Finding a Playa

del Carmen Realtor; Step 1 in Buying a Mexico HomeIf you are considering buying a Mexico home in Playa del Carmen, there are a number of important steps involved in ensuring that you find the home most suitable for your needs. One of the earliest and most important is to find an qualified and experienced Playa del Carmen Realtor.

Some preliminary, general searches can be done at the beginning, or getting to know a little more about the area can be done before, but when you actually decide to get serious, and find the property right for you, it's crucial to work with the realtor most qualified to help you find this. "How" and "why" are closely related.

There are two key points to look for. One is qualification. If you were trusting someone to advise you on investing $250,000 in stocks, would you accept "trust me, I've done this before" as an answer for your questions? Hopefully not. Whether you pay $100,000 or $1 million for your Playa del Carmen home, it's probably a considerable chunk of your available finances, and you need advice from someone with real information and training behind them to advise you. Items you can look for, or ask about include:


membership in AMPI, Mexico's professional real estate association

degrees in real estate, business or other related fields

certification in real estate business

ongoing training and upgrading

A realtor does not need all of these items, but should be able to provide evidence with some of them, or similar items, that they are professionally qualified. Mexican law does not require real estate agents or brokers to prove qualification to their clients or even to be qualified for their job; it's up to you to check this out.

The other point is experience. While experience alone doesn't necessarily help you, it is in your favor that a qualified realtor also has years and a large number of transactions under their belt, having put their knowledge to work for clients, and developing their knowledge base through many transactions. Items you can ask about include:

years in the industry

references from past clients

Your level of comfort is also a key point. Do you feel that your agent and broker are applying their knowledge and experience to help you find the property most suited to your needs? This combined with the two points above will help you decide if you are working with the right person. Remember, you are investing a large amount of your funds; it is entirely worth a small, or even big time investment at the beginning to ensure you are working with the right team.

Playa del Carmen

Condos for Retirement – Choosing Your Communityf you are planning for retPlaya del Carmen Condos for Retirement – Choosing Your Communityf you are planning for retirement on the beach, you've probably considered a Playa del Carmen condo. While many features of the property itself are very important for a comfortable retirement, so is the choice of community; for most retirees "community" means much more than just a group of properties, but the actual lifestyle offered by the community and the people there.

When choosing your Mexico retirement community within Playa del Carmen, you may wish to consider the following options.

"Little Italy." This is the north half of Playa del Carmen's downtown. It has been named "Little Italy" because of the large number of Italian residents and investors who have given a European style to this neighborhood. With plenty of small cafes, pasta restaurants, nice sports bars, and even an Italian grocery store, the area also offers dining from many other countries. There are also some nice features within walking distance such as a local fruit and vegetable shop, and even a large supermarket. While providing walking distance conveniences to just about everything, there are also some good choices for quiet residential areas.


Playacar. Playacar is located directly at the south end of downtown, and is an upscale gated community which is centered around a professional golf course. The community offers many elegant homes and condos, and is home to a large number of expats. The north entrance is conveniently located next to downtown, and the west entrance is across the road from a large, new mall. There is also a Sam's and a state-of-the-art private hospital near that same entrance.

Puerto Aventuras. This is a gated golf and marina community, and much more; it also includes a mall, and a shopping and dining area. It is more like a complete community in itself. Since it is gated it is very calm, with little traffic, and very safe. Building regulations have given the community a very nice image. It is an ideal choice to enjoy all the benefits of a gated community, combined with the conveniences of a town, and having the beach and oceanfront very nearby, all within walking distance.

There are other choices for Mexico retirement communities within Playa del Carmen, such as some smaller "boutique" developments, but these three choices give a fairly general overview of the types of places that most buyers are choosing.

TOPMexicoRealEstate.com; Mexico's Leading Networirement on the beach, you've probably considered a Playa del Carmen condo. While many features of the property itself are very important for a comfortable retirement, so is the choice of community; for most retirees "community" means much more than just a group of properties, but the actual lifestyle offered by the community and the people there.

When choosing your Mexico retirement community within Playa del Carmen, you may wish to consider the following options.

"Little Italy." This is the north half of Playa del Carmen's downtown. It has been named "Little Italy" because of the large number of Italian residents and investors who have given a European style to this neighborhood. With plenty of small cafes, pasta restaurants, nice sports bars, and even an Italian grocery store, the area also offers dining from many other countries. There are also some nice features within walking distance such as a local fruit and vegetable shop, and even a large supermarket. While providing walking distance conveniences to just about everything, there are also some good choices for quiet residential areas.


Playacar. Playacar is located directly at the south end of downtown, and is an upscale gated community which is centered around a professional golf course. The community offers many elegant homes and condos, and is home to a large number of expats. The north entrance is conveniently located next to downtown, and the west entrance is across the road from a large, new mall. There is also a Sam's and a state-of-the-art private hospital near that same entrance.

Puerto Aventuras. This is a gated golf and marina community, and much more; it also includes a mall, and a shopping and dining area. It is more like a complete community in itself. Since it is gated it is very calm, with little traffic, and very safe. Building regulations have given the community a very nice image. It is an ideal choice to enjoy all the benefits of a gated community, combined with the conveniences of a town, and having the beach and oceanfront very nearby, all within walking distance.

There are other choices for Mexico retirement communities within Playa del Carmen, such as some smaller "boutique" developments, but these three choices give a fairly general overview of the types of places that most buyers are choosing.

TOPMexicoRealEstate.com; Mexico's Leading Networ

Mexico Real Estat

Mexico Real Estate Listings or Specific Playa del Carmen Listings?
If you have started your internet search for Playa del Carmen real estate, you have probably found some listing pages by local agents that give only listings for the area, and probably a few pages that give listings for the entire country, and you are probably wondering which will help you the most.

The answer: one which combines the benefits of both, providing complete Mexico real estate listings, but allowing you to specify your search to a very complete listing just for Playa del Carmen, and to make contact with a realtor that specializes in the area.

This type of listing page will probably be put together by a network of independent brokers from throughout Mexico, and will provide you with the following benefits:

Complete listings for Mexico, including the most major destinations for American and Canadian buyers. This means that you can search your price range and property type in other areas that you may not have considered at first. For example, if you are looking for a $250,000 USD condo in Playa del Carmen, you can search for this price range and property type for all locations throughout Mexico, and compare what you get in each location.


Specialized listings for each area. While a very generalized listing with just a few properties from each area might not help you, if the Mexico real estate listings have been put together by an experienced broker from each area, you will have access to a larger number of properties, which have also been more carefully selected to meet the needs of American and Canadian buyers on a variety of budgets.

Contact for a specialized broker. If you find a listing service which gives you as a buyer confidence, you will probably want to contact the providers of that service for a suggestion on who can represent you in your buying process. They will be able to refer you to the same specialized broker, whether for Playa del Carmen or any other area, mentioned above who provided the listings for the area.


Unbiased reference for an appropriate area. A system such as this one will also mean that if you find properties in a few different areas which catch your interest, the people at the other end will be able to advise you on the area which will best suit your needs.

While the most important step in your search and purchasing process will be to find the agent most suitable to guide you through the process safely, starting off on the right foot with a good property listing service can help give you direction from the beginning, and can even help you get into contact with this agent.

TOPMexicoRealEstate.com; Mexico's Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely

Mobile Phone

SeaSearching for Puerto Vallarta Condos on Your Mobile Phoneching for Puerto Vallarta Condos on Your Mobile Phone

One of the amazing features of the modern world is the ability to find any kind of information, anywhere at anytime. This is now also true for your Puerto Vallarta condo search; you can use a special mobile phone real estate

application on your iPhone to search properties in Puerto Vallarta, whether visiting on vacation, or at home in your living room.

The application was developed by TOPMexicoRealEstate.com, and offers access to their full set of listings, including Puerto Vallarta homes and condos. The application is easy to download from the main page of the website.

When opened, a search page appears, allowing you as a user to search by price, location and type. After entering search criteria, all matching properties appear, sorted from the lowest price to the highest, with the option of sorting by other criteria.


After choosing a particular property, the listing appears, with basic information, a property description a picture and access to a full photo gallery, and in some cases, videos. At the bottom of each listing, there is a Google map, with the location displayed. Beneath the map is a Street View screen with a view of the property.

The application is especially useful for iPhone users who are on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, and want to investigate properties at their own convenience. If you are walking through a community, for example, that catches your attention, you can use this iPhone application to find condos, homes or even land that is nearby, and investigate prices.


Using the Street View feature, you can even give yourself a self-guided virtual tour of the neighborhood, and turn that into a real self-guided tour.

This application will help you as a buyer get a good feel for what you like, and what's in your price range, before contacting agent to begin your property search. It will save you time, and allow you to enjoy vacations, will still starting off with this very important process.

In cases where you really are on the run, you can use this application to bookmark listings and investigate listings more carefully.

Another part of the search feature allows you to enter the MLS number of a property which you see while walking or driving down the street, making it easy for you to view pictures, read the description and check the price to evaluate the possibility of a property on the spot.

Mexico Real Estate

Mexico Real Estate in Mazatlan – Backed by Strong Tourism
Mazatlan has been called Mexico's "capital of culture, sun and sand," and during 2010 has continued to draw an increasing number of international tourists, showing excellent recovery from the low point of recession numbers during 2009. For this reason, Mazatlan is an excellent choice for Mexico real estate buyers.

One example was this years summer season which was backed by an intensive promotion campaign, both in Mexico and beyond. In addition, the state ministry of tourist
reported that in the first five months of the year, the influx of tourists to Sinaloa (the state which is home to Mazatlan) maintains an upward trend, rising from 1,079,000 visitors in the January-May period of 2009 to 1,316,000 in same period this year, representing an increase of 22 percent.


The numbers indicate that international buyers interested in both Mexico homes and condos can buy in Mazatlan with confidence that tourism will continue here in strong numbers. Strong tourism means that large-scale investment will continue to take place offering increased services and maintenance of Mazatlan's colonial city center – currently the only city which combines this feature with an attractive beachfront area. Investors will also feel confident that the steady flow of tourists will provide a strong basis for rental income.

Mazatlan tops list of most popular destinations in Mexico, achieving a hotel occupancy rate of 91 percent during Easter week, higher than other sun and beach destinations in the country, the most popular of which reached 85 %.


Undoubtedly Mazatlan is one of the largest destinations, as well as being one of the 13 wonders of Mexico, this port is characterized by its cultural focus, offering more than 250 cultural events a year, the only major Mexican tourist spot that offers visitors a balanced blend of cultural diversity with beautiful beaches and inspiring sunsets.

In addition to the unique combination of beachfront and colonial, Mazatlan is also an access point to some of Mexico's most captivating attractions, such as the train tour of the Copper Canyon, starting near Mazatlan, and running up into Chihuahua where the canyon is located.

These features both offer Mexico real estate buyers from the United States and Canada real incentive to make Mazatlan their new home, and offer investors confidence in a stable and growing tourism industry – a confidence which is backed by numbers.

Cancun Real EstateOne

Cancun Real EstateOne of the key benefits for Cancun real estate buyers is the large amount of airline options available, making trips home easy, fast and affordable.

Southwest Airlines, the largest low cost carrier in the U.S., announced today it will begin operating a codeshare agreement with Volaris, a discount Mexican airline, in November, which will connect five cities in Mexico to its route network, including CancunStarting November 12, Southwest customers will be able to purchase tickets to the Mexican cities of Cancun, Guadalajara, Morelia, Toluca / Mexico City and Zacatecas, with travel available starting on December 1. The new service will offer direct flights from the airports in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Jose, but Southwest customers will be able to buy tickets from 20 cities that the airline serves with connecting flights. Under a code sharing agreement, each airline can accept customers and baggage of the other, and share their routes and schedules to transfer the passengers to their final destination. The code sharing partnership is intended to provide convenient and low-cost connections, offering more well-priced options for travelers. Volaris was founded in 2006 and currently maintains 35 routes to 24 cities in Mexico with a fleet of 21 Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. Southwest, meanwhile, is the largest U.S. airline by passengers carried., which introduced the concept of low cost flights in the United States, and operates about three 3,500 flights daily with a fleet of about 540 Boeing 737 aircraft.


For buyers of Cancun real estate, the new deal means a couple of important points; one is that there will be more options for cheap flights home. The number of airlines serving Cancun and direct flight options to the U.S. and Canada is already large, but a growing trend in recent years has been for key discount flight companies, such as Southwest from the U.S., or Westjet in Canada, to begin offering direct and connecting flight service to Cancun.

This kind of expansion also indicates the ongoing growth in tourism which Cancun continues to enjoy, and the area's ability to adapt to changing market demands; the number of Americans travelling and buying real estate on a tighter budget has been growing in recent years.