The Idea

For our spring vacation in May 2019, we had booked two weeks in Mexico at the La Jolla condos, just east of Cabo San Lucas in San Jose Del Cabo.  This second floor, corner unit was amazing. It was literally right on the beach and from the patio we could see miles and miles of sand and waves in both directions.  This beach was not very good for swimming as the rip tide was quite fierce, but it was the most enjoyable and relaxing thing to watch as these huge waves pounded against the shore. Sometimes it was so loud we could not even hear each other talk! 

This vacation was our eighth time visiting Cabo.  We had previously stopped here to visit on port stops on various cruise vacations, and this was our third time staying in a condo where we could spread out a little more than in a hotel room.  We were starting to really like the atmosphere and the way of life here, so much so, that we had started to jokingly talk about maybe one day retiring and moving to Cabo.  So we decided that maybe on this particular vacation, we would not go off and do all the touristy things that we would normally do, but rather this time we would see what it was like to just live here for two weeks.  We spent much of the time wandering the grocery stores to see what products were available so we could cook our own meals. We checked out other local stores to see what they were selling and during the whole time we were here we felt very comfortable and always were able to find what we were looking for.  We also spent a great deal of time on our laptops researching the different neighborhoods and then going out to explore which communities we liked best. And of course, we still had to visit the marina to enjoy a few of our favourite restaurants.

We had spent many weekend mornings back home watching episodes of “Mexico Life” on HGTV, dreaming of what life would be like living in Mexico and we had started to get a feel for what the real estate market was like here.  And just like at home, one day during this vacation, we ended up catching an episode of “Mexico Life” on TV.  The episode was one we had seen before that featured a condo in the Ventanas development in the El Tezal neighbourhood.  It was an area we really liked and the view from the patio looked amazing.  We grabbed our laptops and searched for the Ventanas website to find out more about their properties.  Turned out they had one new unit left for sale in their most recent phase of development.  It was a brand new two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit that listed at $275,000 USD.  When we saw that, our jaws dropped to the floor.  When prices for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo back in Vancouver generally start about $500,000 CAD, this was a bargain to us.  We looked at each other and decided we had to go see it, so we filled out the online information request and within a few minutes received a call back to book a time to view the unit the next day.

We were so excited to go see this unit and everything that the whole complex had to offer.  At the realtor’s request, we met her in the Costco parking lot, so we could follow her up the hill to the Ventanas development.  Once there, we took the elevator up to the third floor and walked into the unit and suddenly, neither Lorne nor I could speak, all we could do was focus on that amazing view. It was literally breathtaking!  When we could finally pull ourselves away from the patio, we wandered through the unit, took a few photos and tried really hard not to make it look like we were both just dying to buy the unit right then and there. After taking in that view one last time, we left the unit so she could show us the rest of the property, with the amenities room, the various pools, and the beautiful grounds.  She gave us some final information and told us to contact her if we had any questions. We said our goodbyes and headed off back to our place. 

We could not stop talking about this place all the way back.  Even though we both would love to pack up and move into this unit right away, we knew we were not ready or even able to hit that retirement button just yet. But then Lorne wondered, what if we bought it as a vacation home.  We hadn’t even considered that option before!  So, Lorne got on the laptop again to find out if it were even possible for us to buy property here, if we could get financing here, and what our options were.  He ended up making contact with a mortgage broker in Mexico and started asking him questions and Terrance would respond and the emailing went back and forth for hours with lots of questions being asked and lots of answers coming back.  We were also talking numbers in three different currencies because the properties are listed in US Dollars, but the financing would be in Mexican Pesos and we needed to convert everything to Canadian Dollars just so we would understand the numbers from our own perspective.  We had both our laptops open searching things, and we had both our cell phones on converting currencies. Finally in the end, we found out with just submitting some basic information we would easily quality for financing to buy that amazing unit if we wanted to.  We could not believe it!

So, what does one do with this information?  View more properties, of course!  From researching, we knew there were other units in the complex that were available for sale, and most of these came furnished. We decided we should get our own realtor who could help us arrange to view these other units, and the first realtor that came to mind was none other than Jeff Schmidt himself, the realtor we often saw on “Mexico Life”.  We called him up and set up an appointment to meet him in a couple of days to go view some other units in Ventanas. 

We met Jeff in the Home Depot parking lot and then followed him up to the properties.  He was every bit as personable and fun as he is on the TV show and we felt quite special having a celebrity helping us with our property search.  We viewed a total of three different units in the Ventanas development, all similar to the first one we viewed, although some had some minor differences but all had that that same breathtaking view. Jeff reminded us that there were other properties in other neighbourhoods that we could go see, however at that moment, we were totally stuck on Ventanas.  We thanked him for taking us to see the units and told him we would be in touch.

The next day it was already time to start packing up as our most amazing two-week vacation was coming to an end and we had a flight to catch.  So, we put everything on hold while we headed home to go back to our normal life, but we were totally excited knowing that a vacation home in Cabo might one day become a reality for us!

Up Next: The Purchase