ya i just found out meat isnt allowed thru customs. so tilting.

there is beef jerky here but brands you never heard of and I have never tried.

i mean, best of luck, but these numbers just don't sound realistic to me. your problem is the short lease term. very few desirable beachfront rentals are going to agree to long term prices for a 2-3 month lease...they're going to want at least 6 months, if not a full year. that means you're facing short-term rental pricing. short-term weekly rates are more or less the same as long-term monthly rates. and you'll be wanting to rent right through what is one of the prime vacation rental seasons here (spring break and the easter holiday). during those weeks, owners can rent nice 2BR beachfront condos for upwards of $3K/week. there's no way they're going to want to rent to you for 2-3 months for $2500/month.

think about calling a vacation rental owner and saying "hey, if i stay 8 consecutive weeks, will you drop your weekly rate from $3K/week to $600/week?" not going to happen. i'd imagine you could negotiate some kind of discount if you found someone who had no bookings for any of those weeks, but even a 50% discount would be more than double your budget. and any decent condo has weeks already booked months ago for vacation rentals in feb/mar/apr for sure...those weeks are easy to get booked.

owners in the long-term game want to avoid the turnover headache, not rent during prime short-term weeks for long-term prices so you can bail and leave them with an empty condo during the slower summer months...

Thanks for info. I'm actually warming up to the idea of signing a 6 month lease, living there w/ the friends and then having the place to go to for the following 3-4 months on my own w/ gf and/or rent out the rooms to other poker players, etc. This actually sounds more likely for what will actually happen now.

Assuming we're gonna sign a 6 month lease...how much are decent 2BR places that are beachfront in the more desirable areas and how much are the ones in the less desirable areas? What about nicer 2BR's and 3BR's within 5 mins walk to the beach but not beachfront?

What about nicer 2BR's and 3BR's within 5 mins walk to the beach but not beachfront?

these are ubiquitous(minus the 3br part) the former not so much and you will pay the difference if your not lucky

Beachfront (if you mean beach view) is extremely rare in Playa.

Headed down on Tuesday. Staying at hotel on 4th between 5th and 10th while I look for a place. Any suggestions on things to do down in that area of town?
Thanks

Moving there this week. Would prefer to live with a fellow SNG grinder, so we can talk strat etc. Might have something already set up, but just putting a feeler out there. Willing to rent a bedroom or look for a new place.

than

Just arrived, sunburned already

Interested in moving over there in March/April. I'm a low/mid-stakes MTT grinder as well as a 45-90 man SNG grinder to help reduce variance. Looking for a place around $400-$600 a month for about 3/4 months. I enjoy playing sports, nightlife, gym, talking poker, etc. Pretty down to earth guy, drink occasionally, don't smoke pot but I don't mind people who do. Add me on skype (werd0318) or PM if you have an open spot. Thanks

just went to La Portena. really good sausage sandwich thing. thanks for the recommendation. checking out tulum tomorrow.

playa paraiso is a nice beach down there not too far from the ruins

^ thanks. ended up looking for apartments today. will check out tulum tomorrow. found a nice apartment only rub is that it is a 1 year lease not six months. anyone had any issues getting a new tourist visa (after our first one is up and you go back to the states or wherever for a week or two)? the place is on tenth bis between (seems like a good location).....?

visa shouldnt be a problem.

Any ideas about how much small apartment(studio) within walkable distance to the beach would cost(something like 500meters from beach max?) ? I want to rent 3 maybe 6 months.

And the thing that is killing me and making me unsure if I want to move to Playa is expensive electricity when using AC. I don't think I can survive without it :P Few pages back somebody mentioned that there are places where electricity is always "cheap" and doesn't increase even if you use AC all the time ... Pretty much everybody else is saying that with high usage prices go up 3,4 times.

If that's not true and prices increase everywhere does anybody have any idea how much it would cost to keep studio apartment cooled at all time at highest electricity rate ?

it goes up after 3 or 4 months of high usage when looking for an apartment ask to see the previous months electricity bills if its important to you. And the answer to your first question is there are too many variables. Ive seen less than $500 more than $1500. If your willing to live further than 500 meters it obv opens up more and playa is very walkable.

found a place just having trouble pulling the trigger because of price (1200-1300$ USD) a month for a six month rental. place is on 20th and 20th (i think) close to the MEGA. 2BR place with nice pool and gated, prob built in the late 90's or early 2000's. thoughts?

Im pretty sure I know the one of 2 apt complexes that could be(one is margaritas other one im blanking on) and sounds about right depending on how nice it is inside etc. You can probably find a place closer to the beach/5th etc if you want to spend the time but its high season so might be a little rough. Alot of it just depends on your taste and how long you want to spend looking. I would guess that place would be on the high usage electric so keep that in mind too or ask the realtor to show you the usage history.

The mega isn't terribly far from the beach and you can walk to places on 5th pretty easily.
I don't know how nice the area is, only walked there once today.

ya I think your right about the energy consumption in that place. my other option is a playacar penthouse. sort of a long ways from civilization but should be nice and quiet. and it is has modern everything. looking forward to getting this done, I can only take so much of a hotel. btw I would highly recommend Hotel Cielo on 4th. Nice small place in great location.

which property in playacar?

I think this is probably the unit me and pokerguru lived in for 6 months. we paid 1300/month, prob not the best value but not outrageous by any means
its called peregrena or something right?

pool doesnt have chairs around it and also doesnt get the best sun

ryanj - not sure of the name (maybe be Playacar phase two?). it's pretty deep in to playacar on the opposite site of the golf course from the water. three story white buildings.

noseeds - ya that's the place. curious to hear more of your thoughts on the place. would you stay there again? how was electricity? thanks

I would probably stay again. I think 1300 is too high, more like 1k is right price (and could probably negotiate to this). I would assume you looked at same unit, not the best furnishing but not awful

security is good and 24/7. they dont let you make like any noise past 11 so parties are out. we would have 2 people over playing semi loud music at 1115 and get a knock on the door.

I think our electricity bills were 7k every 2 months. been awhile though. I hardly used AC and guru used his average of 23 hrs/day.

I believe we started on the DAC level when we moved in

that sounds like azul? does the unit have floor-to-ceiling windows? if that's the place, tread carefully: my understanding is that the sun bakes through those windows and creates a lot of heat in the units, and people there have experienced quite high electricity bills as a result. i'm pretty sure i've heard reports of various other maintenance issues in that building as well.

the thing is, if you're uncomfortable spending $1300, it's not going to be easy to find a place that doesn't have some drawbacks (even a large studio or 1 bedroom). i think you would have to get up to the $1600-$2000 range (for studios or 1 bedrooms, and expect at least $100/month and possibly as much as $300-400/month for electricity on top of that) to get something ideal. i remember someone telling me that a building on the north end called "haab", which is fairly new and reasonably nice at least, has studios. maybe check for price & availability there?

i did a quick search and i found this:
http://rentar-casa.vivastreet.com.mx...mento/55571334

i've seen those units before. it's not too far from the other places you were looking at by mega. but those other buildings are old...at least this is a new building. it's a small building...maybe 6 units or so. a little pool on the roof which isn't too bad. the furnishings and finishings are sort of cheap, but it's not completely terrible. might be a decent option to take a look at...