MexConnect.com Forums: Areas: Southern Mexico: Getting Building Permits on the Coast: Page 2

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tankahIII

May 26, 2004, 10:23 AM

Post #26 of 42 (4800 views)

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Re: [Jim in Cancun] Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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We used a well-known notario when we bought the property. We do not feel we were mis-led or taken advantage of, these are new issues and very politically-oriented, I think, they are just using the permit process for leverage.

We are aware of and paid our annual beach taxes. "Gold Rush" is a good descriptor, it's very like that. Our alternative for this type of property on the beach in california costs $3-12 million, so it was compelling to buy in Mexico - besides, I have loved and wanted to live in Mexico for 30 years.

sfmacaws

May 26, 2004, 3:56 PM

Post #27 of 42 (4792 views)

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Re: [tankahIII] Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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The one-time fee for commercial use of the beach is different from the federal beach tax. We've always paid the beach tax, it's not a lot. This is new and is the purchase of the right to have a commercial business on the beach set back in front of your property. An example is a restaurant on the beach that has tables and chairs on the sand inside the setback. The problem with not buying it is that someone else could acquire it and **just possibly** could make you feel that you must purchase it from them at a increased rate. Our condo association (6 condos) along with the one next door which has a restaurant much like I described above along with about 14 condos decided that the potential for problems was too great to not purchase the commercial beach rights. We were able to negotiate a small discount together. For example, my cost for a 2 bedroom condo is $365 but the restaurant is paying $1200. The total bill for both properties is around $7000, negotiated down from $9000.

Since there is a limited amount of beach front land in QR and since there are those who would see this as an opportunity to make some money (as opposed to the govt which also sees it as this) I think it is wisest to buy the rights directly from the govt and before it goes out to public sale, YMMV.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

tankahIII

May 26, 2004, 4:45 PM

Post #28 of 42 (4790 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Thanks for your advice. The person we bought the lot from last Nov. advised us about the one-time commercial concession charge, she is also our neighbor and hasn't purchased her concession from the govt yet, either. It is good to hear that others are doing it defensively and that the charge is less than I thought.

sfmacaws

May 26, 2004, 5:08 PM

Post #29 of 42 (4788 views)

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Re: [tankahIII] Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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I'm interested in how it goes and if you guys in Tankah decide to buy it or not. I have to go along with the concensus from our condo assoc. and I feel they have gotten good advice, but it's always interesting to know how others see it.

Good luck with your building permit. I agree with you that it is a political ploy and hopefully one that will be solved soon. It always takes longer and costs more than you originally think when you build anywhere, perhaps a bit more so in Mexico. You seem to have a good attitude and have done things the right way, just remember that old I-Ching fortune "perseverence furthers".

Keep us posted on your progress. I hope to get down and see it one day.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

tankahIII

Oct 21, 2004, 11:15 AM

Post #30 of 42 (4747 views)

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Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Bubba

Nov 6, 2004, 8:33 PM

Post #31 of 42 (4707 views)

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Re: [tankahIII] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Tankah111:

That last post was most enlightening.

I promise you that Quintana Roo will eat your shorts. Once the indigenous people realize what they sold that gold mine for and what it's actually worth, Gringos are going to be doing the Frog-Shuffle-Out-Of-Ivory Coast worried less about losing their property rights than their pseudo-colonial asses.

Those not-so-simple Mayan folk living across the new carretero in the remaining infertile ejido scrub jungle will exact a merciless price upon those who bought "Manhattan" for $24 worth of beads. Blame it on local politics all you wish, it is much deeper than that.

The same thing is ocurring in the Lake Chapala area and you ain't seen nothing yet. You build castles in the Kingdom of Mud and you will pay the price for your ostentation as did the Mayan royalty who built magnificent cities. One bad harvest and your butt is hung out to dry.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Nov 6, 2004, 8:41 PM)

Bubba

Nov 7, 2004, 4:39 AM

Post #32 of 42 (4698 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Actually, Tankah, I wish you the best of luck despite the tone of my previous post. I spent some time looking at beach front property around Tulum recently and got the impression that there was some local hostility to beachfront development by outsiders in the Tulum area and south to Xcalac just as exists in parts of the Lake Chapala area. Quintana Roo, which was a true backwater until just a few years ago, has prospered because of the injection of outside capital so that fact may weigh in your favor.

Please keep us informed as to how it works out for you.

fhollin

Nov 8, 2004, 8:59 AM

Post #33 of 42 (4670 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Yikes, Bubba, havin' a bad day??? Sheesh!

Bubba

Nov 8, 2004, 11:25 AM

Post #34 of 42 (4659 views)

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Re: [fhollin] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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fhollin:

It does sound that way, doesn't it?

I think I may have been put off at what I felt was hostility toward Gringos among the indigenous people on the Caribbean coast versus the indigenous people inland in the Yucatan.

I have felt this same sense of hostility toward tourists on the Mediterranean and along the Alabama and Northwest Florida coasts where people seem resentful of those with more resources whose patronage they require.

I lived in several towns on the California coast and know for a fact that the tourists upon whom locals depended, were generally detested.

Why wouldn't the ejidos and other indigenous coastal communities who have assigned their beachfronts to foreigners of seemingly endless wealth, wish to exact a price for that concession?

fhollin

Nov 8, 2004, 12:24 PM

Post #35 of 42 (4656 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Bubba, I see what you're getting at. But I think in the case of the Riviera Maya we're still a long way from that scenario. I've seen it in Europe as well, but rudeness toward tourists is an artform over there anyway. I think in the case of Mexico we're going to see a lot of people who are happy with the new wealth coming their way. The trick is to make sure the indigenous people share in it. I've been to several resorts in the last few years and a very large percentage of guests were Mexican. You probably wouldn't have seen that even 5 years ago.

tankahIII

Nov 9, 2004, 10:43 AM

Post #36 of 42 (4638 views)

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Re: [fhollin] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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The ways we are trying to have the locals benefit from our casa, besides the laborers who build it, are good salaries to those who will work and live on the premises plus those who provide services - laundry, cooks,maintenance, etc. We also plan to open a non-profit (to us,if we can get pemission) shop focused on providing a place for locals to make and sell their own art, plus volunteering with Fundacton Talleres Cero, which provides sewing and job training, adolescent program, library and artistic development activities to indigenous people of Riviera Maya.
There is a cenote on our street used primarily by locals and some tourists. The owners of casas on the street are planning to provide bathrooms at our expense for convenience and to keep the cenote clean.

We paid more than $24 in beads for our land ($200,000 for a 1/4 acre) to a Mexican national who had bought it for a very good price directly from Portillo and made a huge profit. Our casa is for quality of life, not to get rich and our plan has more than 90% of any revenues we get staying in Mexico.

If the Mexican government decides to re-claim the coastline at some point in the future, so be it, we are all just guests here on Mother Earth - we don't own it, really. But we plan to enjoy this magnificent country in the meantime.

Bubba

Nov 9, 2004, 1:36 PM

Post #37 of 42 (4625 views)

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Re: [tankahIII] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Tankah:

You make some good points. Certainly, giving back to the local community is very important. To date, that has worked well in the Lake Chapala area. I commend you for your insight. After all, none of us really owns anything. Good luck to you.

By the way, when I looked at property about a week ago on the Punta Allen road, which I find quite attractive, somebody was asking $600,000USD for three acres on the sea. That's a whole lot of money out in the boonies, especially if there might be problems developing the land.

We also looked at Lake Bacalar and Xcalac which are really isolated. Prices are pretty steep in those places. Especially in Xcalac where there is no electricity in beach developments north of town and the mosquitos are ferocious. Anybody who wants property down there on the beach will pay premium pesos.

BrianWhittier

Jan 18, 2006, 2:41 AM

Post #38 of 42 (4506 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Tankah III:

Any updates on your progress of getting a permit?

I had a friend who stopped by Casa Cenote a few weeks ago and said nothing new was being built on the bay other than at Casa Cenote itself.

Brian

S & C

Jan 20, 2006, 3:04 PM

Post #39 of 42 (4478 views)

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Re: [BrianWhittier] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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The only buildinhg going on in Tankah is rebuilding and repairing things from the recent hurricanes.
There is still a hold onn building permits.
Stan

amor del sol

Feb 7, 2006, 12:47 PM

Post #40 of 42 (4454 views)

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Re: [S & C] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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I just got back from Soliman Bay, and was surprised to see how much "major" remodeling had taken place. A large palapa is now a very large, permanent concrete structure, a 2 bedroom house has turned into a 4 bedroom with pool.

S & C

Feb 7, 2006, 1:19 PM

Post #41 of 42 (4450 views)

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Re: [amor del sol] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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Seems like people are stretching things a bit, but I expected that. The Hurricanes were the excuse and they were ready and went with it.

In Tankah III the only thing I saw was remodeling. Maybe with some minor changes but no large add ons.
Nothing is really new that wasn't there before the hurricanes.
Stan

amor del sol

Jul 27, 2006, 10:34 AM

Post #42 of 42 (4359 views)

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Re: [S & C] Update- Getting Building Permits on the Coast

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I was in Soliman and Tankah Bay at the beginning of this month, and there was a new construction in Soilman Bay, and 1 at Tankah Point in progress. Evidently 3 permits have been issued for Paraiso Tankah.

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