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

CANCUN & RIVIERA MAYA
 
Cancun
The Cancun area attracts upwards of three million visitors a year. For golfers, it offers a couple of vintage courses in and around the main tourism area and a host of new ones along the expanded corridor to the south, called the Riviera Maya.  With over ten world class golf courses, and now the most played rounds of golf area in Mexico, this is truly a golf destination set on gaining higher market share in the world of golf in Mexico.
It all started when Robert Trent Jones-designed Cancun Golf Club at the Pok-Ta-Pok course that was part of the original FONATUR development in the early 1970’s.  Now it is a very playable municipal type course with value priced daily fees.
Nearby, the Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort, formerly known as Cesar Park, is a landmark 426-room property, replicating a three-tiered pyramid.  This property offers guests an ocean view from every room and an interesting layout with several views of Mayan ruins.  Last year the Hilton golf course had a 2 million dollar remake by Pedro Guerreca and has regained a very credible golf experience.
Four miles north of Cancun on a small, secluded peninsula nestled between the Caribbean Sea and the Chacmochuc Lagoon is a budding 930-acre development known as Playa Mujeres Resort, with a Greg Norman designed course.  The resort will eventually feature four luxury hotels (including a Ritz-Carlton), a high-end retail shopping component, horse stables, a 50-slip marina, more than 50 exclusive waterfront homes, and more than 1,000 interior home sites. Now open for play, the 18 holes of Playa Mujeres utilize a rearrangement of the site’s native vegetation, notably palms.  Norman states: “When players walk on that first tee for the first time, the course is going to look like it’s been there for 20 years.”  A second golf course by Norman is in the works.
From Cancun, one must go south into the Riviera Maya area along a modern highway known as “the corridor”, and stop at some of the best golf resorts in the world on the way to Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
 
Riviera Maya
First stop is the Palace Resort’s Moon Spa & Golf Club with 27 holes, designed by Jack Nicklaus. As fine as the course is, and it is one of the fairest tracks on Jack’s long résumé, at Moon Palace, it is not all about golf.   A round of golf here doubles as a nature safari. Crocodiles sun themselves on the sandy banks of the lagoons.  Iguanas and
aardvarks occasionally appear where the rough meets the jungle.  Deer and fox can often be seen early and late in the day.  The Moon Palace course has the distinction of having the most rounds of golf played, over any course in Mexico.  The Palace Resort has become very successful in real estate sales via their timeshare offering.  Here you can get a great property with golf privileges and exchange opportunities.
Driving south, one will find the Grupo Mayan’s...Golf Riviera Maya, an exciting executive par 3, Jack Nicklaus design.  An 18-hole par 54, this 2,923-yard course, with radiant white sand traps, dark tones of natural stone lining pristine lakes, deep hues of the greens and bunkers, is a garden of delight for golf lovers.  The lakes and native plant life that make the Mayan jungle such an extraordinary natural landscape are seamlessly integrated into all 18 holes, becoming additional obstacles in the game. The greens, built in a style in fashion half a century ago, add to the challenge in a striking way.  The 17th, the course’s signature hole, nicknamed “Donna-green”, boasts two bunkers on either side of the green and one more at its center, making it one-of-a-kind, not to be forgotten and notoriously difficult.
Almost next door, mega resort, Iberostar Playa Paraíso Golf Club has a great championship caliber course designed by Pete Dye’s eldest son PB Dye.  It is a “must play” in this area.  Iberostar Paraíso Maya, a deluxe, all-inclusive property with 432 junior suites opened in late 2004.  The hotel’s towering entrance is a replica of the pyramid-shaped temple at Chichen-Itza.  It joins three other pre-existing Iberostar hotels on site.
The golf course, located on the west side of the highway, is accessible via tunnel from the resort hotels. While the site was solid rock—caliche, Dye calls it “the water table.” It was low enough for him to dig down 15 feet. “And if I can go down 15 feet, I can go up 15 feet,” he chuckled, referring to his conspicuous mounds and bold shaping. The course is covered from tee to green in Paspalum, the emerald-green, salt-tolerant turf grass that is driving golf growth along the Riviera Maya, as it has in the Caribbean.  Iberostar guests receive preferred tee times, but the course is open to the public.
Forty miles south of Cancun, the resort complex of Mayakobá featuring the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleón Golf Course, site of the Mayakobá Classic, host of the first ever PGA event in Mexico.  The golf course has sinuous fairways that trace the curve of the meandering waterways with cenotes, and even a few limestone caves in play.  Many of the tee shots will be hit-or-miss affairs.  The Golf Club at Mayakobá transitions very quickly from short grass to dense jungle.  Two of the holes are links-style creations that are routed among dunes near the sea, but for the most part, the golf experience like the hotel experience, is set well back from the beach and the sea’s turquoise-blue waters. Fred Funk managed to hold on for a playoff win at the site’s first PGA Event in 2007. Brian Gay  battled for the title and trophy by winning in 2008.  Mexico’s Esteban Toledo finished 11th.
Expertly conceived hotels at Mayakobá are among the finest in all of Mexico.  The 401 room Fairmont Mayakobá is a low-rise resort with deluxe rooms, suites, casitas with lagoon views, and beachfront villas that wind throughout the property. 
The Mayakobá complex houses several independent real estate developments of which many are noteworthy: Soon to open is Laguna Kai, a mixed-use resort and residential project that features a 120-room hotel managed by Rosewood. The hotel’s
spacious suites hover over the waterways and are built among the tops of the mangrove trees.  Developed in conjunction with OHL of Spain and managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, the design of Laguna Kai has been influenced by the surrounding jungle, lagoons, and towering palms.  Real estate sales here have been brusque under the strong marketing arm of Playground.
The Mandarin Oriental Resort, a hideaway where luxury and natural beauty are in complete harmony, is set amidst 36 acres of tropical forests with 128 guestrooms within villas, Mandarin Oriental service and spas are world famous.
Another part of the master plan is Banyan Tree, the exclusive Singapore-based hotel and Resort Company. The firm’s 100-room hotel will have its own deluxe spa, as will each of these fine luxury properties.  . 
Mayakobá set the stage for the Kor Group’s first international resort, Viceroy Riviera Maya themed Urban Retreats and Uncommon Resorts. The refined haven of 128 new luxury resort residences and villas will also offer exclusive community amenities, including meeting facilities, a swimming pool, gourmet restaurant, and cocktail lounge.  A private water taxi service to its own Viceroy beach club, home to a full-service spa and waterfront restaurant and beach bar will also be provided.  Designed by the internationally acclaimed Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, 91 villas weaved throughout the resort’s lagoons and fairways. The residences will enjoy elite-caliber finishes and amenities, including private infinity edge pools, latest technology, and custom-designed furnishings.  In addition to an unparalleled investment in luxury, Viceroy Riviera Maya offers purchasers rental revenue generated by guests when owners are not in residence.
An hour south of Cancun, Playa del Carmen is the major crossroad in this corridor and a “jump off” spot by ferry to Cozumel, which is visible in the horizon.  Playa del Carman is home to the highly rated Robert von Hagge course at Playacar Spa & Golf Club, long considered one of the most challenging courses in Mexico at 7,202 yards.  Opened in 1994, with a slope rating of 148 from the tips, it incorporates a number of cenotes, or sinkholes used by the ancient Mayans to collect rainwater.  A key characteristic of von Hagge’s design is the use of steep mounds that guard very long 5 pars, some over 600 yards.  Bring your A game!
 
Riviera Maya / Courses To Watch For
The TPC of Cancun will be located on the west side of Cancun, seven miles south of the airport.  The TPC of Cancun golf course, designed by PGA Tour star Nick Price, is expected to open in late 2009.  The centerpiece of the 2,000-acre residential golf community is to be known as La Roca Country Club. At full build-out, La Roca will include over 2,800 residential units and two additional courses, one of which will be designed by Tom Fazio.
 Comfortably lodged between Cancun’s hotel strip and the downtown area - designed by award winning designer and British Open champion, Tom Weiskopf - is the 18-hole Puerto Cancun Golf Course. Nestled within 75 hectares of gorgeous ocean and tropical forest views, the golf course will open its doors on the winter of 2008.
 Two more 18-hole courses at the Riviera Cancun Golf Club are being designed by Jack Nicklaus.  They will feature a first class clubhouse and country club facilities.
The Kanay Resort course, which will snake through lush, primordial jungle, is
Schmidt-Curley’s seventh collaboration with Nick Faldo.  Plans for this community, located 45 minutes south of Cancun, calls for an 847-room hotel and a residential component.                Bahia Principe, a residential community, is located half way between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, on 700 plus acres with beach frontage.  Spain based Grupo Pinero has 35 years of experience in the real estate and hospitality industry to make this the right choice for investment. The land is allocated for 27 holes of Robert Trent Jones championship design, a 9-hole par 3 course, and a practice facility.  It is also planned to includes a modern hospital facility for general and emergency care. 
Puerto Aventuras is at the far end of the long Mayan highway, one and a half hours from Cancun, and close to the ancient Mayan area of Tulum.  This area has developed on a low key base with a marina, tennis and golf complex. The golf here is a very user friendly, informal, par 36, 9-hole course designed by Thomas Leeman.
 
Cozumel
Cozumel has unveiled its only golf course, the Cozumel Country Club, designed by Nicklaus. Having been granted the first permit for golf course construction in the Yucatán in almost 20 years, ClubCorp, in conjunction with Diamond Golf Construction, fashioned a championship course that is serving as an ecological model for all future golf development in the Yucatán.  Jacques Cousteau, in 1961, proclaimed the waters around the island of Cozumel among the finest for diving on the planet, but this new course will encourage any diver to trade in his fins for a set of clubs.  Playa Azul a lovely family style hotel on the beach across from the golf course with value priced golf packages.  Cancun’s golf future has never been brighter with more than a dozen new courses in the works.
 
Gulf Of Mexico / Merida, Campeche Area
One of the hidden treasures in the Yucatán Peninsula is the emerging area of Merida, Progreso, and Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico.  The ancient Mayan have built some of the most incredible cities of stone that one must visit today. Chichén Itzá, Uxmal and Kabah are wonders of the world.
Jack Nicklaus, of course, has already made his mark in this wonderful part of Mexico.  His latest two projects are the Yucatán Country Club and Campeche Playa.
The Yucatán Country Club is a beautifully designed master plan in the heart of Merida, with rolling hills and open space conducive to residential, resort, spa and golf.  On site is the first ever, state-of-the-art Jack Nicklaus Golf Academy teaching center in Latin America.  All of this is ready for play starting in September 2008; a good time to buy your next home.
Campeche Playa, the most ambitious project in the state of Campeche, is ready to launch its new line of residential units labeled as “Golden Bear Residences”. 
General Manager and Director of Golf, Hugo Bremer reports, “These luxury units will be a perfect match for the Troon Golf-operated Jack Nicklaus Signature Course being developed at this time.”  The resort will also include a luxury hotel, a marina with a 160 slip capacity, as well as a commercial area and a health clinic.