Should We Buy a Condo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico?

We told each other we'd only buy a place that involved "zero compromises." Did we find it? And how much would it cost?

Last month, we warned our readers that the effects of climate change that Michael and I now see worldwide could soon wreak havoc on the world’s real estate market, making home ownership a much riskier proposition in years to come.

So, naturally, this month, we’re considering buying a condo in Puerto Vallarta.

The truth is, it’s more like we’re considering if we want to consider buying a condo in Puerto Vallarta.

After all, we love Puerto Vallarta; we’ve long talked about setting up a “home base” where we can recharge between travel forays; and our home-country of America is currently, well, shitting the bed.

Plus, a place in a popular tourist destination like Puerto Vallarta would give us the option of earning some serious rental income whenever we’re away traveling.

But Michael and I both quickly agreed there was no point in buying a place just for the rental income. If we’re going to once again take on the hassle and stress of owning property, we wanted it to be a place that involved zero compromises — a place where we could happily live out the rest of our lives if need be.

We made an appointment with a pair of local real estate agents here in Puerto Vallarta, and we explained our situation.

At one point, Trent — one of the agents — said to me, “You’re one of those people who can maintain multiple possibilities in his head simultaneously, aren’t you?”

Which is definitely true. And most real estate agents probably prefer clients of the more “impulsive” variety.

But Trent and his co-agent David — also his husband — were game to show us some condos in the area we were most interested in: north of Conchas Chinas, where we’re currently renting a villa, but south of Zona Romantica — close enough to that busy tourist area that we can walk to restaurants but far enough that we don’t have to deal with bustle or noise.

We also wanted — sorry, not sorry — a great view.

This is the area we explored.

Trent and David very wisely suggested that we look at properties in a range of prices — to see exactly what buys what in this particular market.

Here are the properties we considered in the order we looked at them.

At the end — like a slightly less contrived episode of HGTV’s House Hunters International — I’ll tell you what Michael and I ultimately decided.

Cool funicular! Inviting deck. But smells funky.

The first place we looked at was surprisingly cute. It consisted of twenty units stacked on a steep hillside in the Amapas neighborhood. The building was swathed in lush landscaping and served by an elevator and a cool open-air funicular.

It was 2304 square feet and had a large deck, an inviting open-air concept, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The complex also had a shared pool and a modest gym. Like most condos in Puerto Vallarta, the price included all the furniture.

That price was $595,000 USD — more than we were looking to spend (with $431/month in homeowners dues).

Alas, the view was just okay, and the unit smelled funky.

The place was fine, but it also wasn’t the stellar, zero-compromises choice Michael and I had agreed we wanted.

Interesting pool, but old building and no view. And oh! Traffic.

For our next stop, we looked at two places for sale in the same building in Conchas Chinas. They were both two bedrooms, two bathrooms.

The prices were lower: the first was $466,000 (1305 square feet, with $166 HOA dues), and the one with a private pool was $525,000 (1439 square feet, with $190 HOA dues).

The building was older, but we liked the tile and the classic Mexican charm. And the owners with the pool — a gay couple, natch — had done a great job of turning their outside area into a lush garden.

But we hated almost everything else about these places: the cobbled-together nature of some past renovations; the lack of light; the sub-par common pool area; the barely-there views; and (especially) the noise and pollution from the nearby main road.

David also zeroed in on the labyrinthine stairs that led to each unit. “Way too many,” he told us. “People buying in Puerto Vallarta are buying long-term — for retirement. The last thing in the world they want is all these stairs.”

We stayed just long enough at these two places to be polite to the two sales agents who had come to meet us.

But these units weren’t even in the same galaxy as what Michael and I wanted.

THESE NEXT PLACES COST ALMOST A MILLION BUCKS?!?!?

For our next stop, we went back to Amapas and once again saw two units in the same building, one for $765,000 (1488 square feet, with $582 HOA dues) and one for $925,000 (1769 square feet, with $318 HOA dues), and Michael and I both had exactly the same thought:

“Are these people out of their &#@!ing minds?”

Yes, these units were both technically two bedroom, two baths, but the back bedrooms were so tiny. Meanwhile, the cheaper unit was ridiculously narrow, and while the views were decent — not great, but decent — the building was perched right up against a busy street.

They also had zero Mexico charm. They felt utterly generic and could easily have been mistaken for hotel rooms.

The very best thing you could say about these places was that the building had an excellent common pool area on the roof.

Oh, and someone is wrong — or lying — about their HOA dues. Why would the smaller unit have dues that are almost twice as high?

I asked Trent if these units would sell for anywhere near their asking prices, and he thought about it. “Probably,” he said at last. “They’re close to town, and the pool area is great, so they’ll rent well. Investors will probably pick them up and rent them out.”

But we couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

And by this point, we were getting discouraged. Frankly, we hadn’t even come close to the zero-compromises place Michael and I were searching for.

Hold on! What do we have here?

The last place we saw was the one Trent and David were most excited about — and I am certain real estate agents do this by design, saving the best for last, and I don’t hold it against them in the least.

And… it! Was! Amazing!

Seriously, it had everything: a terrific building with incredible amenities — three swimming pools and a great gym. The unit itself has an impressive view, a fantastic open living area, a solid master bedroom, and a guest room that was an entire suite on the opposite side of the condo.

It was $765,000 (2304 square feet, with HOA dues of $483), and according to Trent, it was “priced to sell.” I emphatically agreed with him, at least compared to the other properties we saw that day. Since it was on the ground floor, it was also the least expensive unit in a more expensive building — always a good thing.

So — as they say on House Hunters — which did we pick?

None of them. But you saw that coming, didn’t you?

Prices were way more expensive than we expected.

“Everything jumped 60% during Covid,” Trent told us, “and prices haven’t gone back down. Before that, prices grew at 6% a year, and now they’re back to growing at 6% a year.”

On the other hand, local rental prices have gone way up too, which means you can generally rent out high-end units like most of these for around $160/day during the low season and $250/day during the high season.

Meanwhile, you can also hire a management company to take care of everything, even paying your utilities and local taxes (although you still have to pay for repairs and other costs).

That means with an outlay of, say, $750,000 for that last unit, and another $30,000 of closing costs, our initial investment would be $780,000.

Let’s assume we lived there four months a year and managed to rent it out for six of the remaining eight months — half in the high season, half in the low season. That would generate $36,500 annually in rent, minus 20% for the management company ($7300), HOA dues ($5796), annual maintenance costs ($7000), taxes, and utilities ($3400), giving us an annual return of $23,496 or about 3% on our initial investment — although we’d also have a place to stay “for free” for four months every year.

And if real estate prices in Puerto Vallarta really do appreciate 6% a year in the years ahead, that could make for a pretty decent investment vehicle — even minus the 8% (combined Mexican taxes and real estate fees) that we’d pay when we finally sold the place.

Pondering our choices in Puerto Vallarta.

But.

First, well, $780,000 is a hell of a lot of money — especially since it would probably be an all-cash purchase. Mortgages are possible, but interest rates are high, and most sales here are cash.

Second, there’s no guarantee prices will rise. Could this real estate market be a bubble? It’s true that home prices have been rising all over the world — there’s supposedly a massive housing shortage. But a 60% rise in two years is an insane run-up. In short, it sure feels like a bubble.

And Michael and I clearly remember buying a house even after the last bubble burst in 2008 — only to have our home and all the houses around us plunge another 30% in value, at least on paper. No one was selling — because so many folks were underwater — but there came a terrifying point where you almost couldn’t give houses away.

Which brings up the question of the greater economy.

With Trump and his best buddy, Elon Musk, taking a sledgehammer to the federal government of the United States — while also completely upending the post-World War II world order! — I’m even more pessimistic about the future than when we contacted Trent and David three weeks ago.

To my mind, a major economic crash and a massive anti-American backlash around the world now seem almost inevitable.

Trent argues that if there is a major upheaval in the United States — if there was, say, a Tiananmen Square-like event, which we both think is fairly likely — property in Puerto Vallarta could quickly become more valuable.

“The market here just isn’t that big,” he says. “And it wouldn’t take much for it to soar again.”

And it’s a fair point; the consequences of this probably-quasi-fascist Trump/Musk presidency could definitely result in a large exodus of people from the U.S. — to places exactly like Puerto Vallarta. Then again, real estate agents will always find reasons for you to buy property right now, won’t they?

Finally, Michael and I love the simplicity of our current lives — and it’s not like our money won’t continue to accrue significant interest where it is, especially since we’ve moved it into safer investments in anticipation of a collapse.

So do we want to take on the stress and complexity of home ownership again right now? What if a renter trashes the place? What if the HOA issues a major assessment?

And what if there are geo-political consequences of America having Trump in the White House? Right now, foreigners can’t “buy” property in certain areas in Mexico; instead, you buy a “fideicomiso” — a trust that technically owns the property — and you are the beneficiary. These trusts have 50-year terms, and they’re easily renewed until you or your heirs sell the property.

The whole point of these trusts was to create a workaround to avoid violating a part of the Mexican Constitution; Mexicans currently want foreigners to buy property here.

But hey, attitudes change. And so do laws.

And — yes — what if there’s a major hurricane or some other climate-related disaster? Climate change is real, and what if the climate in this area changes to make it less desirable?

Remember when Trent said I can maintain multiple possibilities in my head simultaneously? He wasn’t wrong! Imagine what it’s like living inside this head.

With Trent, left, and David.

So now what?

For now, we wait — to see what happens to the world and how we feel in the months and years ahead.

But looking here in Puerto Vallarta was a really good thing. And despite the madness of the world in which we live, I think Michael and I are getting ever closer to finding our forever home.

For Puerto Vallarta real estate inquiries, contact Trent and David. We highly recommend ‘em!

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Brent Hartinger is a screenwriter and author. Check out my new newsletter about my books and movies at BrentHartinger.com.