Expert: Ron - 10/21/2004

Question
It seems there are a lot of homes for sale in the Chapala-Ajijic area - is this an indication that the prognosis for the lake is not so good? Are people leaving because of the lake's problems?

Answer
Hi Lee, well I think the situation is the opposite of your
observations.

I am not a realtor but sales are the best they have seen in over 5 years.

Reasonably priced homes do not last long on the market. We looked last month for a larger home with a casita as we are bringing down my wife's mother to live with us. We could not find anything in our price range. A year ago when we started discussing the move, there were several nice houses in our area for sale, but now gone.

In the past year 2 gated communities began selling at $79,000USD and they sold out with new models now starting at $98,000. A friend of ours building a new home here, sold his house in another section of Ajijic on the internet, sight unseen!

The influx of people this early in the season is astounding. I have never seen the carretera so busy. Lots of Florida license plates. Rentals are already scarce. Many are making the mistake of buying on impulse because of the apparent lack of affordable homes. I bet we will see many of those back on the market next spring, some people should not live in Mexico, they will never make it. I hope so, so we can find a larger house.

Articles by AARP and the New York Times plus the usual promotion by financial planners and realtors, as well as the Lake levels are boosting attention to all of Mexico.

The Lake's levels are a cyclical thing. We are all very happy to see it at record levels, but all we need is a couple of dry seasons again and the Lake will drop quickly. Then the real estate market will bust again.

So to sum up in my estimation people are not leaving because of the Lake, in fact tourism is way up so early in the season. But house prices are moving too high, too fast.

Hope that helps,
        Ron