It now appears that Hurricane Dean, with sustained winds of 150 mph (almost a category 5 hurricane) will not hit Playa Del Carmen or Cancun directly.  The eye wall of the hurricane seems now to be on a direct course for the Costa Maya and Chetumal.  Chetumal is the state capital of the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico right on the Belize/Mexico border.

 In Playa Del Carmen hurricane dean preparations are nearly finished and this area along with Cancun and Tulum are fully ready for the worst.  Residents and business owners have boarded up especially along the famous 5th avenue in Playa Del Carmen and the hotel zone in Cancun.  Riviera Maya Real Estate News will keep you updated on Cancun and Playa Del Carmen real estate as it is effected by Hurricane Dean. photos taken before Hurricane Dean arrives in Playa Del Carmen.

After a very quiet hurricane season in 2006, now Hurricane Dean, a very strong category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145mph/233kmh at the time of this writing is on a direct path for Cozumel, Cancun, Playa Del Carmen and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.

An estimated 80,000 tourists are being encouraged to make arrangements to evacuate the area as soon as possible.  It is also estimated that the Cancun International airport will be closed at 5pm tomorrow.  This storm is scheduled to hit the area late tomorrow or early Tuesday morning according to the National Weather Center.  The path of Hurricane Dean is being compared to Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, now it is moving West along a very similar line at about 18 to 20 miles per hour.  Today it is predicted to pass through Haiti and the island of Jamaica.
Locals in Playa Del Carmen and Cancun are taking many precautions in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Dean.  Hotels are moving items near the water to safety and making preparations to close once the guests are evacuated.  Many area hardware stores and construction supply stores are finding items like wood, screws, and other supplies to be in high demand.   This is very common prior to a hurricane also canned goods become a very precious commodity since during a hurricane typically there is no power and usually people move/protect or disconnect their gas tanks.  People who have hurricane shutters for their home or business need not worry with boarding up windows, doors, etc. however others that do not have the steel reinforced storm shutters on their home or business are busy in an attempt to cover anything with exposed glass.

“The main problem in a hurricane is the water coming into your home or office and damaging furniture and anything electric,” according to Bob McCain of Caribe Properties Real Estate in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.  McCain states, “most of the construction here in Mexico is concrete so the buildings are more resistant to the high winds, but glass and doors provide openings where the water can find its way in and that will cause a problems.”

How will this hurricane effect the real estate market in Cancun and the Riviera Maya?  That remains to be seen but if the past is any indication it will not change things substantially or slow down the explosive growth and investment in the area.  After hurricane Wilma, many investors thought that the prices would drop and there would be many bargains to be found.  It did not happen as the recovery from Wilma (one of the worst hurricanes ever recorded in this area) was very fast and property values remained constant through the recovery process.  Shawn Bandick, owner of One Stop Real Estate says, “if anything, the prices actually went up after the rebuilding in the area last year.  People who are informed and interested in investing in the Caribbean completely know and understand that tropical storms are just part of life in this area.”

Everyone in Cozumel, Cancun, Playa Del Carmen and the entire Riviera Maya remains on alert as Hurricane Dean makes its way toward Mexico.

On Friday, August 4, 2007,  there was a kickoff meeting and luncheon sponsored by Tierra Azul.  The meeting was well attended and received by the Riviera Maya real estate community.  Tierra Azul is the company that is spear-heading the new Downton Tulum project.  This is an interesting development with many forward-thinking ideas on how to effectively grow the population and infrastructure of Tulum.  Many people are saying that over the next 15 to 20 years Tulum will become the next new "hot spot" in the Mexican Caribbean.  Everything seems to moving south in terms of real estate and developments.  Playa Del Carmen is the hottest area right now but because of the huge demand the prices continue to increase and in the coming years this may exclude some potential buyers from owning there.  This is what makes the Riviera Maya South of Playa Del Carmen all the way to Tulum more and more attractive to potential investors.  Below is an overview directly from Tierra Azul about the Downtown Tulum project.

OVERVIEW provided by Tierra Azul

In the surroundings of Tulum significant protected natural areas exist.  The National Park of Tulum was created on April 23, 1981 by means of a National decree destined to protect an extension of 6.6 Kilometers.  This includes an area of forest and “Manglares” (mangroves) characteristic of the region that surrounds the archaeological sites of Tulum and Tankah (pertaining to the Maya culture). The Reserve Biosphere called the Sian Ka´an to the south of Tulum, decreed the 20 of January of 1986, approximately covers 10% with the total extension of Quintana Roo and constitutes one of the most complete inventories of biodiversity at a national level including reefs and marine
turtle. Additionally a presidential decree exists that establishes the protection to the zones of monuments in Tulum and Tankah from December of 1993 with an extension of 6.9 km.

Last week AMPI Riviera Maya hosted a breakfast meeting at the Ipanema Grill in Playa Del Carmen.  Members of AMPI and prospective members and guests were in attendence.  AMPI Riviera Maya would like to attract professional and ethical realtors in the area that want to maintain a level of service that can set them apart from others.

Laura Zapata, president of AMPIRM welcomed the group to the meeting. The Board of Directors explained the process for AMPI membership and the opportunities of networking  with AMPI.  With the accord with NAR there are many more alliances being formed between agens.  Professionalism and education were stressed and future events planned were presented such as the national meeting in 2008 which is being planned for in the Riviera Maya. 

Joel Andrade, from Cancun, made a presentation about upcoming real estate courses classes were discussed as well as the interworkings of the association such as the Honor and Justice commitee, co-obrokering systems and alliances with the goverment.

The activites planned for the remainder of the year and 2008 show that AMPI Riviera Maya is moving forward to continuing educational programs for it's membership and presenting initiatives to the government relating to consumer protection and confidence.

If you would like additional information about AMPI, the real estate continuing education courses, or membership please visit www.ampirivieramaya.com or contact Laura Zapata at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Playa Del Carmen real estate agents and brokers have needed an MLS service for a very long time but

until now nothing existed here or for Cancun real estateagents either.

In about a year on the internet, http://www.mls4rivieramaya.com is already the #1 site for real estate listings in english for Riviera Maya real estate on the internet with over 750 listings and 88 real estate agents from many different brokers.