Despite scares, Mexico still lures buyers

In recent weeks, the question has become common. Curiously, U.S. and Canadian citizens living in Mexico have retained the "manana" attitude even when it comes to crime.

"You think Americans really are not visiting Mexico because of crimes in the papers? Don't they realize it's basically a border deal among drug gangs?" asked Jerry Kerr, a native of San Francisco who spends his winters windsurfing in the warm waters of the Sea of Cortes.

Kerr has a point. Recent news reports -- including a segment on "60 Minutes" -- have depicted the entire country of Mexico as being an absolute mess, awash in blood and guns on every street corner. Ironically, people living there have a dramatically different perspective, especially in the "fly-in" destinations that continue to appreciate in value. (Recent reports of swine flu in and around the capital have also slowed recent visitor traffic).

Despite what you may have heard, read and seen, the country is not under siege. The laid-back lure of Mexico's beaches, forests, deserts, people, and culture has been capturing visitors and second-home buyers for decades and has become an international draw no longer driven solely by U.S. residents and Canadians. Not only is land plentiful, exotic, captivating, and beautiful but also it is typically more affordable than most of the property found in America's getaway areas.

Kerr's little casa across the street from the water near the tiny village of La Ventana, 40 miles south of La Paz, has nearly doubled in value in the past five years. He can walk to get basic groceries and wax for his windsurfer, while La Paz, the capital of Baja California del Sur and home to 200,000 residents, supermarkets, hospitals, banks, cultural events and an international airport, is less than an hour by car.

The La Ventana area is gated and fenced on all sides -- not for protection of vandalism but to prevent the neighboring cattle from invading the property and munching on the vegetation.

"Vandalism and theft have never been a concern," Kerr said. "In fact, our home and well-being are much safer in Mexico than in California."

Much has been written about the kidnappings, roadside hijackings, crooked cops and even the infamous banditos in some of the regions of Mexico. Most of the violence south of the border, however, is directly related to the drug cartels and the authorities who are trying to eradicate them. There is absolutely no pattern of any innocent U.S. citizens being randomly murdered in drug violence. ...CONTINUED

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