Second homes: In Mexico, sleepy-resort feel with laid-back prices
— -- Mention "second home" and "Baja Peninsula" and many people think of Los Cabos, Mexico's most upscale resort. But the newest hotbed of residential development south of the border is a few hours north of Cabo, stretching from La Paz to Loreto.
La Paz (The Peace) is the capital of Baja Sur, one of two Mexican states that make up the 800-mile peninsula. With about 200,000 people, it is also the largest. The main attractions are beaches, desert and water sports, but the small city also boasts an impressive malecón, a waterfront promenade with shops, restaurants and hotels. Long popular with tourists for its combination of urban amenities and sleepy-fishing-town feel, La Paz is suddenly popular for its price: Homes are far less expensive in La Paz than in pricey Los Cabos, 130 miles south.
Two hours north of La Paz, Loreto is undergoing more aggressive development around a pristine bay that houses the 800-square-mile Bay of Loreto National Marine Park, a U.N. World Heritage Site. The area had been identified by FONATUR, the Mexican government's tourism investment arm, as a site with potential, and infrastructure was built to encourage development.
"The government has poured $200 million into an airport, roads, sewage, everything developers need," says Mark Codiroli, sales associate for the new JW Marriott Residences complex here and a longtime Baja real estate agent.
Codiroli, who is from San Francisco, became entranced with Baja Sur years ago and recently bought in Loreto. "If you were familiar with Cabo 30 years ago, when it was a sleepy getaway for Hollywood stars and fishermen, and you wished you had bought then, that's what this area is now. Prices are about half of comparables in Los Cabos."
Not everyone agrees. "Loreto is not the next Cabo," says Jim Spano, president of the Loreto Visitors Bureau. A master plan regulating building height, zoning and density will keep it from being overbuilt like Cabo, he says. "Think of Loreto as the 'Eco Cabo.' "
A look at three La Paz and Loreto neighborhoods
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