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Had an agent come this morning for an evaluation, some highlights about current conditions:

Due to the devaluation of the peso the tax free exemption has dropped accordingly from about 200k to 150k dollars

He thinks Mexican owners are going to start listing properties for sale in dollars to take advantage

He is still showing houses and thinks the demand for houses here will remain strong, although houses over 500k are not moving very much

He also mentioned that it is important that your CFE bill shows your RFC number

 

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Just now, ea93105 said:

Had an agent come this morning for an evaluation, some highlights about current conditions:

Due to the devaluation of the peso the tax free exemption has dropped accordingly from about 200k to 150k dollars

He thinks Mexican owners are going to start listing properties for sale in dollars to take advantage

He is still showing houses and thinks the demand for houses here will remain strong, although houses over 500k are not moving very much

He also mentioned that it is important that your CFE bill shows your RFC number

 

Interesting...so who does he think will come back into the market to buy, . 1. Mexicans with de valued Pesos now on the side lines. 2. North American's 401's decimated. 3. NOB home prices halted and or falling

its a no brainier to realize that there will be plenty of sellers..Maybe you should change your agent???...Sadly I see the Lakeside market go into free fall as people hunker down until this disaster pass's

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Thank you for the info. We have been thinking of selling (or possibly renting, uncertain at this stage). 

1 minute ago, lakeside7 said:

Interesting...so who does he think will come back into the market to buy, . 1. Mexicans with de valued Pesos now on the side lines. 2. North American's 401's decimated. 3. NOB home prices halted and or falling

its a no brainier to realize that there will be plenty of sellers..Maybe you should change your agent???...Sadly I see the Lakeside market go into free fall as people hunker down until this disaster pass's

Lakeside, we have been in the US recently (I still am!) and we have been pricing retirement homes in Florida. Need to return for health reasons. Home prices are high, and show no signs of falling, other than $1000 or $2000 on "reduced price" listings. Median price range for a 2/2 of 140 sq meters (1500 sq feet) in a retirement subdivision is well above $200K. If you want a 3/2 of 180 sq meters (2000 sq feet) in an affordable golf course community with low HOA expenses, you will be looking at a minimum of $350K. 

Why? Demand outstrips supply. Every day over 900 people, mostly seniors and retirees, are moving to Florida. 

Yes, their 401Ks are down. So instead of buying a 600K home they might settle for a $450K home. 

Also, mortgage lending rates are almost zero %! How can they go wrong?  

Lastly, there is almost 30 billion dollars in value in retirees estates. Those retirees are dying, and the next generation--heirs between the ages of 55 and 70--are reaping windfalls.

We visited Sun City Center in Florida. The average age there is something like 61. Flashback to when we visited Sun City in 2012, and the average age was 72. The demographics are changing, rapidly. This generation of inheritance is very affluent. More than a handful are taking early retirement as soon as they inherit.

Also: the agent with whom we have been working told us that 10, 15 years ago most people paid cash. Now she says 95% are financing. Why? Low interest rates, of course, BUT, many have the intention of never paying off the mortgage. When they die, the debt is no longer their problem, it's the bank's problem. The bank can't foreclose if the surviving spouse lives there. So where is the motivation to pay off the mortgage?  

 

 

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Just passing on what was conveyed to me. He said the buyers are going to be Americans mostly and the other than the cost of the house, everything else is now much cheaper here

His comment were mostly about post virus period

"Maybe you should change your agent???"   hmmm, try to find one with doomsday attitude ?

Hunkering down here is pretty nice comparatively 

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6 minutes ago, ea93105 said:

Just passing on what was conveyed to me. He said the buyers are going to be Americans mostly and the other than the cost of the house, everything else is now much cheaper here

"Maybe you should change your agent???"   hmmm, try to find one with doomsday attitude ?

Hunkering down here is pretty nice comparatively 

Agreed, very cheap to hunker down in Mexico right now. Also in agreement about waiting until the economy bounces back. 

The cost of living in Mexico, which translates to a higher standard of living, is a major draw for retirees wanting to relocate here. 

I am astounded at the prices here in the US. $2.99 a pound for apples. $3.99 for an individual sweet red pepper at the local grocery store--Walmart sells them at a bargain price of $1.78 each! Ground chuck at $6.99 a pound, on special price of $4.99. And don't even talk to me about chicken prices!

Eating out is a major luxury. Panera Bread YouPick2 used to be a casual meal. Now, with a half sanwich, a small cup of soup, a tiny slice of baguetter, the order costs me $12, including tax and a small tip. Twelve dollars!

I did see gas at $1.89 a gallon today. But who is going anywhere, really, to avail themselves of this distress-sale price? 

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Seems to be most house sales in Chapala Haciendas are very slow and mostly to Canadians. There will always be predatory bargain hunters, especially if there are deaths, and family don't want to, or simply can't come down to Mexico. That happens a lot. I forget the number, but it was astonishly high the number of Americans who have never been outside the U.S.A. and don't ever plan to.

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8 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

Seems to be most house sales in Chapala Haciendas are very slow and mostly to Canadians. There will always be predatory bargain hunters, especially if there are deaths, and family don't want to, or simply can't come down to Mexico. That happens a lot. I forget the number, but it was astonishly high the number of Americans who have never been outside the U.S.A. and don't ever plan to.

Interesting about Canadians buying. Isn't their currency very depreciated right now ? Are they buying for permanent moves or winter getaways ?

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2 hours ago, happyjillin said:

Our Canbuck goes a long way here in Mexico. That's all I care about and nothing more.

Really?       Fascinating.

And some people trash me for asking for help, trying to help or commenting on something.

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3 hours ago, Eric Blair said:

Really?       Fascinating.

And some people trash me for asking for help, trying to help or commenting on something.

I' m merely talking about the value of my  Canbuck currency and nothing more. Take a hike. I have helped a lot more people here and in Canada than you ever will  David. Especially here.

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9 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

Interesting...so who does he think will come back into the market to buy, . 1. Mexicans with de valued Pesos now on the side lines. 2. North American's 401's decimated. 3. NOB home prices halted and or falling

its a no brainier to realize that there will be plenty of sellers..Maybe you should change your agent???...Sadly I see the Lakeside market go into free fall as people hunker down until this disaster pass's

My wife and I moved down here in the summer of 2007, just as the Great Recession was starting to get under way up north. The buying fever was still strong here, much as it has been recently (at least until the beginning months of 2020). Then the bottom dropped out.

People who had bought here on the upswing, often with money they took from their home equity loan on their US/Canadian home, were suddenly stuck with two homes they couldn't sell. They still had to carry the mortgage on the "back-home" house and they had sunk a big chunk of their net worth into their new Mexican dream home.

A lot of those homes at Lakeside sat on the market for years. People refused to drop their prices because they wouldn't believe that their house was not now worth the inflated price they paid for it. Often they also sank tens of thousands into remodeling. The reality was, and always is, your house is worth exactly what someone else will pay for it, and not a dime more.

The upside of all this was that for five or six years the rental market here was great. People who wouldn't drop their sales price had to rent the house out in order to produce some income. And, they could only charge what people were willing to pay in a rental market glutted with houses whose owners were desperate for tenants.

So, we rented for 7 years before even considering purchasing our present home. Worked great for us and we were really glad we didn't get caught up in the buying frenzy that was happening in 2007 -- the sort of frenzy we have watched with bemusement recently.  The bubble always pops. Always.

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This winter I saw more for sale and/or for rent signs around and construction everywhere, then in the last five years. Maybe not so good for sellers. In the U S now, there is a possibility of the market getting real soft, real fast, with unemployment predicted to rise to between 10 and 30%. Hopefully Mexico doesn't become the next Italy.

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Great description of the past RE market and the true nature of all RE markets Jim Cook.  This one has been on a tear and is due for a correction, just like the stock market.  Defer your construction projects until next year, you'll find it will be a lot easier to get the quality contractors and workers.  Construction has been in a bubble too.

We bought and sold into the 2007 bubble and don't expect to get what we paid for this place.  OTOH we've enjoyed living in a really beautiful and well located home for 12 years and expect to live here for at least five more.  I've known too many people who rent who have had to move twice or more times because the houses were sold out from under them.  The three worst traumas in life, it is said, are death, divorce and moving.

We've successfully avoided the last two for a long time and have no illusions about ducking the first forever.  We'll roll on until we can't.

BTW for the newbies here, Jim Cook is a truly talented Mexico travel blogger and photographer.  His blog, "Jim and Carole's Mexico Adventure" is a great read and we keep it handy for reference before we travel.  Highly recommended.

https://cookjmex.blogspot.com/

 

 

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We are doing a major reno now and were given what we consider a reasonable quote from a contractor that we know quite well. They told me that they have all kinds of competition happening lately, which translates to "now is when construction is going on in this area" and I  don't think that it's just tapatios doing it. So do it now.

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13 hours ago, happyjillin said:

I' m merely talking about the value of my  Canbuck currency and nothing more. Take a hike. I have helped a lot more people here and in Canada than you ever will  David. Especially here.

Any reason you didn't put this in a PM to me?

How do you know how many people I have helped "here?"

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7 hours ago, Mainecoons said:

Great description of the past RE market and the true nature of all RE markets Jim Cook.  This one has been on a tear and is due for a correction, just like the stock market.  Defer your construction projects until next year, you'll find it will be a lot easier to get the quality contractors and workers.  Construction has been in a bubble too.

We bought and sold into the 2007 bubble and don't expect to get what we paid for this place.  OTOH we've enjoyed living in a really beautiful and well located home for 12 years and expect to live here for at least five more.  I've known too many people who rent who have had to move twice or more times because the houses were sold out from under them.  The three worst traumas in life, it is said, are death, divorce and moving.

We've successfully avoided the last two for a long time and have no illusions about ducking the first forever.  We'll roll on until we can't.

BTW for the newbies here, Jim Cook is a truly talented Mexico travel blogger and photographer.  His blog, "Jim and Carole's Mexico Adventure" is a great read and we keep it handy for reference before we travel.  Highly recommended.

https://cookjmex.blogspot.com/

===================================================================

Thanks for the kind words, Mainecoons. We don't always agree on stuff, but I always find your comments thought-provoking. Re: my blog. For years now I have run a backlog of photos from our travels around Mexico and Central America. I figure I'm about 2 years behind now. A small hidden benefit of our current shut-down is that I finally have time to do some catch up work. I'm just finishing the last part of a series on our visit to the ancient Maya city of Edzná, in Campeche.

 

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You're welcome Jim and thank you for such a great blog and the obvious great amount of time you put into it.  We just love it and recommend it to everyone.

Next time you go to Oaxaca take a short side trip south to San Martin Tilcahete and visit the Fuentes studio.  It is really photogenic and that family are lovely and congenial.  Their children are the ones we are helping to attend Iteso and they are just amazingly talented and doing so well there.  Let me know if you are going (and this applies to all of you here) and we'll tell them you are coming.  They will roll out the red carpet for you and it will be a real treat.

Here's their Facebook page with some great photos of them and their work.

https://www.facebook.com/Taller-zeny-Fuentes-y-reyna-212232266009570/?__xts__[0]=68.ARDsHTdFOP3L72F9rgaUV5UtbfnXVm6udofU7FtxEqLkOC7cK7mHvbDkFXaSRI56ZOSudXwo_BBGhvjk_tugJ9QlSNx-JH6mbunDZ8zus-Ga3ofqW6R47NoxiemOcNmi0wI9yJI0raaWwXzjqflLWM3ywRXMtqBMqHomFZmyIlJ5iCGM2T2j21lbHXTNVwqYt_WRrwBdz9OAcVInXug3X63tJpsNxvWOaASsS2lx5rdQJ-ymJ1CeTCcvRcLEgyrtjIFLMKVWlPf1C0B9R4xdtTHq12rDrrnhoZ7a

 

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Kimanjome... Re: when a person with a mortgage dies... It's NOT "the bank's problem", it's the estate's problem. The house will pass into the estate, and depending on the testamentary structure, will go to an heir with a "stepped up basis" for tax purposes, but an encumbrance (a claim against the estate) at the same time, so the estate will be responsible for paying the debt/mortgage. 

Anybody that thinks that someone can get a mortgage, and then that debt just "goes away" upon death, is just stupid and selfish. Such a person should really think about the heirs, and put together a reasonable and clear estate plan. 

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