How To Buy Real Estate in Mexico
by Fabiola Kinder

2008 - My Perspective
by Bruce Greenberg

PROPERTY AREAS:
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Acapulco
Cancun/Riviera Maya
Central Mexico
Colonial Route
Ensenada
La Paz
Loreto
Los Cabos
Manzanillo
Mazatlan
Puerto Peñasco
San Felipe
Vallarta

MEXICAN RIVIERA
Good golf travel advice would not be complete without some focus on the Mexican
Rivi­era, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. From Mazatlán to Puerto Vallarta, Man­za­nillo and south to Acapulco, this area has a legitimate claim to some of the best golf in the world.

Mazatlan
Mazatlan is located on the northern tip of the Mexican Riviera, in the state of Sinaloa.  It has awakened from a period of flat tourism, whereas many other areas of Mexico have grown and prospered.  Here, branded hotels and luxury resort developments have been limited.  In the mean time, central downtown has seen a renaissance in the restoration of colonial buildings and historic sites.  Now Mazatlan is taking shape as a form of golf destination.
El Cid, the mainstay, is an oceanfront mega-resort with more than a thousand rooms to meet your budget needs.  It is home to a Lee Treviño designed nine-hole expansion for a total of 27 holes of pleasant recreation. El Cid offers vacation ownership in the hotel towers, marina villas, and single family homes at the country club.
Down the beach and conveniently close to the international airport, Estrella del Mar Golf and Beach Resort boasts a top-rated Robert Trent Jones, Jr. masterpiece with eleven holes touching the water.  A second 18-hole course is in the works according to Managing Partner, Pat Butler. This beautiful property provides an investment opportunity as a second home with its upscale condo/hotel accommodations. The third condominium building, with 84 units, is now ready for sales after the first two buildings successfully sold out with high demand.  In addition, a new ultra spa facility and new restaurant are in the works.  Rounds of golf are up considerably as word is getting around about this beautiful golf course on the Pacific.
The other side of town has growth going north with Grupo Echavarria, a powerhouse of residential and resort golf development in Mexico. Stylish David Fleming designed Marina Mazatlan Golf Club - with Paspalum grass and views to the ocean and the marina - is ready to open.  This is a full scale residential development with pleasantly surprising price points.
Next door is the new  Serena Marina and Golf, a private community of waterfront residences designed in the Spanish Mediterranean style, and surrounded by beachfront, boating and golf. 
Although the word is spreading fast, Golf in Mazatlan is still relatively less known, so those who discover it, practically have affordable golf courses and real estate to themselves.  Amongst the other new projects is the expansion of Pueblo Bonito’s Emerald Bay with a new Greg Norman golf course on the drawing board.  Nearby,  the San Antonio Hills Golf Links are taking shape - a David Fleming project and residential golf resort with a different face.  These golf links designed with sandy dunes and pot bunkers that will challenge all levels of golfers; a fun course to play, indeed.  The residential community carries the tradition of Mexican architecture and the charm of its people.  Last, but no least, we are also anticipating Nuevo Altata‘s golf courses to break ground in
the mega-resort, located near Culiacan.

Puerto Vallarta & Nuevo Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta, with commanding views of Bandaras Bay, is no longer just a
one-course town.  The Vista Vallarta Golf Club and its two dynamic championship courses, having hosted the PGA-sponsored World Cup in December 2002 and The Champions Tour in 2006, is making the Vallarta area a major golf destination in Mexico.
Occupying the property’s highest elevations, Vista Vallarta’s first course designed by Nicklaus offers golfers a variety of terrain and challenges as they play across rolling hillsides, dense palm forests, giant ficus trees, and at least a dozen natural arroyos. With dramatic views of the town and bay, golfers will want to play this course twice—once with a camera, and again with their clubs.
The other Vista Vallarta course, designed by Tom Weiskopf, takes players across deep natural ravines and swift creeks that are characteristic of the property’s lowest elevations. Weiskopf has done a masterful job of working the terrain’s natural features into an incredible, playable and memorable course, from the first tee to the green of the “drivable” 18th hole.
Diamond Golf Construction, a leading golf course builder in Mexico, transformed the property from wild jungle into landscaped fairways and greens, preserving the natural beauty of this idyllic setting.  The result is, in the words of famed agronomist Bobby Heine, “The best golf complex in Mexico…difficult to duplicate anywhere in the world.”
The Marina Vallarta Golf Course, designed by Joe Finger, was Puerto Vallarta’s first golf course. Located between the marina and the ocean, the course is owned and managed by ClubCorp, Resident Director of Golf, KC Crandall, maintains U.S. standards, services and upkeep.
Surrounding this course are several notable hotels, one — the Casa Velas, a small, intimate all-inclusive boutique spa resort is located right in the middle of the Marina Golf Course, is a must stay.  Along the oceanfront sky, high rises overlook the marina full of large and expensive mega yachts on one side, and the sun sets over the Pacific at the end of a perfect day.
The Bay View Grand group is the power house here with several condo options to choose from, including the new Venetian styled development with all of the lifestyle amenities to complete your Puerto Vallarta investment. 
By crossing the Rio Ameca bridge northward, into the State of Nayarit, and then the Nuevo Vallarta area, one will find several golf properties.  The Mayan Resort, a highly successful timeshare project with five locations throughout Mexico, has a property with a golf course in Nuevo Vallarta.  It has closed down the front nine holes for a complete redo of its entire 18-hole golf course by the Nicklaus design team. 
Next door is Paradise Village, the super sports residential resort complex, a one-of-a-kind property in Mexico, and its top-ranked Robert von Hagge golf course with 11 water holes.   Paradise Village has a complete range of real estate offerings from marina villas, Porto Royal, ocean view high rise condos and golf course single family home sites on the El Tigre golf course.
In this master plan complex you will find several unique, independent developments that cater to seniors looking for Paradise.  According to their president Bill Jennings, “Luma Living offers one the first American-developed, full ownership, active adult beachfront communities in Mexico by one of the most successful real estate management groups, Front Porch.”  They are California’s largest non-profit provider of active adult and senior living communities, comprising 13 communities in California, Louisiana and Florida.”  Luma will create a new standard in active adult living,” said Mr. Jennings.
Sensara Vallarta, also on the Paradise Village property, is another luxury living facility geared toward the golden aged baby boomers with a passion for golf and pets. This collaboration is between Grupo Suites of Spain and Active Living International of Newport Beach, California.  Their project, on the El Tigre golf course, is backed with 30 years of real estate experience and success.
North of Nuevo Vallarta and before Punta de Mita in the Costa Bandera area you can find the lovely Vallarta Gardens. Close to the beach and golf, these full ownership homes - set within lush gardens - are represented by Chris Haines at G3MEX GROUP Real Estate in Puerto Vallarta.
Villa Amor features a total of 35 luxury beachfront villas. Every villa is uniquely designed to afford expansive views of the magnificent coastline, jungle and town. Beautiful, landscaped gardens of tropical plants, including fan palms, torch ginger, bird of paradise, and bougainvilleas frame the villas.
All villas feature unique open-air designs and incomparable views from the terraces, with lounges for sunbathing and nighttime stargazing.  Punta Mita is approximately forty minutes north of Puerto Vallarta in the state of Nayarit.
Punta Mita Resort - a huge success story - developed by Grupo Dine and operated by the Four Seasons,  has a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course. It is designed as a semi-private club for hotel guests, Punta Mita residents and their invited guests. The course has 19 holes; no typo here. When water or tide conditions prevent players from reaching the ”Tail of the Whale”, a unique, par three third hole with its green situated on a natural island 180 yards off the coast, then an optional par three is played. 

The master-planned residential-resort community of Punta Mita is Four Seasons‘ first resort in Latin America, offering both award-winning luxury hotel services and vacation ownership with a lifetime of Four Seasons amenities. A second Jack Nicklaus golf course is almost complete and ready for play this summer.
Just north of Punta Mita, the Mexican Government tourism development arm, FONATUR, is master planning the Litibu resort community with a spectacular
Greg Norman golf course which will be ready for year-end golf. This area will have several small boutique residential developments.
Brett Ellsworth, who is planning a private community adjacent to the Norman course said, “CDC has been instrumental in transforming some of the world’s most prominent resort developments from vision to successful completion and global renown, with
a blend of US management and the roots of a quality Mexican Company.”  Their exclusive 89-unit project will have continued success here as well.

Manzanillo
More than 31 years ago, billionaire tin magnate Antenor Patiño gave us a golf course  Las Hadas. Designed in 1969 by Roy Dye - La Mantarraya’s management began to hire top-rated U.S. golf architects to design courses in Mexico. The Dye family, Roy and Andy Dye at its best - made it one of the most magnificently crafted course. 
An addition to the original plan, is the famous million-dollar hole —a 144-yard par three 18th hole with the green positioned on a man-made island, built in the ocean. The view from the tee is spectacular, with the all-white Las Hadas Resort in the background. The best advice is to take a couple of extra balls!
Next door, the all-inclusive Barceló’s Karmina Palace, also with a spectacular view of the 18th hole, offers a super package that includes golf and many other activities for the entire family.
Heading north up the coast is the “kingdom” of  Isla Navidad and its deluxe Grand Bay Hotel, one of only two properties in Mexico to receive Golf Magazine’s Gold Award (the other is Los Cabos’ One and Only Pal­milla). Here Robert von Hagge has built a masterpiece with 27 holes of oceanfront and bay front fairways and greens.  Isla Navidad is poised to expand their real estate offerings with a series of oceanfront single family homes and a lagoon view condominium project.
Thirty-five minutes north is El Tamarindo, the number three golf course in Mexico, a spectacular, modern wonder in the world of golf with its own unique village-like hideaway and an ocean-side golf course in the jungle, designed by David Fleming.  This destination requires special consideration and may appeal to those who have a sense of classy adventure or luxurious isolation. 
This property, with an incredible array of villas with views ranging from jungle to ocean is owned by ultra chique Yellowstone Club.  Sophisticated and adventurous golfers will be able to brag about an experience of a lifetime with a visit to El Tamarindo.  Limited, exclusive and pristine ocean view lots are available at El Tamarindo through Grupo Plan.
The Enrique Valenzuela designed golf course, Corazon de Manzanillo, with commanding views of Santiago Bay in Manzanillo, is scheduled to open in 2008.  The entire Costa Alegre area between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, in the State of Jalisco, is gearing for mega developments in conjunction with the new regional airport close to Chamela.  Projects with Nicklaus and Norman courses are set to make this southern area of the Mexican Riviera a fast-paced growth area for golf and specialized boutique developments.

Acapulco
Acapulco, in the southern limits of the Mexican Riviera, is regaining its luster as a wonderful golf destination, due in part to the top-rated Tres Vidas Golf Club, site of the Chrysler Cup Championship.  This plush, private country club, rated number four in Mexico, is an incredible Robert von Hagge lay-out hugging the Pacific Ocean, using the offshore breezes as friend and foe. Several high-rise towers on Tres Vidas are being snapped up as second homes with access to this terrific course and to the second course that is being planned.  Much of Acapulco’s demand is from Mexico City residents who make the 4 hour journey by car, many weekends throughout the year.  The US and Canadian markets find their way here by cruises, boats, air charters, and some direct and connecting flights through Mexico City and Guadalajara.
The Fairmont Acapulco Princess and the Pierre Mar­ques hotels which, along with their respective courses, have been updated, revamped - and recently purchased by a sophisticated  investment group - will experience further enhancements and real estate expansion with opportunities for home purchasers.  The two complimentary golf courses have both moved up in BEST’’s TOP 30 rankings.  Both resort courses have famous histories: renowned golfer-architect Ted Robinson designed the Acapulco Princess and Robert Trent Jones, Sr., redesigned the Pierre Mar­ques, which served as the site of the 1960’s World Cup.  
The Mayan Acapulco Resort has an enjoyable and playable 18-hole golf course designed by Pedro Guerrica which meets the needs of its resident owners and hotel guests.  In addition, there is a fun nine-hole course; the Acapulco Country Club which is closer to the convention center.   Acapulco truly offers great golf followed by the best nightlife in Mexico.