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Our Home at Loreto Bay

Since December 2004 when we first went down to look at the new development at Loreto Bay, this page has chronicled decisions and revelations about our house there. It began as a stop for our friends and relatives, but we found that we were getting questions from lots of people who were thinking about buying. If you have questions or comments, there are mail links above and below. We're considering hosting a bulletin board for neighbors! (On this page the newest information is presented at the top, but first-time visitors will find basic information about the project and the area later on.)

Evening comes to the golf course. Open this file in your browser for a larger picture. It was business as much as pleasure that took us to Loreto in the early part of May. We had accepted our house a year before, which meant that the warranty was expiring, and so were our FM-3 visas. Both of these events turned out more pleasantly than we would have expected.

There's been a personnel change at the Loreto immigration office. Whether for this reason or some other, things seem to go much more smoothly now. We met several people there who expressed delight about the ease of getting their papers renewed or re-issued. You will now want to address your requests for registration or renewal to C Francisco Javier Villavicencio López, who was very cordial in dealing with us. We took the option of renewing our visas for only 180 days, putting our expiration date in November, a more convenient time of year for us.

Anyway, we knew that since we would be in town we would have another chance to make sure everything in our house was working properly; but we started to wonder if there wouldn't be problems that still hadn't become obvious. We had met some of the folks from The Construction Coach (see their link below) during our visit in March, so we finally got around to asking them to do a 1-year inspection for us. They identified a couple of drainage issues that we had not understood, but otherwise mostly confirmed that the house is in good shape. For us, just the latter information was well worth the price.

This Is Shower Tap. The other good news is that the Warranty Department at Loreto Bay works just as tirelessly. Our problems had seemed mostly to involve plumbing, and though it took a while to achieve, we can now have hot showers in either bathroom and could even fill the big jetted tub with hot water if we wanted to (though I think that most of the time we will set the thermostat on the boiler at a less-luxurious level). The house seems ready to get along on its own now. Alfredo Baeza has some ideas about how to ease the separation anxiety that occurs as the end of the warranty period draws near. Thanks to him, most recently, and to Deianira Morales for looking after us.

For the past several months the talk about Loreto Bay hasn't been about the houses themselves -- which are attractive and probably becoming even more so -- but about the overall future of the project. Of the ideas that made up the founders' original vision, some proved impractical. One "concrete" example is the earthen blocks of which our village was to be built. The material was cheap enough, but the overall process was slow. Walls changed from earth to Perform Wall (noble in its own fashion as a way to recycle plastic foam) to thinner Perform Wall, to Perform that didn't need to be cut to size; but money had begun to dribble away and there came a time last year when it looked like construction might come to a permanent halt. Critics warned that the original partners were taking their fortunes and stealing away, but something quite different apparently occured. A big investor stepped in, but of course these days even being a big investor doesn't guarantee happiness.

Management of the project is now in the hands of Replay Resorts and they have a grand vision for the project too, and one that may eventually attract money from others besides homebuyers. Once Loreto Bay is running like, say, Blackcomb Mountain, we will all be able to breathe a little easier. And have more fun too -- the idea is to connect us, and guests, to the beautiful sea and mountains in exciting new ways.

At this point Replay is saying that the project is still about sustainability, but not bragging about it so much. On the other hand, the photovoltaic farm that became the wind farm is now in danger of going back to being diesel generators. It seems that the cost of wind turbines has soared (because of demand!) so that, with the cost of construction, renewable energy is now 70% more expensive than the other kind. It is said that management will poll property owners (some of whom claim they believed that renewable energy would cost less) to find out whether they want to scrap the wind farm idea. At a time when even energy company executives are talking about peak oil, this is an interesting position to take.

Actually, in mid-May much of the talk at Loreto Bay was about mosquitoes. We had left by then, but we're prepared for these guys. For word about mosquito nets, carpenter bees, wood preservation, etc. see our News page.


More about the neighborhood

Progress was definitely being made while we were there in May, major construction was mostly complete in our part of the village, and life was pleasant as neighbors met here and there to chat. El Portón, the little "supermarket" at the other end of Nopoló, but just conceivably within walking distance, was again open many hours daily, but without much stock at least at the time we dropped by. We visited the neighborhood farmacia for tea, condiments and cleaning products, but look forward to the day when food sources outnumber furniture stores on the Paseo.

A view of the Paseo Mision de Loreto from November 2007

Some panoramic pictures:

  • We have been happy having the Inn at Loreto Bay as our beach club, but the developers mean to erect a world-class re-designed facility at the location originally planned, between the two Posadas. This apparently means having an interim club in the area enclosed by the hotel, turning the snack bar into nothing more than a pleasant memory. Here's a twilight view of the Inn, from our stay in May 2007.
  • Speaking of nice views, there is a November 2007 picture of the near part of the golf course under renovation, on Our Home Page
  • Our previous home page picture is a panorama taken from our second-floor terrace. By an amazing coincidence, there's a "before" picture, taken from a few yards away in December 2004 during our first visit. Much has changed since then. I hope eventually to have a profile identifying some of the geographic features.
  • From our trip to Ciudad Constitutión, a look back toward the mountains near Loreto; and, from a bit further on, a view to the south.

Other information:

  • To get an overview of the project, visit the Villages of Loreto Bay website. Besides their view of the New Urbanism, there's information about owning property in Mexico.
  • Meant to help homeowners during construction and inspection, The Construction Coach also offers insight into the project as a whole -- take a look at their updates and links.
  • West Coast Mill Works, the source for cabinetry and custom furniture -- they built our two custom beds as well as our closet.
  • Local real estate listings, including houses at Loreto Bay, from Alexander Realty; and Dorado Realty.
  • For current homeowners, there's My Loreto Bay, a site for news and discussion.
  • There are hundreds of pictures of the town and the project on the developer's Flickr website and new ones have usually appeared at least monthly.
  • There are before-and-after pictures of their beautiful blue house by our neighbors Will and Cynthia, plus many from their other travels.
  • Many of the pictures that gave buyers hope early on are by pioneer Loreto Bay resident and prolific photographer Linda Angelo.
  • A serious and thorough 2006 critique of the project's sustainability claims from Baja Life magazine, in Acrobat format (with some beautiful pictures of the area by the way). Note that detractors are given the last word; the developers seem to have good answers for some of these questions.

Previously published information about our house in particular:

Our house and some others from across the golf course.

The two landscapes on this page are from the golf course. This one shows our house, the sand-colored one in the middle, and to this side of it a lavish custom home, one of the first of a row that should eventually line the fairway.


More about Baja:

It was talk about sustainability that first caught our attention , but even for us the appeal to the senses is undeniable. The following sites have general information about the area:

Our house from the street.

We are still happy with our choice to live on the main street -- it gives us a lot to look at. We may have traded some tranquility for the vistas that other houses lack, but at this point we're glad that we happened to notice this unique lot. The offset from the house next door makes this one of the few of its kind to have a window in the dining room (though it gives up a number of windows on the back side of the house). And, most of all of course, there's the disappearing exterior wall that turned a cramped little hallway into a colonnade. Here's a picture from the Paseo Misión de Loreto.

 
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