in Colombia. The dollar had risen like 30% against the peso but the prices were still like $150-200k in Mexico. Kinda sucked. The peso rose the same or more in Colombia and I ended up getting places at what felt like even better deals, due to this. Also they were cheaper than that $200k price to begin with.
I think Tulum and Playa are a little too seasonal as well, where it is almost too hot to be there for maybe 8 months out of the year, but that’s just me.
Curious to hear more about this process and how it goes if you do decide to buy there.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 04:58 PM
Hey JB, I'm also in Chicago, origionally from the south side Beverly area, however more recently was living in Ukranian Village and Pilsen, moved out to the burbs about a year ago but still in the area.
I've done a lot of traveling to Playa and day trips to Tulum. I think Playa has more going on, Tulum has more upside in terms of potential appreciation of the property as it's much less developed. I don't think it will ever turn into a play but I think that's the allure to it. One thing to mention Tulum is very much so into eco stuff so many resorts don't have power, even places that do have power I hear have lots of outages, basically just more rustic.
One place I looked at a couple years back was Playa Palms, nice place, well managed right in the club zone. Only downside thats were all the fishing boats dock so beach immediately in front of you is all full of seaweed and boats but walk 50 yards down the beach and its fine.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 08:49 PM
Thanks for the replies all.
I keep coming across discouraging factors from feedback on forums, etc. It seems it’s best to just rent a place on BnB and pay the premium over owning a place and the potential headaches that can come with it.
If only Thailand was closer!
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 09:50 PM
If I were to buy a home down that ways, I'd choose one in Merida, like the old gringo retirees do. It's much safer, there's more to see and do, and you're not that far from Cancun for weekend trips.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 09:56 PM
^I liked Merida but what is there to do and see there that’s not available in places like Cancun or Playa?
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 09:58 PM
Don't discount the idea of getting two places, you could always get a cheaper place and a more expensive place in Mexico. If you had two places in Mexico you could be living in one and renting the other one out at the same time. When you weren't there and assuming they were both rented you might be able to net more money as well, depending on the properties of course.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-08-2018, 09:59 PM
Look into Puerto Vallarta as well
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-09-2018, 11:27 AM
Its also Hurricane territory.
Friends of mine have owned property in PDC/Playacar,Cozumel and further down the cost around Xcalak. All have sold off over the years (for various reasons) except for a friend still has a house in Cozumel which was damaged (and fixed) in the last hurricane, several years ago. Mahuahal was severely damaged and rebuilt. It something to see a concrete pier that cruise ships used to park at, gone after a hurricane.
You can rent for a couple of months and have no headaches. Been in and out of the 'Tulum corridor' since the late 80's. Merida is worth a visit.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-09-2018, 05:06 PM
200k for a "little condo" sounds mighty expensive to me. You can probably find cheaper in places like Spain or Portugal.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-09-2018, 06:25 PM
Based on the relative instability of the region, renting longer term apt would make more sense. Also when you get bored you can uproot and go elsewhere. Think minimalism. Just my $.02.
Condos were hella cheap in Miami not too long ago but the recent pop in prices has discouraged me. Wish I pulled the trigger 8 years ago. Oh well.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-09-2018, 08:16 PM
Mexico is the most corrupt ass backwards place I've ever done business. Avoid it and the people who live there at all costs.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-13-2018, 12:11 PM
Good points all.
I think the lesson here is don’t buy anywhere unless you have to or it’s a certain bet.
Why bother when you can just rent and leave as you wish?
Cheers.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-13-2018, 02:25 PM
200k for a "nice little condo" in a 2nd tier city of a 3rd world country.
Good investment?
Seriously?
You can get a very decent condo in Medellin for 100k, 200k will get you a very large condo, 300k will get you a mini mansion.
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Buying a winter home in Tulum, Mexico?
01-13-2018, 06:20 PM
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. From personal experience, do not buy condos/apartments or villas. If you are going to buy something buy a house or even raw land.