Everything You Wanted to Know About Real Estate in Vallarta...

Everything You Wanted to Know About Real Estate in Vallarta But Never Knew Where to Look...
Well, now you do!

www.vallartarealestateguide.com

In December 2000, Producciones Viva launched the 24-page premier issue of “Vallarta Voice,” a monthly magazine for the English-speaking community of Puerto Vallarta. The issue, which featured two pages of real estate listings, was also the first instance of the “Real Estate Guide” as such. Seven years later, “The Vallarta Real Estate Guide” has grown to become a thriving, 100-page publication.

A reflection of the bay’s constantly evolving real estate market, “The Vallarta Real Estate Guide” now features a companion online publication, VREG Online at www.vallartarealestateguide.com. This new Website makes use of the most innovative Web techniques, including the United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), to assist you in becoming acquainted with the landscape, pun intended, and the many options available for property buyers and sellers. Take a tour through VREG Online and learn how to best take advantage of this Website’s offerings. There is no better source — online or in print — to learn what is going on in Puerto Vallarta’s real estate market.

Vallarta: One Bay, Ten Areas
To acquaint you with the many real estate options available throughout Costa Vallarta, the bay has been divided into 10 distinct areas. Clicking on the “Vallarta” menu tab reveals their names directly beneath it. Each area, in turn, can be clicked to reveal more information about it (Fig. 1), including an aerial photograph, a short article describing the area from a real estate point of view, a small reference map of the entire bay that shows the area’s location within it, and a list of presently available real estate developments. Reading about each one of these areas and their pros and cons will help you find sections of the bay that best suit your needs.

Developments: Choices for Everyone
Clicking on the “Developments” menu tab displays an alphabetical list of over four dozen developments presently available within Costa Vallarta. Each development is described in detail in similar fashion as the previous tab (Fig. 2), including the type of building, number of units, price range and a brief description of the development, as well as a link to the developer’s Website, where you will be able to find additional information about it.

TIP: Development listings are helpful when you are searching for a particular development. But what if you’re sold on a specific area and would like to learn which developments are located within it? Notice that, as you click on a specific Vallarta area, only its corresponding developments are listed. Clicking on a development will take you to the same detail page described above.

Luxury Homes: A Showcase of the Finest Residences
Some of Mexico’s finest residences, many of which have been featured in world-renowned architectural publications, are available for your perusal when you click on the “Luxury Homes” menu tab. Each home features a revolving selection of detail images for your consideration, as well as pricing details and contact information for the real estate agency representing the home.

Agencies: A Directory of Options
For anyone considering buying real estate in and around Puerto Vallarta, it’s a very good idea to consider using a real estate agent to represent you. Any realtor from the directory can familiarize you with the trust system (Fideicomiso) and has access to all properties within the Puerto Vallarta MLS (Multi-List Vallarta). Also, nearly all real estate developments belong to the new property/development MLS (Multi-Dev Vallarta), which allows real estate agencies and salespeople to know what is available at the many developments listed.

MLS Search: Use the Search That Is Best for You
To accommodate the different needs potential buyers or sellers may have, VREG Online offers three distinct methods of searching for properties, each of which becomes available when you click on the “MLS SEARCH” menu button.

Multi-List Vallarta Search
Clicking on this first option opens the corresponding search and puts you in “Search” mode. This thorough search gives you instant access to all real estate listings available through Puerto Vallarta’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS). You can search by a number of parameters at the same time (Fig. 3). And the corresponding results will appear once you hit the “Search” button.

Click once on any result and you enter “Detail” mode, with details about the selected property replacing the search parameters (Fig. 4).
If you would like to perform a brand-new search, simply click on the “Reset” button to clear your choices.

TIPS:

Click on the “Search” button without selecting any other parameters and you will learn the total number of listings currently available in the system.

Although you can search for many parameters at the same time, starting with a broad search will yield more results. You can then fine-tune your searches to narrow your choices

Clicking on any of the search result headers (MLS Num, Property, Region, etc.) will allow you to sort your results in ascending or descending order.

If you find a property you’re interested in, take note of its MLS number (first column), as each property has a unique identifying code.

Multi-Dev Vallarta Search
The new Multi-Dev Vallarta search is particularly relevant today. For the first time, it is possible to search for new product available in specific developments, which currently encompasses 80% of the total inventory currently on the market. So if you recently drove by a particular development that caught your eye, this is the place to search for options.

In addition, this graphical interface will allow you to perform the basic searches available in the Multi-List Search described above. The interface is divided into four multi-function panels (Fig. 5). The Selection Panel allows you to search in a specific area or development. Clicking on a specific area or development also displays thumbnails directly under it. The Overview Panel offers the overall location of a specific area or development in the context of the entire bay. The Detail Panel toggles between a close-up map and a multi-purpose display of development images, photographs, aerial images and 360-degree panoramas. Finally, the Information Panel located under the three aforementioned panels displays details about areas or developments selected in any of them. Like the Detail Panel, the type of information displayed in the Information Panel varies according to the type of search you are conducting, providing an overview of a specific area, details about a specific development, and even the number of units available for sale at the development.

Each of the panels described above allows you to interact with them by clicking on individual legends and buttons, which could be described in detail, but perhaps the best idea here (and keeping in mind that you cannot break the system!) is to go on and explore this interface and its many features.

TIPS:

While in close-up map mode, the Detail Panel displays points in different colors, each of which has a different meaning. For example, purple dots do not indicate new floating developments, but rather that an aerial image was captured from that spot! To learn the meaning of all the point colors, click on the “Legend” button located on the bottom right-hand corner of the Detail Panel.

As you navigate through search results, you will find that the dot located to the left of the results changes from light to dark green when you select the item. This is simply a visual indication that you’ve reviewed it.

That said, explore the interface at leisure! Just about everything shaped like a round button can be clicked. The more you use it, the more you will learn about the many options available to you.

Google Search
This search allows you to pinpoint specific developments and their locations throughout Costa Vallarta, thanks to high-resolution satellite/aerial imagery provided by Google Maps, a free Web map server application provided by Google. Google Maps work in conjunction with the United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), an array of over two dozen satellites circling the planet at all times, sending and receiving signals that are indispensable for navigation. Originally developed for military purposes, GPS technology is now ubiquitous, available in your vehicle to help you find directions, portable devices that keep you from getting lost during a hike, and so forth.

TIPS:

You probably discovered that navigating through the maps in the Multi-Dev search requires that you hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard. The interface used by Google Maps is slightly different. To move through a map all you have to do is click and drag.

If you’d like to zoom in on a particular location, double-click on it first. This will automatically place it right in the center of the map, making it easy to find after you zoom in.

Don’t be alarmed if you purchase a condo in a finished development and you wish to share its location with some friends only to find that Google Maps’ satellite image displays the location unfinished! While Google Maps are updated on a regular basis, at their discretion, most of the images available are at least a year old. Still, the technology provides an unparalleled experience, allowing you to become acquainted with endless places.

Intrigued? Point your Web browser to maps.google.com and explore on your own. For a more comprehensive experience, visit earth.google.com and download Google Earth, a free application available for Macs and PCs that offers enhanced exploration of maps and satellite images.

On the Horizon
Matching and surpassing the expectations of an industry experiencing as much growth as real estate is in the booming Costa Vallarta area requires constant monitoring of technology and business trends. This, in turn, requires the constant reassessment and improvement of our Websites’ features. Eager to meet the challenge, we pay close attention to comparable Websites and comments we receive locally. Many of the lessons we’ve learned in creating specific searches within the resell market through the popular Website www.mlsvallarta.com are presently being retooled in www.vallartarealestateguide.com to implement analogous searches involving all new product. In the coming months, look forward to searches that will allow you, for example, to search real estate developers exclusively and narrow your search to only those that offer condos, as opposed to homes; or search only for beachfront units, a feature that has proven particularly popular among resell properties. Visit www.vallartarealestateguide.com on a regular basis and you will enjoy ongoing upgrades, as well as new and exciting features that, in the end, will get you closer to purchasing your new Vallarta home.