Last May a friend and I decided that we needed to invest in a rental property on Isla Mujeres. She took a quick unplanned trip down about two weeks after we had just spent about two weeks there. The house she went to look at was a large home in the colonias with 4 apartments upstairs. Other friends of ours had looked at it and had decided it was more house than they needed. My friend viewed the house with a couple of locals who were helping to sell “by owner” properties. I hooked her up with another friend who has a home on Isla and her boyfriend who is an electrician and plumber. They all decided that the house would be a good investment but needed a TON of work. We could see it being a true money pit.
We drove by and looked again last month. They are finished but I could see by peeking in the windows that they are much tinier than I thought. Also the pool out in front only has a ladder not stairs and there is absolutely no room for chairs around the pool. Again I am glad that my offer to purchase was not accepted.
So then my friend went with a realtor to view several other homes for sale. She liked several of them but we talked a couple of times by phone while she was on the island and decided that joint ownership wasn’t such a great idea afterall. She saw a model of a small condo complex that was being built in Colonia Lol-Beh. We talked when she got back to the states. We both did extensive research and decided to make individual offers on condos in this building. We made offers for a finished condo but at the unfinished price since we thought for the lower cost of labor and material our offers were very fair. The asking price for the finished units was as high per square foot as building in Portland, Oregon which has a pretty high cost for building homes. Our offers were not accepted and the builder did not want to negotiate. I was fine with that since every other day I was either excited or having buyer’s remorse. I told myself it just wasn’t meant to be.
When we went to look at the condos in October 2007 when they were supposed to be finished here is what we found. The building schedule was definitely on Mexican time.
When we went to look at the condos in October 2007 when they were supposed to be finished here is what we found. The building schedule was definitely on Mexican time.
We drove by and looked again last month. They are finished but I could see by peeking in the windows that they are much tinier than I thought. Also the pool out in front only has a ladder not stairs and there is absolutely no room for chairs around the pool. Again I am glad that my offer to purchase was not accepted.
Filed under: Isla Mujeres, Mexico | Tagged: House in Mexico |
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