Foreign Investment
Los Cabos is growing by more than 100 new people per day. Our unemployment is around 2%. We have the one of the fastest, if not the fastest, growing middle class in Mexico. Mexicos national economy rivals others as one of the healthiest in the hemisphere.
Why? Simple answer: FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Call it tourism, call it development, call it whatever you want. Our economy in Los Cabos is booming because of foreign investment.
People are pouring into Los Cabos because of the jobs from our booming Resort industry driven by our high-end timeshare and real estate developers. The people who are building, maintaining, and serving our resort industry depend on investment from foreigners to buy the time-share units and real estate properties. It is not complicated to understand. A great percentage of the purchasing power which drives our robust economy is English speaking.If people want to sell into this hot foreign market they need to speak English. They need to know the customer. They need to have a more global perspective about the resort and second-home real estate market. But dont take my word for it, ask the people investing the millions of dollars to build and operate our resorts. Their success depends on selling the world-class products they are creating. These developers are from the U.S.A., from Spain and Europe, from other countries in Latin American, from Canada and a huge investment is being made by our Mexican developers from Los Cabos, Mexico City, and throughout the country. Who are they hiring to sell the foreign market?
I am a Mexican REALTOR who represents some very committed Mexican and U.S. developers. Why would I hire someone who cant speak to my customers, and who wont make any attempt to learn the global resort market? People who are buying second or retirement homes in Los Cabos expect to be served by a knowledgeable real estate professional who understands their concerns and their language. The reverse is not true, unless you believe that the only people who should be allowed to invest in Mexico must speak Spanish. And, if you believe that, then perhaps you should convince our Mexican developers that you know their business better than they do.
Recently, a political movement has been launched to close the real estate profession in Baja California Sur to anyone who does not conform to new standards based partly on criteria that have nothing to do with the profession of real estate. I have heard and read some very insulting statements on both sides of this issue.
I am not jumping into this toxic mess. I, and others in AMPI, will work to try and bring people together, as we did when our National AMPI President and Secretary were here recently. They are the top leadership of our Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI). They came here to educate our local MLS and ASPI practitioners about AMPI. Of all the hundreds of people declaring to be real estate practitioners in our state of Baja California Sur, only about one hundred are actual REALTORS, meaning they are members of AMPI and also one of the 1,300,000 members of the National Association of REALTORS. If I were considering an investment in real estate, I would do business with one of them.
I am noticing that more and more of these pretenders to the profession of real estate are trying to call themselves REALTORS. The name REALTOR is a legally protected copyright of the National Association of REALTORS. If someone is as ethically bankrupt as to steal the property of another, would you consider doing business with them? Ask for credentials before you engage the services of a REALTOR.
I have been involved in the profession of real estate for many years, ten of them here in Mexico. My native language is English. My great-grandmothers was Spanish. I am a graduate of a world-class University and speak or understand much of 3 languages. My Spanish needs improvement. But then, so does my ability to keep looking at the world as a process of change. So, now I will continue to study Spanish until I get better. I owe it to the people of my country.
For the pretenders and others whose rhetoric seems so compelling to those who are susceptible, I ask that you consider a new strategy if you want to participate in the long term future of our growing resort market.
Why? Simple answer: FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Call it tourism, call it development, call it whatever you want. Our economy in Los Cabos is booming because of foreign investment.
People are pouring into Los Cabos because of the jobs from our booming Resort industry driven by our high-end timeshare and real estate developers. The people who are building, maintaining, and serving our resort industry depend on investment from foreigners to buy the time-share units and real estate properties. It is not complicated to understand. A great percentage of the purchasing power which drives our robust economy is English speaking.If people want to sell into this hot foreign market they need to speak English. They need to know the customer. They need to have a more global perspective about the resort and second-home real estate market. But dont take my word for it, ask the people investing the millions of dollars to build and operate our resorts. Their success depends on selling the world-class products they are creating. These developers are from the U.S.A., from Spain and Europe, from other countries in Latin American, from Canada and a huge investment is being made by our Mexican developers from Los Cabos, Mexico City, and throughout the country. Who are they hiring to sell the foreign market?
I am a Mexican REALTOR who represents some very committed Mexican and U.S. developers. Why would I hire someone who cant speak to my customers, and who wont make any attempt to learn the global resort market? People who are buying second or retirement homes in Los Cabos expect to be served by a knowledgeable real estate professional who understands their concerns and their language. The reverse is not true, unless you believe that the only people who should be allowed to invest in Mexico must speak Spanish. And, if you believe that, then perhaps you should convince our Mexican developers that you know their business better than they do.
Recently, a political movement has been launched to close the real estate profession in Baja California Sur to anyone who does not conform to new standards based partly on criteria that have nothing to do with the profession of real estate. I have heard and read some very insulting statements on both sides of this issue.
I am not jumping into this toxic mess. I, and others in AMPI, will work to try and bring people together, as we did when our National AMPI President and Secretary were here recently. They are the top leadership of our Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI). They came here to educate our local MLS and ASPI practitioners about AMPI. Of all the hundreds of people declaring to be real estate practitioners in our state of Baja California Sur, only about one hundred are actual REALTORS, meaning they are members of AMPI and also one of the 1,300,000 members of the National Association of REALTORS. If I were considering an investment in real estate, I would do business with one of them.
I am noticing that more and more of these pretenders to the profession of real estate are trying to call themselves REALTORS. The name REALTOR is a legally protected copyright of the National Association of REALTORS. If someone is as ethically bankrupt as to steal the property of another, would you consider doing business with them? Ask for credentials before you engage the services of a REALTOR.
I have been involved in the profession of real estate for many years, ten of them here in Mexico. My native language is English. My great-grandmothers was Spanish. I am a graduate of a world-class University and speak or understand much of 3 languages. My Spanish needs improvement. But then, so does my ability to keep looking at the world as a process of change. So, now I will continue to study Spanish until I get better. I owe it to the people of my country.
For the pretenders and others whose rhetoric seems so compelling to those who are susceptible, I ask that you consider a new strategy if you want to participate in the long term future of our growing resort market.