(Photo L-R, Windermere Gen. Counsel, Paul Drayna; S.V.P. Michael Fanning; CEO Geoff Wood; & the guy from Mexico)


For Immediate Release

Windermere Real Estate Expands To 
Los Cabos, Mexico

August 28, 2012 – Seattle – Geoff Wood, CEO of Windermere Real Estate, announced today that the company is expanding internationally with the opening of its first franchise office in Mexico. Located in Cabo San Lucas, the Windermere Los Cabos office represents the merger of CaboRealty Partners and Nieman + Posch Boutique Realtors, two well-respected real estate brands that have operated independently in the Cabo area.

Martin Posch and Jay West, the principal owners of Windermere Los Cabos, have a broad range of international experience in the sale and marketing of all types of vacation resorts, second-home residential properties, and new developments. They also consult with investors in the sourcing, acquisition, and marketing of development properties.

Originally from Switzerland, Posch moved to Mexico in 1998 and was a top-producer and sales manager with Prudential California Realty in Cabo San Lucas. In 2011, he opened his own real estate company and earlier this year, formed a partnership with West in order to open the Windermere Los Cabos office. West has lived in Mexico since 1994 and is a Bi-National REALTOR® in the U.S. and Mexico. After more than 40 years in business, West has extensive experience serving international clientele seeking residential and resort real estate opportunities in both countries.

According to Wood, more than 79 million Baby Boomers will reach retirement age over the next 18 years, and studies show that many of them will purchase a second home in resort areas, such as Mexico. “Given that Windermere operates in nine Western U.S. states, we have a steady stream of clients interested in buying homes in Mexico, so we think this is a great time to tap into that market,” said Wood, adding “Los Cabos is the safest and most desirable resort area in Western Mexico making it an ideal location for a Windermere office.”

West says that he and Posch have been in discussions with Windermere for several years about opening a franchise in Los Cabos, but that the right opportunity only recently presented itself, “Windermere has offices in all of the key markets in the Western U.S. where many of our buyers come from,” said West. Also an important part of West and Posch’s decision was “Windermere’s reputation for integrity, leading-edge technology, and their strong commitment to the community,” West added.

Posch emphasized that “Jay and I are excited to have merged our brokerage firms to create a dynamic three way synergy with Windermere as its first international office south of the border.   Los Cabos is the perfect location and our goal is to create a springboard for future expansion into mainland Mexico.”


Windermere’s Los Cabos office is located in Plaza Paseo Los Arcos, Suite B-6, in front of Home Depot on the corridor highway entering Cabo San Lucas.  It will open its doors in September followed by a grand opening celebration in early December.

To speak to Geoff Wood, please email Shelley Rossi: shelley.rossi@windermere.com or call 425-269-7132. To speak to Jay West, please email JayWest@Windermere.com or call 503-887-8769.

About Windermere Real Estate
Windermere Real Estate is ranked the largest regional real estate company in the Western U.S. with over 300 offices and 7,000 agents serving communities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Mexico. The Windermere family has a proud heritage of serving our neighbors via the Windermere Foundation which funds services for low-income and homeless families. Since 1989, the Windermere Foundation has contributed more than 23 million dollars towards improving lives in the communities where we live and work. For more information, visit www.windermere.com.

WOW!
Washington is a big state with 7 Million people!

So, I thought it would be a great idea to open a real estate office in Southwest Washington near Portland along the Columbia River and sell people on the idea of buying real estate in Mexico!
After all, I have lived in Los Cabos for most of the past 18 years and I know the country and the market.
OK, so then I get this information on my computer about the competition up here..... and again I say, WOW!  DOUBLE WOW!!  Seriously, check this out......

As part of the Puget Sound Business Journal's Book of Lists, this highly-respected business publication has periodically published a Residential Real Estate Firms' list that ranks the region's top real estate firms. The Residential Real Estate Firms' rankings are based on residential sales volume in the Puget Sound area, with Windermere reporting more than double the sales volume of its closest competitor.

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the April 20.26, 2012 issue of The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Puget Sound Real Estate Rankings of Residential Real Estate Firms:

The largest in the Puget Sound area.  Ranked by residential sales volume for 2011:

1.  Windermere Real Estate | Seattle, WA | www.windermere.com 
      -  2011 Residential Sales Volume  =  $9,652,900,000
      -  Licensed Agents  =  2,886
      -  Offices in Washington 142
2   John L. Scott Real Estate | Issaquah, WA | johnlscott.com
       -  2011 Residential Sales Volume  = $4,091,400,000
       -  Licensed Agents  = 1,598
       -  Offices in Washington  = 74
3   Coldwell Banker Bain | Parsippany, NJ | coldwellbanker.com
       -  2011 Residential Sales Volume  = (Would not disclose)
       -  Licensed Agents  = (Would not disclose)
       -  Offices in Washington  = 37
4   RE/MAX LLC | Denver, CO | remax.com
       -  2011 Residential Sales Volume  = $2,395,000,000
       -   Licensed Agents  = 893
       -   Offices in Washington  = 47
5   Keller Williams | Seattle, WA | kwgreaterseattle.com
       -   2011 Residential Sales Volume  = $1,646,600,000
       -   Licensed Agents  = 799
       -   Offices in Washington  = 17

Those of us who have lived in Los Cabos know how many people own real estate from the West Coast of the U.S.A.  We are so accessible and it is so safe here that the sunshine makes it the perfect place to be on vacation, or for owning a second or retirement home.  By the way, those numbers are in US DOLLARS and in BILLIONS with a "B".  Viva!!

Enjoy a vacation in Cabo when you see my Dentist..... Dra. Marta Cruz is wonderful!

My wife Teena introduced me to Marta more than 10 years ago and we consider her to be a friend.  She is warm, understanding and kind.  She is also very good at what she does and we both trust her.

Dr. Marta Cruz is my dentist, and her office is in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
On July 9th I had a last minute appointment to get my normal check-up and cleaning less than 48 hours before my return flight to Washington.  The timing never occurred to me as potentially problematic.  You see, I have been blessed with strong teeth and disease free gums throughout my life, so “normal” for me is a simple, painless cleaning and the usual compliment of how great my mouth looks and “still only two cavities” after 70 years.  And, despite strong recommendations to the contrary, I still do not floss.   Just a quick regular check-up and cleaning, no worries in the dental department…. Or so I thought.  Great teeth, lovely 25 year old veneers, no problem…. Or so I thought.
During her preliminary inspection with a grotesque pointed tool, Marta literally hit a nerve…. And I knew there was trouble.  The electric jolt of pain erased any doubt…. Big trouble.
Marta did all the talking.  She apologized that she could not move ahead with the cleaning.  She apologized that she could not repair the cavity which had secretly been destroying the enamel hidden beneath one of my cosmetically lovely upper veneer applications.  I was toast.  I had to have a root canal and fast, if I did not want to deal with it in the States or return within a couple of weeks to do the repairs in Cabo.  Marta told me she always referred this type of surgery to one of only a couple of specialists who are the best of the best, but she did not know if an appointment could be made to accommodate my time sensitive emergency. She personally made the call at 4:50pm on Monday afternoon to Doctor Rosalba Yanez Elias, Endodontist.
Prior to that moment, I had no reason to know that an endodontist is a dental specialist that has completed 4 years of dental school along with an additional 2 or more years of specialty training in endodontics (root canals).   The doctor was alone in her office but would accommodate my request for the surgery.  And, I am thinking big bucks for this emergency!
Driving my own car, I followed Marta’s receptionist to the office of Doctor Yanaz (how many medical professionals in the U.S. would even consider that service?) located about one kilometer away on Calle Leona Vicario.  The Doctor was just finishing a procedure performed on the wife of a DENTIST  from the U.S.!  While waiting, I noticed two Academic Certificates from the finest Medical University in Mexico City consisting of her medical degree in Dentistry and her Master’s Degree in the Specialty of Endodontics (in 1987).  Clearly she has done a lot of root canals!
The cost of my root canal was 3,500 Mexican Pesos (about $270 U.S. Dollars).  The office was modern, spotless and well equipped.  Dra. Yanez spoke clear and fluent English and made a point of explaining the procedure as well as re-assuring me that there would be no problems.  The most painful part from that moment until today was the needle prick I felt when she introduced the first local anesthesia into my upper gums.  She completed all of the surgery by herself with a competence that was above question.  She explained every step and took 8 X-rays to reference each step in the procedure and which appeared instantly on a large flat screen for her inspection.  2 hours later after removing the nerve, creating space for the “post” which was to hold the new reconstructed tooth in place, and temporarily filling the remaining hollow space, I got in my car and safely drove home, fully alert and pain free except a bit of tenderness and the sensation of numbness in my jaw and face.
Marta had already scheduled me for a second appointment on the following day at 3:30pm, during which she installed the new “post” and reconstructed a lovely new tooth complete, fully functioning, and polished.  Her total charges were 2,000 pesos ($155 USD).  I caught my flight the next afternoon as planned, ate an Alaska Airlines cheeseburger with potato chips in-flight, and have experienced no pain or problems since.
Doctora Marta Cruz is wonderful, and I will not be changing dentists any time soon.

(This is a re-post is from my friend William Obando Maaser, Los Cabos Manager of Actinver Casa de Bolsa)

Bill Gross is Betting on Mexico. 
Here’s Why.

Bill Gross has taken a sizable position in Mexican government bonds. 

The ETF version of the PIMCO Total Return Fund (BOND) has an incredible 10.34% of its market value in Mexican Bonds. That is second only to US Bonds in terms of position sizing. Even more interesting, the average duration of his Mexican Bond holdings is similar to the fund’s holdings in US Bonds, around 5 years.

The investment in Mexican Bonds has the potential to affect the fund’s performance much more dramatically than its other foreign holdings, because of its size and longer duration. The fund has 5.13% of its assets (about half the size of its Mexico Position) invested in Japanese Debt, and its Japanese holdings are all very very short term. As a result, the investment in Japan represents more of a currency diversification play, rather than a bond investment. After Japan, Brazil is the fund’s next largest holding with 2.10% of assets invested in Brazilian bonds.

Why would Bill Gross be interested in Mexico?

-  Mexico has a debt to GDP ratio of 45% which is quite low when looked at in comparison to countries like the US (at 100% debt to GDP) and Japan (at 200% debt to GDP).

-  Mexico’s Central Bank is very focused on fighting inflation which is a long-term positive for the currency and its debt. The central bank lending rate has stood at 4.5% for several years.

-  Mexico’s economy continues to show good growth, in the 4 to 5% range.

This is a very different picture of Mexico than one would get from the nightly news, where they portray the country as a war between the government and drug cartels. After doing this initial piece of research I was curious about how to go about investing in Mexican debt. According to Bloomberg, peso denominated date with a maturity of 2024 was paying a yield of 5.30%. A nice juicy yield compared to treasuries.

Then came the disappointing part of the process, I could not find an easy want to invest in Mexican debt. There are some funds that invest in Latin America, but I could not find a single one that was country specific to Mexico.

If you have any ideas on how to execute this trade please let us know in the comments. For more information on Bond Funds visit the Bond ETF and Bond Mutual Fund pages here at Learn Bonds.

(You may contact William Obando Maaser at his San Jose del Cabo, Los Cabos office:  Actinver Casa de Bolsa Asesoría |  B.C.S. Los Cabos P. Península
wobando@actinver.com.mx | www.actinver.com 
Tel. (624) 172-6377 Ext. 61200  |  Fax (624) 172-6380  - from the U.S. 800 705-5555
           

FISHING!

Where "SIZE" Matters........

13th Annual East Cape Bisbee Tournment

Date: From 07/24/2012 to 07/28/2012

Location: Los Barriles & Buena Vista, Los Cabos, B.C.S.

Event Type: Local Events

The first of three Bisbee tournaments in Mexico, anglers from all over the world come to the East Cape and compete for large cash prizes. In 2011 over $330,000 was awarded in prizes among the 61-boat field. The Sea of Cortez is home to some of the biggest billfish in the world. For more information visit http://www.bisbees.com.

(Photo: Courtesy of  2011 East Cape Bisbee winner, Chucky Van Wormer of the landmark Palmas de Cortez Resort in Los Barriles)

"More varieties of big game fish than days in the year."

In Los Cabos, sport fishing is an activity that attracts tourists from all over the world. There are over 500 fishing vessels waiting to take you where the Sea of Cortés meets the Pacific, where these two bodies of water join in a tumult of marlin and swordfish, wahoo, dorado and yellowtail, snapper, cabrilla, corvina and roosterfish, and where 12,000 of these creatures of the deep are caught every year, with most released to fight another day.   

(Los Cabos Convention & Visitors Bureau| Asociación de Hoteles de Los Cabos, A.C.)

The PRI will return to the Presidency of Mexico.


Mica Rosenberg and Ioan Grillo
Reuters
10:12 p.m. CDT, July 1, 2012


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's old rulers claimed victory in a presidential election on Sunday after exit polls showed their candidate Enrique Pena Nieto primed to restore to power the party that dominated the country most of the 20th century.

Pena Nieto, 45, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), led by between 5 and 11 percentage points in exit polls published by three of Mexico's main television networks.

Shortly afterward his campaign manager, Luis Videgaray, declared victory.

"It is a resounding triumph," Videgaray told Milenio television, adding that he was hopeful the PRI would have a majority in the Senate and possibly in the lower house of Congress, too.

The PRI, which governed Mexico for 71 years until losing power in 2000, has staged a comeback behind the telegenic Pena Nieto, who is promising to open state-owned oil monopoly Pemex to foreign investors, raise tax revenue and liberalize the labor market.