The rainy season and real estate in Puerto Vallarta
The vast majority of US and Canadian tourists that vacation in Puerto Vallarta do so during the winter season, from November to Easter – that time of the year is our “high season”. It is the least hot and least humid time of the year for our tropical town and is a time where one can be 99.99% certain to experience no rain whatsoever. So it makes sense that most people chose winter.
It is during this same winter time that many foreigners will search for, and buy their dream home in the sun. Even after purchase, it is again mainly during this winter period that many vacation home owners will use their property, rarely visiting vallarta during the summer. (This is a generalization and I know of many tourist that actually prefer the summer due to the lower occupancy and spectacular fauna and flora transformation).
For those of us that live here we know how different the summer and winter climate conditions are in Puerto Vallarta, and the drastic effect these 4 months of constant humidity and rain have on houses and condos, especially those that are poorly constructed. If you are buying during the winter, it’s important to keep this in mind and to try to forecast how the property you are buying will react to our summer climate.
Surrounding terrain
The first thing to pay close attention is the surrounding terrain.
Is there a river close by ? (dry or not). Vallarta is surrounded by steep mountains that during the rainy season act as natural water-slides accelerating the rain water down to the ocean. These rivers can be drastically transformed by the rain, and the calm rivers that you see in the winter can become lethal rapids. For example, the youtube video below shows how the downtown Rio Cuale is transformed by the rain.
Also pay attention to dry rivers. For example, the Pitillal river (which runs through Fluvial and joins the ocean at Penninsula) is bone-dry during the winter but becomes a major rain evacuation route during the rainy season.
No river? the rain still needs to get through! If there’s no river close by try to find out how rain water passes through the surrounding terrain. Most roads of Puerto Vallarta don’t have drainage and this transforms some roads (drive-way / gardens / parking lots …) into temporary rivers – which can cause major problems for constructions. Take a look at the video below that shows how one of the main roads in the Pitillal is transformed during heavy rain.
Ideally, you want the surrounding terrain to be leading away from the property. Most of Vallarta is on an incline (leading towards the sea) so rain water will need to move around the grounds. Look for water evacuation routes, drains and any other preventive systems. Pay particular attention to this for constructions with underground facilities or parking lots.
Construction
After evaluating the terrain you will need to look closely at how the property has been built. Which materials have been used? (pay close attention to the extensive use of dry-wall. Dry-wall + humidity = problem). Does the roof have an inclination? Are there any gutters? How old is the building?
Look closely at areas with gaps, pipes, windows, doors, A/C inlets etc. If given a chance, water will find it’s way into any space. Look for leaks in the walls and ceilings. Also look for any miss-match in paint colour. If you see a wall with a clearly fresher line of paint that may indicate a leak stain that has been hidden. Also look for humidity stains, especially in the upper corners of walls on top floors, and the lower corners on the ground floors. Do however keep in mind that in such a humid climate it is very frequent to find some small humidity stains or leaks, even in the best-built homes. Just make sure that you find them, understand them and don’t be frightened to challenge the seller for an explanation about them.
Don’t think that you shouldn’t pay attention to this if you are buying a new construction, or if you are buying a condo on the middle floor of a high tower. Glossy brochures and great sales presentations have no effect on rain and tropical humidity! Obviously, the reputation of a construction developer is very important but check for yourself where possible.
Vegetation
Many new houses in Puerto Vallarta have a flat roof. Before the rainy season starts always make sure the roof is clear from any vegetation that may trap water and humidity. Also consider vegetation and trees surrounding the property. Think about how these affect the surrounding humidity and their potential threat in the case of strong winds (or even hurricanes) – this is especially important for tall palm trees.
Advice
As with any important purchase decision be sure to surround yourself with people and realtors that are able to give you impartial and honest information. Don’t be scared to ask them tough questions and to demand answers. Also do your research amongst the locals. Like everywhere in Mexico you’ll find that people are more than willing to help wherever than can.
♥ the Rain
Although this article focuses on the negative impact of the rain one must not forget it’s positive impact. The plants and jungle surrounding Puerto Vallarta are literally transformed by this rain. The mountains become a vibrant green colour, new animals appear and the air is cleansed. We have spectacular lighning storms over the bay and the rain and it’s flash floods are sometimes quite entertaining. It’s a great time to vistit our town. It generally rains only in the early morning and late afternoon, the daytime is virtually always rain free.
The People of Puerto Vallarta promote their city – againt Swine Flu
About 10 days ago a video was posted on Youtube by “Diegotopet” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DknNF51058w) that showed us the reality of Swine Flu in Puerto Vallarta. It’s since been a huge success with over 50,000 viewings, and a great reality check for anyone scared of the swine flu news and it’s impact on their travels to this paradise.
Since then, a number of new productions have recently been posted on Youtube, this time by “Infochannelvallarta” – at we’re proud to announce the staring of none other than our very own Marketing Director at Pacific Coast : “Grant Choules” on one of these videos (below) ! feel free to leave some teasing comments 
, he won’t mind – honest …
There are 3 versions that can be found here below (English and then Spanish) :
Influenza Porcina Español Version 1
Influenza Porcina Español Version 2
Influenza Porcina Español Version 3
Please feel free to circulate !
New web features at Pacific Coast
As the hype about swine flue seems to be finally fading away (as I write this post there are still no cases of the A/H1N1 flue virus in Puerto Vallarta) we’re excited to tell you about some new web features that we’ve been developing here at Pacific Coast.
What’s great about these features is that they give us the opportunity to communicate with you more easily and openly. They also give you more relevant and up to date information about Mexico and Puerto Vallarta.
You can now find us at www.twitter.com/Pacific_Coast . If you don’t know twitter, think of it as a free text messaging service from computer to computer – the twist being that messages can be viewed by everyone. Why is this interesting? Well, firstly it enables real-time rapid communication between people all over the world, and secondly, it enables you to search these conversations.
For example, if you are traveling to Puerto Vallarta in the near future and are interested to learn about who and what is being said about Puerto Vallarta in the “twitter world” you can search for “Puerto Vallarta” at www.search.twitter.com. This is what I got doing the search this afternoon :
So you could see that christinebpc is looking forward to a wedding tomorrow in Puerto Vallarta, or that alteredattic swam with dolphins yesterday and loved it. These may be topics that interest you and you could then continue to communicate with these people.
Our twitter account is a place where we will “tweet” regular info about Puerto Vallarta, life in the office, the weather, real estate etc… Feel free to “follow us” or search for us. We’re at www.twitter.com/pacific_coast and our user name is “Pacific_Coast”
We know that many of you that are interested in buying a second home in Puerto Vallarta don’t live locally and probably only come to Mexico once or twice per year. We take great care in giving our customers up-to-date and quality photos of our properties so that they can get a good idea of what it looks like in real life. To improve things even more we’ve recently created our own section on youtube (the internet’s largest free video sharing website) and we will be filming all our properties to offer free video tours online. You can visit our video section at www.youtube.com/vallartarealestate.
On our website (www.pacificcoastmexico.com/picoday.html) we will be posting a new picture everyday from Puerto Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas region. The aim is to bring you your “daily dose of Mexican sunshine” to you wherever you may be in the world. We’ll be taking the photos whilst out and about in the area so most of the photos will be taken by our sales agents with their cell phones. If you use RSS Feeds you can grab our Pic of the day feed here.
Created by the twitter people, twitpic is a real-time picture sharing website. Along side our “Puerto Vallarta pic of the day” page on our website we will be posting daily photos onto twitpic so that you can get your daily dose of Vallarta sun. See our page at http://twitpic.com/photos/Pacific_Coast
As always, we appreciate your comments and suggestions so feel free to contact us or get in touch using the above tools !
