Windermere Real Estate is setting up shop south of the border, a move that will go a long way toward easing buyers’ fears about safety in Mexico’s popular resort areas.

Geoff Wood, CEO of Windermere Real Estate, the largest real estate company in the western United States with more than 300 offices and 7,000 agents in nine states, said that the company will open its first international franchise office in Mexico.

Located in Cabo San Lucas, the Windermere Los Cabos office will open in September and represents the merger of CaboRealty Partners and Nieman + Posch Boutique Realtors, two established firms that have operated independently in the Cabo area.

The announcement marks the first move by a major U.S. real estate chain into Mexico since the downturn in the U.S. economy and the border-based violence fueled by Mexican drug cartels.

Jay West and Martin Posch are the principal owners of Windermere Los Cabos. West, who lives part-time in Longview and is a University or Oregon graduate, has been a key link south of the border for the National Association of Realtors and its sister organization, AMPI, since moving to Cabo in 1994. Originally from Switzerland, Posch moved to Mexico in 1998 and was a sales manager with Prudential California Realty in Cabo San Lucas. In 2011, he opened his own real estate company, and, earlier this year, formed a partnership with West in order to open the Windermere Los Cabos office.

Wood said his initial discussions with West about the Mexico possibilities began in 2005.

“We knew Jay was the right guy, but it wasn’t quite the right time,” Wood said. “We simply didn’t have the infrastructure in place to support an office in Mexico at that time. Fast forward seven years, and we now have 300-plus offices in nine Western U.S. states, most of which have a natural migration of residents to Mexico. Add to this the 79 million baby boomers who will reach retirement age over the next 18 years and studies show that many of them will purchase a second home in resort areas, such as Mexico.”

And the studies also show that a majority of boomers have not saved for retirement and will need to spend fewer dollars in their future years. According to a report by Washington, D.C. – based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), baby boomers have not saved and they will be forced to work longer and/or move to less expensive places than they anticipated. Property taxes, health care, and cost of living increases will force boomers to more than thinking about moving to other countries, especially if they plan on living at the same level of comfort as they do now.

While the negativity surrounding the country peaked at a time when more and more Americans could have used a less expensive place to live, the Windermere decision could ease the fear factor because of the clientele and geographical areas it represents. The company tends to attract sophisticated, upper-end buyers who have done research on their targeted area.

According to Wood, despite what Americans may have heard, read and seen, the country is not under siege. News reports – including a segment on 60 Minutes – have depicted the entire country of Mexico as being an absolute mess, awash in blood and guns on every street corner. Ironically, people living there have a dramatically different perspective, especially in the “fly-in” destinations that continue to hold their value.

“The media has done a great job of playing up the fear factor in Mexico,” Wood said. “But there are those who own property and do business in the area that are gradually dispelling those stories. Like any country, there are unsafe areas, but our experience is that Los Cabos is very safe and offers great real estate opportunities for both U.S. and Mexican homebuyers.”

West said North Americans living in Mexico have retained the manana attitude even when it comes to crime.

“They realize it’s basically a border war among drug gangs,” West said. “Travelers to resort destinations like Los Cabos, simply do not experience the kind of crime and violence that is common in most major cities throughout the U.S.”

Both sides in the Windermere Mexico franchise deal say they eye further expansion but will use Cabo as the first test. Brokers in other areas say they will welcome the move because Windermere’s presence will generate activity slowed by the economy and crime reports.

“Having worked as a broker with Windermere in Washington, I am very excited for them to expand to Mexico,” said Jim Donahoe broker/manager for Linda Neil Properties in La Paz and a University of Washington graduate from Aberdeen. “The company’s professionalism together with its market reach along the Western U.S. will create a tremendous market opportunity in Cabo and Baja Sur.”

Tom Kelly’s new E-book “Bargains Beyond the Border: Get Past the Blood and Drugs: Mexico’s Lower Cost of Living Can Avert a Tearful Retirement” is available online at Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon.com, Sony’s Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Borders Books, Diesel eBook Store, and Google Editions. It mirrors a recent article by CNN on the benefits of the country, including increased rental possibilities.

 

Tom Kelly, Real Estate Todayj

Mexico has some problems, who doesn’t? If your looking for one more reason to invest in real estate in Mexico read the following. The time to start looking is now.

Gary

By Fareed Zakaria

This past week, Los Cabos, Mexico, was quite literally turned into a global public square. Leaders from 19 top economies plus the European Union gathered to discuss the world’s major crises: the euro, global growth, Syria. But ,the G-20 Summit, as it’s called, also shed light on a few crucial relationships.

Take the U.S. and Russia, for example. Much was made of how Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin leaned away from each other during talks. Commentators said it felt as chilly as a Moscow winter. Contrast that with Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao: a warm handshake and big smiles.

But the meeting that really got me thinking was the one between two Latin American leaders: Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and Brazil’s Dilma Roussef.

Why?

Right now, Brazil has the world’s attention. It is a much vaunted BRIC economy in the company of China, India and Russia. On the other hand, the perception of Mexico is that of a poor country with regular drug-related killings.

That may be true. But very quietly, Mexico is stepping out of Brazil’s shadow.

To understand why, let me first explain Brazil’s recent rise. Ten years ago, Mexico’s economy was bigger than Brazil’s. But then Brazil suddenly began to grow much faster, so much so that its GDP overtook Mexico’s and became twice as large. If I had to cite one main reason for this, it would be China, Brazil’s biggest trading partner. China’s growing appetite for commodities led to a boom in resource-rich Brazil.

But just as China buys from Brazil, it competes with Mexico. After joining the World Trade Organization, Chinese manufacturers have undercut Mexican ones, selling at lower prices and in bigger quantities.

Not only that, Mexico’s biggest trade partner has had its own troubles — and I’m talking about the United States of America.

But it seems we’re now at another twist in the tale.

Brazil can no longer count on a sustained boom in global commodity prices. Growth has slowed from nearly 8% in 2010 to 2.7% last year. And Brazil has become uncompetitive. Its minimum wage is three times that of Indonesia and Vietnam. The World Bank ranks Brazil 126th in the world for ease of doing business.

Mexico, on the other hand, ranks 53rd. Its economy is set to grow 4% this year. Take its auto industry, for example. It generated $23 billion last year, more than oil or tourism. Mexican factories are slowly replacing Chinese products in America, thanks in part to regional trade agreements but also because China itself is facing rising labor costs.

Mexico’s growth is crucial for America. The more Mexico rises, the less America will need to worry about illegal immigration. In fact, studies show migration patterns have already been reversed.

And while Brazil tries to play a role as the alternative power to America in the Western hemisphere — harkening back to the days of non-alignment — Mexico is more in tune with American ideas. It is a solid foreign policy partner.

As Mexico gears up for elections on July 1, its new president will have a long checklist of problems to fix. State monopolies need to be broken down; corruption must be confronted; creaking infrastructure needs repair. But top of the list is drug-related violence, which shaves off 1 percentage point of GDP growth every year.

Brazil remains a bigger economy, and will likely stay that way for a while.

But don’t let perceptions of Mexico fool you. Despite all the violence, despite being overshadowed by its flashier neighbors, it is quietly on the rise.

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June 18, 2012

LOS CABOS, Mexico – The leaders of 19 nations and the European Union, known as the Group of 20, are gathering at the Mexican beach resort Los Cabos for a two-day summit, to be held Monday and Tuesday, with worries about economic crises in several European countries overshadowing most other issues.  Officials from G20 working groups say the drive to help needy countries remains a major focus of the summit. 

Mariachi musicians greeted delegations from around the world as they arrived at one of Mexico’s most luxurious beach resort areas. But, although much of their work in the next two days will take place in hotels and conference halls within view of the beaches, the leaders attending this summit will be spending much of their time talking about the debt problems facing Greece, Spain and Italy.

The G20 host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, says participants in the summit should firm up their pledges to the International Monetary Fund of more money to deal with the debt crisis. G20 nations promised to provide more than $400 billion in new loans in April, but several have yet to follow up on that pledge.

Representatives from some non-governmental organizations are worried that the G20 focus on the problems of relatively rich nations in Europe might detract from efforts to help poor, non-industrialized countries where most of the world’s neediest people ​reside.

“The last two summits have been dominated by the Eurozone crisis, by Greece, and that means that there is very little agenda time for other issues,” said Christina Weller, lead economic analyst for London-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. 

Weller argues that G20 leaders would be helping their own countries by doing more to help the millions of people in developing nations who cannot participate in the global economy. She says poverty is more than a moral blight.

“It is also an economic problem. It lowers demand. That is where the growth should be is in those markets and if you tackle poverty, everybody benefits,” said Weller.

But, although the world leaders who meet here for two days may have little time to discuss much beyond the debt crisis in Europe, officials from those nations continue to advance their work on previously approved agendas such as economic development and poverty reduction.

The director of Mexico’s Agency for International Development, Rogelio Granguillhome, who co-chairs the G20 Development Working Group, told reporters that this effort has advanced steadily, in the past few years.

He says this group, which met here in Los Cabos in May, is presenting leaders with concrete and precise recommendations on such issues as infrastructure development, food security and green growth. This group also worked in concert with representatives of the business sector, who are holding a concurrent meeting, called the B20, at a nearby beach hotel.

The director of policy and business practices for the International Chamber of Commerce, Stefano Bertasi, says corporate leaders from around the world take part in these forums in an effort to be partners with governments in promoting economic development.

“We want this to be an enduring, ongoing process of collaboration and discussion that takes place before summits, during summits and after summits,” he said.

Bertasi says that, although there are areas of concern for businesses, like  the rise of protectionism and higher taxes, there are many areas of mutual interest such as the promotion of green energy.  He says the way business leaders often work out differences on various issues can serve as a model for government leaders as they struggle to find agreement.

“If we bring consensus views and ideas, brought by business to government, hopefully, that will help governments themselves come to consensus on some of these issues,” said Bertasi.

Groups that might want to express disagreement with any of the actions taken at either the G20 or the B20 meetings are quite restricted in what they can do and where they can stage a protest. The meetings are being held under tight security in an area along the tip of the Baja peninsula where all access roads are patrolled by heavily armed Mexican federal police and soldiers. Helicopters swoop overhead on a regular basis and Mexican Coast Guard and Navy ships are anchored just offshore, in plain sight of the summit participants and the thousands of tourists staying at beachfront hotels.

Every week or so I get asked, ‘Is it safe to go to Mexico?’ I had always said, if you’re thoughtful about where you go, yes. But after my most recent trip there, I’m changing my answer… to a question:

Do you think it’s safe to go to Texas?

To be clear, violence in Mexico is no joke. There have been over 47,000 drug-related murders alone in the past five years. Its murder rate – 18 per 100,000 according to this United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime report – is more than three times the US rate of 4.8 per 100,000. Though Mexican tourism is starting to bounce back, Americans appear more reluctant to return than Canadians and Brits (5.7 million Americans visited in 2011, down 3% from 2010 – and, according to Expedia, more than four of five bookings were adults going without children). Many who don’t go cite violence as the reason.

What you don’t get from most reports in the US is statistical evidence that Americans are less likely to face violence on average in Mexico than at home, particularly when you zero in on Mexico’s most popular travel destinations. For example, the gateway to Disney World, Orlando, saw 7.5 murders per 100,000 residents in 2010 per the FBI; this is higher than Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, with rates of 1.83 and 5.9 respectively, per a Stanford University report (see data visualization here, summarized on this chart, page 21). Yet in March, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised against ‘spring break’ travel anywhere in Mexico, a country the size of the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy combined. Never mind that popular destinations like the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica have far higher homicide rates (36, 42 and 52 per 100,000). Why the singular focus?

Before you nix Mexico altogether, consider these five things:

1. Mexico may be more dangerous than the US overall, but not for Americans.

According to FBI crime statistics, 4.8 Americans per 100,000 were murdered in the US in 2010. The US State Department reports that 120 Americans of the 5.7 million who visited Mexico last year were murdered, which is a rate of 2.1 of 100,000 visitors. Regardless of whether they were or weren’t connected to drug trafficking, which is often not clear, it’s less than half the US national rate.

2. Texans are twice as safe in Mexico, and three times safer than in Houston.

Looking at the numbers, it might be wise for Texans to ignore their Public Safety department’s advice against Mexico travel. Five per 100,000 Texans were homicide victims in 2010, per the FBI. Houston was worse, with 143 murders, or a rate of 6.8 – over three times the rate for Americans in Mexico.

3. And it’s not just Texas.

It’s interesting comparing each of the countries’ most dangerous cities. New Orleans, host city of next year’s Super Bowl, broke its own tourism record last year with 8 million visitors. Yet the Big Easy has ten times the US homicide rate, close to triple Mexico’s national rate.

Few go to Ciudad Juarez, a border town of 1.3 million that saw 8 to 11 murders a day in 2010 (accounts differ – CNN went with 8). It’s unlikely to ever be a tourism hostpot, but things have been quietly improving there. By 2011, CNN reported, the homicide rate dropped by 45%, and the first six weeks of this year saw an additional 57% drop, per this BBC story.

If that trend in Juarez continues all year, and it might not, the number of homicides would have dropped from over 3000 in 2010 to 710 in 2012. Meanwhile New Orleans’ homicide rate is increasing, up to 199 murders last year, equivalent to 736 in a city with the population of Juarez.

4. By the way, most of Mexico is not on the State Department’s travel warning.

The best of Mexico, in terms of travel, isn’t on the warning. The US warns against ‘non-essential travel’ to just four of Mexico’s 31 states (all in the north: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Tamaulipas). The warning goes on to recommend against travel to select parts of other states, but not including many popular destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, the Riviera Nayarit, Cancun, Cozumel and Tulum.

Meanwhile, 13 states are fully free from the State Department’s warning, including Baja California Sur, Yucatan, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guanajuato and others.

5. Malia Obama ignored the Texas advice.

Of all people, President Obama and first lady said ‘OK’ to their 13-year-old daughter’s spring break destination this year: Oaxaca. Then Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made snide remarks over that, perhaps overlooking that Oaxaca state has a smaller body count from the drug war than his home state’s murder rate (Oaxaca’s 4.39 per 100,000 toPennsylvania’s 5.2).

Oaxaca state, not on the US travel warning, is famed for its colonial city, Zapotec ruins and emerging beach destinations like Huatulco. Lonely Planet author Greg Benchwick even tried grasshoppers with the local mezcal (Malia apparently stuck with vanilla shakes.)

So, can you go to Mexico?

Yes. As the US State Department says, ‘millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico each year.’ Last year, when I took on the subject for CNN, one commenter suggested Lonely Planet was being paid to promote travel there. No we weren’t. We took on the subject simply because – as travelers so often know – there is another story beyond the perception back home, be it Vietnam welcoming Americans in the ’90s or Colombia’s dramatic safety improvements in the ’00s. And, equally as importantly, Mexico makes for some of the world’s greatest travel experiences – it’s honestly why I’m in this line of work.

So yes, you can go to Mexico, just as you can go to Texas, or New Orleans, or Orlando, or the Bahamas. It’s simply up to you to decide whether you want to.

Robert Reid is Lonely Planet’s New York–based US Travel Editor and has been going to Mexico since he was three (most recently to Chacala).