Friday, July 15, 2011

Another Boom for Puerto Peñasco?


-by El Gitano Peñasco, "The Peñasco Gypsy"

There is a buzz in the air and some folks are once again greedily rubbing their hands together speculating that we are at the forefront of another juicy real estate boom. And although I surely do hope the economy will improve I’m not convinced about the real estate angle.

In the early 2000’s we all witnessed a small group of real estate developers from both sides of the border who seized the day post 9-11, believing that building another 'drive-to' beach-front resort destination close to the US border here in Peñasco with lots of condos, etc. would sell like ‘hot-cakes’ for a very long time.

For some of ‘em it was indeed pure 24-K ‘AU’ and the ‘trickledown’ fever here was so hot that at the peak of that boom I had secured a rental for an Amigo who wanted to come down for a few months and he was paying $1,000 (USD) a month for a place that today, as before the ‘boom’, would be hard pressed to fetch $300 a month.

In fact it was so bad here that when I approached several real estate types and said I was looking for a 4-month rental for a buddy they all looked at me as if I was some loathsome slimy slug and none of ‘em would give me the time of day, return phone calls or e-mails, etc. But oh how things have changed today as just about every agent in town is chasing the same rental/sales inventory…

Now that the 'drive-to' marketing attraction is pretty much a faint memory Penasco is what it is and if there is to be another 'boom' then PP is going to have to battle it out with all the other vacation and retirement destinations around the world and aggressively compete for those massive and highly sought after travel, vacation and retirement dollars.

And yes, there are ‘signs’ that some of the bigger players with interests here, like Daniel Chavez, are doing their best to make that happen. But in the real business world where money talks and B******t walks we have no shortage of others here always on the sidelines taking the old wait and see approach and who will,‘if’ things take off, once again merely feed off the carcass.

A Gypsy can always dream!

¡Viva Puerto Peñasco y México!

elgitanopenasco@gmail.com
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain