Real Estate Sales, The Media, and The Brand

San Felipe's Real Estate market, is still offering excellent values but word on the street is the number of properties sold has been down the last few months. There are several reasons to believe this a temporary blip in the sales graph in this escalating market with more home site and condo inventory coming on to the market. The California & Arizona Real Estate market is experiencing a softening (or whatever they are calling it in the press this week) more

an other is seasonal. This time of year we have the snowbirds here. These folks, mostly already retired, escape the winter conditions of their summer residence for the better winter weather that San Felipe enjoys. Many already own property here and many others bring RVs residing out of site in their favorite camps while others may rent the growing number of vacation properties. The certainly represent a portion of San Felipe's growth however I believe the majority of the resent growth that San Felipe has seen is the second home, investment or retirement home purchases from California & Arizona who have been fortunate to own highly appreciating property and see the opportunity to benefit again in the San Felipe Market.
I was discussing this idea at the local watering hole last night with a Real Estate Salesperson who's been selling San Felipe property for 3 years. While agreeing with some of my presumptions on the topic he interjected that he thought that Baja had been taking it in the shorts by the media. I'll admit that my first visit to San Felipe three years ago I was prepared for the possibility of bandits on the highway...Gun toting uniformed kids at roadblocks unnerved me the first time, and we carried travelers checks (allowing us to meet lots of new people while standing in lines at the bank). After being in San Felipe for a few days I would gladly take my chances on the streets as waste so much time standing in lines at the bank. In my 3 years of experience in San Felipe I have never had an encounter that I would consider threatening, and my experiences in Mexicali, Ensedana and Tijuana have been equally pleasant & issue free.
I still read the news my fellow Real Estate Salesperson cited: Drug gangs out gun Police, kidnappings of business executives and smuggling tunnels in Tijuana, More drug related violence in the border towns of San Luis Río Colorado, Agua Prieta, Nogales, Ciudad Obregón, Navojoa, Hermosillo, Caborca, Guaymas. Border Issues & Alerts, A fierce Presidential election, (do you remember hanging chads?) and a really bad loser resulting in civil unrest & disobedience, while in other news the Mexican military invades Oaxaca, after the police were run out of town by protesters wanting the resignation of their Governor. Add to all this the new Berlin wall they are talking about constructing on the US Mexican border and I can start to see how the media could be affecting the flow of new investors into Mexico and could be affecting us here in San Felipe. On the other hand the media didn't seem to affect the sales of new condominium in Rosarito with the Trump Brand attached. Maybe Mexico should look at its Brand.