Playa del Carmen as a Base for Cenotes and Cozumel

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Thank you, @rick00001967. I don't mind the extra info - it would all need to be considered anyway and is helpful and appreciated.

Rick seems to know the RE market a lot better than I do. It is well worth the time and effort to reach out to local real estate agents and "investigate" a sale of the unit. A competent agent will do a comparative market analysis, CMA before a listing is signed. The other side of the coin, would be to contact a few local firms and express an interest to buy a similar property. I am sure they have plenty of time on their hands right now. Both work providing you know what you are looking at but the CMA should give you recent sales instead of asking prices.

Depending on loan amounts, HOA/property management fees there may be little to no residual value in the property. You have to remember that a vacation condo is essentially a commercial rental investment and right now the generated income is pretty minimal. In addition, there is a growing risk that it could be some time before said market returns to "normal" conditions.

My background is in commercial real estate with a heavy emphasis on appraisal and finance. Don't keep up with the PDC condo market, but the same rules apply to a condo or a office building.
 
There are lots of cenote options fairly close to Playa. In fact, there are several cave instructors that live in playa and drive to the caves every day, it's not that far. I think the bigger question is would you rather live in a sizable city or a tiny town? If you were primarily looking for a place to split the difference between cenotes and Cozumel, playa would definitely be it.

That said, if I were looking into property in MX, I would be very very cautious at the moment. I would consider renting something long term, maybe a year at least, just to get an idea of what being tied to a specific property year-round is like. The reality is often different than the idea.
 
Rick seems to know the RE market a lot better than I do. It is well worth the time and effort to reach out to local real estate agents and "investigate" a sale of the unit. A competent agent will do a comparative market analysis, CMA before a listing is signed. The other side of the coin, would be to contact a few local firms and express an interest to buy a similar property. I am sure they have plenty of time on their hands right now. Both work providing you know what you are looking at but the CMA should give you recent sales instead of asking prices.

Depending on loan amounts, HOA/property management fees there may be little to no residual value in the property. You have to remember that a vacation condo is essentially a commercial rental investment and right now the generated income is pretty minimal. In addition, there is a growing risk that it could be some time before said market returns to "normal" conditions.

My background is in commercial real estate with a heavy emphasis on appraisal and finance. Don't keep up with the PDC condo market, but the same rules apply to a condo or a office building.

Riviera Maya properties seeing a 10 percent drop in prices
 
That's listing offers, not the closed sales numbers.

One thing you can take to the bank is that closed sales/traffic are way south of the 10% reduction. I would like to see closed sales numbers a couple months from now to judge the market.

Not a great time to either buy or sell. If you need to sell, tough to measure how much to discount. If you want to buy, time is your friend.
 
If I were considering such a major purchase, I would spend a few weeks down there in various condos. If you're going to dive all the time, probably you don't want to deal with the ferry at all, and want to be in Cozumel. Whereas if you think it's going to be once or twice a month, maybe you'd prefer a tiny beachfront town like Akumal, which is really relaxed, though it adds a 35 minute drive. Run the math on what you'd actually use. The payments even on a modest condo can buy a heck of a lot of AirBnB nights.
 

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