Azul Fives is definitely our favourite investment property here in Playa del Carmen. The Fives rental pool program is a fantastic way for our clients to buy an incredible property with the highest level of service and amenities, without paying HOA fees and even make money for them.
A system this effective naturally brings out questions, so I decided to gather the most frequent ones in this blog.
1) Is The Fives time-share?
-No, you own the property, just you, it’s not a fractional ownership, and it’s not a time-share. The property is titled with your name and your name only.
2) How much can I use my property at The Fives?
-During the first 8 years you get 56 days of the year to use it (they don’t have to be continuous, you can use them randomly throughout the year as you see fit) if you can’t/ don’t want to use all of them you can rent those days as well to make some extra money, whatever you want to do with them.
3) What about the other 10 months of the year?
-The other 10 months, they rent out your place and you do absolutely nothing. They do: bookings, reception, concierge, butler, maintenance, gardening, and painting. The place is fully furnished and they replace everything every 5 years for brand new furniture. All these expenses are taken care of, plus payroll and property taxes. The AC unit broke? They’ll put a new one at $0.00 cost and the best part: you won’t even know, no phone calls at 3 am from guests complaining.
Plus my clients who purchased there are also looking at a 5- 8% return on their investment; you have a 500k USD penthouse? you’ll receive at the end of the year around $30,000 USD in your bank account for doing literally nothing.
4) Well that takes care of the common areas, but what about the beach?
-This type of system guarantees that when it’s needed they have the infrastructure to give the proper maintenance to the beach so it never fades away (they invested a little over 1 million dollars this year on the beach’s maintenance).
5) How far is The Fives from Downtown Playa del Carmen?
-It’s just north of Playa del Carmen (5 minute drive); 5th Avenue will eventually begin at The Fives, leading all the way to downtown Playa del Carmen.
6) What happens after the 8 years? Is the property mine for 365 days of the year?
-After 8 years, the house is yours to do whatever you want with it, most people decide to stay in the rental pool program because of their “ no worries no hassle” system and not only it doesn’t cost them but it makes them money. If not, you can keep it as a retirement home, live there full time or whatever you want (no pets allowed is the one restriction). During the 8 years (or however long you want to stay in the rental pool) you have: 8 transfers a year to and from the airport, butler, and maid service. This would stop after the 8 years.
7) If I wanted to keep the property at The Fives for retirement, what are the caveats?
-There are none, after the 8 years, if you decide you want to keep it, live in it, sell it, rent it, or whatever, that’s 100% up to you. NOTE: if you leave the rental pool program you do have to pay monthly maintenance fees (5USD per square meter), for a 3 bedroom PH is about 11,500 Pesos a month with all the utilities included like water, electricity, hot water, internet, sky etc. (a property that size in this area just for Electricity if they use the AC regularly is about 6-9 thoUSAnd pesos a month just for that), like a regular property.
8) Anything that sounds too good to be true, usually is. Money for doing nothing? What is the catch?
-There is no catch, that’s why this is my favorite place. The money comes in from renting all the properties; they subtract the maintenance fees, taxes, pay roll (you ‘ll receive a monthly report of the money that comes in through your property and the expenses). From the profits, they take 30 % for themselves (yeah, so they make good money too, don’t get me wrong) and the remaining 70% goes to the owners according to what unit they have:
Someone who has a 3 bedroom penthouse with ocean view, rooftop Jacuzzi and sleeping room for 10 people obviously makes more than someone who has a studio. All of this is possible because they manage all properties with the Virginme standard of quality and much more efficiently that someone could on their own. Karisma has millions of people in their fidelity program so for them is much easier for example to rent out an expensive penthouse because they already have people looking for one.
Note: don’t think a fixed amount of money, think percentage. My clients are seeing 5-8 % depending on the unit, but some owners sometimes see 3% (still much better than having the money in the bank). Occupancy and therefor income depends on many factors; weather, economy, even politics. The one sure thing is that your property is not costing you money but making you some. Appreciation is another story; in the area you can look at your property going up on value around 12% a year.
9) Can I sell my property at any time? Who sets the asking price?
-You can sell the property at any time and you set the asking price. The one condition is that the property completes the 8-year period.
Example: you want to sell it after 6 years, whoever buys it needs to stay in the rental pool program for 2 years, after those 2 years they can renew the contract or just live there.
10) Who chooses furniture / appliances, etc.?
-The units are fully furnished and turn-key ready. They can’t be re-decorated for the duration of the 8 year contract in order to guarantee the Virginme standard of quality for the whole complex have control over the reviews and the customer’s experience. Some people have good taste but unfortunately some people don’t. Every 5 years they replace the furniture with brand new things, free of cost. After the 8 years you can decorate as you see fit.
11) Does The Fives allow pets?
– Unfortunately there’s a 0% tolerance for Pets, no exceptions, even certified help dogs are not allowed.
If you have any further questions regarding investment properties in The Fives Rental Pool Program, please get in touch with one of our expert brokers at Virgin Group .
