House Sales

[harleybikelife]

I have just recently been talking to a couple of real estate agents and they indicated the market Lakeside is not that bad. I have trouble believing this. Looking at the Chapala MLS site I see the same houses on the market month after month with very little movement. I would like to get other peoples opinion on this. If the market is slow is it because the houses are over priced or are there just no buyers. Do you feel the prices may go even lower or have they bottom out?

[Ginger]

The house next door to me just sold here in Riberas, also one 2 doors down across the street is sporting a sold sign. Next door was bought by a Canadian couple. I don't know about the other house. Both were under 200K.

[maw7815]

I have heard from one realtor that most of the sales being made are from Guadalajara.

Apparently the MX baby boomers would rather live here than stay in Guad. Makes sense to me,

maw

[Joco]

I talked to a Realtor yesterday who said the market is terrible. Maybe the ones you talked to mean it is good because they have a lot of inventory, plenty of houses to show.

The buyers are all Tapitos. Very few foreigners are buying.

[Travis]

Anecdotal info: My partner is a real estate agent and sold 8 houses between January and June of this year.

Flat-out Fact: Of MLS listing sales for the first half of the year, 65% of buyers are Mexican (not just Tapatios), the rest foreign, heavily skewed toward US buyers.

Unrealistically priced houses never sell anywhere, and there are plenty of them here, like anywhere else.

[thevalerieleigh]

We've certainly had NO luck selling our home on Javier Mina in Ajijic. We've lowered the price to $150,000 and still no takers.

Valerie

[El Cartero]

The information from Travis is absolutely correct. My buddy has closed on over 8 since mid June, 4 weeks. All American/Canadian buyers. Jocotopec is beautiful but not a good place to sell a house. La Canacinta is about as far west as you can go and expect to sell. Nobody is beating down the doors for Chapala Haciends or Las Brisas or Vista de Lago or points between. Many paid too much for their homes possibly due to poor representation and find themselves overpriced for the market. Another friend of mine had her house sell by her realtor before it even appeared on a website or mls. I have had three houses since 2002 and all sold within 6 months of listing at the most. All in Ajijic. I think it is a strong market in the 200K range.

[CSOKI]

According to a friend , lots are being sold in Bisas de Chapala and the owners build according to their taste. They are

from Guadalajara .During the last 10 years approx. 35 houses were built in this Fraccionamiento.

[vetteforron]

All realtors and salesman always say things are great. I was one for 25 years. Having said that I would not live anywhere else. Plus I am going to buy more land in Jocotepec. The market is right. BUT I do not plan to sell ever. It will be passed on.

[hensley]

1 House in Mirasol on the corner sold in 2 months under $200.

House across from us in Mirasol was on the market 1 year sold for under $200

House on Mirasol Ave on the market for about a year also sold for less than $150

Friend in Riberas south of Mirasol sold her house in about 2 months. Don't know the price.

3 are to Mx's and 1 to a gringo.

[kiminmexico]

We paid $160K for our house in upper Riberas. Double lot, 7 year old house with a solar heated, salt water pool, furnished. I know for a fact the previous owner had about $225Kinto the house, not including furniture. It's a buyers market out there. Happy we waited as long as we did.

[MyHomeSweetHome]

There have been recent home sales in Chapala Haciendas under 150k. Still waiting to meet the new neighbors, may be weekend homes, hasn't been enough time passed to even move in to know.

Some folks are selling at a loss. If people are looking to buy their loss is your gain. I've read of several moving back for medical reasons, those people really need to find buyers.

[Mainecoons]

Two houses on our block in Ajijic that have been for sale forever both sold in the last two months. One is being redeveloped for resale, a big high dollar one was sold to a family from GDL in the last couple of weeks. They have been trying to sell that house for over 5 years.

With all those industrial developments south of the airport it should surprise no one if more Tapatios are choosing to buy here.

My general impression is that the market is very slowly improving. Location is very important.

[CHILLIN]

It's all to do with lifestyle. Puerto Vallarta property is still very hot with younger Tapatios convincing parents that a new condo, in the center of all the action, is a better investment, and easier to maintain, than a "weekend cottage/mansion at the Lake" for family get togethers. The younger crowd is also looking for potential spouses, which is much better prospecting in Puerto Vallarta than Ajijic or Chapala - this is probably the deciding factor for the parents! It is so sad that so many Mexican young women feel that if they are not married by 25 years old, then it is unlikely to happen at all.

[lcscats]

It is better but not by much. Understand real estate agents. Ten percent sell 70% of houses. Talk to a good one and they sell houses. Talk to the guy sitting at his desk and he will say it is terrible. Cheaper properties are moving. Expensive houses sit til heavily discounted. Location Location Location is always real estate rule number one. Good Agent is rule number two and I can't say I am impressed by most agents lakeside. Before you tell me how good your agent is we know the business and disclosure or the lack of it is an art here with many agents lakeside. I would do my own research and use a buyers agent to buy if at all possible. I always thought the normal sell and buy of a normal real estate agent has too many potential conflicts of interest build into the system and I don't find Mexico any different than USA other than a lack of rules regarding behavior. At least disclosure laws exist in most US states. Buyer beware is what I say here.

[gringal]

LCS cats is right. And......... your "buyers agent" has a tendency to turn into a wonder of cooperation with the sellers agents as soon as it looks like a deal can be struck. Since there are none of those "disclosures" here as required back in the States, the house can be literally falling apart or have hidden problems that can't be found by an inspector, either.

No matter what problems may turn up in the house, if you've focused on finding a good location above all else, you'll still come out ahead of buying a very nice house in a less than fine location. Construction and remodeling costs are more affordable in Mexico.

[geeser]

One of the problems is that many of you north of the border can't easily sell your house at anywhere near what it was worth 5 or 6 years ago and so can't come down here to buy. Most of the folks I know who have gone back do so for the Medicare or to be a free sitter for the grand kids, most regret it. The USA is about to roll over into it's second recession (two consecutive quarters negative GDP) no one there is doing really well. I believe the conditions in the US will force people to move out and Mexico will get their share. Here you can get assisted living for under $3000 USD a month and fine medical care if you just can't wait as long as Canada or US Affordable care wants to take.

[ComputerGuy]

Houses continue to sell here, as always. A poor market does not mean "houses never sell". The market is undeniably slow.

It continues to burn my a** that this misconception floats around that real-estate agents hold a general disdain for customers and therefore do not disclose. Crap. There is always a bad apple in the barrel; do not judge agents by that standard. I know the majority of agents here, am not in the business, and will refute your claims of "bad agents" any time.

[lcscats]

Yes I am sure that good agents exist ComputerGuy but we have not seen one yet who did not LIE and Disclosure is a joke here. Our data points... Four out of five agents lied to us and did not disclose public knowledge. Also my wife was a Lawyer, Real estate Broker, Real Estate agent, and a public and mobile notary in the US. If we are scared of these folks you should be also. Yes I know good ones exist but I have not met one but boy have I met some folks who musta thought us fools. The system here and the people scared us out of the market completely. Your mileage may vary. Bad Apples remember make the rest of the bushel rot.

[Joco]

One of the problems is that many of you north of the border can't easily sell your house at anywhere near what it was worth 5 or 6 years ago and so can't come down here to buy. Most of the folks I know who have gone back do so for the Medicare or to be a free sitter for the grand kids, most regret it. The USA is about to roll over into it's second recession (two consecutive quarters negative GDP) no one there is doing really well. I believe the conditions in the US will force people to move out and Mexico will get their share. Here you can get assisted living for under $3000 USD a month and fine medical care if you just can't wait as long as Canada or US Affordable care wants to take.

The problem with people moving here because it is less expensive is the foreigners cannot meet the financial qualifications under the new INM rules. If they leave here, go back home and their cards expire, they won't be grandfathered in like they were before.

There might be another recession because Europe and the rest of the world is still in one. It is hard for the U.S. to get going when all its customers aren't buying because they are in financial trouble.

[MyHomeSweetHome]

We're home owners that have bought and sold in Guadalajara and bought land and built here lakeside. I can understand that a person who isn't a jack of all trades around the house or perhaps is a jack of all trades may be more timid about home construction in Mexico because it is so different, very different. In that case, if one is too timid or anxious, renting is by far your most comfortable option.

Unless laws have changed, home inspections and disclosures were nothing of Mexican law when we bought and sold our home in Guadalajara 6 years ago. We had an architect friend that was invited to tour a couple of properties with us and give their opinion of the quality of construction and we bought according to their opinion and what we could see. Being that in those days we had very little experience living in concrete homes we have learned a lot by viewing the condition of homes while shopping in the area. There were homes that we looked at during the final stages of construction, had been abandoned for some time and we brought in builder friends to take a look. Somehow, they weren't seeing the devastation we were seeing. That's because now we know that cracks and even "molds" can be scraped down and "resealed" to be good as new.

One would need to take into consideration the age of a home, how deep are it's footings, especially on a slope. Does it have a vapor barrier to keep molds from coming up from the ground during the rainy season, is the home in an area that shifts? A "shifting" area isn't necessarily a bad area to build or buy an existing home if the home was built well. Are there any areas that don't shift a tad around the lake? A new build on a slope needs a sounding test to know how deep the footings have to be built to be on solid rock and not the clay. That will make a difference from a quality home and a not so quality home. When the ground shifts, the home with deep footings may not move at all or get a hair line crack, which could happen anyway. That's easy to fix, sometimes with a type of glue mixture and paint which is painted over the cracks when repainting the home. Without a deep footing a large 1/2-1 inch crack could appear and crumble a bit. Inspect the home for those crack repairs, they are usually somewhat visible to the eye, not hidden. I've seen this in the area where we live. Our home was built well and other homes have some cracks and a few old ones have some crumble from neglect and lack of maintenance of course. Some of the homes built 40-50 years ago and even some less than 5 years ago weren't built with deep footings and they have problems with cracks. Also some older homes don't have the vapor/tar paper barrier. This is what is laid on top of the footings or foundation before the walls are built. In that case, if moisture seeps in, sometimes part of the wall is torn out to add the vapor barrier in the problem area. If one chooses an older home that hasn't had updates, they may need to prepare themselves for either on going problems to tackle little by little or the expense of remodeling. When looking at the construction of a home, was it built with cinder block or clay bricks? Clay bricks are better quality than the cinder block. Cinder block homes, prone to cracks, should be less expensive than a brick home. Expect to pay less for a cinder block home.

Here's another cost to consider. Electricity costs are high here. If the home is a good size, with many appliances and a pool, are the appliances and pool pump energy efficient and is the home already equipped with solar power or would that be an added expense one will be looking into investing in to? If the home is equipped with solar power, what an added luxury and savings for the new home owner!