Rental prop­erty pur­chase and own­erhsip strate­gies in Mexico

Mex­ico real estate is becom­ing increas­ingly more attrac­tive to for­eign­ers. It is con­sid­ered an espe­cially desir­able loca­tion for retirement. In addi­tion to retirees, many for­eign­ers have come to Mex­ico as a result of job transfers. Others are look­ing to take advan­tage of elec­tronic and wire­less com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and seek out delight­ful areas in which to live and work from their in-home offices and studios.

Many of these new­com­ers pre­fer to rent a house or an apart­ment while they look for the per­fect loca­tion and home for purchase. The influx of for­eign­ers has lead to increased demand for hous­ing and has made the acqui­si­tion of rental prop­er­ties an increas­ingly attrac­tive invest­ment. It is dif­fi­cult to find a bet­ter and more secure income than can be found from rent­ing a house or apart­ment com­plex, which can pro­duce rental income for many years. Even bet­ter, it is most likely will increase in value at the same time.

Decide how to fund your purchase

Investors can pay all cash, use funds from a self-directed IRA account or even nego­ti­ate seller financ­ing to estab­lish solid long-tem gains. Insti­tu­tional financ­ing on Mex­i­can prop­er­ties is still not common. There are a few com­pa­nies that offer some lim­ited financ­ing options. Availability of this type of financ­ing is largely regional and inquiries should be made locally.

Decide how to take title

There are two ways to take title to prop­erty in Mexico:

1. A Mex­i­can cor­po­ra­tion can be estab­lished to hold title to all NON-residential property. This includes apart­ments and houses which are used entirely for rental and/or com­mer­cial purposes. The expense involved in account­ing and main­tain­ing a Mex­i­can cor­po­ra­tion is con­sid­er­able, and may be too expen­sive if the investor has only a few prop­er­ties. For prop­er­ties owned by the cor­po­ra­tion, an IVA tax of 15% of the value of the con­struc­tion is charged at the time of pur­chase in addi­tion to the 2% acqui­si­tion tax. Corporate tax dec­la­ra­tions must be filed monthly and esti­mated taxes paid monthly. Prop­erty taxes are charged at a com­mer­cial rate, not res­i­den­tial, as util­i­ties will be. Cor­po­rate stock, if sold or trans­ferred, is sub­ject to an income tax (ISR) sim­i­lar to the tax paid by an indi­vid­ual on the gain from the sale of a house.
2. The alter­na­tive to a Mex­i­can cor­po­ra­tion is for the buyer to hold title in fee sim­ple, or in trust (fide­icomiso), if the prop­erty is located in the restricted zone. In fee sim­ple, prop­erty must be reg­is­tered with the Sec­re­tary of For­eign Rela­tions, but has no addi­tional annual title fee. In the fide­icomiso, the annual cost of hold­ing title is the trustee fee of $375 USD to $550 USD. Utilities and prop­erty taxes are gen­er­ally charged at a res­i­den­tial rate, rather than a com­mer­cial rate.

In fee simple—where permitted—or in a fideicomiso, taxes and yearly main­te­nance fees for account­ing and legal ser­vices for up to seven prop­er­ties are gen­er­ally less than the costs gen­er­ated by prop­er­ties held in a Mex­i­can corporation.

Under­stand your tax liabilities

Mexico’s tax laws are pat­terned after those of the United States and Canada, and state that:

“Phys­i­cal per­sons (indi­vid­u­als) and legal per­sons (com­pa­nies) who are res­i­dents of Mex­ico and who receive income in this coun­try,  are oblig­ated to reg­is­ter with Hacienda, declare their income and pay their taxes, regard­less of the source; and…Physical and legal per­sons who are res­i­dents in a for­eign coun­try (out­side Mex­ico) must declare their income and pay their taxes on all income gen­er­ated in Mexico…”

If the prop­erty is held in a Mex­i­can cor­po­ra­tion, a Mex­i­can accoun­tant will need to pre­pare the monthly dec­la­ra­tions and esti­mated taxes to be paid. If the prop­erty is held in a fide­icomiso, a Mex­i­can account­ing firm can per­form all nec­es­sary tax and account­ing ser­vices includ­ing the monthly fil­ings and tax pay­ments, and can also pro­vide the for­eign owner with account­ing and doc­u­ments for obtain­ing tax cred­its on their U.S. or Cana­dian taxes.

Want to learn to ski? Head to the bunny hill. But if you’re on a sun and sand vaca­tion on Mexico’s Pacific Coast and catch­ing a wave catches your fancy, head to Sayulita.

About 45 min­utes north of Puerto Val­larta, on a crescent-shaped beach below ver­dant hills, you’ll find per­fect learn­ing waves that pop up over a sand­bar metres from shore, offer­ing a break big enough for the novice, even if the only surf­ing you’ve done is on the Net.

Call it the trop­i­cal equiv­a­lent of the ski resort’s magic carpet.

Sayulita’s surf is seduc­tive. I started the week wad­ing with the kids, then gave the boo­gie board a try. Cer­tainly I wasn’t the only 30-something dad who seemed to be spend­ing as much time in the water as their chil­dren. Down the beach, how­ever, the real thing beckoned.

Like many guys my age, I grew up try­ing to dress the part: Vans slip-ons, OP surf shorts, Maui and Sons T-shirts, but had never actu­ally surfed. So, screw­ing up my courage, my wife and I wan­dered up the beach.

Rent­ing was easy. I didn’t exactly say I was a begin­ner, and Lilly at the rental spot didn’t ask before hand­ing me a glass-fibre beauty. Her only admon­ish­ment was that I not run it into the sand and break the fins. No prob­lem. At $5 an hour, surf­ing proved to be cheaper than ski­ing, and the per­fect sport to blend into a holiday.

“It’s a real fam­ily friendly atmos­phere,” says Javier Chavez, who teaches surf­ing in Sayulita and, through his Wild­mex tours, offers trips to larger nearby breaks and surf camps. “The beach is great to chill on with the fam­ily. While some surf, oth­ers can have snacks or do other activities.”

Learn­ing to surf is pretty sim­ple: Lie on your board, pad­dle out a bit, wait for a wave, pad­dle, pad­dle, pad­dle to get out ahead of it, pop up to what amounts to a runner’s start posi­tion, grip­ping the board about a quar­ter of the way back — stand up.

The golden rule is also sim­ple: Don’t steal some­one else’s wave. While the tal­ented locals are gen­er­ous, shar­ing their breaks with new­bies, give them respect. Morn­ings are best for learn­ing. When the waves get big­ger after lunch, sit back and watch the show as the young rip­pers take over on the trick­ier left break just down the beach.

Even on low waves and frothy bur­ble, the “stand up” part is not as easy as it looks. You can expect to fall a fair bit, or be dri­ven nose-first to the bot­tom if you’re too far for­ward on the board, as you get the hang of hanging-10. Thrown into the swell, you’ll be spun around by the big­ger waves like a shirt in the washer, the board leashed to your ankle spin­ning over your head.

After an hour or so of strug­gling with my board and watch­ing more expe­ri­enced surfers, I got up a few times. I was sur­prised at how ele­vated I felt, even on a mod­est wave.

The allure is obvi­ous — you’ve briefly har­nessed the power of the sea — but it’s hard work. I’d often won­dered why surfers spend so much time sit­ting zen-like on their boards wait­ing to catch that per­fect wave. Now I under­stand — they’re prob­a­bly just catch­ing their breath.

The best surfers I watched were lithe and wiry. The guy beside me in the begin­ner break who never did get up looked like he’d washed down a few too many extra-large bur­ri­tos with Paci­fico beers.

“I used to think any­one could learn to surf,” says Chavez. “Sadly, this sea­son we have had a cou­ple of peo­ple who just can’t. Basi­cally they can’t lift their weight from the board, even when the board is lying on the sand. So what I would say is, if they can do a push up, they can surf. If they can’t, they should work on their fit­ness and then learn to surf.”

Out­fits offer­ing lessons dot the north end of the beach, includ­ing Tigre Surf School, run by for­mer inter­na­tional cham­pion Tigre Cadena and his broth­ers, and Don Pedro’s. A num­ber of surf shops in town can also hook you up with rentals and lessons. Chavez says a good teacher will go through the finer points of pop­ping up (stand­ing up the right way on a board), body posi­tion­ing (hav­ing your body on the right place when lying on the board), pad­dling tech­nique, read­ing waves, tim­ing, pos­ture on the board while stand­ing and surf­ing etiquette.

You can get a jump­start months before you hop on the plane. Get in the pool and swim. Go to the gym and work on your arms, chest, lats and back. For bal­ance, spend some time on that half-ball with the board on top that sits in the cor­ner of many weight rooms.

If you decide boogie-boarding is more your style, Sayulita is a great beach for that, too, although you should be a rea­son­ably strong swim­mer as there are rip­tides in some areas. Watch for the red flags.

If you’re tak­ing a les­son or rent­ing a board, you’ll prob­a­bly be out on the water longer than your usual dips between sips of mar­gar­i­tas. Slap on lots of sun­screen, and wear a water shirt and hat if you have to. There’s noth­ing cool about a surfer with a peel­ing nose.

“Ayeee!!!” That’s me whip­ping across a 1,000-foot zip-line, high above a sub­trop­i­cal rain­for­est in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains.

I feel like Tarzan, even if the har­ness attached to the line is a clue that I don’t have the strength of the ape-man. A slight decline, and pul­leys are pro­pelling me down the line.

This thrilling expe­ri­ence may not be what you expect when you sign on for a relax­ing one-week Mex­i­can Riv­iera cruise on a Princess Cruises ship — in this case, the 2,000-passenger Dawn Princess. But who says cruises can’t come with adren­a­line rushes?

The Out­door Expe­ri­ence shore excur­sion ($149 per per­son) starts in Puerto Val­larta, and also includes a ride in a speed­boat across 25-mile-long Ban­deras Bay to a secluded beach, more bumpety-bump in a 4x4 open-air truck as you head to the base camp in the Sierra Madre, a ride straight uphill on mules (with a lit­tle gal­lop­ing involved) and, to break up the series of zip-lines, walk­ing across wob­bly bridges and rap­pel­ing 100 feet into an ice-cold waterfall.

It’s a thrill, a chal­lenge, a group bond­ing expe­ri­ence (for the dozen or so par­tic­i­pants) and a chance to see gor­geous moun­tain and sea­side scenery all rolled into one six-hour trip. Prob­a­bly the best shore excur­sion you’ll ever find. Think “Sur­vivor” meets cruising.

Dra­matic scenery (and expe­ri­ences), Mex­i­can cul­ture, his­tory and sun­shine are all part of a Mex­i­can Riv­iera itin­er­ary. These cruises are the per­fect alter­na­tive to the tried-and-true Caribbean fun-in-the-sun routes.

One-week cruises visit Puerto Val­larta, Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas, with three days spent at sea. For those who don’t seek thrills in Puerto Val­larta, the one-time fish­ing vil­lage also serves up plenty of beach and shop­ping options.

The now-popular resort town was put on the map when John Hus­ton filmed “The Night of the Iguana” in nearby Mis­maloya in the early 1960s. Star Richard Bur­ton brought along mar­ried girl­friend Eliz­a­beth Tay­lor and cre­ated a scan­dal. And then every­one wanted to go there.

In Mazatlán, you can also choose the beach, but then you’d be miss­ing a chance to explore the city and get a peek at Mex­i­can culture.

With a pop­u­la­tion of nearly 325,000, Mazatlán feels like a city more than a tourist mecca. Peo­ple really do their shop­ping at the large indoor mar­ket — it’s not just a hang­out for the tourist crowd — and in the main square near the city’s gold-colored cathe­dral, locals take a break from the hus­tle and bus­tle to sit on benches for a chat or have their shoes shined at stands.

Head into the his­toric dis­trict and you’ll find col­or­ful build­ings dat­ing to the 1800s, includ­ing an opera house built for a diva, Angela Per­alta. Sev­eral gal­leries offer crafts and art­work at rea­son­able prices, includ­ing Gan­darva and the Nidart Gallery.

Reserve beach time for Cabo San Lucas, but be aware that, because of fre­quent rough tides, the beaches there are bet­ter for sun­ning than for swimming.

My com­pan­ions (my two adult kids) and I headed to the Office, a beach­front bar on the long Playa el Médano and a per­fect spot for sun­ning and people-watching. Two-for-one beers and toes in the sand reminded me this was no ordi­nary workday.

The scene on the beach is active, with ven­dors sell­ing, well, what­ever they can think of to sell — col­or­ful blan­kets and rugs, sil­ver jew­elry, rental WaveRun­ners and kayaks, your name cre­ated in sand, bas­kets, cow­boy hats with Corona logos. For a qui­eter beach expe­ri­ence, head to Lover’s Beach (acces­si­ble by boat).

When you are per­fectly pink, head into town for lunch at Mi Casa, where you can enjoy such treats as tacos with shred­ded pork.

Back at the ship, catch the won­der­ful views of Los Arcos, the rocks in the water off Land’s End that look like they landed there from another planet. You won’t find much more dra­matic scenery than that.

IF YOU GO …

Ships depart from Cal­i­for­nia ports from late Sep­tem­ber to early May. While Princess offered cruises this sea­son from San Diego and Los Ange­les, next sea­son (begin­ning in Sep­tem­ber), the line will do seven-day cruises from Los Ange­les only, along with 10-day Mex­ico cruises from San Francisco.

Early-booking fares for Princess’ week-long Mex­i­can Riv­iera sail­ings begin at $599 per person.

The over­all hous­ing mar­ket might be in bad shape, but at the very top lux­ury homes are still set­ting record prices.

The hous­ing mar­ket might be down, but that isn’t stop­ping movie stars, hedge fund man­agers, and cor­po­rate titans from pay­ing mam­moth prices for the most lav­ish real estate on the planet.

The founder of an invest­ment com­pany last year paid a record $103 mil­lion for 40 acres of ocean­front prop­erty in East Hamp­ton, N.Y., where he is build­ing a man­sion. A hedge fund man­ager just paid $49 mil­lion for a 29-room town­house on the Upper East Side of Man­hat­tan, once owned by Pent­house pub­lisher Robert Guc­cione. That same house had been on the mar­ket in 2003 for a mere $29.9 mil­lion, mean­ing it sold for nearly 64% more than the price it listed at four years ago, when the hous­ing boom was still going strong.

And on the West Coast, the 29-bedroom, 40-bath for­mer home of William Ran­dolph Hearst and actress Mar­ion Davies is on the mar­ket in Bev­erly Hills for $165 mil­lion, which might be the high­est ask­ing price for a home in U.S. history.

Pay­ing Cash

“For the ultra­lux­ury mar­ket to take a hit, there would have to be seri­ous finan­cial woes that went a lot deeper than what we’re see­ing now,” said Rick Good­win, pub­lisher of Unique Homes, a mag­a­zine and Web site about lux­ury prop­er­ties. “If they’ve got the money, it’s not going to be a hard­ship to fork over cash for a $10 mil­lion house.”

The top 5% of the mar­ket is strong not just because the rich in the U.S. are get­ting richer. Wealthy for­eign buy­ers are also com­ing in to take advan­tage of the weak dol­lar and rel­a­tively bar­gain prices, said Lau­rie Moore-Moore, founder of the Insti­tute for Lux­ury Home Mar­ket­ing in Dal­las, which trains agents to work in the high-end inter­na­tional prop­erty market.

The ubër-wealthy are also less con­cerned about interest-rate fluc­tu­a­tions and other mort­gage issues; about a third of buy­ers of $1 million-plus homes pay cash, Moore-Moore said.

Jumbo Loan Crunch

Sales are much weaker for lower-priced lux­ury homes, those in the range of $1 mil­lion to $3 mil­lion, because the credit crunch is mak­ing it more dif­fi­cult for buy­ers in that mar­ket to qual­ify for loans. That hangs up sell­ers in that mar­ket who want to trade up. “Though they may not require a mort­gage them­selves, [they] might be wait­ing to sell a $1 mil­lion or $2 mil­lion home and are depend­ing on other buy­ers to move up,” Good­win said.

With home prices fluc­tu­at­ing across all ranges, BusinessWeek.com decided to test your abil­ity to guess how much houses are listed for in this uncer­tain real estate mar­ket. We cre­ated an inter­ac­tive quiz that includes prop­er­ties that list from $350,000 to more than $50 million.

Moore-Moore said the ultra-high-end market—generally above $5 million—has remained robust because rich buy­ers are look­ing for tro­phy homes and the sup­ply is lim­ited. Even in weak mar­kets like Las Vegas, lux­ury con­dos on the Strip are in high demand, she said. The same is true of Bev­erly Hills in Cal­i­for­nia and Palm Beach in Florida.

She expects fewer buy­ers from the finan­cial indus­try and more for­eign buy­ers in com­ing months as prob­lems on Wall Street increase. Cit­i­group (C), fac­ing losses related to subprime-related debt, is expected to lay off thou­sands more work­ers. And lay­offs are under way at Gold­man Sachs Group (GS), Mer­rill Lynch (MER), Bear Stearns (BSC), and Mor­gan Stan­ley (MS).

“When you get into the lux­ury mar­ket, it’s not about square footage mul­ti­plied by X dol­lars,” she said. “It’s about the ameni­ties and the unique features.”

Bar­gains for Billionaires

Mike Col­pitts, founder and edi­tor of Housingpredictor.com, said the num­ber of wealthy buy­ers is increas­ing and many of them have made their for­tunes in real estate and under­stand the busi­ness. Many lux­ury real estate buy­ers are now get­ting more than one appraisal of prop­er­ties before mak­ing a purchase.

“They know when things get bad, they know it’s time to buy,” Col­pitts said.

Stephen Shapiro, chair­man of West­side Estate Agency, which has the $165 mil­lion list­ing, said there’s a short­age of homes in Bev­erly Hills for $30 mil­lion and more. There’s lit­tle room to build more sprawl­ing man­sions with­out knock­ing down smaller ones, he said.

But real estate, even the tro­phy home mar­ket, is local. Jerry Heller, regional man­ager for Land­Vest for the south coast of Mass­a­chu­setts, said sales have slowed since the peak of the mar­ket in 2005.

“Things are def­i­nitely qui­eter,” Heller said. “There are fewer prop­er­ties on the higher end avail­able for sale. That’s a result of peo­ple being con­cerned they’d have to dis­count prop­er­ties too much to sell them…Prices were going up expo­nen­tially, now prices have flat­ted out.”

SOUTH of the bor­der? How about north? Second-home shop­pers who want some­thing more exotic than their friends’ moun­tain bun­ga­lows and beach con­dos have two easy options: Mex­ico and Canada.

Amer­i­cans have been buy­ing vaca­tion prop­er­ties in Canada since the days of the Roo­sevelts and Cam­po­bello Island. Many new devel­op­ments in Mex­ico are aimed squarely at Amer­i­cans, and in other areas 19th-century vil­lages are becom­ing vacation-home hot spots. The trick is to find the right region, the right real estate bro­ker and the right property.

Whether you’re look­ing in Nova Sco­tia or in Baja Cal­i­for­nia, the best advice is to talk with peo­ple who own vaca­tion homes there or expa­tri­ates who live there full time. Ask about all aspects of    ‘ own­ing: taxes, main­te­nance, bor­der cross­ings, avail­abil­ity of title insur­ance and rela­tion­ships with locals as well as rec­om­men­da­tions on real estate agen­cies. If you don’t speak Span­ish, you’re prob­a­bly lim­it­ing your search in Mex­ico to regions pop­u­lar with Eng­lish speak­ers. Start a con­ver­sa­tion with the English-speaking peo­ple at the next table in a cafe. Many will be eager to sell you on the area in which they are already invested and to warn you of problems.

Mul­ti­ple list­ings are used in Canada and Mex­ico, but that doesn’t mean that any agent can or will show you every­thing worth con­sid­er­ing. An agent who has worked with other Amer­i­cans may bet­ter under­stand your con­cerns, ques­tions and expec­ta­tions. Some are affil­i­ated with well-known com­pa­nies like ReMax and Cold­well Banker. If you’re begin­ning your house hunt at your com­puter, an Inter­net search of “real estate” and the name of the area that inter­ests you will almost always turn up plenty of pos­si­bil­i­ties. Invest in a few phone calls to find some­one who seems to under­stand what you’re look­ing for.

Marci Boone, an artist and teacher in Austin, Tex., met Jenny Her­ren, a real estate agent, at an open house while vis­it­ing Aji­jic, Mex­ico, with a friend. Aji­jic is at an ele­va­tion of 5,200 feet in the Sierra Madre and over­looks Lake Cha­pala. “We vis­ited about what we had in mind to pur­chase,” Ms. Boone said in an e-mail mes­sage, and the con­ver­sa­tion led to her buy­ing a two-bedroom condo in a gated community.

Robert Stec, a bro­ker with Ideal Loca­tions in Chicago as well as Paz Pacific Realty in La Paz, Mex­ico, says the biggest mis­take peo­ple make is that they write checks payable to devel­op­ers of projects that are not yet built. “They might say, ‘This is how we do it here,’ ” he said, “but you’ve got to make sure deposits go directly into an escrow account at a bank.” Oth­er­wise, he said, you can be left high and dry if the devel­oper goes bust. “There’s a say­ing, ‘Don’t leave your brain at the border.’ ”

If the bor­der you’re cross­ing is the Cana­dian one, house shop­ping and the pur­chase process may seem more famil­iar. In 2001, Russ Sitch, an elec­tri­cal con­trac­tor in Hon­olulu, and his wife, Suzanne Young-Sitch, were vaca­tion­ing at a condo com­plex at Big White Ski Resort near the wine town of Kelowna in the Okana­gan region of British Colum­bia. They saw that a bro­ker was hold­ing an open house at a nearby unit, went to it and were intrigued. They went home, thought about it and, after a lot of phone calls and e-mail mes­sages, bought it.

“We liked the snow and what you get for the money,” Mr. Sitch said. The cou­ple has since bought another condo at Cop­per Ket­tle Lodge in the same region and sold the first one.

“Every­thing was about the same” as buy­ing in the United States, Mr. Sitch said, “except that we had to finance them through a Cana­dian bank. Our bank wouldn’t finance an invest­ment out­side the U.S.”

They use their condo about twice a year, he said, and have the resort rent it out when they’re not in res­i­dence. “It gives us some income in Cana­dian dol­lars,” he said, “to help with mort­gage pay­ments.” Mr. Sitch said their out-of-pocket expenses have gone up as the United States dol­lar has fallen.

That’s some­thing else to think about when look­ing abroad for a sec­ond home.

WHAT Res­i­dences at a new resort in a his­toric city.

WHERE San Miguel de Allende, Mex­ico.

AMENITIES Restau­rants and a spa and fit­ness cen­ter, among others.

PRICES Res­i­dences range from nearly $1 mil­lion to $3 million.

STATUS Con­struc­tion is sched­uled to be com­pleted in late 2009.

DEVELOPER Bald Moun­tain de Mexico.

CONTACT (800) 519‑7683 or www.artesanasanmiguel.com.

DETAILS San Miguel de Allende in cen­tral Mex­ico is a colo­nial city dat­ing from 1542. Known for its arts com­mu­nity and home to a fairly large num­ber of Amer­i­can expa­tri­ates, it has cob­ble­stone streets, a well-known cathe­dral and many pop­u­lar gal­leries, shops and restau­rants. This down­town project was in the works for about two years before Rose­wood Hotels & Resorts recently signed on. It will con­sist of a 63-suite resort and free-standing res­i­dences with two to five bed­rooms. At least 20 res­i­dences are planned ini­tially, with more likely to be avail­able in the future. From 1,800 to 7,500 square feet, they will fea­ture patios and rooftop decks, as well as foun­tains, arches and columns hand carved from local lime­stone; some will include spaces for wine cel­lars and screen­ing rooms. All the resort’s ameni­ties will be avail­able to own­ers. These include mul­ti­ple swim­ming pools, a rooftop lounge with a tapas bar, and restau­rants for both casual and fine din­ing. In addi­tion, there will be a space for art exhi­bi­tions and pro­grams at sev­eral local art schools; cook­ing and lan­guage classes will also be avail­able. Queré­taro Inter­na­tional Air­port, about an hour east, and Del Bajío Inter­na­tional Air­port, 90 min­utes west, have flights from the United States.

Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club

WHAT A Caribbean resort with residences.

WHERE Curaçao.

AMENITIES Beach access and a swim­ming pool, among others.

PRICES Home­sites from $250,000 and vil­las from $850,000.

STATUS Home­sites are avail­able now. Con­struc­tion of the vil­las is sched­uled to begin next month, with com­ple­tion expected next December.

DEVELOPER N.V. Hotel Kura Hulanda.

CONTACT (011) 599–9-839‑3616 or www.kurahulanda.com.

DETAILS The Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club is a gated resort that opened in 2005 on the north­west­ern coast of Curaçao, the largest of the Nether­lands Antilles islands, in the south­ern Caribbean just north of Venezuela. Var­i­ous res­i­den­tial options are avail­able at the resort, includ­ing home­sites at least a half acre in size and a new enclave of 18 three-bedroom adjoin­ing vil­las. There are 16 sites now and another 11 are planned to be offered for sale in the near future. The two-story, fur­nished vil­las, which will be in three– and four-unit clus­ters, will have mar­ble floors, patios fronting the ocean and ter­races with plunge pools. A rental pro­gram will be avail­able to own­ers. There is a pool on top of a cliff at the resort, with steps nearby that lead down to the white-sand beach. A reef is just off­shore, and the resort has its own dive shop. Among the mul­ti­ple restau­rants is a beach bar and grill. A fit­ness cen­ter, ten­nis courts, spa treat­ments, trails for hik­ing and bik­ing and a busi­ness cen­ter are avail­able as well. Daily shut­tle ser­vice runs between the resort and its sis­ter prop­erty, the Hotel Kura Hulanda Spa & Casino, about 40 min­utes away in Willem­stad, the cap­i­tal; this 80-room hotel is housed in Dutch colo­nial build­ings that are part of a Unesco World Her­itage site. The island’s air­port, with flights from the United States, is about a half hour from the Lodge.

MANUEL MEHOS was surf­ing one of Mexico’s best-known breaks when he looked up from his pad­dling in the Pacific. ”I said to myself,” he recalled, ”‘Wouldn’t it be great if there were a devel­op­ment here someday?”’

That was in 1999, and less than a decade later Mr. Mehos, a 53-year-old Hous­ton banker, was mov­ing into an 11,000-square-foot home over­look­ing the pad­dle chan­nel of his surf break and the 16th hole of the Punta Mita resort’s sec­ond Jack Nick­laus course. ”I always thought golf would be a good sec­ond sport for me,” said Mr. Mehos, the chair­man of Green Bank, who makes the two-hour com­mute twice a month with his wife, Lisa, 32. ”I plan on play­ing more when I retire.”

Punta Mita, a $2 bil­lion resort just north of Puerto Val­larta, is one of dozens of lux­ury golf com­mu­ni­ties lead­ing Amer­i­cans to buy abroad. From the Bahamas to Bermuda to the Caribbean and Mex­ico, courses are spring­ing up along combed beaches as devel­op­ers seek to draw more buy­ers from the usual golf get­aways within the United States, espe­cially Florida and Arizona.

”Golf is a very impor­tant com­po­nent of a devel­op­ment, espe­cially for sell­ing homes,” said Paul Kanavos, chief executive of Flag Lux­ury Prop­er­ties, which is devel­op­ing the Bac­carat Hotel and Res­i­dences at Temenos, a 286-acre resort on Anguilla. ”The Caribbean has grown in the past few years. After 9/11, wealthy Amer­i­cans who used to fly other places are headed to the Caribbean. The pro­lif­er­a­tion of pri­vate jet travel has also kept our sales strong.”

Whether they are buy­ing for per­sonal use, invest­ment or a rental oppor­tu­nity, plenty of wealthy Amer­i­can golfers are being lured by exotic set­tings, lower con­struc­tion costs and resort com­mu­ni­ties that offer hotel-like amenities.

While con­struc­tion costs can be rel­a­tively mod­est at these new sites — per­haps as low at $100 a square foot — there can be com­pli­ca­tions buy­ing over­seas. Vet­eran buy­ers say their new neigh­bors should pre­pare for a few hur­dles, from title issues and taxes to import duties on cars and furnishings.

Bermuda, less than two hours by plane from the East Coast, is no excep­tion. Own­ing there can take more effort than on other islands: buy­ers must be approved by the gov­ern­ment after sub­mit­ting ref­er­ences; non-Bermudians pay a 10 to 25 per­cent tax on their home pur­chase; all imported goods, includ­ing fur­ni­ture are taxed up to 30 per­cent; and only home­own­ers, not condo-owners, can have cars, but they must pass a Bermu­dian license test and pay 100 per­cent tax on an auto import.

Still, the island retains its allure for Amer­i­can buyers.

”We bought pre­con­struc­tion, and our prop­erty value has dou­bled,” said Michelle Boggs, 48, who owns a four-bedroom home with her hus­band, Ron Roys, 54, in Tucker’s Point Club in Tucker’s Town.

”I never thought you could buy here,” said Mr. Roys, a builder from Alexan­dria, Va.

Tucker’s Point, a 200-acre golf com­mu­nity, is enter­ing its final phase with a lux­ury hotel and spa. It is an anom­aly for an island that tightly con­trols devel­op­ment. Because Cas­tle Har­bour Ltd., the devel­oper of Tucker’s Point, is majority-held by a fam­ily that has owned the prop­erty since the 1950s, the project was given spe­cial devel­op­ment rights.

Water­front two-bedroom con­dos in Tucker’s Point start at $3.2 mil­lion. The club has a rather exclu­sive mem­bers list, includ­ing Michael Bloomberg, Ross Perot, and Michael Dou­glas and Cather­ine Zeta-Jones.

In the Bahamas, the Abaco Club on Wind­ing Bay on Abaco island has its own celebrity fac­tor. Two weeks before Christ­mas, Nick Faldo, the win­ner of six majors and a Golf Chan­nel com­men­ta­tor, could be seen play­ing boules on the beach. Don­ald Steel’s Irish links-style course, where an errant wave can inter­fere with a putt on 18, has attracted the likes of Dar­ren Clarke and Lee West­wood as home­own­ers. Devel­oped in 2004 by Peter de Savary as a pri­vate sport­ing club, the prop­erty was bought ear­lier this year by Ritz-Carlton Clubs.

”I was not in the mar­ket for a sec­ond home, but I fell in love with the casual, rus­tic nature of the place,” said Scott Andrews, 49, a co-founder of Har­vest Equity Part­ners, a pri­vate invest­ment firm in Mid­dle­burg, Va., who vis­its with his wife, Jen­nifer, 45, and two chil­dren. ”If you want to go to din­ner in shorts, you can.”

Home sites at the Abaco Club start at $1 mil­lion, and cot­tages at $600,000.

BUYERS seek­ing high-end golf get­aways in the Caribbean have been head­ing to the Domini­can Repub­lic for years; in fact, ever since Casa de Campo opened its Teeth of the Dog course in 1971 in La Romana, the island has been a sig­nif­i­cant des­ti­na­tion for golfers. These days, expan­sions and new projects are pulling in more prospec­tive buyers.

Casa de Campo itself now has four Pete Dye courses, a new spa, a restau­rant by Le Cirque, and new res­i­dences that range from $275,000 to $1.3 million.

Else­where on the island, the Punta Cana Resort & Club is offer­ing two new options. Corales, a 123-villa sea­side com­mu­nity, which already counts Oscar de la Renta, Julio Igle­sias, Mikhail Barysh­nikov and Bunny Williams as res­i­dents, has a Tom Fazio course that is sched­uled to open this sum­mer. Home sites at Corales start at $1.8 mil­lion for an acre. Away from the shore at Hacienda, 503 home sites will sur­round the resort’s sec­ond course by P. B. Dye, Pete’s son, which is sched­uled to open in 2009; Hacienda sites start at $412,000 for a half-acre.

”The golf here is prob­a­bly the best in the Caribbean,” said Robert Dia­mond, 69, who owns a 4,200-square-foot house with his wife, Roberta Fine­stone, 64, in La Cana, the resort’s first com­mu­nity. Retired from New York’s gar­ment indus­try, they spend 10 months of the year on the island run­ning Home Expres­sions, a new inte­rior design busi­ness, return­ing to Man­hat­tan for med­ical check-ups.

Terry Lynn Hol­land, 55, has a longer com­mute. The pres­i­dent of Pyra­mid Pre­ci­sion Machin­ing in San Diego, she returns monthly to her four-bedroom house on the 10th hole at La Cana, where, she says she is likely to see one of the resort’s more notable golfers. ”Mikhail always pops in for a cold beer when it’s rain­ing,” she said.

Six miles down the road from Punta Cana is Cap Cana, a 30,000-acre project — twice the size of Man­hat­tan — with Ritz-Carlton and Don­ald Trump among the devel­op­ers of a golf, hotel and marina com­mu­nity, with five courses and 1,000 slips.

”There was absolutely noth­ing here except a tiny palapa when we flew over by heli­copter,” said Fathi Kurd, 62, a retired vas­cu­lar sur­geon, who is spend­ing his first win­ter at Cap Cana, play­ing golf four times a week with his wife, Maria, 58, a retired pedi­a­tri­cian. Back in 2002, Mr. Kurd was in his Bed­ford, N.H., office when he saw an ad for the prop­erty in a boat­ing mag­a­zine. A year later, he had bought a pack­age for more than $1.6 mil­lion that included plans for an apart­ment, a home site, club mem­ber­ships and a boat slip. ”I thought it was a risky invest­ment in the begin­ning, but the value has increased incred­i­bly,” he said. Some of those lots sold early on are now sell­ing for $3.2 million.

The project, which is expected to take a total of 15 years to com­plete, is now offer­ing stu­dio bun­ga­lows from $465,000 and vil­las from $3.2 mil­lion. Lots at Mr. Trump’s devel­op­ment, Far­al­lon Estates at Cap Cana, on a bluff over­look­ing the sea, are $3.8 mil­lion to $24 million.

New buy­ers in the Domini­can Repub­lic are tax-exempt for 10 years, and the coun­try allows a one-time tax-exempt ship­ment of two con­tain­ers of imported goods, which can include automobiles.

Else­where in the Caribbean, the nation of St. Kitts and Nevis is expand­ing its lux­ury golf communities.

”At the time I bought in 2002, there weren’t many good golf courses in the Caribbean,” said Neil Aus­trian, 67, of Old Green­wich, Conn., who bought a villa with his wife, Nancy, 67, at the Four Sea­sons Resort Nevis. ”We wanted a turnkey oper­a­tion with a Good House­keep­ing stamp of approval run­ning it.” A retired pres­i­dent of the National Foot­ball League, he enjoys the weekly scram­bles with hotel guests and the fact that Mul­li­gan, his Nor­folk ter­rier, is also wel­come on the island.

First expo of its kind in the U.S. comes to Hous­ton Area

The Wood­lands Water­way Mar­riott Hotel and Con­ven­tion Cen­ter Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, April 19–20, 2008

THE WOODLANDS, Texas –– Ever thought of own­ing a sec­ond home? With boomers seek­ing the per­fect retire­ment des­ti­na­tion, young fam­i­lies dream­ing of a fun week­end retreat and stressed-out pro­fes­sion­als look­ing for a relax­ing get­away from the cor­po­rate world, more Amer­i­cans than ever before are say­ing “yes” to second-home ownership.

Escapes! Second-Home Expo, a mon­u­men­tal, two-day extrav­a­ganza of dream liv­ing des­ti­na­tions in Texas, the U.S. and around the world, comes to The Wood­lands Water­way Mar­riott Hotel and Con­ven­tion Cen­ter on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, April 19–20, with answers to every pos­si­ble ques­tion about own­ing a sec­ond home.

“We are so excited to have the oppor­tu­nity to bring this extra­or­di­nary event — the first of its kind in the coun­try — to the Hous­ton area,” said Tony Wood, pres­i­dent of Tex­wood Shows, Inc. Wood said that recent sta­tis­tics reflect that 57 per­cent of home­own­ers age 55–64 will pur­chase a sec­ond home within five years. “And a study by the National Asso­ci­a­tion of Home Builders reports that ten mil­lion baby boomers will own a sec­ond home by 2010.” Wood added that the Hous­ton Metro area is home to 1.3 mil­lion baby boomers.

“To help meet the grow­ing demand for infor­ma­tion on all aspects of the second-home mar­ket, we thought it was impor­tant to bring all the resources that peo­ple need to make deci­sions about buy­ing a sec­ond home together in one place.”

This spec­tac­u­lar event brings together, in one place and in one week­end, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of some of the most excit­ing U.S. and inter­na­tional second-home des­ti­na­tions avail­able. Exhibitors show­cas­ing the hottest vaca­tion, retire­ment and second-home prop­er­ties world­wide will be joined by dis­tin­guished speak­ers who have the answers to every pos­si­ble ques­tion on buy­ing and own­ing a second-home.

Mil­lions of Amer­i­cans are enjoy­ing the lux­ury of a sec­ond home. What used to be a real­ity only for the elite is now a grow­ing trend. Expo atten­dees will be able to get all the infor­ma­tion needed to look for a relax­ing vaca­tion home, the per­fect retire­ment com­mu­nity, a lucra­tive invest­ment prop­erty or a fun fam­ily retreat.

More than 40 sem­i­nars will be pre­sented by top indus­try experts on three Expo Stages: the Texas Stage, spon­sored by Farm Credit; the Inter­na­tional Stage, spon­sored by Stew­art Title; and U.S. Des­ti­na­tions Stage, spon­sored by Fair­way Living.

Wood is also pleased to have as Expo spon­sors the Mex­ico Board of Tourism, Hous­ton Chron­i­cle, Texas Monthly, the Travel Chan­nel and Con­ti­nen­tal Airlines.

Inter­na­tion­ally Acclaimed Speak­ers - Hot Top­ics
DR. Jim Gaines, research econ­o­mist at the highly acclaimed Real Estate Cen­ter at Texas A & M, will pro­vide an insight­ful analy­sis of cur­rent real estate trends in Texas and the long-term fore­cast for the real estate boom in Texas.

Learn why Texas is now the No. 2 U.S. retire­ment des­ti­na­tion, sur­pass­ing Ari­zona and Cal­i­for­nia – Florida is still No. 1, but the Lone Star State is gain­ing! His ses­sions on the Expo’s Texas Stage will also pro­vide second-home buy­ers with spe­cific data on pop­u­lar second-home des­ti­na­tions, includ­ing the Hill Coun­try, East Texas and the incred­i­bly pop­u­lar Texas Gulf Coast.

Mitch Creek­more, co-author of “Cash­ing in on a Sec­ond Home in Mex­ico” and exec­u­tive vice pres­i­dent, Stew­art Inter­na­tional, says “Mex­ico has it all!” He will dis­cuss why Mex­ico is the No. 1 retire­ment des­ti­na­tion for North Amer­i­cans and how to own res­i­den­tial real estate south of our bor­der. Get answers to these ques­tions and more: What is a “fide­icomisco?” — Who closes the trans­ac­tion in Mex­ico? — What are the hot markets?

Creek­more also comes to the Stew­art Inter­na­tional Stage in sep­a­rate ses­sions to dis­cuss second-home own­er­ship in the pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tions of Panama, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

Adsi­nar Cajar Bocek, Con­sulate Gen­eral of Panama (Hous­ton), will dis­cuss the Pen­sion­ado Visa, a retiree ben­e­fits pro­gram, and talk about why Panama is par­adise for retirees. He will lead a forum of dynamic pan­elists that includes Pana­man­ian pro­fes­sion­als who will speak to the real estate, finan­cial and legal/residency aspects of home own­er­ship in Panama – all on the Stew­art Inter­na­tional Stage.

Saman­tha Brown, lively and viva­cious Emmy Award-winning host on The Travel Chan­nel, stays busy guid­ing her TV view­ers through des­ti­na­tions in Latin Amer­ica, Europe, Hawaii and more! See her at the Expo’s U.S. Des­ti­na­tions Stage.

Steve Der­ing, pio­neer of the Equity Res­i­dence Club con­cept, will dis­cuss this spe­cial­ized form of frac­tional own­er­ship that has become the fastest-growing seg­ment of the vaca­tion real estate indus­try – on the Texas Stage.

Chris­tine Karpin­ski, author of “How to Rent Vaca­tion Prop­er­ties by Owner,” is often referred to as the most respected voice in the vaca­tion rental indus­try. As such, she is a fre­quent guest on CNN’s “Open House,” Bloomberg’s “Per­sonal Finance” and other TV and radio shows and is often inter­viewed on real estate top­ics for The Wall Street Jour­nal, Kiplinger’s Per­sonal Finance and more. U.S. Des­ti­na­tions Stage. ‚p> And there even more experts with key second-home infor­ma­tion, including:

Christo­pher Hill, CEO of Stew­art Title Latin Amer­ica; Joe A. Pat­ter­son, Jr., VP and branch man­ager of Cap­i­tal Farm Credit’s New Braun­fels credit office; Michael Gor­don, VP, bro­ker and direc­tor of real estate oper­a­tions for Horse­shoe Bay Resort on Lake LBJ; Cathi Mont­gomery, retired from the Depart­ment of Defense with numer­ous awards to her credit, now uses her skills to help oth­ers in buy­ing a sec­ond home; Brooke Black­welder, with Hunts­man Springs, will give an overview of the Teton Val­ley, Idaho; Rick Billing­ton will talk about Bran­son, Mis­souri and the beau­ti­ful Ozark Moun­tains; and Stacy Ger­ma­niuk, with Bear Moun­tain Resort, will talk about all that Canada’s largest and fastest-growing golf resort com­mu­nity has to offer.

Excep­tional Exhibitors
The long list of Expo Exhibitors includes rep­re­sen­ta­tives from prop­er­ties and devel­op­ments in Mex­ico, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Cen­tral Amer­ica, the Caribbean and golf com­mu­ni­ties and high-rise prop­er­ties in the U.S. and world­wide. Texas prop­er­ties in the mix include offer­ings in the Texas Hill Coun­try — Horse­shoe Bay, Lake Travis, Canyon Lake and more — and the rapidly grow­ing Texas Gulf Coast, includ­ing Galve­ston, South Padre Island, Rock­port and the Intra­coastal Water­way area. Other unique des­ti­na­tions that are rep­re­sented include the Bran­son area, Idaho, Col­orado, the Rocky Moun­tains, New Mex­ico and much, more!

Escapes! Second-Home Expo exhibitors rep­re­sent incred­i­ble second-home oppor­tu­ni­ties world­wide!
Getaway-Giveaways
Attend the Escapes! Second-Home Expo and reg­is­ter for a chance to win one of the out­stand­ing Get­away pack­ages! Spon­sors include: Horse­shoe Bay & Resort (Texas Hill Coun­try), Ran­cho San­tana (Man­agua), Reserva Con­chal (Costa Rica); Bear Moun­tain Resort (Canada), Brook­field Homes Hawaii and Con­ti­nen­tal Airlines.

Ever thought of own­ing a second-home? Now is the per­fect oppor­tu­nity to learn more! Plan now to attend the Escapes! Second-Home Expo!

Pre-purchased tick­ets are $10 online; $12 at the door. Ticket admits one adult for one day of the Expo. Two-day passes avail­able. For detailed infor­ma­tion on sem­i­nar times, a list of exhibitors, hotel accom­mo­da­tions and area attrac­tions, please visit the Web site below.

When mak­ing a real estate invest­ment deci­sion, agents encour­age you to con­sider fac­tors such as loca­tion, ocean views and swim­ming pools. When pur­chas­ing Mex­ico real estate, these fac­tors influ­ence you to fall in love but they should be tem­pered with an analy­sis of the invest­ment secu­rity. Be sure to under­stand and com­pare the rel­a­tive invest­ment secu­rity of each poten­tial deal based on seven factors:

1. Reg­is­tered Title

A title duly reg­is­tered with the Pub­lic Reg­istry of the munic­i­pal­ity is legally stronger than pos­ses­sion. This is part of why the Pub­lic Reg­istry exists – to broad­cast prop­erty claims to the gen­eral pub­lic and thereby extend broad legal pro­tec­tions to the owner. If a prop­erty is prop­erly reg­is­tered in your name, no one else may sell it or encum­ber it with­out due judi­cial process. This is only pos­si­ble with exist­ing prop­er­ties that are already reg­is­tered with the city.

2. Title Insurance

Title Insur­ance is the best tool to truly pro­tect your ini­tial invest­ment dol­lars and you can only get insur­ance at the moment you take title. Con­trary to com­mon myth, a Notario Público (Mex­i­can Notary) is not respon­si­ble for your invest­ment in a prop­erty. If a notary over­looks some­thing on a title search and some­one with a bet­ter title sues, your invest­ment is only cov­ered with title insur­ance from such com­pa­nies as First Amer­i­can Title, Stew­art Title, and Land America.

3. Phys­i­cal Possession

Phys­i­cal pos­ses­sion is an impor­tant con­cept in Mex­i­can law and evic­tions are com­pli­cated, but pos­ses­sion is only prac­ti­cal after the unit is com­pletely built. In the case of raw land or lot sales, you should be able to take pos­ses­sion from the moment your con­tract allows you to do so. The most com­mon way to take pos­ses­sion of raw land is to build a fence and post pri­vate prop­erty signs.

4. Full Escrow

Some of the more pro­gres­sive sell­ers are mov­ing towards an escrow sys­tem that is sim­i­lar to the US. In these cases, deposits are stored in escrow accounts which the devel­oper can use as evi­dence of finan­cial com­mit­ments with con­struc­tion lenders, who in turn loan the devel­oper money. Well-known in the US, this type of trans­ac­tion secures 100% of the invest­ment sub­ject to the escrow terms and the money is not released until the title is transferred.

5. Per­for­mance Bonds

A per­for­mance bond is a surety bond issued by an insur­ance com­pany to guar­an­tee sat­is­fac­tory com­ple­tion of a project by a builder and is usu­ally backed by sub­stan­tial seller col­lat­eral. If the builder fails to sat­isfy the con­di­tions in the “insur­ance” con­tract, the client is guar­an­teed com­pen­sa­tion up to the amount of the bond. It is rec­om­mended that any such con­tracts be con­tin­gent upon trans­fer of title, not just com­ple­tion of the project as liens may still delay title trans­fer after com­ple­tion of a project.

6. Voucher Control

Voucher con­trol is a com­pro­mise of escrow whereby a pro­fes­sional voucher con­trol com­pany releases buyer funds based on project mile­stones. For exam­ple, when a steel struc­ture is com­pleted, the devel­oper may request a por­tion of buyer funds to apply towards the con­struc­tion. The assur­ance to buy­ers is that the deposited money will not be spent on any­thing other than the com­ple­tion of con­struc­tion mile­stones. This is a more secure solu­tion com­pared to com­plete, unre­stricted use of down pay­ment funds by the seller for pre­con­struc­tion sales. Don’t con­sider Voucher Con­trol a “guar­an­tee,” but it is con­sid­ered a sign of good faith on the part of the seller of a pre­con­struc­tion project.

7. Cash Down Payments

Cash is the lifeblood of all con­struc­tion. The least expen­sive form of cash to a seller is of course your cash. Your cash allows a seller to build your future home and they usu­ally suc­ceed. But it is essen­tial to be aware that cash down pay­ments are the most liq­uid and least secure type of invest­ment. With cash pay­ments and no title you are buy­ing a promise instead of a prop­erty title. (That is not to say that cash down is always a poor invest­ment. This invest­ment con­cept can work well with a reli­able devel­oper and increas­ing mar­ket val­ues. The oppo­site is true in a declin­ing mar­ket and for a devel­oper with unsound busi­ness practices.)

When you are pay­ing cash with­out title, be espe­cially aware of the rep­u­ta­tion of the seller. Weigh the result­ing trust with the cash that you will need to place in the investment.

Let good sense have its due place along­side the excite­ment of seek­ing your dream home along Mexico’s shores.

SAYULITA, Mex­ico — For some res­i­dents of this for­merly secret surfers’ haven on the Pacific coast, the sure sign of gen­tri­fi­ca­tion came in Decem­ber with the open­ing of the town’s first wine bar. Oth­ers cite the $18,000 life-size wooden horse dis­played at a swank home décor shop north of town as evi­dence of the area’s seis­mic demo­graphic shift. Still oth­ers point down the beach toward gated Punta Mita, where new vil­las start at $4 million.

Could celebrity sight­ings be far away?

“There’s one behind you now,” says Richard Zarkin, whose job is to mar­ket the image of what may well be Mexico’s Next Great Place. He motions to a hunky guy at the next table hunched over a lap­top and a bowl of oatmeal.

Indeed, it’s groom­ing guru Kyan Dou­glas, one of the stars of the for­mer Bravo TV real­ity show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and a new Sayulita home­owner. So what if he lacks the stature of, say, a Richard Bur­ton, whose pres­ence (along with Eliz­a­beth Tay­lor, direc­tor John Hus­ton and a cadre of other Hol­ly­wood greats) helped pro­pel nearby Puerto Val­larta to fab­u­lous sta­tus back in the 1960s? The horde of devel­op­ers, hote­liers and mar­keters flock­ing in recent years to this 100-mile stretch now known as the Riv­iera Nayarit are see­ing to it that the word gets out.

The beaches here range from secluded rocky coves to wide, palm-fringed expanses. The sea shim­mers a daz­zling Caribbean blue on some stretches, thanks to an abun­dance of coral reefs. And thick jun­gle foliage cloaks the slopes of the Sierra Madres that tum­ble toward the shore.

The char­ac­ter of the 20 or so Riv­iera Nayarit locales varies from bustling to sleepy. The coast begins atNuevo Val­larta, chock­ablock with big, all-inclusive resorts 15 min­utes north of the Puerto Val­larta air­port, and ends at San Blas, whose largest hotel has only 50 rooms. In between lies every­thing from new ultra-exclusive gated enclaves such as Punta Mita; the ‘70s-vintage mass-market resort town of Rincón de Guayabitos; pris­tine beaches that draw campers, such as Cha­cala; and fish­ing vil­lages with grow­ing ex-pat pop­u­la­tions, such as Sayulita and San Francisco.

In the past two years, the Mex­i­can gov­ern­ment has infused the coast with $1.5 bil­lion in infra­struc­ture, pri­mar­ily at the south­ern end on the Bay of Ban­deras. But the region took a pro­mo­tional leap for­ward last year when Mex­i­can tourist offi­cials tacked “Riv­iera” to the state name of Nayarit. Within three months of the March 2007 announce­ment, more invest­ment money poured into the state than in all of 2006. When land in one government-planned resort went on the block, it sold out in only 20 days.

Mean­while, in var­i­ous places along the coast, vil­lages whose com­merce once revolved around taco stands and auto repair shops have sprouted organic cafes, yoga stu­dios — and hotels for well-heeled trav­el­ers who demand such ameni­ties. Nine­teen lodg­ings with more than 4,000 rooms are slated to open by 2011. One major devel­op­ment, Litibú, will house seven upscale resorts and bou­tique hotels, and a Greg Nor­man golf course is due to open there this fall. Far­ther south at La Cruz de Hua­nacax­tle, a new marina accom­mo­dat­ing yachts of up to 400 feet opened in Decem­ber, with more sur­round­ing hotels, shops and hous­ing to come in the next two years.

This sort of cushy exclu­siv­ity is draw­ing Hol­ly­wood glit­terati — Jen­nifer Anis­ton, Will Smith and John Tra­volta have checked into pri­vate vil­las. And Brit­ney Spears, Robert De Niro and Elton John are among past celebrity sight­ings at the Four Sea­sons Punta Mita.

In fact, the Four Sea­sons, where high-season rates start at $590 a night and the pool­side cabanas rent for $250 a day, sparked the lux­ury devel­op­ment boom when it opened in 1999 on 1,500 acres of man­i­cured per­fec­tion. Now, pri­vate vil­las in the gated resort com­mu­nity are priced at up to $6 mil­lion. A sec­ond Jack Nick­laus golf course opens this fall, as does a 120-room St. Regis hotel next door. Also at Punta Mita, a super-exclusive adults-only suites hotel opens in 2010, and the Enchant­ment Group just announced it will open a 30-room des­ti­na­tion spa the same year.

A sec­ond government-planned tourist devel­op­ment with an air­port is des­tined far­ther north at El Capomo. And just south of there at Punta Raza, pri­vate devel­op­ers have started work on a project that will yield eight hotels, includ­ing a Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt, 950 homes and a golf course.

Up and down the coast, hand-lettered for-sale signs promis­ing pri­vacy and views peek through the jun­gle foliage. In some towns, real estate sales offices mas­querad­ing as “cul­tural cen­ters” lure unsus­pect­ing visitors.

Clearly, the land rush is in full swing. And while that may annoy some, some new­com­ers are tak­ing the rapidly chang­ing land­scape in stride.

“The self­ish part of me wants to keep this place a secret,” says Dou­glas, fin­ish­ing his break­fast at Choco Banana, a pop­u­lar eatery in the heart of Sayulita. The Queer Eye star dis­cov­ered the fish­ing vil­lage — not so long ago an off-the-beaten-path surf­ing spot — in Octo­ber, when he sneaked out of a nearby yoga retreat to get an iced mocha in town. “But the real­ity is, every­thing changes.”

Ian Hodge, an early ex-pat res­i­dent who first came here to surf in 1999, isn’t bemoan­ing the changes either, given crea­ture com­forts such as high-speed Inter­net and steady water pres­sure he now enjoys in his jun­gle home. Hodge dates the begin­ning of the boom to 2004, when more Amer­i­cans began build­ing houses. That, in turn, spurred the open­ing of more restau­rants and more hotels.

“When we moved here, we never dreamed this would hap­pen,” says the for­mer Bend, Ore., res­i­dent. “But I think Sayulita is bet­ter than ever. You can get a non-fat latte and good wine and good cheese and bet­ter veg­eta­bles than you’ll find in (Puerto) Val­larta. But it’s not a tran­quil lit­tle fish­ing vil­lage any­more. It’s a thriv­ing Mex­i­can vil­lage that thrives because of visitors.”

Just north of Sayulita, lit­tle San Fran­cisco (pop­u­larly known as San Pan­cho) seems staid in con­trast to the surf town’s bois­ter­ous eclec­ti­cism. Side­walk taco stands out­num­ber full-service restau­rants. The wide, white beach is laid back by day, and the cob­bled main drag is deserted by early evening. The town has an artis­tic bend, with an annual music fes­ti­val and a 40-member artists’ col­lec­tive. Vaca­tion vil­las are perched on the hill­sides around a town that has long boasted more ameni­ties than sim­i­lar vil­lages, thanks, in part, to for­mer Mex­i­can pres­i­dent Luis Echev­er­ria, who had a vaca­tion home here.

Long­time San Fran­cisco res­i­dent Mayte Cis­neros relies on tourism as part owner of Bun­ga­lows Lydia, a for­mer fam­ily retreat set on a spec­tac­u­lar ocean­front bluff over­look­ing an arc of secluded beach. But even good times like these can be disconcerting.

“Peo­ple say, ‘You are the only Mex­i­cans here.’ Yes, it seems like we are, and we’re not leav­ing,” she declares.

At the Riv­iera Nayarit’s north­ern reaches in San Blas, there’s less evi­dence of a tourist boom, though a new marina is under con­struc­tion. The area attracts bird-watchers from Novem­ber to March. His­tory buffs come to see the home of 18th-century mis­sion founder Junipero Serra. And in sum­mer, novice surfers flock to its shal­low 2-mile long beach. But the swarms of jejenes (hay-HAY-nays, or bit­ing gnats) and mos­qui­toes, which breed in the thick man­groves there, have thus far out­wit­ted tourism developers.

Betty Vasquez, a Cor­don Bleu-trained chef who runs the restau­rant at her family’s Hotel Garza Canela, doesn’t mind. “We respect the envi­ron­ment here,” she says. “This is still a quiet town. We still know each other. We don’t want an onslaught of tourism.”

Nei­ther does Juan Bernal. But like it or not, it’s coming.

The 23-year-old and his par­ents oper­ate Rincón del Cielo, a small hotel on one of the pret­ti­est beaches in Mex­ico. It’s a basic (no elec­tric­ity) eight-room oper­a­tion fac­ing a 1½-mile arc of sand lead­ing to an estuary.

Bernal motions to a road cut­ting through the coconut palms to where work on the eight-hotel Punta Raza devel­op­ment is beginning.

“They’ve blocked access. They want to put up a wall for pro­tec­tion,” he says with a laugh.

But when it’s sug­gested that the new com­merce might be good for his own family’s enter­prise, he inter­rupts, say­ing, “We like things they way they are now.”

We last saw Tim Koogle, in a very pub­lic way, on his way out the door as Yahoo’s CEO, just as the com­pany was suf­fer­ing some inter­nal strife and a kind of inter­nal inno­va­tion slow­down. The com­pany was mulling lay­offs, had issued a Wall Street warn­ing and Koogle tells me he had reached the deci­sion, on his own, to leave the com­pany he had helped build from scratch.

Those 25 hour days, 8 days a week, had taken their toll on him per­son­ally and pro­fes­sion­ally, as he took Yahoo past its first $1 bil­lion in rev­enue, and he decided to move on.

Flash for­ward six years and Koogle is tak­ing the wraps off his lat­est project, the El Banco Beach Vil­las in Punta Mita, Mex­ico near Puerta Val­larta. And what a devel­op­ment this place is. But before jump­ing into our exclu­sive tour of this lux­u­ri­ous enclave, I had to ask him about Yahoo’s cur­rent chal­lenges. He was reluc­tant, but in his first pub­lic com­ments about Yahoo’s prob­lems, he ulti­mately told me that “the com­pany is chal­lenged. It has been for a while.

“My per­sonal opin­ion is they did not step up and do a very good job at main­tain­ing their abil­ity to inno­vate at the rate they needed to…And if you don’t invent it, some­one else will. I guar­an­tee you. And if you don’t do it quick enough, some­body will do it quicker than you and they will steal the show… They lost that rate of inno­va­tion there, got a lit­tle bit wrapped around the action there with bureau­cracy, got way slow and they’re see­ing that now.”

He still fol­lows the company’s tri­als and tribu­la­tions, but is far more focused on this high-end res­i­den­tial real estate devel­op­ment. He calls it a “nice lit­tle project,” but in real­ity, it is a 100-acre retreat, with 14 home sites, and plans for a 75-room bou­tique hotel, beach club and spa. Punta Mita has never seen a project like this one. It’s a gor­geous part of the world, punc­tu­ated by the nearby Four Sea­sons Hotel. And El Banco is a labor of love, quite lit­er­ally, for Koogle, and his wife Pam.

“We both have one word inscribed inside our wed­ding bands,” she tells me. “And that is ‘serendip­ity, because it’s so serendip­i­tous how it happened.”

Serendip­i­tous because Pam and Tim actu­ally met online. What do you expect from the for­mer CEO of Yahoo. Tim tells me “I was doing research for a project.” Pam chimes in, “Oh yeah, doing research.” They both laugh. He says, “And there was Pam’s face.” And she offers, “Research is hell.” And lots more laughter.

They hon­ey­mooned in Punta Mita, fell in love with the place, and are now in the midst of a major devel­op­ment to share this mag­i­cal place with oth­ers look­ing for the same thing.

Two model homes have now been com­pleted, each with an ask­ing price of around $7 mil­lion. The 12, 2-acre beach­front lots sold for $4 mil­lion. And the atten­tion to detail inside the mod­els is strik­ing. Intri­cate, arched, brick, Boveda ceil­ings in the mas­ter suite in one home; indoor-outdoor bathes in both homes; arched walk­ways; infin­ity pools.

The archi­tec­ture is rooted in Span­ish Colo­nial with a healthy dash of Moroc­can influ­ence. It’s a mas­sive project and Pam con­fides: “We never so much as remod­eled a kitchen together, so build­ing a town was def­i­nitely a chal­lenge to our mar­riage.” Pam’s in charge of the inte­rior design; Tim, with his PhD in engi­neer­ing, took charge of the secu­rity, water treat­ment, sewage and desalin­iza­tion systems.

Their blend works, but that’s where the biggest chal­lenge lies, with the Koogles run­ning the risk of turn­ing this place of par­adise into a place of “work” instead. Tim tells me, ” It’s very dif­fi­cult to make that line, make it really clear between work and life. It is some­thing we rec­og­nize. She says always, we aim for bal­ance, but we’re bad shots.”

Bal­ance may be dif­fi­cult; but it remains a pri­or­ity. “You can see the fruits of your labor, you can cre­ate some­thing phys­i­cally of beauty, and you can see peo­ple enjoy it for a long period of time,” says Tim.

The Koogles try­ing to cap­ture a new way of doing busi­ness — sell­ing this prop­erty as much as sell­ing a life-style; doing for oth­ers what he is already doing for himself.

O VALLARTA, Mex­ico – Two states of mind coex­ist in this resort area on Mexico’s warm Pacific Coast. And they couldn’t be more dif­fer­ent, as my sis­ter and I discovered.To the north of the air­port lies spank­ing new Nuevo Val­larta in Nayarit state. To the south, old Val­larta in Jalisco.

My sis­ter and her hus­band stayed at the new jewel of Nayarit’s tourism indus­try – the Four Sea­sons Resort at Punta Mita – and even weeks of plan­ning weren’t enough for them to get the digs they wanted.

They ended up slum­ming, rel­a­tively speak­ing, in the cheap­est room at just over $600 per night with twin beds and no ocean view.

I, on the other hand, was actu­ally slum­ming, pick­ing the best bar­gain I could find on a cou­ple of weeks’ notice in the heart of old Puerto Vallarta.

My entire pack­age – three days, two nights in a two-star hotel and round-trip air­fare from Mex­ico City – was still $200 shy of their nightly room rate. And their six-day hol­i­day cost thou­sands of dollars.

Val­larta, to use the generic term that cov­ers both old and new areas, is unique among Mex­i­can resorts in the vari­ety of what it offers along more than 50 miles of beau­ti­ful coastline.

It ranges from cob­ble­stone streets bor­dered by out­door cafes pop­u­lar among the locals, to absolute seclu­sion where Eng­lish is the offi­cial lan­guage and the only other peo­ple you will see are fel­low guests and the hosts.

Amer­i­cans are flock­ing to buy multimillion-dollar beach lots in Nayarit as well as hill­side con­dos in the so-called “roman­tic zone” in the extreme south of the port.

I was deter­mined to enjoy my vaca­tion on the cheap and not allow it to pale in com­par­i­son to my rel­a­tives’ just because of the thou­sands of dol­lars that marked the gap between our budgets.

But let’s start this jour­ney in the lap of luxury.

I tracked down my sis­ter and brother-in-law in the bustling air­port on a Sat­ur­day. They were easy enough to find since their dri­ver was wait­ing for them with a promi­nent sign.

We were whisked into a nearby Sub­ur­ban and offered moist tow­els and refreshments.

About 45 min­utes later, the Four Sea­sons guard tower appeared, and we were waved in to smil­ing greeters.

Min­utes later, an English-language tour of the exten­sive grounds com­menced aboard an elec­tric golf cart. Soon, we were nosh­ing on the chips, gua­camole and salsa spread out before our arrival.
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On our first walk­a­bout, a peace­ful­ness filled the jun­gle­like grounds where the ocean ebbed far below, birds chirped and only the occa­sional pass­ing of a golf cart momen­tar­ily broke the spell of being on a deserted island.

More than a hotel, the Four Sea­sons at Punta Mita is a par­a­disi­a­cal com­pound, with gourmet restau­rants, a full-service spa, and acres and acres dot­ted with the agave plants used to make tequila.

The set­ting is strik­ing, set on a hill­side over­look­ing a remark­able chunk of sandy, wild real estate.
Live gui­tar music wafts through the lobby, voices are kept to a mur­mur, the stars are brighter because of the seclu­sion, and the ocean pro­vides the soundtrack.

Diesel buses and music blar­ing from over­taxed radios at taco stands were the first sounds I heard after ven­tur­ing a half block from my hotel, El Pescador.

But inside, the hotel was quiet and clean. I passed up the $16 per night charge for an ocean view and even turned down the $5 per night mini-fridge.

With two con­ve­nience stores and a super­mar­ket within two blocks, cold drinks and cheap food were five min­utes away.

So was the bus stop. As I waited for my room to be read­ied, I ven­tured toward the sea­wall area, or malecón, which took about 10 min­utes by bus. Cost: 45 cents.
The sea­wall is dot­ted with sculp­tures, some whim­si­cal (aliens walk­ing up a lad­der on their way back to outer space) and some with a local feel (a Mex­i­can cou­ple danc­ing in tra­di­tional dress).

On the other side of the street, early after­noon party-types were buy­ing drinks along the seem­ingly end­less line of restau­rants, bars and clubs that face the ocean, my favorite being the Cuban haunt Bode­guita del Medio.

As the sea­wall ends, the Zona Román­tica begins. It’s dom­i­nated by older hotels, some remod­eled, oth­ers in just pass­able shape. But most are inex­pen­sive, and nearly every­thing is within walk­ing distance.

The area has out­door cafes, sand­wich shops and retro bars.

After tak­ing the bus back to the hotel, I found my room tidy if a lit­tle dark. My win­dow looked onto a hall­way. Only a sliver of ocean was visible.

The pool was sim­ple but nice, and there was free Inter­net ser­vice in the lobby (or a com­puter with Inter­net that could be rented).

Dur­ing my week­end stay, the beach was packed near the restau­rants and bars, but not so much in other areas.

Drinks were cheap, about $2.50, and included an umbrella for shade and a cou­ple of chairs.

Malecón night life was lively, with dif­fer­ent musi­cal styles pour­ing from both gringo-ish and very chic Mex­i­can clubs, and the Zona Román­tica was hop­ping well past midnight.

My sis­ter and her hus­band were prob­a­bly already asleep. The Four Sea­sons lobby-bar had closed, and the place prob­a­bly was dead quiet.

But that was the beauty of slum­ming. With $20 in my pocket, I could stay out late and have enough for a $4 dol­lar taxi ride back to my hotel and drinks on the beach the next day.

There, I would close my eyes and hear the same ocean that was crash­ing onto sands at Punta Mita, and the same seag­ulls, inter­rupted, to be sure, by mur­mur­ing voices.

All in all, it’s still the beach, still Val­larta, and def­i­nitely worth every cent.

When mak­ing a real estate invest­ment deci­sion, agents encour­age you to con­sider fac­tors such as loca­tion, ocean views and swim­ming pools. When pur­chas­ing Mex­ico real estate, these fac­tors influ­ence you to fall in love but they should be tem­pered with an analy­sis of the invest­ment secu­rity. Be sure to under­stand and com­pare the rel­a­tive invest­ment secu­rity of each poten­tial deal based on seven factors:

1. Reg­is­tered Title

A title duly reg­is­tered with the Pub­lic Reg­istry of the munic­i­pal­ity is legally stronger than pos­ses­sion. This is part of why the Pub­lic Reg­istry exists – to broad­cast prop­erty claims to the gen­eral pub­lic and thereby extend broad legal pro­tec­tions to the owner. If a prop­erty is prop­erly reg­is­tered in your name, no one else may sell it or encum­ber it with­out due judi­cial process. This is only pos­si­ble with exist­ing prop­er­ties that are already reg­is­tered with the city.

2. Title Insurance

Title Insur­ance is the best tool to truly pro­tect your ini­tial invest­ment dol­lars and you can only get insur­ance at the moment you take title. Con­trary to com­mon myth, a Notario Público (Mex­i­can Notary) is not respon­si­ble for your invest­ment in a prop­erty. If a notary over­looks some­thing on a title search and some­one with a bet­ter title sues, your invest­ment is only cov­ered with title insur­ance from such com­pa­nies as First Amer­i­can Title, Stew­art Title, and Land America.

3. Phys­i­cal Possession

Phys­i­cal pos­ses­sion is an impor­tant con­cept in Mex­i­can law and evic­tions are com­pli­cated, but pos­ses­sion is only prac­ti­cal after the unit is com­pletely built. In the case of raw land or lot sales, you should be able to take pos­ses­sion from the moment your con­tract allows you to do so. The most com­mon way to take pos­ses­sion of raw land is to build a fence and post pri­vate prop­erty signs.

4. Full Escrow

Some of the more pro­gres­sive sell­ers are mov­ing towards an escrow sys­tem that is sim­i­lar to the US. In these cases, deposits are stored in escrow accounts which the devel­oper can use as evi­dence of finan­cial com­mit­ments with con­struc­tion lenders, who in turn loan the devel­oper money. Well-known in the US, this type of trans­ac­tion secures 100% of the invest­ment sub­ject to the escrow terms and the money is not released until the title is transferred.

5. Per­for­mance Bonds

A per­for­mance bond is a surety bond issued by an insur­ance com­pany to guar­an­tee sat­is­fac­tory com­ple­tion of a project by a builder and is usu­ally backed by sub­stan­tial seller col­lat­eral. If the builder fails to sat­isfy the con­di­tions in the “insur­ance” con­tract, the client is guar­an­teed com­pen­sa­tion up to the amount of the bond. It is rec­om­mended that any such con­tracts be con­tin­gent upon trans­fer of title, not just com­ple­tion of the project as liens may still delay title trans­fer after com­ple­tion of a project.

6. Voucher Control

Voucher con­trol is a com­pro­mise of escrow whereby a pro­fes­sional voucher con­trol com­pany releases buyer funds based on project mile­stones. For exam­ple, when a steel struc­ture is com­pleted, the devel­oper may request a por­tion of buyer funds to apply towards the con­struc­tion. The assur­ance to buy­ers is that the deposited money will not be spent on any­thing other than the com­ple­tion of con­struc­tion mile­stones. This is a more secure solu­tion com­pared to com­plete, unre­stricted use of down pay­ment funds by the seller for pre­con­struc­tion sales. Don’t con­sider Voucher Con­trol a “guar­an­tee,” but it is con­sid­ered a sign of good faith on the part of the seller of a pre­con­struc­tion project.

7. Cash Down Payments

Cash is the lifeblood of all con­struc­tion. The least expen­sive form of cash to a seller is of course your cash. Your cash allows a seller to build your future home and they usu­ally suc­ceed. But it is essen­tial to be aware that cash down pay­ments are the most liq­uid and least secure type of invest­ment. With cash pay­ments and no title you are buy­ing a promise instead of a prop­erty title. (That is not to say that cash down is always a poor invest­ment. This invest­ment con­cept can work well with a reli­able devel­oper and increas­ing mar­ket val­ues. The oppo­site is true in a declin­ing mar­ket and for a devel­oper with unsound busi­ness practices.)

When you are pay­ing cash with­out title, be espe­cially aware of the rep­u­ta­tion of the seller. Weigh the result­ing trust with the cash that you will need to place in the investment.

Let good sense have its due place along­side the excite­ment of seek­ing your dream home along Mexico’s shores.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nayarit, Mex­ico — As the sun eased into the silky blue ham­mock of the Pacific Ocean, Frank Smith, a bare­footed U.S. expat, braked a dune buggy by the palm trees on this pris­tine vil­lage beach.

He hoisted a Sty­ro­foam cooler and dumped out the unlikely con­tents: not tequila or Coro­nas, but a cas­cade of coarse sand and three dozen palm-sized sea turtles.

Head­ing unerr­ingly for the surf, the 36-hour-old hatch­lings will return to the beach in a dozen years to lay eggs — that is, if there’s still a beach on this fast-growing coast north of Puerto Vallarta.

I’m root­ing for the tur­tles. And for the whales. Mag­nif­i­cent 40-ton hump­backs use these clear, warm waters as a nurs­ery each win­ter, lolling and leap­ing in what humans would call pure joy. See­ing them is part of the magic of vis­it­ing this laid-back vil­lage, but devel­op­ment is just around the bend.

As Puerto Val­larta sprawls north­ward into Nuevo Val­larta, on the bor­der of Nayarit state, a lot more dune bug­gies and cool­ers will follow.

On a late Jan­u­ary visit we explored sev­eral alter­na­tives to the fabled “Love Boat” des­ti­na­tion. The hotel-crammed city on the Bahia de Ban­deras, Mexico’s largest bay, seems to scream “spring break,” with all-American brands from Hard Rock Cafe to Star­bucks crowd­ing a frayed rib­bon of sand. But within an hour of down­town, we found coastal towns that were reas­sur­ingly cheap, funky and friendly.

San Fran­cisco, dubbed San Pan­cho by locals, was our first stop. A 20-mile drive just north of the bay, it lives up to its rep as the most spec­tac­u­lar beach on the coast.

Our taxi dri­ver Arturo, cheer­fully, promised a quick trip over the moun­tain, but the Pan-American High­way — here, a two-lane road — slowed our progress. “Did I say 35 min­utes?” he asked cheer­fully, after a half hour. “It’s one hour!”

The steep jun­gle hills gave way to a small bridge that rum­bled as we crossed into town, pass­ing horses and dusty cars. Big translu­cent waves thun­dered on the beach as we walked into a palapa — a hut with palm fronds for a roof — and were promptly handed a beer.

The palapa was the breezy cafe of Costa Azul, a small adobe hotel on the edge of town. We liked its offer of an “adven­ture pack­age” that let us kayak and snorkel off­shore at no extra charge. (The adven­ture also included a com­plete non-communications pack­age: no TVs, phones or Internet.)

Another free­bie: the whales. As we swam in the surf, a shout from the beach alerted us to a hump­back sur­fac­ing in the dis­tance. The next day we saw sev­eral more, from a dis­tance of 100 yards, as we approached the Mari­etas Islands on a motorboat.

A national wild­ife sanc­tu­ary pro­tects blue-footed boo­bies and other birds on these vol­canic rocks. Evi­dently they resent vis­it­ing snorkel­ers, dous­ing a few of us with guano as we anchored in a calm cove.

San Pan­cho is begin­ning to pro­tect wildlife, too. Thanks to Frank Smith’s efforts, more marine tur­tles are sur­viv­ing here each year.

In this poor vil­lage of 1,400, locals used to eat the tur­tle eggs they col­lected from the beach. But in 2000, when the high­way opened, con­struc­tion of new hotels, con­dos and busi­nesses in the region boomed.

“Sud­denly, every­one who wanted a job could have one,” Mr. Smith told us. Fam­i­lies had pay­checks, kids began to learn tur­tle ecol­ogy at school, and Mr. Smith built a tur­tle nurs­ery (the sand-filled cool­ers) to pro­tect the eggs. “In 1991, we had 200 nests,” he told us. “Now we have 900.”

Tourists have boosted busi­ness along San Pancho’s cob­ble­stoned main street. A half-dozen shops and cafes have opened along Ter­cer Mundo.

On the beach, ven­dors offered sil­ver jew­elry with Eng­lish one-liners. “Cheaper than Wal-Mart!” insisted one.

We dined on tiny, deli­cious tacos at Las Del­fi­nas, a take­out win­dow with a few tables on the street, for $5, and splurged at La Ola Rico, end­ing a fine din­ner with sweet home­made flan, for $65.

A solo tuba con­cert at a fiesta in the town square and a quiet walk on the beach were the only choices for San Pan­cho nightlife.

In Sayulita, five miles south of San Pan­cho, the streets and the beach were far more lively. The town pulls surfers with a rep­u­ta­tion for big waves, but we saw only flat seas and big crowds. On the beach, crowds of young Amer­i­cans over­flowed the cafes.

Over­flow­ing was the word for the beach, and many of the bathing suits, in Puerto Val­larta the next day. On a Sun­day after­noon, every inch of the beach­front male­con (board­walk) was jammed. We threaded our way along the prom­e­nade to the Playa los Muer­tos new pier, head­ing south to Yelapa. The fish­ing vil­lage on the south­ern tip of the bay can be reached only by water taxi.

Dodg­ing div­ing teenagers, motor­boats and fish­er­men, a pony­tailed cop in bathing suit and with a cell phone tossed our lug­gage into a 20-passenger boat, and we jumped aboard. Halfway through the 45-minute trip, the cap­tain throt­tled back, shout­ing to the crew and point­ing. More whales?

This time, the attrac­tion was not bal­lenas, but cala­mar. The cap­tain cir­cled back to a five-foot squid in the water, hooked it, and threw it into the boat.

It didn’t move. Our cap­tain had just picked up the equiv­a­lent of road kill and was cheer­fully tak­ing it home for dinner.

Our des­ti­na­tion, another fish­ing vil­lage, put both the rus­tic and the rhyme in rus­tic chic. Our room on the beach was a Yelapa palapa called La Joya. The tiny hut offered good beds, run­ning water and not much more. It made San Pancho’s Costa Azul look like the Costa del Sol.

Within 20 feet of our door (which did lock), we could clearly hear a pack of vil­lage dogs, a tree full of roost­ing chick­ens, a sta­ble with a dozen snuf­fling horses, and the TV at the local can­tina. The bod­ies inside the yoga stu­dio next door didn’t seem to move once in the two days we passed by.

A few more steps returned us to a cres­cent beach, sur­rounded by tall green hills. Party boats from Puerto Val­larta make the trip here daily, but by evening the scene reverted to one can­dlelit cafe, bril­liant stars and a bon­fire. After din­ner, local fans of a TV soap opera pulled plas­tic chairs up to the can­tina win­dow, which became an open-air theater.

Our early morn­ing water taxi trip back to Puerto Val­larta was crowded with com­muters, jump­ing onto the docks of nearby Mis­lo­moya and Boca de Tomat­lan for a day’s work. As we headed toward the city, a final whale on the hori­zon flipped its tail in our direction.

On the hori­zon here are con­struc­tion, con­do­mini­ums and, even­tu­ally, crowds. The glo­ri­ous set­ting won’t change, but the sur­round­ings will.

That’s rea­son enough to make like those tur­tle hatch­lings. Head for the Mex­i­can Pacific. But go now.

Puerto Val­larta, Mexico–(HISPANIC PR WIRE � PRNewswire)–February 29, 2008–The Val­larta Zoo cel­e­brates another vic­tory over extinc­tion. Nine cubs were born at the zoo in the last few weeks: 2 Golden Ben­gal Tigers, 4 Black Pan­thers and 3 Com­mon Ben­gal Tigers. The baby cubs are already draw­ing locals and tourists from all over the world, who are mak­ing the jour­ney for the sole expe­ri­ence of play­ing, hug­ging and tak­ing pic­tures with the kittens.

The Mex­i­can tourist des­ti­na­tion of Puerto Val­larta has been in the news all over the world thanks to Zoo­logico de Val­larta, which has expe­ri­enced a baby boom in the last few months with the birth of a vari­ety of ani­mals, many of them in dan­ger of extinction.

Not even celebri­ties can resist the temp­ta­tion of play­ing with these adorable felines, as Mex­i­can singer Eze­quiel Pena and inter­na­tional actress Norma Her­rera show in these pictures.

Stretch­ing lux­u­ri­ously along Mexico�s mag­nif­i­cent mid-Pacific Coast, Riv­iera Nayarit was unknown to most inter­na­tional trav­el­ers only a few years ago. Now, it is hard to keep up with the impres­sive new attrac­tions and ser­vices, includ­ing a wealth of new resorts and golf courses and, for lucky res­i­dents of Mem­phis and nearby cities, new air ser­vice.

Punta Mita
Sev­eral new resorts are open­ing in Punta Mita. The St. Regis Punta Mita is open­ing in the fall of 2008, fea­tur­ing 120 mag­nif­i­cently appointed guest rooms and suites which include 89 Casita rooms with beach view, 70 with king beds, 19 with two queen beds, 10 Junior Suites, 16 Deluxe Suites, three Deluxe One-Bedroom Suites, one Lux­ury Two Bed­room Suite and one Pres­i­den­tial Suite. The resort will also fea­ture a 10,000 square foot Remede spa and 3,200 square feet of meet­ing and func­tion space, mak­ing the resort ideal for all kinds of spe­cial events, and, of course, all the sig­na­ture ser­vices for which the St. Regis brand is renowned world­wide, includ­ing its trade­mark but­ler ser­vice. The resort also will fea­ture Punta Mita’s sec­ond Jack Nick­laus Sig­na­ture golf course with greens mean­der­ing through the resort grounds, two pools and three full-service restaurants.

No less excit­ing for Punta Mita is the inti­mate Hotel des Artistes and Punta de Mita Beach Club and Spa, a new resort offer­ing twelve two and three bed­room beach­front suites, an ath­letic club and spa, art gallery, a rooftop infin­ity pool, hot tub and bar and fine din­ing under the direc­tion of world-renowned chef Thierry Blouet at the Caf� des Artistes du Mer.

Litib�
An exten­sion of the pres­ti­gious resort area of Punta Mita, Litib�, is one of Riv­iera Nayarit�s fastest grow­ing areas, with eight new hotels and resorts on the way, thanks the sup­port of Fonatur, Mexico�s national tourism depart­ment. Among them is La Tran­quila com­posed of 73 exclu­sive pri­vate res­i­dences (in the first phase of devel­op­ment) sit­u­ated on the Bay of Ban­deras that will be sold in 1/12 frac­tional shares, thus offer­ing vaca­tion­ers all the ameni­ties and plea­sures of lux­ury sec­ond home own­er­ship with­out the extrav­a­gant cost. The res­i­dences will range in size from one-bedroom and one bath to three bed­rooms and three baths. Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is also build­ing three hotels in Litib�, the first, open­ing this year, offer­ing 560 rooms.

Other new arrivals in Litib� include the Dreams Punta Mita Resort & Spa, the all-inclusive, 320-room prop­erty designed for cou­ples and fam­i­lies. Open­ing in late 2009, the resort also will fea­ture an on-site dol­phi­nar­ium, a Greg Nor­man 18-hole golf course and an upscale shop­ping cen­ter. The Litib� resort is one of three Dreams is build­ing in the Riv­iera Nayarit region.

Nuevo Val­larta
In the Nuevo Val­larta area of Riv­iera Nayarit the hottest news, along with the new Dreams resort, is the Riu Palace Paci­fico. Open­ing in sum­mer 2008, this deluxe all-inclusive prop­erty will include 484 suites and a great choice of din­ing expe­ri­ences rang­ing from a main restau­rant to venues serv­ing fusion, Japan­ese and Mex­i­can cuisines. The resort offers a full range of water sports and other recre­ational facil­i­ties, sev­eral lounges and bars, includ­ing a swim-up bar; sev­eral swim­ming pools, and children�s facil­i­ties. Nuevo Val­larta is only nine miles from the inter­na­tional air­port in Puerto Vallarta.

The 224-room Dreams Vil­la­m­agna Resort & Spa opens this sum­mer in Nuevo Val­larta on the Bay of Ban­deras. This all inclu­sive resort will offer sev­eral pools, fine restau­rants, Explor­ers Club for kids and world class spa/fitness center.

Also in Nuevo Val­larta is the already announced Mari­val Condo Resort & Res­i­dence sched­uled to open in the sum­mer of 2009 with 162 lux­ury one to four bed­room con­do­mini­ums mea­sur­ing from 1,200 to 2,500 square feet and 9 four bed­room vil­las, each equipped with full kitchen, spa­cious liv­ing areas and out­door terraces.

La Cruz de Hua­nacax­tle
Los Ven­eros will be a new resort area for Riv­iera Nayarit on the Ban­deras Bay coast between La Crux de Hua­nacax­tle and Punta Mita. Sched­uled for com­ple­tion by the end of 2009, the $126 mil­lion invest­ment encom­passes 251 con­do­mini­ums, a small bou­tique hotel, beach club, spa, and con­fer­ence rooms.

Punta Raza
Investors are pour­ing $118 mil­lion into tourism devel­op­ments in Punta Raza, includ­ing eight hotels, 950 homes, a golf course, and a marina. The first phase, includ­ing two hotels � a Park Hyatt and a Grand Hyatt as well as res­i­dences � are planned to open in 2011.

Lift
North­west Air­lines� recent addi­tion of daily, non-stop ser­vice between Mem­phis and Puerto Val­larta has resulted in NWA World­Va­ca­tions pack­ages fea­tur­ing non­stop air travel. The new ser­vice imme­di­ately makes Riv­iera Nayarit more com­pet­i­tive with other warm-weather des­ti­na­tions for res­i­dents of dozens of mid-southern cities, includ­ing Louisville, New Orleans and Nashville.

About Riv­iera Nayarit
Riv­iera Nayarit is Mexico�s newest travel des­ti­na­tion stretch­ing along 100 miles of pris­tine Pacific coast framed by spec­tac­u­lar moun­tains to the north of renowned Puerto Val­larta. Mostly unde­vel­oped, the des­ti­na­tion extends from the resorts of Nuevo Val­larta to the his­toric, colo­nial town of San Blas, includ­ing exclu­sive Punta Mita and the spec­tac­u­lar Ban­deras Bay. The region fea­tures lux­ury resorts and eco-tourism bou­tique hotels, world-renowned surf­ing, four pro­fes­sional golf courses, rare native wildlife includ­ing sea tur­tles and trop­i­cal birds, moun­tain and island adven­tures, shop­ping for local art­work and tra­di­tional Hui­chol hand­i­crafts, charm­ing fish­ing towns and miles of serene beaches. For more infor­ma­tion, visit: www.lapuntarealty.com