[quote=CONCHO][quote=davelj]I’m pretty set on buying a place in Playas (the beach area of Tijuana) in the next two years – probably in Puesta del Sol. I don’t spend enough time in San Diego to justify paying California taxes anymore, but I’ll keep my condos here.[/quote]

Nice places – I was looking on craigslist and I’d guess you could rent that for $600-750/mo pretty easily. Not a bad return if the price is actually just $100K. Something like that in Encinitas would be 8 times the price.

It would be interesting to see a historical comparison of property prices on both sides of the border. Things are rough in TJ these days, but is that going to last forever?[/quote]

I would say that the coastal strip between Playas and Puerto Nuevo got even more overbuilt than anywhere in California – it’s probably more comparable to Phoenix or Las Vegas in that regard. There are a few projects still under construction, but there are also several that got stopped mid-build. If you drive down the carretera you’ll see several large condo projects that got stopped mid-stream and nothing’s been done to the structure in a couple of years – they’re just empty shells. The only good news is that most folks who bought down there either paid all cash or put at least 30% down (and most of the condos aren’t that expensive relative to CA prices). And the builders weren’t as leveraged as they are here either. So while there are a TON of units for sale there haven’t been many actual foreclosures. But, it’s ugly.

One of the problems is there’s no really reliable MLS data down there. I don’t think there will be meaningful building in that neck of the woods for at least five years… and maybe longer.

My rule of thumb is simple: If you’re going to buy a new-ish condo or townhome down there, don’t pay more than $120/sq ft.

And you better plan on using it a lot and/or having a tax angle, otherwise you’re going to have buyer’s remorse. Just my 2 cents.