- Ratchel Pinlac and her husband decided to build a vacation home in Tulum while on holiday there.
- The couple found a local realtor and worked with a developer to customize their dream house.
- They said parts were stressful, but they were happy overall and are hoping to Airbnb the property.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Ratchel Pinlac, the CEO of a shapewear brand who lives in California, about building a vacation home in Tulum, Mexico. Business Insider verified the property financials with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
My husband and I first visited Tulum in 2018. We noticed that the hotels were expensive: you get a tiny room that doesn't have electricity because it's supposed to be rustic — but it costs $600 a night.
There was also a lot of construction happening, specifically near the beach. It was mostly condos, vacation homes, and developments. We got the vibe that Tulum was about to take off.
We found out they were building an international airport in Tulum and a train that goes from Tulum to Cancún in 30 minutes when usually it's a two-and-a-half-hour drive.
We found a local realtor on our 2nd visit to Tulum
During our second vacation in 2021, we began to think about buying a house in Tulum. Toward the end of the trip, we started looking at realtors in the area.
A lot was coming to Tulum, and we saw an economic opportunity to build our holiday home there cheaply and to be able to rent it out for a high price.
The project cost about $350,000, which we paid for using our savings from years of work.
We found a local realtor with good reviews and met up with him while still on our trip. He took us to several developments being built or selling their final units. We liked the idea of building something from scratch so we could add customizations.
The realtor also showed us a website where developers can post projects.
One developer was building four homes, and he was flexible about customizing the building, which appealed to us. We showed him to the realtor, who validated that the builder was established in Tulum and the project was legitimate.
We loved being able to customize our home
The developer had a plot of land in Region 15 — a neighborhood between downtown and the beach zone — and had already carved out what size of home would be on each plot.
There were four houses, and the house design was based on square footage. It would be a 2,600-square-foot home with three stories, three bedrooms, and two pools. He already had an initial design, and we just heavily customized the house to fit what we wanted.
I wanted an infinity-type pool because I thought it would be Instagrammable. I also wanted arches and big windows. I don't have a design background; we did it all through Google Slides.
They said it would take a year, and it ended up taking about a year and a half. There was a lot of back-and-forth, but overall, it was a fairly smooth process.
We visited twice while it was being built to check the progress. As both self-employed business owners, it was easy for us to travel and keep an eye on the development.
Pros and cons of building a house in Tulum
We got into the Tulum market early. It hasn't fully developed yet, so there were a lot of unofficial extras with the builders. For example, they added a custom bathtub, made the pool bigger, and made the windows a lot bigger, all without extra fees. I think when people are just starting their business like these developers are, they're loose in that way.
The language barrier was stressful. My husband speaks Spanish, which made it easier, but he even struggled to understand what the developers told us. Luckily, our realtor who was bilingual managed the communication and held the builders accountable.
Certain things got lost in translation. For example, we picked a finish for the walls that they also put on the floor, so we had to get them to try to sand it down because it made the floor look dirty. But overall, we were super happy.
The downside of building a holiday home in Tulum is that there is so much construction around it because it's a developing area.
We want to Airbnb the property when we're not there, and we haven't been able to rent it out to its maximum potential. Airbnb guests complained about the noise and the drilling, so we're holding off on promoting it. Hopefully, all the building will settle down in a year.
As an investor who owns a place, I want Tulum to get more developed so we can make the money back. I think it is growing pretty quickly. But there are still issues with basic infrastructure. For example, the power keeps going out across the area. The internet is a little slow. It's a five-minute drive from the nearest supermarket, but it's not walkable.
With Tulum, you can keep that rustic feel in the jungle, even if it is developed. But with people coming from Canada, the UK, and the US, you need decent internet.
If you're building in Tulum, find a local realtor and support the local businesses
We've spoken to different locals about the developments, and they said they like the tourists because of the economic value they bring.
Many people on the outside have commented to us like, "Oh, you're colonizing." But more development and tourism helps the local economy. For example, restaurants are a lot busier.
We lean on the local people to help with property management. The contractors and housekeepers are local people. We recommend local places to eat to Airbnb guests rather than sending them to the hotel zone.
In Mexico because a lot of the builders also don't speak English, you ideally want a realtor that speaks Spanish and English. I don't think we would have done it had we not had a realtor.
My advice to people considering building a holiday home in Tulum is to find a reputable real estate agent. You have to trust that person and look at their credentials because you can easily get duped and get your money taken.
We paid mostly in cash, wiring the money over, so getting scammed was a bit of a concern. We'd chosen a reputable builder and realtor so these were really minor worries.
The realtor also sticks up for you during the building process. If I told him it was not what we wanted, he'd go out to bat for us.