Isla Mujeres Luxury Homes

19/03/2022

"Purchase Real Estate on Isla Mujeres"
As a foreigner buying a home in Mexico, you will purchase real estate by way of a Fideicomiso, which is simply what you would know in the States as a trust. It is a very straightforward way of owning property in Mexico. The trust initially runs for fifty years, it is completely flexible; it's renewable and transferable, so it can be transferred to a spouse or to one's children, or simply form part of a will. This should not be confused with a lease with a Fideicomiso you own 100% of the property - permanently.

There is a set up cost for a Fideicomiso which is usually about $1,000 usd and an ongoing annual fee of around $600 - 700 per annum. Although if you plan to do what many purchaser of luxury properties on Isla Mujeres tend to do; which is use their property for their holidays and weekends away and letting it for the remainder of the time, the annual cost of maintaining a trust becomes insignificant. Our luxury homes have a rental potential of between 500 -$700 usd per night and the demand is such that they can be let out at up to 200 nights a year, should you chose to.

Some owners chose not to let their home to it's full potential and calculate the rentals to cover, cleaning gardening, maintenance and all their flights and holiday expenses. All our properties have a large bodega (storage room) so that the owners can keep all their personal items stored in the bodega whilst the property is let out.

Property prices have risen steeply on Isla Mujeres. Homes we sold 15 years ago have gone up by 400% since then and they are predicated to rise even more steeply in the future as prime land become harder to come by. At the moment we have luxury villas available at Las Faroles Garrafon which is one of the most sought after residential parts of the island, overlooking the bay towards Cancun where the view is of crystal clear turquoise seas and the most spectacular sunsets in the evenings

14/11/2021

How not to build on Isla Mujeres

Providing that you can find the land on which to build, buying land and building your own home can make for a very good Isla Mujeres real estate investment. It can also turn into an unmitigated disaster, and we have many examples of that on the island, where the dream of building an Isla Mujeres luxury home, turned into a nightmare. The scenario has often followed a very familiar pattern; someone arrives on the island with very little local knowledge, they meet a "real estate agent" who has no office, no website and no properties for sale.

The so-called agent then takes them around the island, showing the prospective client properties that he has designed, built and furnished for the clients, most of which were designed, built and furnished by someone else. He then wines and dines the client but always manages to not pick up the tab. Once he has gained their confidence he then introduces them to his builder, who incidentally is responsible for most of the disasters and broken dreams on the Island.

In the last case of which we are aware, although there have almost certainly been more since, the builder charged the clients $300,000 for a structure, which was later professionally valued at $150,000, and furthermore condemned as dangerous. During the building process the "real estate agents" helpfully suggested changes and modifications, of which the client was appreciative. Following this, the builder asked the clients for a further $100,000 to purchase kitchen and bathroom fittings and additionally the aluminium windows and patio doors. Once he had the $100,000 in his possession, he advised the clients that the $100,000, was in fact owed in extras.

There the relationship ended but at that point, they had relieved the client of $250,000 over and above the value of the work. The builder and the person who calls himself a real estate agent work together, and these helpful changes and modifications were all part of the extras plan. The clients then consulted lawyers and were told they had a very strong case, not only a civil case but also the builder could be charged with fraud. However there was a problem and the lawyer advised them not to proceed because it would be a long-drawn-out process, extremely expensive and probably to no avail because neither of these two individuals is Mexican and when it came near to the day of reckoning, the lawyer's opinion was that they would just leave Mexico.

Fortunately, these clients were in a financial position to pay a reputable builder, recommended by Mundaca Real estate, to rectify all the faulty workmanship and complete the work. The safest bet for anyone who is not familiar with Isla Mujeres property is to speak to one of the three local estate agents on the island who unlike the aforementioned are

14/11/2021

14/11/2021

"Purchase Real Estate on Isla Mujeres"
As a foreigner buying a home in Mexico, you will purchase real estate by way of a Fideicomiso, which is simply what you would know in the States as a trust. It is a very straightforward way of owning property in Mexico. The trust initially runs for fifty years, it is completely flexible; it's renewable and transferable, so it can be transferred to a spouse or to one's children, or simply form part of a will. This should not be confused with a lease with a Fideicomiso you own 100% of the property - permanently.

There is a set up cost for a Fideicomiso which is usually about $1,000 usd and an ongoing annual fee of around $600 - 700 per annum. Although if you plan to do what many purchaser of luxury properties on Isla Mujeres tend to do; which is use their property for their holidays and weekends away and letting it for the remainder of the time, the annual cost of maintaining a trust becomes insignificant. Our luxury homes have a rental potential of between 500 -$700 usd per night and the demand is such that they can be let out at up to 200 nights a year, should you chose to.

Some owners chose not to let their home to it's full potential and calculate the rentals to cover, cleaning gardening, maintenance and all their flights and holiday expenses. All our properties have a large bodega (storage room) so that the owners can keep all their personal items stored in the bodega whilst the property is let out.

Property prices have risen steeply on Isla Mujeres. Homes we sold 15 years ago have gone up by 400% since then and they are predicated to rise even more steeply in the future as prime land become harder to come by. At the moment we have luxury villas available at Las Faroles Garrafon which is one of the most sought after residential parts of the island, overlooking the bay towards Cancun where the view is of crystal clear turquoise seas and the most spectacular sunsets in the evenings

14/11/2021

Isla Mujeres, a hidden paradise.

After a lull following the crisis which started in 2008, sales of Isla Mujeres luxury real estate have now really taken off. The attraction is being able to buy a property in one of the safest and most tranquil places in the world, whilst offering a great investment return, which makes buying an Isla Mujeres property a very smart move, in terms of return on capital.
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Our Isla Mujeres Luxury Villas have incredible rental potential with rentals of of between $550 - 700 USD per night easily achievable for one of our three bedroom three bathroom homes; such is the demand for Isla mujeres rental homes.
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Being located in the exclusive Garrafon residential area of Isla Mujeres, has the best of both worlds; total calm and tranquillity yet still within easy reach of the Island's bustling town centre, where dining or enjoying cocktails in one of the lovely open air restaurants or bars is the order of the day.
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Many property owners let their Isla Mujeres villa out for up to 200 nights a year, still leaving 165 days free for their own dream holidays and weekends. Eventually making it their retirement home.

19/10/2021

Isla Mujeres rentals

At long last the Isla Mujeres rental market has taken off; there have been many bookings throughout what was traditionally the low season, and now many forward bookings for the coming high season. Prices are slowly recovering but still lower than they were. It is still competitive when it comes to price, presumably because owners are keen to get their property rented and recover some of the losses that occurred during lockdown. Those who are not familiar with the island find it hard to imagine the amount of maintenance required in order to keep a property in good condition. Rentals stopped for the period when fear was at its maximum, but the maintenance required did not.

When rentals first started again we had lots of cancellations; people would read that there was a case of Covid on the island and were thrown into a panic, resulting in them cancelling their holiday and going back to hiding under the duvet. Now people are starting to realise that Covid is here to stay and that they are not going to avoid it, especially not if they are double vaccinated. We went through a very difficult period where those who work for us and carry out maintenance all had Covid at the same time, needless to say, they were all double vaccinated. We are told that if you are double vaccinated you suffer less if you catch Covid, really? The Mayo Clinic recently published this, "Man who died of Covid suffered less because he was double vaccinated", That's nice to know, we can all sleep easy.

Isla Mujeres homes for sale, also suffered during this period because there were those who wanted to start viewing properties but couldn't get to the Island, even now flights are not back to normal. One million workers lost their job in the travel and hospitality sector. We understand that recently there has been a surge of prospective buyers who want to invest in property but are not confident about the future of the US property market, making buying an Isla Mujeres home the ideal choice; a region so close to the States, so peaceful and being an Island it is quickly running out of property and land to build, which is always good news for the future values of Isla Mujeres real estate.

22/05/2020

Whatever the doubts and unanswered questions surrounding Coronavirus, something that cannot be disputed is that economies throughout the world have been brought to their knees. Some will take many years to recover indeed many may never recover, so has the lockdown been worth it?

At the time of writing 335,135 have allegedly died from Coronavirus. Why allegedly? Well because many prominent specialists, health service employees and doctors are claiming that they are being pressured to show deaths as Coronavirus deaths when in fact they were patients who were already dying of conditions such as late-stage cancer and heart conditions. But why would governments want to inflate the number of Coronavirus deaths when this only served to prolong the lockdown period and further damage the economy?

It is surely inconceivable that a government would want to damage its own economy. There are many conspiracy theories and suspicions particularly with regard to Anthony Fauci and many wonder why a US government employee is allowed to hold patents. But even for someone who is not a conspiracy theorist, wouldn't they have to admit there is something very strange going on, with so many more questions than answers?

Why isn't more attention being given to Sweden, where they have opted not to lockdown? In Sweden people are working, when they can from home, if not they are going into work. Bars, restaurants and shops are open They haven't ruined their economy like other countries, although of course they will still be affected because we live in a global economy.

Sweden has been called irresponsible by some for causing unnecessary deaths. So let us look at that for the moment:

Deaths per million of population.

Sweden 384
France 432
UK 531
Italy 537
Spain 598
Belgium 795

Just how irresponsible have they been? Where countries have a low contagion rate due to the lockdown, many experts are predicting that there will be an increase in cases when the restrictions are eased. Well of course, but what are they going to do then lockdown again and instead cause death by starvation, allowing anarchy to take over? One only has to look at the current eviction rate in the US, it was very high and rising before lockdown it is now through the roof, people can't feed their children. US jobless claims are now at 38.6 million.

Scientists at Imperial College London say that Coronavirus is not under control in much of the US and warned that relaxing the lockdowns further now, could result in another surge in deaths. Of course we must not forget that Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College told the British government that if they followed Sweden's model and didn't impose a strict lockdown they would kill 500,000 people in the UK. Really? Then suddenly with no explanation, it was changed to 200,000.

So what has become of Professor Ferguson is he now on his way to a Knighthood? Well not really, he was fired as a government adviser for breaking the lockdown rules and travel restrictions, when caught having an affair with his married lover. The very same rules which he said if not strictly observed would kill millions.

In the end, governments will have to allow the virus to take its course. It is known that for otherwise healthy people the risks are so minimal as not to be considered. People will die that is inevitable but let us not forget that the official World Health Organisation figures are that each year seasonal flu kills between 290,000 and 650,000 people. Even if we rather unwisely believe the official Coronavirus death toll of just over 335,000, we still have some way to go to reach the death toll in the years when there was a particularly virulent seasonal influenza, and yet none of us can remember the world economies collapsing in those years.

Will historians of the future look back and deem lockdown to be the gravest error ever committed by world governments?
We have no way of knowing the truth at the moment, we are being misled every step of the way, we know something is wrong and that's about all. For the moment all we can say, as Alice said in Alice in Wonderland "Curiouser and Curiouser"