Sandvox Website Profile: “Passport To Baja”

Bienvenidos! As there was for me, there may be a lot of things you may not know about Mexico. At R-MAC & Associates, Inc., our purpose is to offer first and second homes and retirement properties in beautiful and unique locations that, in turn, will enhance the quality of our clients’ lives.
10-years ago when we began representing El Dorado Ranch in San Felipe, the largest single development in Baja, California, we all were busy learning about a place we had never dreamed of being. The more we learned, the more we liked it. Today, we still feel the same way, and have added La Ventana del Mar, Las Conchas del Mar and Las Villas de Mexico in Los Cabos. As a result, most of our representatives are owners at our developments in Baja.
The information from ICF Trends in Mexican Lifestyle 2010 says it simply, “because of its close proximity to the United States and its affordability, Mexico remains the #1 destination for Americans retiring internationally.” Further, “…nearly 44% of U.S. coastal retirees in Mexico live comfortably on less than $1,000 per month.” And, my favorite, for best activities, “Just walking along the beach was mentioned by 70% of respondents.”
On our website you’ll find various articles, information, weather, videos and slide shows that help to answer many questions including the three questions we get asked about most often; Crime, Ownership and “will the Mexican government take my property away?” The next step is to join us for one of our informational dinner/seminars that we hold all over California, Nevada and Arizona. For folks not in those areas, we have web seminars twice a week that can be viewed in the convenience of your home or office. Then, if you find that it makes sense, which most folks do, come visit with us on one of our Baja weekend tours to see it for yourself.

Our demographic of clients is very diverse. Our owners range from the mid twenties buying property for the future, to octogenarians living the good life full of activities and socializing. These days, many of our primary buyers are folks looking for answers to the economic questions we are experiencing in the States. This typically starts with looking at the very low cost of living, whether it be taxes and healthcare, to homesite pricing and costs for construction; all far below costs for the same service or product in the U.S. Mostly, once folks see it for themselves, they discover they can enjoy this now, and not wait. Yes, I am an owner, and my accountant jokingly refers to my places in Baja as “the portfolio I play with.” So, our website, Passport to Baja, is just another avenue for our new neighbors to find us.

Since Passport to Baja is an informational website, its represents an interesting question as to who or what our competition is. The site is ultimately designed to be an extension of a conversation or the due diligence forum for prospective clients.
For those looking for something like what we have to offer, the comparison issue is off the charts. Here are a few notes… El Dorado Ranch is the first master planned community in Baja of this size (larger than the city of San Francisco), yet 50% of the development is left as open space with comprehensive CC and R’s, design and building guidelines with height limits to preserve sea views and an environmental mandate that will protect this area against over development forever. Add to that, 1/4 acre (+/-) home sites all with views of the Sea of Cortez starting in the $30,000’s; long term Developer financing with extremely low interest rates and no qualification or credit checks; beach. Golf home sites and villas are also available. You own your property irrevocably forever with title Insurance by Stewart Title & Guaranty Company. There just isn’t anything like this to compare with that we’ve found.

I new I was on the right track with this site when, in setting up the domain, the person I was speaking to on the phone assisting me, and seeing the website home page, asked where the banner picture was from. “Hawaii,” he asked? “No,” I responded, “its six hours down the road from where you are now, in Baja.” Its nice to meet new clients before you ever get the site up and running…

The Passport to Baja site is not there to impress the world. It’s designed to answer questions in a soft, friendly manner, and help folks see and respond to a ‘call to action’. The design choice was based on the visual feel and gut reaction to the home page; nothing more. There are many designs to choose from in the program, and tons more available, but, for this site, we found exactly what was needed to get the job done. Efficient. I like that feature the best…

Passport to Baja is a forum of carefully selected information and an opportunity for clients and future clients to connect with their representative, or, if arriving from a web search, find a new representative to contact to get further information. This site was designed to be simple. It’s your passport to better living. Simplicity in technology is often the result of pre-existing complex features that the user doesn’t really see, but is able to easily use. They are powerful. This is what Sandvox does. I used a bit of everything on this site from many of the different types of pages and pagelets, to utilizing the access to Raw HTML. I have a calendar I’ll be updated frequently, so using a photo page made this simple with a jpeg of Word document. Our Representatives are growing all the time, so adding faces and info easily is part of the ‘simplicity’ criteria.