Thinking of buying vacation rental condo in Puerto Aventuras, MX

[Doraine Warner]

It is halfway between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Mexico. It is gated, secure, a larger resort, with hotels, restaurants, shops, scuba, snorkeling, a dolphin encounter, etc.
It has a marina and golf course. Anyone have any experience in this area? We will rent it out on airbnb.com and vrbo, etc. and probably use a rental agent. Any advice? We are experienced vacation rental owners. Thanks!

[Mike Lambert]

@Doraine Warner

As I mentioned in my previous reply, some people like the place as it suits their lifestyle better. Most of the points you're making are making relate to that.

Yet, your post was about a short-term rental or about an investment property. Looking through that lens, it doesn't matter how nice the golf is or how much it costs. What matters is how much you can charge per night and what your occupancy rates and costs would be. I wouldn't buy any short-term rental without doing that analysis in the first place, especially if it's overseas.

If you buy a property in Mexico and pay cash for it, it's gonna be hard not to turn a profit when renting short-term given how low the costs are. However, there is a difference between just turning a profit and making enough money to get a decent return and justify the hassle and the risks. Also, I'm not sure you'll be able to get any meaningful capital gains there. With that kind of reasoning, everybody should but cheap properties in the US Midwest and, as we know, it doesn't work like that. In my humble opinion, there are much better uses for $115k from an investment point of view.

When it comes to crime, let me continue with my US analogies. Suggesting that owning property in Puerto Aventuras is better than buying in Playa and Tulum because some areas in the latter cities is akin to saying it's better to own property in a little town in Upstate New York than in New York City because there are crime problems in some areas of New York City. I don't know about you but I prefer to own in New York City.

Mind you, if you like the place and $115k isn't a large amount for you, you might as well try it (and let us know how you do). If you aren't planning to try to resell, you won't risk having to take a capital loss. So, worst case, you can use the property for yourself and you'll make some money.