Profile: Patsy Chilson

Insider's Look at Riviera Maya

When Patsy Chilson started buying and selling condos in Cabo San Lucas, not that long ago, Mexico was a land without title insurance, escrow was a myth and most of the players were shady characters from Mexico City.

Patsy Chilson

“It was really cowboy territory, like the old gold rush,” Chilson says.

Today Chilson is one of the entrenched agents in Playa del Carmen, the fast-growing coastal town south of Cancun, and a true Mexico veteran.

In addition to working in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta, her resume includes a stint as director of sales for the high-end Rosewood Mayakoba, the sprawling coastal project north of Playa. She also owns a dozen properties in Playa, Cozumel and Cabo San Lucas, most with her husband Bjorn Koch, who is also a well-known agent in Playa.

“Mexico has had a terrible time in the last eight months,” says Chilson, a certified international specialist who runs her own operation, Chilson International (as well as a rental-oriented site, Elite Luxury Properties). Between the drug-related violence and the swine flu, 2009 often seemed like a cursed year for the country’s property business.

But Playa del Carmen values didn’t plummet like in many other resort towns, Chilson says.

“Prices have come down maybe 15 percent in some areas,” she says. But sales have slowed to a trickle.

“There just haven’t been a lot of transactions,” she says. Most of the buyers are bargain hunters who leave disappointed that prices have not cratered. “The buyers out there are under $250,000 right now,” she says. “It’s $250,000 and below that’s selling.”

About a 30 minute drive from the Cancun Airport and the port of call for ferries to dive capital Cozumel, Playa del Carmen is a unique market for Mexico. Removed from the foam bars of Cancun, the main drag has sections that resemble European coastal towns, with neon-lit open air wine bars and upscale restaurants.

The coastline, known as Riviera Maya, is dominated by large-scale all-inclusive resorts and upscale hotel developments. But Playa del Carmen features mainly low level condo developments and a few small scale projects along the neighboring coast.

Playa del Carmen

Playa also offers a thriving rental market, making it a favorite for Americans looking for investment potential.

“There is a huge competition right now (for rentals) between condos, houses and resorts,” she says.

Two years ago, the Playa del Carmen market received a blow when The Tides, a bellwether 209-unit project on the waterfront, was cancelled after selling 77 units. (Two months ago deposits were returned to the buyers after the developer, Los Angeles-based Kor Group, sold the property.)

“That project not being able to go forward killed the whole Playa del Carmen market for a year,” she says. “It was such a let down.”

Chilson started out by buying a condo in Cabo and then inviting all her friends from Utah to visit. As Cabo boomed, she also lived and worked in Puerto Vallarta before moving to Riviera Maya in 2003.

Through the years building her business in Mexico—with a year break in 2008 to work as director sales for residential suites at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua on Maui—Chilson developed her expertise with one twist: She doesn’t speak Spanish. “I didn’t get the language speaking gene,” she says.

With the slowdown, Chilson, who focuses almost exclusively on Americans buying in the $500,000 and over range, has changed her marketing tactics. She’s dropped almost all advertising to focus on social networking

She works at Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In throughout the typical work day, expanding the network and posting information about Mexico and the business. Conventions and barcamps are also a key part o her outreach these days: “Just letting everyone know what market I am in and that I handle resort properties, both vacation rentals and real estate,” she says.

Today she splits her time between Playa and Cozumel, which are two different markets.

Cozumel is “calm, peaceful and relaxing,” attracting wealthy Mexicans and American retirees, she says. She believes Cozumel is “the best deal on the Mayan Riviera,” with an oceanfront, 3-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot condo available for $450,000.

On the other hand, Playa del Carmen is “a jam packed exciting place, 24 hours a day. It has the buzz.”

But Playa also has a large supply of available units right now, with a small pool of buyers, Chilson says. “This is not a highly leveraged market so prices should hold, but just be slower to sell,” she says. “We will all have to work hard and smart to find the right buyers who can afford to be here and own here, until the resort real estate becomes desirable for investors again.”

For more infromation on buying in Mexico, click here.

Sample listings:

In central Playa del Carmen, a three-bedroom penthouse condo with rooftop terrace, Jacuzzi and ocean views. $1.2 million. Listing.

Contemporary overwater lagoon suite, one bedroom with lagoon-side terrace, plunge pool and outdoor garden shower. $1.2 million More info.

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