Mexico International

International House Hunters
Episode HHINT-3509H

Successful careers and owning numerous properties have kept the Scotts on a chaotic schedule for years. They have decided to sell everything they own in Toronto, Canada and regroup in Mexico. But after spending so much time apart, their priorities have changed. Will they be able to come together and share one home together, or will they find their way back to their old ways? Find out when House Hunters International heads south of the border to Merida, Mexico.

MERIDA, Mexico, March 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Merida’s real estate market is sizzling! And the Mexicans are driving the market. The majority of the sales are occurring on the north side of the city, mainly driven by wealthy, upper middle and middle class Mexicans from Mexico City, Monterrey and Vera Cruz.

Consider this – if you want to find the best ethnic restaurants anywhere – you check out the restaurants that are packed with the locals. The best Vietnamese places are crowded with SE Asians. The best Mexican restaurants are loaded with Latinos and the best Dim Sum restaurants are swarming with Chinese.

Following this simple logic, if you want to find the best place to live and invest in Mexico – follow the Mexicans. And the Mexicans are flocking to Merida.

Why? Safety, value, infrastructure, cost of living, health care facilities, great universities and trade schools, a diverse, growing economy and the tropical lifestyle.

Here’s where the real estate investment opportunities exist:

Land north and northeast of Merida. The values of raw land on the north side of Merida has increased by over 100% plus in the last 5 years and will continue to increase at a very strong rate for the foreseeable future.
Income producing properties in Centro, north of Centro or to the north – northeast side of Merida. There is very strong demand for rental properties. If you are looking for a solid, income producing opportunity, look for good properties in these areas. Demand for rentals is a trend – not a passing fad.
The financial difficulties in the USA and Europe have created great buying opportunities in Merida’s historic district and on the beach.

However, American portfolios are rebounding, confidence in the economy is improving and those baby boomer Americans who put off that retirement move to Mexico – are getting ready to re-commit. This is a trend that will continue throughout the next decade.

The USA is Mexico’s largest trading partner. The USA is on the mend and the housing market will recover. In the meantime, there are millions of American baby boomers getting set-up to retire. Mexico is close. Mexico is affordable. Mexico is ready and Merida is the place to be!

For more information on trends and opportunities in the Merida Real Estate Market, see our press release from December 2011:

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/author/mexico-international-real-estate

See our Merida, Yucatan, Mexico videos, blogs, Facebook page or follow us on Twitter at our website http://mexintl.com/

Contact:

Mitchell Jay Keenan, CRS
Broker/Director of Mexico International Real Estate
USA Toll-Free: 866 888 3025
Mexico: +52 999 920 6856
Email: miguelsmexico@gmail.com
Website: www.mexintl.com

By Ranga Chand – Globe and Mail Blog
Posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 8:35AM EST
Ranga Chand is an international economist and is president of Chand Carmichael & Company

It is now almost three years since the Great Recession ended and profound changes are underway in the world. The global economic axis is shifting fundamentally and a comparison between the major advanced economies of the G7 and the seven largest emerging economies – the E7 – reveals this startling change.

Collectively, the E7 bloc which includes China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and Mexico now accounts for close to 31 per cent of world GDP, up from 19 per cent twenty years ago. During this same time period, the G7 has seen its share of world output fall from 51 per cent to 38 per cent.

It is these divergent trends in growth that have significantly altered the global economic landscape. To put things in perspective, over the four year period from the end of 2007 through to 2011, only four of the G7 economies have regained their pre-recession levels of output. Canada has been the best performer in this group, despite the fact that it is still only 3.1 per cent larger than it was in 2007. The size of Germany’s economy, the second-best performer, is 1.8 per cent larger while the U.S. and French economies have just managed to move ahead of where they were in 2007. The United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy have failed to recover the output lost from the 2008-09 recession. The U.K. economy is 2.6 per cent smaller than it was in the pre-recession peak year of 2007, Japan’s is 4.2 per cent smaller, and Italy’s is 4.7 per cent smaller (see table below).

In contrast to the G7 countries, the production of goods and services is larger today in all the E7 economies than it was in 2007. China’s economy is 44.6 per cent larger than it was before the crisis and despite a slowing down of growth its GDP is likely to expand by another 8 per cent to 9 per cent this year. Similarly, India’s economy is 34.6 per cent larger, Indonesia’s is 25.2 cent and Brazil’s is 16.5 per cent bigger. Even Mexico’s economy, which is 3.9 per cent larger and the E7’s worst performer, has outperformed every single member of the G7.

It is now abundantly clear that a sustained recovery remains stubbornly elusive for the G7 economies. Despite massive amounts of monetary and fiscal stimulus, the rate of growth in all of the major advanced economies has been sharply below their respective long-term averages. Moreover, constrained by large debts and deficits, not a single G7 country is expected to achieve growth rates above, or even at, its long-term average for several more years.

In contrast, since 2007, growth in the economies of the E7 has barely deviated from their long-term averages. By 2020 this bloc, given the current trends, will surpass the G7 and account for a greater share of world output. This, in turn, will lead to a shift in the current geo-political power structure. Whether this will be muted or more pronounced remains to be seen.

Mexico welcomed 22.67 million international visitors in 2011, breaking record set in 2008

By SECTUR, The Mexican Ministry of Tourism
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012 – 9:28 am

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 14, 2012 — MEXICO CITY, Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — SECTUR, The Mexican Ministry of Tourism revealed that 2011 was a record breaking year for tourism. 22.67 million international travelers visited Mexico in 2011; this represents an increase of 2 percent on 2010, a 5.7 percent increase on 2009, and a 0.2 percent increase on 2008 – historically Mexico’s best year for international tourism.

“We are overjoyed that Mexico has broken our longstanding record with regard to international visitation,” said Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, Chief Operating Officer of the Mexico Tourism Board, “these figures clearly demonstrate that the bold diversification strategy we have implemented, promoting a broad tourism offering and targeting an expanded breed of global consumer, is succeeding.”

Following efforts to attract a more diverse cohort of tourists from a range of international markets, Mexico saw in a significant increase in visitor numbers compared to 2010 from Brazil (66 percent), Russia (55 percent), China (30 percent), Colombia (23.2 percent), Italy (13 percent), Australia (13 percent) United Kingdom (11.6 percent), France (10 percent), Japan (9.3 percent) and Canada (7 percent).Mexico remains the most popular international destination for U.S. tourists. The economic environment in the U.S. translated to fewer Americans traveling abroad in 2011; according to the Department of Commerce international air travel from the U.S. declined 4.1 percent in 2011. Mexico, however increased its market share in the US from 14.1 to 15 percent.

A key focus for the Mexico Tourism Board in 2012 will also be to capitalize on, celebrate and promote the start of the new Mayan calendar, promoting travel to the five state which comprise the Mayan World – specifically Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas and the Yucatan.

“Building off an exceptionally strong 2011 we are confident that 2012 will be another record breaking year, particularly in light of the upcoming campaign to promote Mundo Maya.”

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:Jennifer RisiOgilvy Public Relations Worldwide+1-646-240-6297

SOURCE SECTUR, The Mexican Ministry of Tourism

By Daily Reckoning Contributor

01/26/12 If you had $20,000 a month to retire on — you could live lavishly pretty much anywhere on the planet. But we’re interested in the places where you can live that lifestyle on one-tenth the budget…

Places where you can have a maid clean for you…hire a gardener… wake up to a view…have great health care, eat well, enjoy the finer things in life — for less than $2,000 a month. You may be surprised how many there are…

Months ago, our far-flung editors and in-country advisers began collecting all the data and details that inform our annual Retirement Index.

To compile it, we evaluate and rank countries around the world according to eight crucial categories: real estate, special retirement benefits, cost of living, ease of integration, entertainment and amenities, health care, retirement infrastructure and climate.

This is a qualitative assessment, based on real-world data gathered on the ground. For each category in our Index, we looked closely at what matters most to you when you’re considering an overseas retirement spot — everything from the price of bread to how easy it is to make friends or stay in touch with family.

We considered a vast range of data points, from the average humidity to the cost of a taxi. And with costs in mind, we examined prices for real estate, rentals, and utilities like water, electricity, and cable TV. We looked at costs for groceries, eating out, even specific medical procedures. We took into account what kind of discounts retirees can get on travel, taxes and entertainment. And we considered whether there were direct flights back home…how many and how long they are, too.

And we asked: What is the Internet like? Do you need a car? Can you catch a movie in English? Are the people friendly? Does it rain? In effect, we asked all the questions you should ask when you’re considering a retirement overseas. This year’s Top 19 foreign locations are listed below:

Numbers and rankings don’t tell the whole story, of course. When it comes to relocating overseas, there is no such thing as “one size fits all.” So the staff and global correspondents of International Living also recorded a wide range of boots-on-the-ground testimonials from folks who have retired to these various foreign locales.

Take Daphne Newman, who lives in Caribbean Honduras. She’s spending just $1,400 a month to live yards from a white-sand beach on the island of Roatan. Only a three-hour flight from the US, English-speaking Roatan with its world-class reef just offshore, is an easy place to make friends and fit in. It lands mid-table in this year’s Index.

Jack Griffin and his wife Margaret have opted, by contrast, for city life in Nicaragua. When the stock market crashed and the value of their home in the States plummeted by 30%, they began to worry about how to fund their retirement. The final straw came with a 37% hike in their annual health-insurance premium. At age 60, they felt they deserved the retirement they had worked for all their lives, so they found a new home in Managua, the country’s capital.

Today their international medical insurance costs them 62% less than their policy did back home (yet their local hospital is internationally accredited and the doctors speak English). Retired now without money worries, they spend their days exploring, horseback riding, going to the beach or gym, and doing yoga. They have a full-time maid and a gardener and, says Jack, “We do it all for less than half the cost of a moderate lifestyle back home in Atlanta, Georgia.”

Chuck and Jamie Bilbe, ready to retire in Florida, found themselves in a situation similar to the Griffins’. “We were concerned that our retirement savings wouldn’t see us through, so we began looking overseas for a place where our ever-shrinking nest egg might last longer,” says Chuck. Now they live in Corozal, Belize, their cost of living is much lower than it was in the States, but that’s not the greatest appeal. What they say they like most is the Old-World lifestyle. “Like Florida in the 1950’s,” they say. “We’re eating better, sleeping better and enjoying social activity much more now than we did before.”

It’s not just destinations south of the States that appeal. Pam Griner Leavy and her husband Jim are just two of the more than 100,000 American expats living in France. They’re retired in Paris on a reasonable $3,149 a month. “There are so many things for free here, or reasonably priced…big-city life is good,” says Pam.

In Asia you can live comfortably for less than $1,000 a month on a powder-sand beach in Thailand. Up the budget just a bit and you can afford First-World comforts and conveniences in colonial Penang Island, Malaysia. Keith Hockton and his wife Lisa live there, where they rent a sea-view apartment for $1,000 a month — it comes with a shared pool and gym — and they eat out five nights a week, keep a small sailboat, enjoy cycling through the botanic gardens. Their total budget is $1,719 a month.

In Brazil, expats with $2,150 a month can live a block from the country’s best beaches in Fortaleza. In Boquete, Panama, Karl and Liz Parker need just $2,000 a month to fund their life in a place that provides lavish highland views in a near-perfect climate. Panama’s retiree-benefit program provides them discounts on nearly everything, too, which helps keep their costs down.

In Cuenca, Ecuador, Douglas Willis, his wife and two children live on just $1,000 a month. In Costa Rica’s Central Valley, Sharon and Lee Harris bought a townhouse in Heredia for $75,000, and pay only $40 a month for healthcare coverage as members of the Caja, the country’s excellent national healthcare system.

Wherever the locale they’ve chosen — beach, city, highland, valley — these expats all have one thing in common: They’re living the lives they’ve always wanted for much less than they ever dreamt they could.

This 2012 Retirement Index covers all the bases, revealing a wealth of choices when it comes to comfortable retirement living abroad. Choices you don’t have to be wealthy to take advantage of.

Regards,

The International Living Team
for The Daily Reckoning

Read more: Best Places in the World to Retire http://dailyreckoning.com/best-places-in-the-world-to-retire/#ixzz1mZXojbQ6

By Jonathan J. Levin

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Mexico’s peso climbed to a four-month high after initial jobless claims decreased more than forecast in the U.S., buoying optimism for growth in the world’s largest economy.

The peso gained 0.7 percent to 12.8013 per U.S. dollar today, the strongest level since Sept. 9, from 12.8923 yesterday. The currency has jumped 8.9 percent this year, the most among major Latin American currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Applications for unemployment insurance payments in the U.S. dropped by 12,000 to 367,000 in the week ended Jan. 28, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 46 economists in a Bloomberg News survey projected 371,000. Expansion in the U.S. economy is offsetting concern about Europe’s debt crisis, increasing demand for emerging- market assets including the peso, said Rafael Camarena, a Mexico City-based economist at Banco Santander SA.

“The U.S. data keeps supporting the outlook for economic growth,” Camarena said in a telephone interview. “That’s definitely helping the peso.”

Mexico sends about 80 percent of its exports to the U.S.

The yield on Mexico’s peso-denominated bonds due in 2024 rose eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 6.25 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price of the securities fell 0.84 centavo to 133.02 centavos per peso.

–Editor: Glenn J. Kalinoski

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan J. Levin in Mexico City at jlevin20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net

February 13, 2012 11:57 pm by Adam Thomson

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/13/mexico-economy-still-chugging-along/#ixzz1mZTmhS2l

More solid news for Mexico – industrial output outstripped expectations in December thanks to the robust performance of manufacturing.

The figures, published Monday by Mexico’s national statistics institute, showed a 0.9 per cent jump in industrial output compared with November, more than doubling the 0.4 per cent on average that analysts had predicted.

The latest data bring the December-on-December growth in industrial output to 2.8 per cent – admittedly lower than the 3.3 per cent November-on-November growth, but still solid.

Industrial output was 3.8 per cent for 2011 as a whole compared with 2010, when it shot up 6.1 per cent – though that includes the statistical effect of comparing 2010 with the previous year when Mexican economy received the full brunt of the US financial crisis followed by the global recession.

The 2011 performance was mainly the result of three sectors: electricity, water and gas, which grew 5.5 per cent; manufacturing, which expanded 5.1 per cent; and construction, which increased 4.8 per cent. By contrast, mining contracted 2.3 per cent.

The biggest gain in the December figures was in manufacturing, which increased 1.2 per cent month-on-month, from 0.1 per cent a month earlier. Construction went up 0.2 per cent, though that figure put an end to two consecutive months of decline.

Monday’s report is an aperitif for the eagerly awaited figures showing fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), which Mexico’s government expects to have increased 3.7 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2010. It expects overall growth for 2011 of 4 per cent compared with the previous year.

by Carla Hill

It’s a tool used by house flippers all across the nation. Stagers know its power. Real estate agents push its importance. What is this not-so-well-kept secret of real estate? A kitchen can sell a house.

A kitchen is the heart of a home. This is true all across the globe. The old saying that the “stomach is the way to the heart” carries a lot of truth. Kitchens are where we spend much of our time and most of that is with our families. It’s the room where we nourish our bodies and our spirits.

Kitchens are integral to entertaining and in today’s age of open floor plans, they’re a focal piece of many family rooms. It’s because of this that kitchens play such an important role in the buying and selling process.

This one room is the showpiece of the house. You’ll see it every day and your guests will see it during most visits. This means buyers want homes with up-to-date kitchens.

Kitchens, however, can be one of the most expensive rooms to renovate. These projects can also be the most labor and time intensive of all home renovations. It’s not just a new layer of paint.

Instead you find a complicated array of flooring, tiling, cabinets, and counters. This means buyers may want a home with an up-to-date kitchen but they aren’t willing to tackle this problem themselves. Most buyers want a kitchen that is ready to use the day they move in.

What do buyers look for in up-to-date kitchens? A lot of this depends on what price range your home is in.

The main thing to remember as a seller is to not price yourself out of your market. If homes in your neighborhood are selling for $100,000 with tidy, but not luxury kitchens, then this is no time to upgrade to granite, travertine, and marble at the price tag of $40,000+. You simply won’t find a buyer.

Scope out the competition. Use open houses in your area or MLS listings to find out what your competitions’ kitchens look like.

Do area homes have new solid wood cabinets and granite counters in today’s designer colors? You’ll be wise to consider making the same move. Are they including new stainless steel appliances and add-ons like dishwashers, wine-coolers, and trash compactors?

Are you in a higher-end neighborhood? It’s time to think high-end. Your older home may have a highly functional kitchen, but a buyer will take one look at your formica counters and white appliances and become lost in the stress of how much money and time it would take to remodel. If you don’t want to put in the time yourself to make upgrades then you’ll have to make concessions in the price.

Don’t become overwhelmed, though. Sometimes a kitchen update can mean doing just a few minor changes. Change the paint color to a warm, neutral tone. Get rid of any clutter. Update your appliances, paint your cabinets, change the pulls, or get a high-end looking counter for a fraction of the cost (faux-granite or lower end granite). You might even save a bundle by doing much of the work yourself.

The bottom line is a kitchen can sell a home. Do a little research and find out what your kitchen needs to make it competitive with area listings.

Published: January 24, 2012. To learn more about this article, go to http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20120124_kitchens.htm

Carla Hill, M.A., works on the Realty Times staff as Managing Editor for our online publication. She also is Producer for the real estate news channel, seen daily on RealtyTimes.com and on video newsletters nationwide.

By: Krista Franks

Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.

The analytics firm notes the average credit score required to attain a mortgage loan is 700. While this is higher than scores required prior to the crisis, it is constant with requirements one year ago.

Additionally, a Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey found credit requirements in the fourth quarter were consistent with the past three quarters.

However, other market indicators point not just to a stabilization of mortgage lending standards, but also a loosening of credit availability.

Banks are now lending amounts up to 3.5 times borrower earnings. This is up from a low during the crisis of 3.2 times borrower earnings.

Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”

In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.

While credit conditions may have loosened slightly, some potential homebuyers are still struggling with credit requirements. In fact, Capital Economics points out that in November 8 percent of contract cancellations were the result of a potential buyer not qualifying for a loan.

Additionally, Capital Economics says “any improvement in credit conditions won’t be significant enough to generation actual house price gains,” and potential ramifications from the euro-zone pose a threat to future credit availability.

To read more, follow this link http://www.dsnews.com/articles/housing-crisis-to-end-in-2012-as-banks-loosen-credit-standards-2012-01-24

Beautifully wooded, undulating with hills and loaded with good soil. The owner is willing to sell a lot as small as 20,000 sq meter or as large as 200,000-sq meters. Asking 4.0-mexican pesos (four) per square meter.

For more info contact Mitch at miguelsmexico@gmail.com