Baja Real Estate Back on Track

Tiger`s Golf Course coming soon






















By Gustavo Torres









CONTRIBUTOR





















Punta Brava developers expect to break ground this year









This piece contains a few excerpts from an article by Sandra Dibble on Tiger Woods’ Baja Golf Course, from the San Diego Union-Tribune. Sandra Dibble writes many articles on Baja and often attends Baja events, developments, etc.





















Punta Brava sales team member Ryan Osterdorf teed off at what would be the location of the golf course’s 10th tee.





















According to Rosarito’s AMPI (Mexican Realtors Association), sales in the northern Baja area are increasing at an unexpected pace.









“We are very excited to see what we are seeing, this is something we did not expect until 2011”said Blanca Guerrero of RE/MAX Baja Realty in Rosarito Beach. She added that, “sales levels are now at the 2003/2004 levels which are very good.”





















Most of the buyers are Americans: 70% were from California, a few from other West Coast states and the rest from the East coast. They range in ages, from 40 to 65 years old, and are looking for retirement (35%), a second home (30%), long term investment (25%) and other (10%).





















“Many of our buyers are escaping from the high cost of living in California, especially the extremely high property taxes” says Victor Loza of RE/MAX/Your Baja Connection. Loza further added that, “Indeed, property taxes in California could be around $7,000 annually, while in Rosarito - for an oceanfront condo - they are about $300 per year, and approximately $80 for an ocean view home.”









A number of incredible opportunities can be found at the moment, particularly in Rosarito Beach in Baja, and at just a short 30 minute drive from the San Diego border, it is an excellent option for many.





















Sales have increased tenfold compared to the start of 2009, when the economic crisis exploded and the influenza scare dealt Baja California a very strong blow. Then it was followed by the bad press about the drug cartels fighting in the region. The drug wars were portrayed as if they affected all citizens of Baja, not taking into consideration that these terrible fights where occurring in areas not visited by regular folks, let alone tourists.





















Americans living here – around 15,000 in Rosarito and 30,000 in Ensenada- immediately started posting testimonials, U-tube commentaries, blogs, etc. to show that life was very different to what the US media was “advertising.” Many even created blogs and forums which are easily accessible on the Internet now.





















Even with the crisis fading and sales improving faster than once thought possible, we still have several development projects that are barely beginning to renew their construction and some that are still in the wait-and-see stages.





















Real Estate prices in Baja dropped approximately the same percentage as Southern California. The 35% drop found in the third quarter of 2009, has since increased around 5%, making the average price of an ocean view and oceanfront residential property in 2009 in the Rosarito region approximately $285,000, and oceanfront condos at $306,000.





















Now, with Tiger Woods’ Punta Brava, Baja will be getting lots of positive attention again. “This is the best we could ask for. Similar to the type we were getting in ‘04 and ’05,” said James Bond, a U.S. retiree realtor working hard in Baja. “Back in those days, the U.S. media was portraying Rosarito and Baja as the ‘American Dream found… just south of the border’… then the whole economic turn hit, and Baja stopped being the darling of the American media.





















Since the announcement of Tiger Wood’s Baja development, almost 170 “super” prospective buyers have been flown down to tour the site; looks like most have showed excitement for the project.









Brian Tucker, the development’s director said “This is to be one of the singular golf clubs in the world.”









With views of the ocean at every tee or green, the Tiger Woods golf course will be the centerpiece of the development planned at the tip of the Punta Banda peninsula overlooking Todos Santos Bay. The project includes 120 units, with prices starting at $3 million for a lot and $3.5 million for a condominium, according to information released at the project’s unveiling.





















Punta Brava’s financial backer is Red McCombs, co-founder of Clear Channel Communications and former owner of the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Vikings. McCombs is a principal of The Flagship Group, headed by the Austin-based developer Brady Oman. The project’s estimated cost is $100 million.





















This past President’s Day weekend/Valentine’s Day was a blast. So many tourists came, the weather was just perfect, and buyers were all over the place. “I had two different groups wanting to see the same oceanfront house, and at the same time! This hadn’t happened since 2007,” said Victor Loza, referring to a $245,000 oceanfront listing, a 3bed/2ba house in northern Rosarito.





















This is the best time to invest in Baja California real estate, and you should wait no further.





















By the way, for more information on this article, and excerpts of a related article by Sandra Dibble, and Baja real estate, please visit http://www.bajainvestment.com/

Gustavo Torres


AMPI Rosarito Realtors

Imagineering a solution for the Middle East

David Lansing
davidlansing.com
Friday, June 5, 2009

You know how it is when you’ve got a couple of hours to kill at the airport. You read Vanity Fair, get your shoes shined, wander around the Duty Free shop pricing the Kahlua. And if you still have time on your hands, like I do, you use the back of your receipt from California Pizza Kitchen to noodle out thoughts on how to solve the problems in the Middle East.

So here’s what I’ve come up with: First, Emanuel Rahm quietly goes out and hires Disney’s Imagineers, the folks that brought us a faux-Matterhorn and “It’s a Small World,” to build clever recreations of sections of Jerusalem, including the Wailing Wall and the Damascus Gate, which are then buried under a sandy stretch of desert in northern Baja. Shortly thereafter Hillary announces the construction of a new FasTrak toll road between San Diego and San Felipe, sans border checkpoint, at a joint press conference with Mexican president Felipe Calderon who then proclaims that the Sea of Cortez, named after the despised Spanish conqueror, will henceforth be referred to by its original pre-conquest name, Mar Muerto. The new toll road will be called Carretera de la Muerte (also known as the Sea-to-Sea Highway in the States).

Now, while the toll road is being built, anthropologists are brought in to insure that no important archaeological sites are destroyed during construction and lo and behold, in several sea lion caves along the coast, they not only come across a number of used rubbers and old Corona bottles but some ancient scrolls written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Spanglish on the sort of wax paper used to wrap fish tacos back in the day.

While the Mar Muerto Scrolls (as Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush soon dubs them) are being deciphered, an earth mover pushing over cardon cacti uncovers what appears to be the ruins of a buried city near the town of Rosarito Beach that includes a long stone wall made of concrete and plaster of Paris that, in sections, appears to be at least 60 feet high and, oddly enough, has chinks in it where little pieces of paper have been inserted. The notes say things like “Pray for a shot of storm surf” and “Doc Ball owns the green room!”

The timing of the discovery is fortuitous as the archaeologists, as well as the judges from American Idol, who happen to be vacationing at the nearby Festival Plaza Hotel (except Paula Abdul, who wasn’t invited), pronounce that these are ancient text, some at least 30 years old (or longer than anyone can remember), and they clearly indicate that Baja is the Promised Land. As for those other scrolls found in and around Qumran 60 years ago? Scholars had been reading them upside down. Bummer.

Barack Obama quickly convenes a summit meeting at Camp David with President Calderon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after which it is announced that the United States and Israel have jointly agreed to purchase the entire 1,100-mile-long Baja peninsula for an undisclosed amount of cash plus a fleet of new (but unsold) ‘08 Hummers stuffed with credit default swaps bundled by Lehman Brothers and a 50 percent stake in the recently restructured GM. “In addition,” says an obviously pleased Obama, “we are throwing in the state of Texas as a measure of goodwill.”

The entire population of Israel will be relocated to Baja just as soon as Pequeña Jerusalén (as Rosarito Beach is quickly renamed) is unearthed, announces Netanyahu during a joint press conference in which all three leaders wear identical white guyabara wedding shirts and black skull caps. No current Mexican residents in Baja will be forced to move. In fact, says the Prime Minister, “Since Baja is three times the size of Israel but has only a third of the population, we hope our Mexican amigos stay. Afterall, we have lots of hotels and golf courses to build. And, personally, I love nachos.”

Israel will be given to the Palestinians. Nuevo Israel (formerly Baja) announces it will pay for its portion of the transaction (the cash) by eliminating its military which is now unnecessary as Netanyahu, or El Jefe as he asks to be called, points out since the country will be surrounded on three sides by water and share a common border with its BFF, the United States. Plans are also announced to expand the border-free toll road from Los Angeles to Jaifa (formerly Cabo).

Treaties are signed, photos taken, twitters sent.

www.bajainvestment.com

Going for the green

Going for the green
Tiger Woods backs residential golf resort planned for Baja, but potential effect on the environment brings out critics
By Jose Luis Jiménez
STAFF WRITER
2:00 a.m. February 8, 2009

Rock outcroppings frame the view toward Islas de Todos Santos in the Pacific Ocean; sea lions play in the clear blue water; caves shelter the shells left by indigenous people who roamed the area hundreds of years ago.
Even as worldwide economic troubles continue to mount, the property near Ensenada is expected to join the development trend this summer as work begins to transform it into a golf course designed by Tiger Woods. Punta Brava, the developers say, will be breathtaking.
But unless you have at least $3 million to buy an estate home site or a villa, don't bother calling for a tee time when the ultra-private course opens, scheduled for 2011. Only homeowners and their guests will be allowed to play it.
Some real estate experts question the wisdom of developing a high-priced golf club in the midst of a slumping global economy. It is also in an area known more for spring breakers and retired U.S. expats than as an exclusive tourist destination. In addition, a high level of violent crime in Mexico, mainly fueled by drug gangs, has made headlines in the United States and across the world.
Local environmentalists also are concerned about the potential damage that could be done to the coastal environment by the introduction of non-native grass and the chemicals needed to keep it green.
Texas-based developer Brady Oman pledges nothing will reach the ocean, except for a few errant golf shots. In a recent interview, Oman said the company is committed to keeping the $100 million project as environmentally friendly as possible.
He also said the development is fully financed, thanks to the deep pockets of Red McCombs, who co-founded media giant Clear Channel Communications.
And he expects well-to-do golf lovers will be lining up to purchase property so they can play on only the third course designed by Woods. Developers say that with water on three sides and a 1,200-foot peak at the entry to the project, the location is secure.
“We are really confident because of the site, the team of developers and the proximity to Southern California,” Oman said. “The site is a once-in-a-lifetime site.”
Oman, who has developed golf-and-housing projects in Texas, started scouting the peninsula several years ago. Another member of the development team found the site in 2006, near the famous La Bufadora sea geyser and about 10 miles west of Highway 1, the main north-south route in Baja California. An Ensenada family that planned to use the 300 acres for retreats sold the property and got a five-acre estate on the site.
Next was getting the partners on board. Woods visited the site in 2007, committed to the development and stopped by again after his dramatic U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines last summer.
With Woods on board, Oman said it was easy to get McCombs to back the deal. After the announcement of the project at a Beverly Hills hotel in October, a sales office was opened in downtown San Diego. A helicopter is available to fly potential buyers to the property, where the par-70 golf course is staked out, along with the locations of the clubhouse, spa and an ocean club with a pool.
So far, 12 people have committed to purchasing at the development, including Woods himself. A total of 40 estate home sites and 100 villas will be sold. Owners will have the opportunity to hosts guests at 20 of the villas; the exact arrangements are being worked out, according to the developers.
Approximately 750 people will be employed during the construction phase, with 200 permanent jobs afterward. Potable water will be provided by a desalination plant, and irrigation water will drain into retention ponds, which will then be recycled through a treatment plant, Oman said.
“Nothing goes into the ocean,” Oman said.
While local environmentalists applaud the steps taken to lessen the environmental impacts, the immediate surroundings will be affected, said Juan Manuel Rodríguez, who heads the department of urban and environmental studies at Colegio de la Frontera Norte, or COLEF, a Tijuana-area think tank.
Manuel, who attended the public hearing for the project last month before Mexico's environmental agency, cited three areas of concern.
The first is the adverse impact that earth moving and grading would have on the animals and plants that inhabit the site and nearby waters. Next, the area is a “dry coastal zone,” and introducing lots of water and chemicals would change the indigenous vegetation.
Lastly, dumping the highly concentrated salt residue produced by desalination plants into the ocean could harm the sea plants and creatures near the outfall.
“Little by little, the grass on the golf course will invade the indigenous coastal vegetation,” Manuel said. “What the people of Ensenada want is that the beautiful coastal views and access to the surrounding waters be preserved.”
The development along northern Baja California's Pacific coast is turning it into an extension of urban Southern California, said Horacio de la Cueva, a specialist in biological conservation with CICESE, a scientific think tank near Ensenada.
“One of the things Baja California has to offer is natural beauty. And many people are willing to pay to enjoy that experience,” he said.
Golf courses are not environmentally friendly, but instead “green asphalt,” de la Cueva said.
“Once they destroy the landscape, it will never return.”
With only 120 properties for sale, the developers have little inventory to sell compared with other golf course developments. But high prices, comparable to ocean-view properties in La Jolla, could make it a difficult sale in what many economists call a worldwide recession that may last for years, said Leonard Baron, a lecturer at SDSU's business school.
The local real estate expert also questions the location near Ensenada, which is not known as a world-class tourist spot, like Cabo San Lucas to the south. Recent headlines about violence in Mexico also may make people question whether it is a wise investment.
There is also the larger issue of buying property in a foreign country and being subject to its laws.
“You're trying to create a place for people to go to that they wouldn't traditionally go to,” Baron said. “Do I want to live in such a remote area? What is the long-term viability? Those may be questions potential buyers are asking.”
Oman said the property title is clear and title insurance will be offered through a U.S. company.
Further, the Mexican government has adopted reforms to real estate laws to avoid the nightmare scenarios some Americans have experienced in the region, said Oscar Escobedo, Baja California's tourism secretary.
In 2000, more than 200 U.S. citizens at Punta Banda, which is a few miles from the Punta Brava site, were evicted after being caught in the middle of a coastal property dispute between a communal landholding group and private owners. They were forcibly removed from their homes when the land was restored to the private landowners.
The secretary said he is well aware of the tough economic climate. He noted that 18 developments between Tijuana and Ensenada have been halted for financial reasons.
But Escobedo said he is confident Punta Brava, which is expected to be permitted within a few weeks, will succeed and bring a new class of high-end tourism to the region as owners invite friends and business partners to play golf. He said he believes the current crime wave, which his office has blamed for as much as a 70 percent drop in visitors across the Mexican state, will pass and that tourism will rebound. “This golf course has the potential of putting Baja California on the map as a worldwide golf destination,” Escobedo said in an interview. “I don't see the current violence having a long-term impact. This is not the first time, nor the last, that Mexico goes through a crisis.”

Tiger Woods finds a way to keep busy

Since he can't play on a golf course right now, he's trying to design one instead.
Bill Dwyre
October 8, 2008
Tiger Woods had a circular stick in his hand in Southern California again Tuesday and waggled it confidently as he stood over a golf course.

It is not what you think. Tiger is not back, not quite yet.

The knee injury that will be forever etched in our memory as the focal point of his courageous and dramatic playoff victory on that Monday in June at Torrey Pines is still healing. He said his timetable for returning to the PGA Tour is still uncertain. He had surgery shortly after the U.S. Open.

"I can walk, the knee is good, we are right on schedule," he said. "There is no pain, and the work is on strength and mobility."

Well, no pain until the daily rehabilitation begins.

"Oh, man."

He rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"There is lots of work, hours a day. Man."

But it is the very nature of Eldrick Woods to be a tiger about staying busy, even while doctors are keeping him off the golf course. That's why he was here Tuesday. This was Tiger Woods, designer, rather than Tiger Woods, best golfer in the universe.

In a fancy room at a swank hotel -- the room filled with investment, developer and public relations types all dressed elegantly and a scattering of the opposite (also known as the media) -- Woods announced details about his part-time job.

He has designed a golf course on a spectacular piece of land along the Pacific Ocean, just south of Ensenada and about 70 miles south of San Diego. It is called Punta Brava (Wild Point), and is a $100-million project financed by entrepreneur and former NFL and NBA owner Red McCombs.

McCombs, in attendance, said, "When this was brought to me, I wasn't especially turned on. Then, they told me there was a good chance that Tiger would be involved. I said, forget it. It's over. I'm in."

Woods took a display pointer, stood next to an artist's rendering of a proposed Punta Brava, to be completed in about three years, and described something that sounded like it could eventually become the Pebble Beach of Mexico. Pebble Beach of California, of course, is public. Punta Brava will not be.

Woods talked about the elevation on the seven-mile peninsula that dropped from a 1,200-foot mountain to 300-foot ledges for villas and homes that overlook a golf course near sea level. That course, Woods said, will have an ocean view from every tee, fairway and green.

"Now, if you go and hit it in the bushes or the junk," he said, "maybe not."

He said that 12 of the tees or greens are right on the water, that tee shots on eight of the holes will necessitate hitting over water, and No. 18, a Pebble-Beach-like par five dog-legging left with the ocean on the left, may not be as difficult as it looks.

"Some of you will reach it in two," he said, looking away from the media people.

After they had run a video, showing Tiger standing on top of the 1,200-foot mountain and looking out to the ocean, and had finished the description, it was hard not to dash to the sign-up line for a villa. One unconfirmed rumor had several AIG executives, now with more time on their hands than Tiger, set to buy.

Designer Woods said he has purposely gone slowly in this aspect of his career.

"I told myself I would play on every continent before I started designing," he said. "I guess I have missed the Antarctica Four Ball, but otherwise, I've done it.

"I felt I owed that to myself and to the people who will play the courses to have as much experience as I can. I've talked to all the people who have done this. I've learned a lot, thought a lot about it, used the experiences I've had as a player.

"That's why Jack is so successful [at course design]. He was a cerebral player."

Player Woods said the doctors won't let him start swinging the club until January.

"I can't rotate the knee until then," he said, adding that his ideal would be to play one or two events before the Masters in mid-April.

"You just can't tell, once you start back, about things like swelling and soreness," he said. "That can set you back."

Once he gets back, there is little question that we will see more of the same fire and grit he used to fight his way down those Torrey Pines fairways that June Monday afternoon.

"I was supposed to go to Mexico on a site visit for this that day," he said, "But I was busy."

Indeed. Rocco Mediate and millions more remember.

www.bajainvestment.com