If you follow baseball, you may know the name Kevin Kouzmanoff, a third baseman for the San Diego Padres. 2008 is his third major league season, and he did something on his first major league at-bat (with the Cleveland Indians) that hadn’t ever been done before: he hit a grand-slam home run on the first pitch he’d ever taken as a major league player. Kouzmanoff is not what you’d call a home-run hitter. In fact, in his career to date, he’s only hit twenty-eight home runs. Anyone can get lucky. Kouzmanoff certainly did. Most players get to be great by mixing their skills with outstanding coaching. Real estate investment is no different. You can get better results with outstanding coaching.

Most people don’t think of real estate investment as a coachable activity, but then again, most people don’t buy and sell real estate as a regular investment vehicle. If you want to make money in real estate – real money – the best approach is to find someone who can help you build your confidence and skill when it comes to recognizing the right properties and the right opportunities.

Coaching Services can help you fine-tune your vision to see the real potential of a real estate purchase, and find good investment properties. Can you be successful without coaching? Sure. Anything is possible. After all, Kevin Kouzmanoff got a grand slam on his first at-bat, and that almost certainly wasn’t the result of the coaching he’d received.

If you’re looking for consistent results, however, you want the benefit of someone else’s experience. You can learn from others’ experience just as well as you can learn from your own. For the record, most of the 98 players who have hit home runs on their first major league at-bat didn’t go on to have stellar baseball careers. In fact, nineteen of the 98 never hit another major league home run again.

You can either step up to the plate and hope things go well, or you can step up to the plate with the confidence that you’re making the right real estate investment decisions. Which position would you prefer to be in?

Photo Credit: Larissa Kanno

This isn’t going to surprise you if you’ve been paying attention to the Puerto Vallarta real estate markets lately: Puerto Vallarta is one of the top Mexico real estate markets. Puerto Vallarta property has been appreciating at a rate of about 10 percent per year. Not too many markets are doing that right now, but Puerto Vallarta is one of the most attractive.

Puerto Vallarta is physically close to the US and people who own investment properties in Puerto Vallarta can get here very easily. Puerto Vallarta International Airport handles nearly 500 international flights per week, and many major carriers land here. From most major cities in the US, Puerto Vallarta is just a few hours’ flight away.

Buying property in Puerto Vallarta is safe. The Mexican Federal government is bending over backwards to help erase the very negative experiences of some early foreign investors in Mexico real estate. Right now, land purchases by foreigners are easy to execute. Several protections are built into the sale to help guarantee the safety of investment properties. These safeguards include title insurance, property registration and the establishment of a required trust in which the title to the property is held.

Puerto Vallarta has been the beneficiary of an enormous investment in infrastructure by the Mexican Federal government and by the government in the State of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta will enjoy new tunnels and a new interstate highway that runs past every beach in the city. The city also opens a brand new convention center in October.

Private investment is also hot in Puerto Vallarta. More than two dozen hotel, resort and condominium projects are underway right now. Remodeling of the city’s marinas, the construction of new ultra-modern hospitals and many US retailers have or will open outlets here in Puerto Vallarta to cater to the growing ex-pat population here.

Private waterfront properties in Puerto Vallarta are all but gone. Fortunately, what may turn out to be a better investment opportunity is opening up north of Puerto Vallarta, in San Pancho. Luxury real estate building sites are being sold to individual investors right now through Select Mexico Properties. If you haven’t done so already, please visit the Select Mexico Properties Web site and take a look at the properties that are still available. You’ll see why the Puerto Vallarta real estate market is in such high demand!

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) aren’t having an easy time these days finding good values inside the US. Instead, many of these professional real estate investors are turning to investment properties outside the US to find solid returns.

Economically, Mexico is growing very fast right now, and that means that the opportunity for gain is high. In Puerto Vallarta, property has appreciated at the rate of about ten percent per year for ten years. The growth rate is expected to continue for at least another five. Investors who are looking for rapid growth in investment properties are turning to places like Mexico.

Most waterfront property in Puerto Vallarta is occupied or will be occupied by resort real estate or tourist property, closing out the development of investment properties for most individual investors. Excellent opportunities to take advantage of the conditions in Puerto Vallarta can be found in areas north of the city, where prime tourist development is limited.

These areas are better suited to meet the needs of the individual investor, who may have complementary goals of good ROI and the use and enjoyment of the property. High-quality investment properties are being sold right now in San Pancho, just north of Puerto Vallarta. Select Mexico Properties has a limited number of premium residential building sites available that will appeal to discriminating buyers seeking high quality investment properties.