The gentrification of Ajijic

http://theguadalajarareporter.net/index.php/news/news/lake-chapala/53600-gentrification-on-the-home-front?fbclid=IwAR1EXWIF5Lvo-tuLX8diimgWieeWvIkAcoih2zohLidREnGdyY6cQ5iWUXs

why are the roads in the shape they are.......

This is such crap

We got gentrified out of Vancouver by the Asians. Happens every where that is desirable.

Vancouver real estate prices are the result of money laundering:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/laundered-money-bc-real-estate-1.5128769

We!l at this point it could plummet 50% and still be one of the most expensive cities in Canada. We got out 8 years ago at the top of the first jump. It has probably doubled again since then.

Just look at the demographics of Vancouver today. Chinese are #1, then English, etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Metro_Vancouver

Same happened in Toronto, but not quite as extreme as Vancouver. You can't even see the lake anymore with this wall of ugly condominiums that are all rented out as airbnbs from people who don't live in the city.

Toronto has always been extremely multicultural. It used to be that Italian was the most spoken language after english, but now it's Cantonese as well. The asian community in Toronto I think have done well and a lot have stayed and started businesses there and are a part of the community. I am sad to hear the bias from people in Vancouver, but can understand where that comes from. I thought Vancouver made some changes to the real estate sales and residency requirements?

Not enough changes yet but more are coming. There's no bias from me. They gave me a small fortune for my house so it was adios for us. Retired early and living the dream down here........lol.

So, all the foreigners flooding into Ajijic are not the problem. It is just what is happening everywhere?

Well, then, just too bad for the poor folks I guess. They’ll have to go somewhere else because this beautiful place now belongs to people with money.

The large tract of empty land on Juan Palomar y Arias (the street Costco is on, different name), between Vallarta and the Periferico, several blocks long is completely sold out by the developer at 25,000 pesos per square meter and not one house or condominium has been built on it yet.
The big development of new homes on Acueducto close to Chedraui near the Periferico start at 50 million pesos.
Real estate is going for peanuts in the Chapala area compared to comparable properties in GDL and you don´t see any NOB clients there.

ferret wrote:I would say so, yes. It could very well be the Tapatios who are buying everything in sight. To assume that it's just foreigners is short sighted and not giving credit to others' intelligence. Many can see the writing on the wall... in any language.

You got it right, many people from GDL are being forced to consider the lake area and that is putting pressure on the local market.  So many of the transactions between Mexicans don´t go through local realtors, but is huge. The local realtors handle most of the market that is dominated by the foreigners.

They have the chance to sell their small Ajijic house for a fortune (to some of them) and retire somewhere else like many of expats moving here did. The wheel goes round and round....but like slainte said its a different end game culturally speaking. There may come a time we sell our house if the price is right.

This has been happening everywhere for a very long time. There was a time when there was affordable housing in San Francisco, Sonoma county in CA and even in Laguna Beach, CA and Santa Cruz. Not any more. We had the same experience as Bob and sold out for way more than we'd paid. We don't expect to do as well with the house we're living in now because we spent way too much money on it. We were "never going to leave" it, but man makes plans and the gods laugh.

We got to California in 72 and we could not afford a house in St Helena or the Oakland Hills.. only in Geyserville Sonoma.. Now we cannot even affor a house in the hills in Geyserville..but who cares...We also lived in Santa Cuz.. never liked it and on the beach in Moss Beach, none of these places are places we would care to go back to and neither could we afford it.. Never mind there are other places.

I agree with Gringal that this has been happening everywhere and for a very long time. It, IMO, is not so much gentrification.... although that certainly is the case sometimes... but rather just what is happening in most places worth living due to population expolsion. I purchased a 2-story home in Fort Collins Colo in 1975 for $40k. Fast forward to today and I see it is on the market for $475,000! I could sell my current townhome for more than twice what I bought it for 20 years ago. Ajijic and San Miguel home prices will continue to rise until there is a realization by potential buyers that there is somewhere else with similar advantages but cheaper and without the traffic and deterioration of services.

Well I hope they let us know where.........

I think we may have found it! Six months here now, and we are pretty well convinced.  A couple of other 'old Chapala hands' are on their way here, with home closings already scheduled.

One of the biggest threats to the villages is the change in use of housing for retail and food. Just 3 new houses gone this month for shops and cafes. This removal of housing stock for commercial purposes is a result of the lack of zoning. Zoning is a dream and will always be a dream. Gentrification at least keeps the centro areas vital and busy with people living there but commercial eventually results in dead evenings and sparse foot traffic during the week.

I always thought West Ajijic began around Danza delSol and west to the cemetary. Seis Esquinas neighborhood should try hard to retain their charming name as an identifier.

Oh well. Every place has its heyday and this is ours. It will probably cool off with an economic downturn and then rise again. Cyclical.

Lady Otter Latté wrote:Well, then, just too bad for the poor folks I guess. They’ll have to go somewhere else because this beautiful place now belongs to people with money.

I guess you will have to move back home and give your spot back to a poor person...….??

solajijic wrote:One of the biggest threats to the villages is the change in use of housing for retail and food.  Just 3 new houses gone this month for shops and cafes.  This removal of housing stock for commercial purposes is a result of the lack of zoning.  Zoning is a dream and will always be a dream.  Gentrification at least keeps the centro areas vital and busy with people living there but commercial eventually results in dead evenings and sparse foot traffic during the week.  

I always thought West Ajijic began around Danza delSol and west to the cemetary.  Seis Esquinas neighborhood should try hard to retain their charming name as an identifier.

Oh well. Every place has its heyday and this is ours.  It will probably cool off with an economic downturn and then rise again.  Cyclical.

I have never used or heard anyone use the term "West Ajijic" instead of Six Corners. I agree, West Ajijic starts at Rio Zula and beyond...…..

The only place I see that term is in the MLS listings....

Yes west Ajijic starts at Rio Zula . We live below the Danza del Sol and the escritura says we are in Tio Domingo.. never heard it called that but maybe at the time it was built it is what it was called so it may have been west Ajijic...who cares...