Quote:
Originally Posted by noseeds99
whats the best way to go about getting a place in playa? I'm probably heading down there in a month or so
I had never been to Playa before so I didn't know the areas at all. I emailed a few realtors I found on google about a week before I was planning on coming. After I found one that spoke english pretty well, I told him what I needed and what I was interested in, all furnished condos with private modems (many places have shared wireless). I told him when I'd be arriving, and we went through 4 or 5 places the first day I got down here, and 4 or 5 the next day, at which point I made a decision. One thing that's different from the US is Sunday is not the same in terms of realty. In the US it's probably the busiest day for going through places, but down basically here nobody shows anything on Sunday. Another good part was that he basically drove me around to the places and gave advice on where the best areas were, which I definitely wouldn't have been able to figure out within a few days. The place I ended up renting I never would've found because it's a little out of the way, but still about a block from the beach.
If I spoke spanish better, I'd definitely take the same route as Lipo. Most of the condo places didn't have someone who spoke english well enough that I could've rented a place on my own without massive confusion. My spanish isn't that good, I took it for 3yrs in HS and 2yrs in college, but haven't looked at it at all in 4yrs now. I'm not sure about Cabo, but in Playa most condo buildings have 20-25 units, so I'm not sure every place here will have a ton of empty units to choose from, but there are tons of different condo buildings down here to choose from. Also one issue is that because high season down here is November-March, a few places that are vacant now have already been rented for a few weeks or a month during that high season, so I had to find one that was open the whole time. It wasn't a huge problem, but it did eliminate my #2 choice, so something to consider.
If I move after my lease is up I'll definitely just start going into condo buildings like Lipo did, because I'll have way more time and a better idea where the best places to stay are. Having the realtor at first was huge for me though because he also recommended a bunch of restaurants and other important places around the condo I eventually ended up renting, and also could communicate perfectly with the condo administrators.
As far as realtors work, it's not like the US where you have a buyer agent who goes around as you look at any place for rent in the city. He told me there basically isn't a buyer agent system, so I only had the places listed through his office to choose from. That said, people will list their vacation homes through multiple offices, so there is a ton of selection. Just in his office he had about 10-15 2br furnished vacation condos available in good areas, and his company wasn't that big. It was sort of annoying to know that I could be missing out on a really good place because they aren't listed with the realtor, but having a local to negotiate with the owners and convey things to adminstrators (installing faster internet, other random stuff that doesn't work when you're renting a place that hasn't been lived in for a few months). It's possible in Cabo there is a higher % of english speakers so most of that wouldn't be necessary, but I've never been there either.
Last edited by z32fanatic; 07-14-2011 at 12:37 PM.