Interview With Ixtapa Real Estate Expert Tim Sullivan - Part 1

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Below is an interview by an international property magazine, VENTANA, talking with our newest TOP Mexico agents & Brokers member from the Ixtapa Real Estate market, Tim Sullivan. Tim is the owner of TICAR Real Estate company in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo Guerrero. This beautiful oceanfront city sits on the Pacific Ocean, north of Acapulco and south of Puerto Vallarta. Tim arrived to Mexico back in 1987 and has been here ever since. In 1994, after having worked various years with local brokers and developers, Tim along with his beautiful wife of 15 years, Carmen, started their brokerage company Ticar, S.A.. Mr. Sullivan will be joining the panel at the Mexico Real Estate Blog, TOPmexicorealestate.com where he will be sharing his expertise and development updates in this regional market of Mexico.
Why did you choose this market in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo as your destination in Mexico?
In actuality, I do believe that Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo chose me. Back in the autumn of 1987 circumstances conspired to allow my then partner, Linda Fox, and I to take a six-month long sabbatical and travel to Zihuatanejo where Linda had lived ...
... sporadically since the early 1970's. I had never been to Mexico before and had only some erroneous preconceived notions of what Mexico was all about. My concept of Mexico I'd harvested from westerns and Saturday morning serials. As soon as the plane landed at the Zihuatanejo airport all of those old stereotypes went right into the waste can.
What sets Ixtapa Zihuatanejo apart from other real estate locations in Mexico such as Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos?
The Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo market has a unique flavor which distinguishes it from the other destinations in Mexico whether they be beach resorts or colonial towns. The distinction is analogous to one of this area's most famous dishes; tiritas, which is a recipe calling for strips of locally caught fish marinated in lime juice, onions and sliced Serrano chile. This simple platillo is exquisitely satisfying and uniquely particular to the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo area.
How large is the expatriate community here? How many Canadian and American expats are living here?
The use of the term expatriate is one which I tend not to promote given that some of its synonyms are exile and outcast. Certainly there are some of those but the vast majority of the 3,000 or so year ‘round and seasonal inhabitants are average citizens of their respective home nations who have chosen Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and the surrounding areas as their home or home away from home.
How do expats assimilate to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo's Mexican society and culture?
By and large the non-Mexican visitors and residents have immersed themselves in the culture and rhythms of the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo experience. There is any number of charitable organizations such as Niños Adelante and S.O.S Bahia, S.A. to name just two, which receive bountiful donations of both time and money from the foreign and local communities alike. Social events are equally polycultural as lassos between individuals create expanding webs of interdependency.
Has real estate grown here over the years? If so, what has detoned it?
In the twenty plus years that I have lived in this paradise, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo has experienced a slow, steady growth both in the permanent population as well as in the number of short-and long-term vacationers. Over the course of this steady expansion there have been two very strong booms: 1991-1995; and, 2005-2008. In each of these boom periods the prime stimulus for the growth in the specific area of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo was the real value investors found in the local real estate in comparison with other destinations in Mexico where rapidly rising prices had out paced the demand. In contrast, in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo supply had always lagged behind a increasing demand.