Rafael told me on one of our earlier trips that they had grown tired of Hawaii, where they had run a restaurant for years.
Cabo San Lucas
“When is this real estate bubble going to pop?”
Words of wisdom from Harry Dent.
“Spend the time to find the best place to live and invest. It will be worth your while.”
From the days of the original beachfront resort – the Hotel Hacienda Beach Resort, in a sleepy little fishing village – the number of hotels rooms available has exploded.
In the 5 years prior to 2003 they almost doubled.
Sun Setting on Paradise
A clear sign back then that Cabo had passed the “Innovation” stage and entered the 10% to 25% breakout “Growth” phase.
It’s easy to see why, watching the sun setting, overlooking Medano Beach and the Sea of Cortez?
Or sitting at a bar table underneath the azure blue umbrella on the patio, steps away from the lower pool.
Relaxing Pool Side
The word on the street estimated it would take 15 years before Cabo hit world-class resort development status – moving through “emerging and rapid growth stages.”
But, the word around the pool in casual conversations was actually a question.
“When is this real estate bubble going to pop?”
Dent projected it to begin sometime in 2009, more than 5 years away.
In the evening I walked up a dirt lined street and a short hill to the pink restaurant, Casa Rafael’s, between the Hotel Hacienda and Marina Sol.
Time to Dream New Dreams
Ah, this is the life, isn’t it?
It’s real easy to fall in love with a tropical resort.
Syncing Your Bio Rhythms
Once your bio- rhythms synchronize with the pace of life and the prevailing trade winds, you can see why resorts top the list of nine types of places to invest in, can’t you?
I had heard rumors that the owners came to visit Cabo San Lucas some time in the 1980s and never left.
They opened the restaurant in the early ’90s.
Rafael’s brother mentioned the same 15-year period David did earlier, but when I asked him what he’d do after Cabo became too developed for his tastes, he said, “Move to Cuba.”
Explosion of Growth
When it comes to resort areas, these guys like to get in at the innovation or early growth breakout stage.
Casa Rafael’s
Rafael’s brother regaled us with fishing stories on pristine beaches and ultra friendly people.
It turns out his family is from Cuba.
And that may be why, in addition to the six course meal, they offered Cuban cigars.
Beginning a Six Course Meal
Rafael told me on one of our earlier trips that they had grown tired of Hawaii, where they had run a restaurant for years.
Cabo at Night
When we finished, Rafael’s wife suggested we take the taxi, instead of walking down the hill above Medano Beach to the Marina and Sancho Panza for Jazz entertainment.
Steps:
(9)) Conduct a preliminary marketing study of the top 4 or 5 favorite places — focus on the intersection between ease of acceptance and degree of support for your Mobile KnowCo.
An excerpt from Book Three in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find the place of your dreams.
“What is happening in northwest Montana, along with other newly tony areas of the state like Bozeman and the Paradise Valley, has transformed the country since frontier days: New money moves in, older homes get bulldozed.”
Upscale Luxury Homes
Where: It’s a classic dilemma, fight or flight. Launch new income streams to pay excess taxes or move and take your business with you.
So, how does it work?
Let’s start with an example.
Travel regions.
Having enjoyed winter and summer vacations in the Eastern Sierra Mountain region it’s hard to ignore the draw to mountain resorts in our upcoming “Guide for Leaving California.”
So, it’s only natural that we’d profile the Rocky Mountain Region for all of those quality-of-life outdoor activities.
Rocky Mountain Region
Like skiing and snowboarding in the winter, and
road and mountain biking,
hiking,
camping,
kayaking,
horseback riding, and
whitewater rafting in the summer.
That means, of course, we focus on the four-state region which includes
Colorado,
Idaho,
Wyoming and
Montana.
Montana, in turn, is generally divided into two main regions:
Eastern Montana and Western Montana.
Montana Regional Areas
The Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains separates the smaller western portion from the larger eastern portion.
Continental Divide
Western Montana is characterized by higher rainfall in some areas, and terrain dominated by mountains, making for picturesque scenery such as that found in Glacier National Park.
Naturally, the Montana board of tourism named the region “Glacier Country” which included the far northwest portions of western Montana.
Glacier National Park and the cities of Missoula, Whitefish, Kalispell, and Cut Bank attract the most visitors in the travel region.
Glacier National Park
Northwestern Montana has long relied on its natural resources.
Lumber and mining are mainstays of the economy, but those same mountains and forests now draw tourists in great numbers as well.
While Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant beat the Boston Celtics to claim their 2010 NBA Championship, Kim Murphy wrote about Glacier Country in the Los Angeles Times as part of the “New West.”
Flathead Valley
She profiled Flathead Valley and neighboring Whitefish.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson has spent most summers of the last 30 years at his vacation home on Flathead Lake.
Two other Californians pulled up stakes and “joined” Phil about a decade later – Dudley and Arthur.
They fell in love with the valley as much as Charles and his brother did growing up there.
Dudley, a California transplant moved from Woodland Hills to Whitefish in 1995.
Arthur inherited an old three-bedroom house on Flathead Lake from his parents and moved there from Chino to retire in 1998.
So, they’re practically native High Country Eagles.
And, as such, they’ve witnessed two decades worth of change in the valley.
Flathead Valley is famous for Flathead Lake and two ski resorts –
Whitefish Mountain Resort (known formerly as Big Mountain) and
Blacktail Mountain.
Quaint and Cozy Whitefish
Whitefish is a quaint and cozy resort town in the Flathead Valley.
An eclectic community that offers year round entertainment.
The abundant Rocky Mountain Region attractions that easily come to mind-
backcountry skiing,
snowboarding,
snowmobiling,
horseback riding,
water sports,
hiking,
Winter Fun
zip-lining,
theater,
art festivals,
music venues and a
vibrant night life.
Dotted with clean alpine lakes and streams, and a wide array of amenities, Whitefish and the surrounding valley, is a great place to serve as a base camp into Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Reserve.
Lakes and more lakes
The whole valley was created by millions of years of dramatic glacial activity.
But in 2010 a different story emerged.
One that captured the transformation from an innovation growth community with High Country Eagles to a destination resort filling up with Wireless Resorters.
“What is happening in northwest Montana, along with other newly tony areas of the state like Bozeman and the Paradise Valley, has transformed the country since frontier days:
New money moves in, older homes get bulldozed.”
Celebrities picked up properties including
Julia Roberts
Kiefer Sutherland,
Julia Roberts,
John Lithgow,
Emilio Estevez and
Charlie Sheen.
“We saw an influx 15 years ago of the Hollywood elite, celebrities and athletes.
People have already been selling their homes because they can’t afford to pay the taxes, and that has been happening since the assessments in 2002.”
They sold out and started moving away about seven or eight years ago, and the real money started moving in right after that.
“Though the out-of-state millionaires probably won’t even think about their tax bills, those who have considered the Flathead home for much of their lives now face the prospect of mortgaging to pay the taxes — if they can — or moving.”
Long-time residents like Charles and his brother, who lived there since way before Phil Jackson bought his lakeside retreat, thought they had seen it all.
“Charles already knew that property values in the Flathead — a new romping ground for Hollywood celebrities, sports stars and international CEOs — far exceeded what they were when he graduated from High School.”
“His 70-year-old house in the tax appraisal in 2002 was worth a stunning $553,900, thanks to its location right on the lake.”
Cabins of Longtime Residents
Montana Department of Revenue says Charles’ property is worth $2.64
million.
His brother’s cabin?
Because it sits on 4 acres, is worth $4.2 million.
Charles, who recently retired as president of the Credit Union at the age of 70, just wrote a check for $9,200 for this year’s property taxes.
His brother faces an annual tax bill of $30,462, which exceeds his entire annual income.
Charles can be forgiven if he sometimes feels like roadkill on the highway to the “New West.”
“Charles paid $35,000 for the house in 1967, raised his two boys there, and until lately figured he’d probably die in the same tidy house with the metal awning over the porch, the collection of souvenir spoons and beer steins hanging like sweet memories in the small kitchen.”
Fears of becoming the next Vail, Colorado, don’t sit well, as celebrities and new money move in, forcing property values up and longtime residents out.
Keeping It Local
“If year-round residents will disappear Whitefish will become another Jackson Hole, Wyoming, or Vail, Colorado, catering to tourists and part-time homeowners – turning into a facade like one big Disneyland.”
Is there a relationship between what you now own on taxes and your ability to pay?
Nope.
Not even.
“They tell us, ‘You’re sitting on a couple million dollars; why don’t you sell it?’
But this is where I raised my children.
It’s not for sale.
It’s my home.”
They don’t have any choices.
“What we’re faced with is making a decision.
If you’re living in a state that doesn’t care about their people, and are willing to force out the longtime homeowners, is this really where you want to be?”
It’s a classic dilemma, fight or flight.
Launch new income streams to pay excess taxes or move and take your business with you.
But, where?
Steps:
(8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write up your bucket list of places.
An excerpt from Book Three in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find the place of your dreams.
“Where do you really, really want to live, work and play? Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?”
Live, Love, Work and Play
In a tropical paradise less than 1000 miles from the U.S. Mexican border, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, great food and drink –
Start over.
Where can you go to make a fresh, new start?
Don’t limit your imagination.
Think anywhere — across the globe.
Where do you really, really want to live, work and play?
Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?
Why Not Live Where Others Visit for Vacations?
At the beach, of course.
Like 30 – (or 40–) something, Charlie Harper.
On “Two and a Half Men” – when it was funny.
He chose Malibu Beach in California.
As television shows go, it was an upgrade to Pawnee and Eagleton.
Right on the beach next to Pacific Coast Highway with a killer view of the Pacific Ocean.
A magnet for attracting all those younger, single women to his bachelor lair.
Oh, and an attraction for his alimony-paying, suddenly single brother – Alan the divorced-father of Jake.
Where the Land Ends and the Fun Begins
Or, how about something less expensive, say Cabo San Lucas?
In a tropical paradise less than 1000 miles from the U.S. Mexican border, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, great food and drink –
“where the land ends and the fun begins” –
where you can golf, fish, snorkel, swim or dive, kayak, surf or sail.
It was there where I interviewed David and John, who wanted to be called Johnny, in the Pueblo Bonita’s lobby for “The Journal of 2020 Foresight.”
Johnny’s story sounded similar — the golf and fishing drew him originally from Boston.
Boston
You see a lot of midlife transitions — a divorce, kids living with their mothers, or a split from an empty nest.
But, after a while of living in the Cabo fast lane, they settle down a little and find a line of business to fill some of the hours in the day.
David said he came down from Toronto a few years ago and stayed.
Toronto
He bought a place next door to the resort, which will overlook a planned golf course.
He told me that he and a partner had figured out and patented a bridge repair process that took off and allowed him to partially retire.
He purchased 4 or 5 timeshares, including one of the two sister resorts.
David took me on the tour and showed me how they built the place so no room will be blocked from the gorgeous Pacific Ocean and beach view.
Although the surf is rough and no one can swim at their beach.
But the meandering blue tiled pool with swim-up bar more than compensates for that sacrifice.
The rooms with luxurious tile, top of the line furnishings and expansive patios speak to their affluent market.
So Johnny from Boston and David from Canada — two refugees from the cold weather– what my retired parents in Florida used to call “snowbirds” — migrated to Cabo.
They’re now what we’re calling Wireless Resorters.
At midlife they flock to resort boomtowns in exurban towns and satellite cities.
Luxury Lifestyle
They’re often middle-class, with some college education under their belts.
They pursue a lifestyle heavy on leisure and recreation.
Many of resort boomtown residents are twenty-something singles and couples just starting out on their career paths – or starting over after recent divorces or company transfers.
As consumers, the residents in these segments score high for outdoor sports, movies and music, fast food and inexpensive cars.
Steps:
(8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write up your bucket list of places.
An excerpt from Book Three in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find the place of your dreams.
“I was an aspiring filmmaker,” he said. But I started to see how aspiring to be something was a way to not really try.”
Aspiring Independent Filmmakers
When do we realize it really is time to move on? Time to smell the coffee?
An excerpt from Book One in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find more meaning and happiness in your life.
You know what they say about anything creative – it’s 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Giving It One More Shot
“I was an aspiring filmmaker,” he said.
But I started to see how aspiring to be something was a way to not really try.
If you did that and you failed, well, you didn’t really fail.
I needed to start making things, even if they weren’t great, just making things.”
The grind takes it toll in different ways.
The Show Must Go On
The actor’s wife, still living in their home town, wanted to fly to Los Angeles for the play but wasn’t sure she could make it.
He needed to see her.
He was beginning to realize that daily phone conversations were hardly a substitute for a real marriage.
Not one of his coffee buddies attended his closing night.
But, most importantly his wife wasn’t there either.
Closing Curtains
Maybe she sent flowers?
No such luck.
“I want our life back,” he said after the play was done.
Not long afterward, over the phone, his wife said that she would always hope for his acting dreams, but she wanted a divorce.
He feared that his single-minded pursuit of acting had torn them apart.This quest for an acting career....
My God, it has led me down the road to ruin.
Persist or Pivot? How Do You Know?
And yet …
When do we realize it really is time to move on?
Time to smell the coffee?
Steps:
(4) Nurture your passions and express your uniqueness — no one else can or will, for that matter
(6) Persist and pivot to navigate external threats and opportunities.
(3) Pick options designed to attract better opportunities.You don’t want to miss out on lucrative jobs or entrepreneurial ventures that will fuela real change in your lifestyle.
(7) Choose the ‘Preneur’ business model that brings out the best in you – freelancing, consulting, franchising, Internet marketing or establishing a Knowledge ATM.
