Vail to Cabo: Luxury Real Estate Insights with Jennifer Coulson

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yah. Welcome to Master in the Art of Real Estate.

(00:48):
I'm your host, Debbie DiMaggio. We are here today with Jennifer.
Jennifer is coming to us actually from Vail, and she
actually straddles to markets Cabo, San Lucas and Vail, Colorado.
Let's bring Jennifer in.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Hello, Debbie, thank you so much for having me. It
is always a pleasure seeing your bright, smiling face. And
I'm so excited to be here and talk some real
estate today.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
No, I'm so excited. We were supposed to do this
a couple months ago when I was in Cabo. We
didn't get to launch the show because of a power outage.
So I've been excited to ask you all of my questions.
But I did get to meet you in person. Oftentimes
I don't meet my guests in person, and I had
the opportunity to hang out with you and see your
market and understand the Cabo market, and it was super fun.

(01:37):
So let me introduce you properly. Jennifer, originally from Kansas City,
moved to Colorado in two thousand after graduating from SMU
in Dallas, Texas, having spent childhood vacations in Bail. Relocating
to the high Country felt like coming home. She launched
her real estate career in two thousand and one, driven
by a passion for helping others achieve their dream of

(02:00):
owning a piece of the Mountain lifestyle. With over twenty
years of success, she holds accolades like Top Salesperson of
the Year, multiple years, Certified Luxury home Marketing Specialist. Her
commitment to her community earned her the Distinctive Angel Award.
Actually since twenty fourteen. As a mother of two competitive dancers,

(02:21):
Jennifer balances her family's active lifestyle with her thriving career.
She loves traveling, particularly particularly to sunny destinations like Mexico,
and expanded her expertise in twenty twenty one to include
Los Cobos. Now she is equally passionate about finding the
perfect homes for her clients in Los Cobos. Jennifer's unmatched experience, integrity,

(02:44):
and worth ethic make her Luxury Make the luxury relator
to turn your real estate dreams into reality. I love that. Well,
we're very similar with the love of travel and all
of the different places, and we got to spend quite
so i'd say eight years. Our kids both went to Boulder,
so We spent a lot of time skiing in the

(03:05):
mountains there and it is like coming home. It's just
so beautiful and you're there today, right.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm here today, and it is a real perk because
in sixteen years of having my children in the school system,
this is our second snow day. So it is dumping
outside and had about almost a foot since last night
and it's still going strong and we should probably get
another foot plus today, so it'll be.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Awesome, beautiful, so magical. Well, it's so fun. You get
to go between Vail and Colorado, the two different kinds
of weather patterns must be beautiful and so fun, so.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Awesome, and we see a lot of people wanting to
be in both markets, so it makes it nice and
it was a very natural progression.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, that'll be interesting. I want to talk about that
because there's so many places for us to go. But
first I want to find out how did you get
into real estate? Can you share your journey with us
and when that happened and how and why that happened?

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Sure, thanks so much for asking. I, as you mentioned,
spent a lot of time in the mountains growing up
and being from Kansas City. For anyone that's familiar with
the terrain between Colorado and Kansas. It is very calm
and there's not much to see on I seventy and
it's a straight shot, so it's about a ten hour drive.

(04:26):
And I spent my whole life doing that. And when
we were in town here in the mountains, my parents
were always very, very interested in real estate. They missed
out on one of the initial offerings. My grandfather thought
twenty five grand was just too much for a lot
on Vail Mountain. He wasn't going to spend that and
there was no way now, of course, that would have

(04:48):
been a great investment. But my father and his one
of his brothers and one of my mom's brothers started
purchasing real estate. We purchased our first home together, and
then they all started buying homes separately, which has been
great for my real estate career as the years have passed.
And during that time, we were always on the forefront

(05:10):
of the newest development. So I was in the first
key school class at Beaver Creek when they opened that mountain.
And then we proceeded to buy an arrowhead and build
an arrowhead and build you know, we just kind of
moved progressively west, which is what we've seen if you
know the valley well here, and so I think when
I moved here, there were a lot of different options
of things I could do. And when you live in

(05:30):
the mountains, traditionally, unless you have a corporate job, which
those are very few and far between, you work at
least two to three jobs. That's very common for most
people who live in a resort community and are not
corporate so to speak. And my dad actually asked me
how much I was making at the job I was

(05:50):
working out at that point, and I was living in
his home, and he took me out and showed me
a neighborhood that I was not interested in living in
and said, pick out your place I used to live there,
because you've got two weeks and you're out of here
and that's it. So get your real estate license or
get out of my house and that's the end of that.
I thought, well, looks like I'm going to be getting
my real estate license. So I got that and away

(06:14):
we went. With real estate, I've always I guess in
the last few years I haven't done as much, But
at that point when I started real estate, I already
also started in television, so working with all the local
stations here in Vail was fantastic because I was able
to meet everybody, interview everyone, and also of course pitch

(06:35):
my business the entire time, which was incredible. We have
a lot of people that do a lot of Kansas
City and Veil, so at the beginning there was a
lot of that. And I was also very early on
internet marketing back in two thousand and four, so that's
when I started my site, which was pretty early for

(06:57):
lead generation in the internet world. So I think those
two things combined is how I got started, and then
it has grown, and that is what actually took me
into Cabo was all the time we spent there, and
my clients just finally said, we're not working with the
people down there, so figure it out. Get licensed. Even
though that was my plan for after my children had graduated,

(07:20):
so I could spend more time more days there. Right now,
I'm still tethered by the school calendar, as any parent knows,
that's part of the deal when you have kids before
they graduate high school, you kind of have to go
with their calendar. So my clients forced me into the
Cabo scene a little earlier than I expected, but I

(07:41):
absolutely love it. It's always been my plan and I
was excited they did it because it's been a big
success down there as well.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
That's incredible. So are the people that you live in
Veil and you've raised your kids in Bail and so
are there a lot of full time families that live
in Veil? And is that their home? And then how
did they decide that Cobo was the place?

Speaker 2 (08:06):
So there are a lot of families that live in
Vail full time. We have a very healthy community here.
Most of my local residents are not the people who
are purchasing in Cabo. Just a couple that are interested,
but I haven't actually had an opportunity to help them
purchase there. The majority of my clients that want to

(08:27):
be in Cabo also have second homes here, so they're
vacation homes, whether it's second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth home.
They just as I always preach, as your children get older,
let me tell you a little secret. Nobody wants to
come see in Nebraska, Okay, nobody wants to see in Kansas.
Nobody wants to come see you in Oklahoma. I know

(08:48):
you may love it and you may be there. That's
why they would be coming, but your weather has very
little to offer. They want to come skiing, and they
want to go to the lake, and they want to
go to the ocean. So I have great agents that
work in lake communities that would love to help you. Otherwise,
mountains are ocean, baby, I got you covered. So that's
where kids want to go. And people have actually asked

(09:08):
me that you spend so much time with your parents.
I'm like, yeah, because they live in Vail in Cabo.
Who wouldn't want to spend time with them.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Absolutely, that's incredible. So it was your clients who started
talking about Cabo, But then your own parents live now
in Cabo. How did that happen? When did they decide
to make the move.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
We were real big fans of Hawaii, so we did
Hawaii for about thirteen years in a row, and my
freshman year in college was the last time they went
to Hawaii, and they decided we've heard some good things
about Mexico. I think Mexico had had a stigma of
a lot of dangerous terrain down there. People want to

(09:50):
travel down there, certainly in the eighties, and I think
in the nineties it got Things started getting better in
the nineties and late nineties, and so they started spending
more and more time down. I think they went three
weeks their first time, six weeks their second time, three
months their third time. By their fourth time, they were
there six months at a time. And then they built
a home and they lived there nine months a year,

(10:13):
and then they're in Veil in the summer, so they're
finished with cold weather. And we've seen a lot of
combo there. So there's a ton of people that have
homes in Aspen and Cabo or Veil in Cabo. That's
a very very common thing. In fact, we talked about
doing an event and there were over two hundred people

(10:33):
on the guest list. We came up with within about
eighteen minutes that have homes in both places, so very
very popular. It's such an easy flight and so easy
to access Cabo direct flights from all over California. Of course,
it's three hours from Denver. It's a cakewalk. And they've
been adding more and more direct flights, and Cobo is

(10:53):
also up as one of the big airports in Mexico.
That's going to get a huge revamp and we're going
to bringing even more direct flights, and of course the
private jets flying in there are just unstoppable. It's unbelievable
how many privates we have in there. Every time you
come in, it's just mind boggling. How many planes are there.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
It's crazy. Yeah, I've watched it over the years we
started going to Cabo. I love Cabo. It's so beautiful
and it's so easy to get to and yeah, watching
that airport transform and it's completely different now than how
it used to be. There are so many people, yes,
from California, going to from also from California into Cabo,
and then a lot of times people do from northern

(11:33):
California go into Palm Springs. But there's so much more
I think to do in Cabo, and I think it
makes it it's well because there's a lot of things
to do. But let's talk about how one would actually
buy a house in Cabo, buy a condo in Cabo,
and what does that look like. Of course, you know,

(11:54):
I've always heard that you get a lease on you
don't really buy it. There's a lease break that down
for us, because I think still people are confused, how
are all these people buying? And when I say buying,
not yes, you can buy something for a couple hundred thousand,
but people are buying things for five, ten, fifteen, twenty.
You've showed me a property for thirty five or sixty
five million. It was insane.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I could believe that it's crazy. That's such a great
question and a really common one we get. And I
think again, things have changed a lot as far as
people's perception of being in Mexico. But additionally, things have
not changed a lot as far as what we call.
It's called a feta camisio. And essentially the reason this

(12:37):
is in place is within ten miles from the border,
which of course that's also any sea border, there's no
one is allowed to own property unless you are a
Mexican citizen truly own it. And that was for of course,
you know, reasons of being attacked, right, so that you're
saving your country. You don't want people coming in and

(12:59):
putting ports in that aren't owned by the Mexican government.
And it was to keep the Mexican people safe. That
has stayed and remained in their rules and regulations. And
so to get around that, because there are a lot
of people down there that are not Mexicans that own
that are not Mexican citizens that own property and you
do that by getting what's called a feta camisio, and

(13:20):
essentially it's one hundred year lease that you get with
the bank. It's very very common. It is extremely regulated,
so down there we don't have your typical title company,
so to speak. But everything goes through what we call
our notarios, which are similar to a notary, and it
is very very technical. There is a lot of paperwork

(13:44):
that goes along with it, but it's actually quite easy.
So as long as you have a great agent, first
step is to call me or call somebody like me
right and get in touch with us so that we
can guide you through the process. I think that's number one.
Is you want to make sure you're working with people
that have all the right contacts, that have great attorneys
to set you up with, that have great accountants down

(14:04):
there to set you up with, so that you don't
have any problems as you work through the purchasing process.
Once you do purchase land, there is an option of
becoming a Mexican citizen, which both of my parents have done.
They're dual citizens, so they have American passports and they
have in Mexican passports, which for people who travel a lot,
there's some huge benefits to that outside of even owning property.

(14:27):
My parents love to travel in the Middle East, and
sometimes it's much nicer to travel on a Mexican passport
than a US passport. They're a little more well received.
Sometimes they don't look super Mexican, your traditional Mexican, if
you can guess, because I don't. But I am a resident.
So I've started my process as well and become a
resident in Mexico so that hopefully I can do that

(14:48):
as well own property one day myself straight out. But
it is a very safe and secure process, and a
lot of homes that transfer are owned in a feed
to camisio and then transfer to a new buyer who
will also purchase anafida camisio. So this is very common
in Cabo and the people, the Mexican people, and certainly

(15:08):
the people in Cavo love Americans. They are so kind,
they are so generous. You just got back. I mean
you were there. I mean we were taking pictures of
the staff when I dropped you off, because everyone was
so sweet. I mean they're just so kind. And I
tell people, honestly, you don't even really need to exchange money.
You don't need to know how to speak Spanish, go

(15:29):
down there that you will have a phenomenal time. I think,
and as you said, Cabo's grown a lot. It's not
about just going and sitting on the beach and you know,
listening to the ways you can certainly do that, but
the recreational activities that have grown in Cabo, it's just
been exponential and it's been incredible that no matter what
kind of vacation you want, Cabo has it to offer

(15:52):
to you, except for skiing. Then you're gonna have to
call me.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
And fail exactly exactly or this is so exciting. So
let's go to a marcial break and we'll be right
back with Jennifer from Vail and Mos Cabos. We welcome

(19:21):
back to Mastering the Art of Real Estate. I'm your host,
Debbie Demagio. We are here with Jennifer Coulson from Bail
and Los Cabos. So we were talking about your parents
became a citizen of Mexico from Vail and via Kansas.
So tell us how does someone become a citizen of
Mexico Because I know I'm recently getting my Italian citizenship

(19:45):
and that's because of my family, great great great grandparents
but we've worked on that a while. So how does
one there, obviously not from Mexico, How do you get
a citizen? How do you get your citizenship?

Speaker 2 (19:57):
So first thing you would do is you contact somebody
who knows how to do that and do all the
paperwork and get you through the process. I'm not one
thousand percent sure of everything they had to do. I
know number one is you pay. That's always hot topic, right,
get some cash. And I know that they also had
to go to Mexico City and do their interviews in

(20:18):
person in Spanish and work through there. So I think
there's a lot of paperwork. You also need to establish residency.
It's a process that that's the process. So you first
establish residency, become a resident, then you can work on
your citizenship after you've been there, I believe a certain
number of years, and of course then you need to
go and do it in Mexico City at the capitol.

(20:42):
But I don't you know, I haven't gone through the process,
so I'm not one hundred percent sure on everything that
has to take place. But I have some fabulous people
who do and if that's of interest to anyone, I
am more than happy to put you in touch with them.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's awesome because I think there will be some people
wanting to you that. So I know when I was there,
I had a question as a real estate agent, and
we have a lot of real estate agents that we
network and have on the podcast, what if an agent
like yourself, because you were you practice there, what if
an agent wanted to practice in Cabo or in Mexico,

(21:18):
how would they do that?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
If you're fully wanting to become licensed in Cabo, you
go through a similar procedure that you go through in
the United States, but you do through that through the
Cabo The MLS. We have an MLS, you know, And
I actually have been in classes in the US and
they've said the United States is the only place that
has an MLS system, and I said, well, that's not true.

(21:43):
Cabo has one, and I got into a little spat
with the guy about it and I said, well, we do,
and it's a flex MLS system, just like we have
here in Vail. Ironically, so I really lucked out with that,
as I know, you know, each market has their own
MLS system that they use, and ironically Cabo has the
same one Veil does. So it was nice and easy

(22:05):
for me, but you go down you need to find
a brokerage with him to work. You'll need to get
go through the licensing process. However, if you want to
help your clients in Cabo, we love paying referral fees.
Things that work very differently down there. As far as
that goes. There's a lot of agent bonuses that get
paid down there, which I don't see in the US

(22:26):
quite as common commonly we see, you know, forty thousand
dollars bonus on top of your commission to the buyer agent,
you know, a hundred grand or you know, they'll just
throw off these crazy numbers. They're like, hey, people want
to sell, and they want to sell right now. So
you know, things can turn over that way. And we
really welcome people other agents from other areas. But honestly,

(22:49):
until and Debbie, my guess is you will agree with
this being an agent for as long as you have
and frankly, it's part of our ethic, you know, ethics
agreement if you're a member of NARS that you should
not be practicing real estate in an area, whether it's
an area like a geographical area, or it is an

(23:11):
area within real estate that in which you are not proficient. Right.
So I have people and they say, oh, I'm going
to send you a commercial lease, and I say, have
you ever even done one commercial deal in your life?
They said, no, but I'm going to send it over
to you. I thought, no, you're not. I mean, this
is absurd, I think, And I'm really glad those parameters

(23:34):
have been put in place for us, because I think
it makes it difficult for newer agents to get the
experience and be an expert in an area. But it
also forces people to team up and work with mentors
so that they can learn the business having people represented
by incompetent agents, whether they're incompetent in the geographic area

(23:55):
or they are not super competent in the type of
real estate. You know, whether it's a timeshare, land, a
piece of land, a ranch, a home, a condo, whatever
it is, you need to know what you're doing if
you're representing someone else's interests. I mean, none of it.
At this point, there really isn't any cheap real estate available,
you know, I haven't found any. So this is big

(24:17):
money you're talking about, and you better know what you're
doing because there's a lot of liability for us and Frankly,
you know, let's make everybody else in our industry look good, right,
Because if I'm trying to sell in Denver, I'm not
the girl to sell in Denver. I don't know the
Denver market and I but I'll tell you what, Debbie,
when you want to buy a place in Denver, I
have fabulous agents in Denver that I knock you up.

(24:39):
And I think that's one of the coolest parts of
what we're doing today is that now we have the
ability to really network with all of our fellow friends
that work as real estate agents across the world.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
No.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
I So there's two parts. That one is, yes, if
you want to become an agent in Cabo, you could go,
you relocate there, you can do all the things to
do and to learn the market. But if it's not
somewhere to dabble like nowhere, like I agree, if I
work in my area, but I'm not going to go
And I train this to our agents who we're working

(25:14):
with their new agents. They come in and they might
someone might say, oh, I want to work and you
know it could be an hour from here. No, you're
not going to be the expert in that area. And
it's going to take you away from what you should
be doing and learning in your area. And you can't
be the expert because you were not the ears and
the eyes on the ground. You don't know all the
little things that are happening. So you're doing that client

(25:36):
a disservice. So I love referrals, and that's why I
love this podcast because I get to meet agents from
around the globe and we get to share. We get
to share referrals, we get to know other markets, and
you do, and especially in Cabo, like you said, in Cabo,
it's if you refer someone to a development, sometimes you
might get a three percent and not have to do anything,

(25:57):
or like you were saying, they really do bonus you
because there is a lot of property and constant building
down there. Every time I go down there, there's a
new development. So yes, exactly what you said, refer to
other knowledgeable agents who have the expertise, skill, experience and
knowledge in that specific area. And clearly in Veil and

(26:19):
the areas around Veil and Cabo, that is you.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
So step further.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
You like to specialize, let's talk about Cabo in certain
types of properties. So you're really focusing and honing down
on the types. So tell us, because people might want
to buy with a couple hundred thousand. People might want to,
you know, buy a house. People might want to be
in a community. When we bought a property built a
house in DC Ranch and Scottsdale, Arizona, we wanted infrastructure.

(26:46):
We didn't want us stand to loane house. We wanted
to be where there was pools and swimming swimming pools
and country club and you know, places for the kids
to hang out, schools, et cetera. So tell us, give
us a breakdown of what the new Cabo is in
all the different types of properties that.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Are there, endless, endless options. I mean, I think to
your point of knowing, you know, being an hour away,
it's funny because in Veil, being an hour away, I
do know those markets, right because our county is so
vast and eighty percent of the land in Eagle County
is owned by the government. So if I'm selling ranches
or I'm selling something mining claims or gold mine or

(27:26):
something like that, I am the expert on that because
I've been in the valley for so long and I
know it. Flip to Cabo. My expertise is not Cabo Pumo.
My expertise is not Toto Santos. These are places that
are all in our mls, and I have people call
me and say, hey, I you know, my brother wants

(27:46):
a condo in downtown Cabo right on the Marina Awesome,
pick up the phone. I'm immediately referring that if you
want a condo in downtown Cabo, I'm not your girl
at this point to take my own advice, I don't
know condos in downtown Cabo because my life in Cabo
is resort real estate and is golf course gated communities,

(28:09):
very heavy community aspect type places, with the exception of
some new build communities that are through my office. So
when I have like a new development being built, it's
cool because I have opportunities for people to actually buy
a condo for three hundred thousand that's in a really
cool place. Three hundred thousand dollars. Condos are not available
in the neighborhoods that I typically am representing down there

(28:33):
with the problems I'm representing, they're traditionally you're gated golf
course homes. They're going to be two plus million even
for condos, it's going to be at that level. And up,
And I think that depend again, depending on what someone
wanted in Cabo. I do still a lot of referrals
in Cabo. If you want to be in a sleepy,

(28:55):
beachy town with no traffic and no real you know,
you don't want to have to put on a pair
of high heels. Right. It's funny because I often refer
to places by shoes. Okay, so if you are going
to stay the entire time you're there and put on
a sarong and some jewelry and go to dinner and

(29:17):
not worry about any of that, that's probably not the
type of neighborhoods I'm selling it. Now, you can still
pull that off, but my guess is you're going to
be in a wedge with maybe a little sparkle, and
you're gonna have a citter sun dress. I mean, even
when I picked you up to tour a round during
the day to go to the beach, you looked adorable
and you had on high heels. Right, So that's different

(29:39):
than going up where you know it's it's a little
bit more. I call it kind of old school Mexico, right,
a traditional, more authentic picture of what you are expecting.
That is not high end luxury. This is two very
very different animals, right, And so I think it's a
similar thing you see in the mountains. Do you want

(30:01):
a log cabin off the grid where nobody can find
you and you're going to have to plow your own driveway?
That's very very different than being up at the ritz
at Bacher Gulch, very different type of you know, situations.
So it always goes back to the same thing. And
I think any season real ritor knows this is that
you have to listen to your client. You have to

(30:22):
hear what do you really want? Right? So I think
that's always one of our biggest challenges is helping people
figure out what they want. I have a lot of
people who start by saying, I want to be right
on the beach. I want to be on the beach,
walk out and my toes on the beach. I said, well,
let me tell you there are actually do you want
a swimmable beach? Because if you want to walk out

(30:43):
and be on aw swimmable beach innegated neighborhood on a
golf course, look, let me tell you, sweetie, there's only
a handful of homes that actually and you want a home,
not a condo, Like you start narrowing it down real fast,
and you your price point better start at ten million
and be real flexible. Right, So then I say, oh, okay,
so you could drive three minutes to the beach. Oh

(31:06):
all of a sudden, our options open up immensely, right,
We have so many more choices. So I think it
really depends on what you want and with whom you
want to surround yourself. If you want to kind of
be on your own and go to Mexico as a
complete escape and not really be around people, so to speak,
that's available. But that's totally different for my empty nester

(31:30):
or client that wants to go down and be able
to go to wine and cheese parties and have speaker
series and be playing in the member member golf tournament
and pickleball and have bridge to go to three days
a week and you know, or play mom gen or
wine club or whatever you want to do. All those
things exist just in certain neighborhoods, and not everybody wants that, right,

(31:52):
So I think that's again that's one of the most
fun parts of I think of our jobs is being
able to accommodate and figure out what people really won.
And with resort real estate, let's get real. Nobody needs it,
nobody needs all okay, nobody needs time, nobody needs it.

(32:14):
It's all extra. So if you're gonna have something extra,
why not have it like your dream? Right, let's see
what you really want and let's make your dreams come true.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Well, what I learned from going out, so I've we've
been there over the years. We've lucky enough to stay
at last when thanis was just still beautiful today. But
when we go usually you know, we're on vacation for
a couple of days here and there, and like most
people probably traveling to Cabo or Hawaii, you're on vacation.
So it's you're like, which resort am I going to
stay at? Which activity am I going to do? Am

(32:44):
I going to sit on the beach and go for
a walk on the beach and you know, play golf
or do whatever? But what was so fun? Because I'm
a workaholic and it was so great and thank you
for picking me up at the hotel. My kids are like,
you haven't been in the pool once.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I'm like, I just want to.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
I want to. I just want to learn and get
to know all that what is it like in Cabo?
So you took me out in what was really exciting.
And I do want you to tell us about the
two developments Chilean Bay if I'm chilene O Bay and
it's very then the development where your family lives, because
what I learned was and I was so surprised. Yes,

(33:21):
there are all the resorts and you can and you
can also go down to Cabo where all the clubs
are and stuff, and you can have that experience. But
then you can actually there's infrastructure of actually living there.
I didn't think that there was. That your parents live
there full time and have a full life. And then

(33:42):
and you used to live there. And then a colleague
of yours we met on linked We connected on LinkedIn,
and she said she lives there with her young children
and of high school age. So tell us about how
full of life you can have like your parents have created.
And your mom sounds like she she's like, how I'll be,
she's so busy in the retirement. And then and then

(34:05):
you have your colleague who brought high school kids down there,
So tell us about that side of Cabo.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
I think my plan I built a home in Cabo,
when when my first child was born. She's eighteen now,
and her dad actually lives in that house now and
we're not together, so he raises his little boy down
there and he goes to school down there. You know,
it's different than living in the US. Let's know, qualms
about it, and there are certain things that your children

(34:38):
would have trouble probably doing. I mean, if your listen sports,
if your children are heavy into sports, there's certain sports
that you can't do down there. I mean not to
a level that if you are really good, it's probably
not where you're going to be. Listen. If your son
is a football enthusiast, I don't know that they have
the best football teams there. Now, if you're playing soccer,

(35:00):
that's a great sport you're doing right, because their soccer
teams are incredible. My girls, which you mentioned, are competitive dancers.
So for us in that area of Mexico, there aren't
this dance studios we're looking for, and it isn't so
that wasn't an option for us. So even if I
had lived there when they were little, we would have

(35:21):
moved back to the States for them in high school.
That being said that, the elementary middle school education down
there is great. There's several private schools that you can
go to. There are American schools that you can go
to that are fantastic, and I know a lot of
people in there. Actually, the former headmistress of the school
is a close friend of ours. She just retired last year.

(35:43):
Was just with her on New Year's Eve. She's amazing.
But so there are kids that go to school there.
They're getting a great education, and I think it's a
wonderful place to raise a family. There's certain things you're
not going to have there that you know, are more Americanized.
We're not going to have a mall to go to.
You're not going to have a ski mountain if that's
important to you, if you have ski racers, obviously it's

(36:04):
probably not where you're going to raise your kids. However,
if those things aren't as important to you and you
have other focuses, I mean, my gosh, there's so many
children that go to school online. Now who cares where
you are? Why not live there and go surfing every day?
You know, if your children are into surfing, boy, that's
a great place to be living, right because we've got
incredible surf breaks, We've got great surfers that have come

(36:25):
out of there, So there's a lot of different things
that there are a lot of different dynamics when working
with family. So I think that's that's a different question
and conversation than the people who are essentially empty nesters
or ready for stage two in life, or have the
ability to travel and want to have more of a
you know, a strong lifestyle there that doesn't involve the

(36:48):
schooling aspect. So if we're talking about those people, it
is unbelievably amazing. I mean, the life my parents have
created for themselves down there is incredible, and they have
a very strong, close group of friends here in Vail
and obviously back in Kansas City and all over, but

(37:09):
the friends they've made in Cabo have been very interesting
and become some of their very very closest friends. Because
everybody's in the same boat. You know, most of the
people that are down there living there consistently are in
the same type of life. Now I'm not saying there
my parents are in their seventies. I'm not saying their

(37:30):
friends are all in their seventies. They have friends in
their fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, and friends from all over
the world now and they travel with these people all
over the world and they, as I love to say,
someone's got to keep this party going. And apparently it's
my mother. She she said, her seventies birthday. I said, so,

(37:51):
are you going to invite Aunt so and so, you know,
my godmother and all these people we grow She said, Now,
I'm just going to have my Cabo friends, not really
inviting anybody if they don't live in Cabo, just my
cop friends. I showed up as a surprise. She had
no idea I was coming, and I showed up to
the surprise party. There were two hundred people at my
parents' house. Oh quick on the fly, surprise party, you know,

(38:12):
little party on the verse seventieth, just her friends in
Cabo to almost two hundred people there. I mean that
I think speaks volumes right of that many people that
are down there that they have become such close friends with.
They have business, you know, Monday morning men's group, and
my dad will go and do you know business breakfast
and he loves that. And then they play golf and

(38:32):
they do you know, paddle pickleball, and they have pedal
and they have surfing and they have bridge group and
my mom actually just toasted. My parents hosted a giant
Bridge extravaganza. I think they had dozens and dozens of people,
and the lead Bridge officionado was down there teaching classes.
And you know they do all of that. They get

(38:52):
up and go to the open air market they have,
you know, but they have incredible restaurants, incredible art you
know is there. I think the culture that they have
there is spectacular and that is really fueled by not
only your expats and your Grinkos that are down there
trying to make it more of a community, which of

(39:13):
course you have. The people who make a community are
the community members. Okay, that's true in any community. So
I think that's one reason in real estate, you know,
we always say if you want to make a difference
in your community, get involved in the community. You can't
just sell houses. You need to be doing boots on
the ground stuff to make a difference. And I think

(39:34):
the people down there really do that, and it's it's
all the people. They they make an effort to give back.
They work with everyone from you know, whether it's Smile
Train or it's the Ligamac which they're helping all the
dogs and cats that don't have a home or you know,
which has been notoriously a problem throughout Mexico. People. Oh,

(39:57):
the crazy dogs everywhere. We're really getting that under control
and we're homing those animals and we're doing you know,
we're helping with that. And that's that doesn't help you
in a gated neighborhood with golf courses. That helps the community,
you know, And that's those are the people that are
servicing all these places. So I think the fact that
you have so much culture, whether it's within the Mexican

(40:20):
culture or the culture you're there you're creating down there.
It really is five star and so many opportunities there
to not only you know, you can get involved on
both ends. You just want to go down there and
lay on the beach, great, someone will bring you a
pina colada, I promise. But if you want to go
down there, they're a real life. I mean, my dad
started his own nonprofit down there, which has been really

(40:42):
cool to see what he's done. And we've really become
close friends with a lot of the Mexican nationals down there,
and as I've seen, which has been fun for me
to see people. Obviously, at any company, people turn out
you don't keep your employees all the time. But those
employees have become part of our family. And now my

(41:05):
parents through a party, that's who work, that's who's working
at the party. They the people who used to work
up at the club, and they maybe have moved on,
but they are still part of our family and we
love being able to give back to them and to
their families. And you know, driving in Mexico is always
people red flag. I can't drive, don't worry. I've got
drivers for you. Guess what. They would also love to

(41:28):
have your money and be able to take incredible care
of you. Security has never been a huge concern down there,
and I think that's a big red flag for people. Also,
you know, am I safe down there? I am? You know.
I am a blonde, not large female, right, And I
go out and I love to dance. I'm a huge
dancer and Dancy's always been a big part of my life.

(41:49):
And I go out by myself, like I rolled down
Park and Downtown, go out alone dance and it was funny.
Now my oldest is eighteen, so I've been able to
take her out to the clubs, which is it's been
super fun because they're dancers. So being able to have
my dancers with me is kind of a right of passage,
right going to the clubs with your children. And it

(42:12):
was interesting because I get I dance a lot, and
so I get a little warm, and so I start
kind of walking off on my own, and to have
the employees kind of follow me around and say, I
just want to are you okay? I just want to
make sure you're okay. And you see the level of
concern that these people have for their guests, and you know,

(42:33):
that's it el squid Row, Like there are hundreds of
people there dancing around and I'm kind of just wandering
about checking. I mean, clearly not a lot of people
my age there at that point. I am I am,
I'm the mom at the club. So enlightening, you know
that they would care enough to come back and just
say are you okay? You know, Signora, are you okay? Madam?

(42:53):
Are you okay? Just you know, do do you need
some water? Like and oh, I'm fine, I'm just you know,
getting a little breath of air. But I think it
speaks volumes to the Mexican people of how incredible they
are and how much they are so grateful for us
to be there. Tourism is the biggest business in Cabo.
So when H one N one hit and they quit,

(43:15):
you know, no cruise ships were coming into Cabo, no
flights were really going into Cabo. It was a disaster
for those people. They were begging you to come into
their restaurant and eat dinner. And I remember going to
the beach and watching. I had never seen this before,
and I may get a little teary because it was
emotional to see all the locals out on the main
tourist beach teaching their children how to fish so that

(43:39):
they could eat that night. And so they're out there,
they're making it happen because if they don't have tourism
in Cabo. I mean, that is how most people survive,
very similar to Vale, you know, that is how we
live like You may not like them in your roundabouts.
I don't know how to drive in them, but if
they're not here, we can't put food on the table

(44:00):
for our children. So it is it is very important.
I think that's that's worldwide, right. So let's just keep
remembering that as you visit another country, you are an
asset to that community because you are an influx of
cache to it. Every bottle of water you buy, every
meal you eat, every little you know, handmade doll you
buy on the street, it's helping someone.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Right. Well, it's so refreshing for you to say that,
because I was we were going to actually come to
Cabo this weekend and I couldn't get it together fast enough.
But I was looking at the you know, you go
on to look at flights, and it was like Mexico
was like Americans shouldn't go. Like it was like is
anywhere in Mexico save for us, you know. And I

(44:44):
take that with a grain of salt, because we were
in Mexico three times a year, from Mexico City to
Cabo to Cancun, and I felt safe the whole time,
and people were so nice and couldn't be nicer. So
we have crime everywhere, and you can't, you know, be
doing dumb things. But I've experienced the Mexico that you

(45:05):
just explained. I've never had a bad experience knock on wood,
and I think we just have to be people come here.
I live near I live in Oakland, California. If you
were to google that, it's the worst place. But I
live here and I'm looking out to all three bridges
and it's beautiful and you know, knock on wood. I've
always been safe, but it yes, it's people do rely on,

(45:30):
especially in Mexico, on tourism, and it is a great
place and they are friendly, don't do anything stupid, but
they do care about us and people who visit there,
and that is how they get by. We became very
good friends after going to Vidonta in Port of ire
To year after year after year. And we have a
very good friend who was a concierge who is the

(45:51):
manager of a pool and now at the resort, and
he flew down to Mexico City for my sixtieth birthday.
I mean, he is part of our family. So I
definitely understand when you say, you know, you meet people
who might work there, but they become our friends and
our family. And it's just the Mexican people are wonderful.

(46:12):
So how could people get a hold of you. Clearly,
anyone who is going to veil or well name not
everyone knows all of the areas. The give us the
places in the cities and towns or communities that you
serve in the mountains and then also in Los Cabos
and Cabo.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
So in the mountains, I personally serve everything from East Vale,
I say Eastvale to the Canyon. So if you know
our valley well, that would be east Vale, Vale, minnern Redcliffe,
then Eagle Vale, Beaver Creek, Bacher, Gold Cordillera, Avon, Edwards,
Edwards with No Ski Mountain known as one of the

(46:53):
bestkie towns, and also Eagle was rated one of the
top ten best kept siks at little towns in America,
and Eagle, Colorado is very very up and coming as
well as Gypsum, and then of course up to Bond
and McCoy and some other areas that are a little
more rural, but they do have great ranch land out there,

(47:13):
so for people who are looking for off the grid
or anything like that, that's been a real fun area
to look as well. In Cabo also ironically kind of
runs in a corridor. It's just one straight shot across
the deal and you start in downtown Cabo, which is
where the marina is. So for those of you who
are in California, just straight down to the tip of

(47:35):
the Baja, that's where that's located, and you have Cabos
and Lucas. Then you have the Corridor, which is really
where a lot of the hotels are. It's a hotel
corridor essentially, and then Old Town, which is San Jose
del Cabo, which is where you're going to find the
art fair on Thursdays. If you're going down, you got
to go to the art fair and all the way

(47:56):
to the East Cape. We can help cover anything in
the Baja, but I would personally probably refer you out
depending on what neighborhood you're in, because what neighborhood you're
interested in looking in, because I would want to make
sure you know how you're working with someone who really
is an expert in that area. And like I said,

(48:18):
well to your point, since I don't live there, I'm
not going to open houses every single day. I'm not
learning new communities exactly when they're being built at that time,
and I would want to make sure that with whomever
I'm working. I'm going to have to turn the camera
around before we get off because there are snowflakes that
are bigger that size Oulver dollar just coming down. It

(48:41):
literally looks like a winter winderland. So before we hang up,
I'm going to do that for anyone who's watching it.
Isn't in the mountains because it's a little magical so
any and honestly, I think, like we all say, if
you're interested in an area that you're not very aware
of or want to learn more about it out, you
need to get in touch with an agent that gets it.

(49:03):
So I really don't care where you're looking. If you're
looking in Turkey, I have incredible agents in Turkey. If
you're looking in Italy, like where you were, I have
phenomenal agents in Italy, and I'd love to just help
you figure out where you want to be. And I
think that's a part. It's a big like I said,
it's a big part of our job. And some people
call me and say, I want to be in the

(49:23):
Ski mountains, but I'm not sure it's Veil. Well, let's
talk about Jackson Hole, let's talk about Bozman, let's talk
about you know, Sun Valley. There's a lot of different
options in figuring out what fits best for you and
your family. Is really the ideal scenario. So thank you
for asking that question. And I would love to help
anyone in any areas, but Cabo and Vail are my

(49:45):
babies at this point.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Well.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
I think That's what makes a good agent is when
you're willing to help someone figure out what they're looking for,
whether it's your area or not, and then pointing them
in that direction and then referring them a good person
that area. I think that just speaks volumes of a
good agent and of you, Jennifer, Well, I know you're
the same way. Are we connected? And thank you for

(50:12):
Corkoran for connecting us. And so we have a Corkoran
office down there, And where's your office down in cork
down the Corkoran office down in Cabo.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
The Corkoran office in Cabo is in downtown San Jose,
which is absolutely lovely and magical. And I think a
lot of people who go to Cabo they don't even
know about San Jose. They don't even know it's an option.
And I think there's of course downtown Cabo where the
cruise ships come in. It's very touristy. There are great restaurants,
there's a lot of live music and energy and all

(50:44):
that kind of fun stuff and definitely has kind of
a spring breaky feel to it. San Jose del Cabo
that's where the church is and the square and the
Truro trucks and the live dancers and different kind of dancers.
We're going to have like cultural dancers as opposed to

(51:04):
dancers that are you know, wearing a bikini. You know,
different vibe for sure, different vibes. So our office is
in San Jose, and I think a lot of our
clients that's where we see more of that golf course
gated golf course community is down closer to San Jose,
which is where I believe our phenomenal owner, Lake Harrington

(51:25):
and decided to put the office. I'm and I'm grateful
to be a founding partner of Corkoran down there. We're
so excited to have them there. And uniquely, I get
to work with coldwal Banker distinctive properties here in the States.
So it's awesome working for two giants because you really
get to see the difference between the two companies. And
it's giving me an even wider sphere of agents with

(51:49):
whom to connect, which is really I think my superpower
is that I have so many incredible connections of just
hustlers right and every market and I and I think
that's it, you know it, It's just like when we met,
you know, when you meet people and you're like, I
would love to send them a client. I would love
to have them help my people. And because I know
you're going to treat them like gold. And I appreciate

(52:12):
the time, Debbie and being able to come here and
visit you and talk with you and hopefully we can
help some more people together.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Absolutely well, no no question if you're going to go
to Cabo or Veil. But what I love about if
you're going to go to Cabo, you're gonna either work
with Jennifer or she's going to refer you to someone
who is more specialized and spends more time in whatever
that niche is that works for you. So I just
love that. That's music to my ears, that you're all

(52:40):
about helping people and not about just making a dollar.
And that's that's why we've connected. And it's so wonderful
to have you and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Thank you for to sing you too, Thank you so much.
And I think the key is just remain a concierge agent.
You know, I get I get asked for dinner suggestions
probably as much as I get it. No, it's not
quite such, but you know you better know where to
send them because that's it's all part of the deal.
Babysitters and dinner right, got it out and nowhere and.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
I will oh yeah, let's see this now. Wow, that's gorgeous.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Calling so absolutely crazy turning my computer that was a
little nuts. But thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Jennifer.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
Have a great aeroon and I look forward to our
next time and also look forward to sending you some
clients so too, DENI thank you.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
Tune in each week for another episode of Mastering the
Art of Real Estate with host Debbie Dematio and Friday's
New Easton on the Bold Brave TV Network. Tune in
to wear real estate Matters Matter

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