Visit RIVIERA NAYARIT Mexico.com for current info on Hotels, Real Estate,
Condos, Villas, Tours, Golf, Fishing,
Resorts, Rentals, Weather and more! CLICK HERE
Visit PUERTOVALLARTAMexico.com for current info on Hotels, Real Estate,
Condos, Villas, Tours, Golf, Fishing,
Resorts, Rentals, Weather and more! CLICK HERE
Bobbie Snyder – Part II
Married • Vancouver, Washington • Partner, Real Estate & Beyond
They were very comfortable with the real estate agent who worked with them on the sale of the property, but they discovered many bumps along the road in building their five thousand square foot villa with five bedrooms and eight baths on two floors.
First, Bobbie and Bill hired an architect/contractor to build their home, but they discovered later that he didn’t understand all the terms of the contract he signed. “He was over his head, but we didn’t know it, “Bill confesses. “We fulfilled our part of the contract, but he didn’t fulfill his. He delivered a Shell of a house after we had given him money above what the contract stipulated. We had to put additional money into the house to finish it. The architect/contractor then came back a year after the house was finished and demanded that we pay him more money. Of course, we refused and were served with a lawsuit.”
Bobbie and Bill discovered that in Mexico it’s often more about who you know and who has the best story to tell than the actual facts of the situation. They won their first and second court cases after six years of litigation. The architect/contractor has now appealed the ruling to the highest court, which could take up to two more years. After upwards of $30,000 in legal costs, Bobbie and Bill still cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now, completely settled in her new home on the Canals of Nuevo Vallarta, Bobbie likes the similarities to Hawaii, including the diverse and rich mix of people found in both places. “What’s wonderful about both Hawaii and Mexico is that everybody gets along and is friendly. In the states, everybody is behind closed doors. You don’t know your neighbor down the street. Here, we find it easy to meet people because everyone is friendly.”
Bobbie and Bill are most definitely extroverted, very friendly people. They introduce themselves often to people on the street and in restaurants and just chat with them. They try to engage people wherever they go. “We met very good friends while out bike riding,” Bill says. “We also strike up conversations on the buses to and from our home in Nuevo Vallarta. It’s a lot of fun to meet new people this way.” The language has not been a barrier for the couple, though. They’ve been taking Spanish lessons on and off ever since they moved to Mexico to help them communicate better, but they admit they still have some trouble speaking Spanish.
As extroverted as they are, Bobbie and Bill don’t belong to the large International Friendship Club (IFC) in PV or any other expat organization; although Bobbie says she is the IFC’s “go to” person in Nuevo Vallarta. That means she finds home son the north shore for inclusion in the club’s home show program, which features guided tours of some of Vallarta’s most glamorous homes.
But being the “go to” person for the IFC still wasn’t enough for the vivacious and pulsating Bobbie. She decided she was too active a person to retire full-time, so she went back to real estate in 2004, working with two different companies before starting her own firm. Being a true baby boomer adventurer, Bobbie candidly says she got bored. “You can only sit in the sun so many hours and read so many books. I decided to go back to what I do best, and that’s selling real estate.” Her new company----Real Estate Vallarta & Beyond-----is a partnership with two other women, both Mexican.
Bill, on the other hand, is enjoying his retirement. He fishes a couple of times a week, at least. He has a twenty-eight-foot fishing boat that was made just up the coast in Mazatlan. His favorite fishing holes are the Marietta Islands west of Punta de Mita and off the coast of Sayulita, just north of Punta de Mita.
“I don’t belong to the Nuevo Vallarta Yacht Club, but I do participate in some of their activities,” Bill says. “They have what they call their `February Fishing Frenzy,’ which is a very fun competition I take part in. We have to be back at the club by four in the afternoon each day during the competition to register our catch, and then we sit down at six for a fresh-catch fish dinner. Prizes are awarded, and everyone has a great time. I catch dorado, mahimahi, yellow fin tuna, and other fish in the tuna family.”
Even living a half hour or so north of Puerto Vallarta, the couple makes it a point to get into the city as often as they can. When they make the fifteen-mile trip into Vallarta from their home, they frequently like to visit the city’s wide range of art galleries. They know a lot of the gallery owners and are developed a large art collection. “We have a vehicle that we can take into Puerto Vallarta, but often we take public transportation,” Bill explains. “We can get picked up dropped off by the bus right in front of our house. For a few dollars, we can go anywhere in Vallarta on the public bus system. It’s very efficient, inexpensive, and buses run all of the time.”
It’s also less nerve-wracking for the couple. “Big changes have occurred in Vallarta; it’s no longer a sleepy little town,” Bill confesses. “It’s a bustling, busy, dusty, car-inundated city in perpetual construction mode. Parking has become horrendous, which makes riding the buses, of course, look even better. With the change in bank lending practices here, everyone wants a new car. New auto dealerships have sprouted seemingly everywhere. I think they put up the new Toyota dealership north of the airport in about three months. And, I don’t think, by the way, that a topes is a traffic solution. Those speed bumps are ubiquitous; you seemingly can’t drive anywhere without having to slow down for them. But they’re not the solution to every traffic problem. What they really need to do is construct cloverleaf overpasses and develop the infrastructure to carry the load, and that’s not happening right now, as far as I can see.”
When the couple first moved to the Bay of Banderas, the main road from Nuevo Vallarta to Puerto Vallarta was then a two-lane road, but it now has been expanded to four lanes. Email to a friend.
Will continue next month…
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part I
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part II
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part III
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part I
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part II
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part III
• Please click here to read Chapter 7 – Part I
• Please click here to buy the book
• Please click here to read book reviews
PVMIrror.com
is an Electronic Monthly Travel Magazine covering Puerto
Vallarta and Bay of Banderas. All our information may be copied,
used and published through and by any other news media whether
printed, televised and/or electronic by national or international
means, respecting all its contained text and images (including
this declaration), as well as acknowledging PVMirror.com as
its original electronic source of information where to a link
must be activated.
PVMirror.com – E-Puerto Vallarta Travel Magazine
“True Transformation of Diffusion – June 2003 - 2006"
Current
Weather Report
First, Bobbie and Bill hired an architect/contractor to build their home, but they discovered later that he didn’t understand all the terms of the contract he signed. “He was over his head, but we didn’t know it, “Bill confesses. “We fulfilled our part of the contract, but he didn’t fulfill his. He delivered a Shell of a house after we had given him money above what the contract stipulated. We had to put additional money into the house to finish it. The architect/contractor then came back a year after the house was finished and demanded that we pay him more money. Of course, we refused and were served with a lawsuit.” 
Bobbie and Bill are most definitely extroverted, very friendly people. They introduce themselves often to people on the street and in restaurants and just chat with them. They try to engage people wherever they go. “We met very good friends while out bike riding,” Bill says. “We also strike up conversations on the buses to and from our home in Nuevo Vallarta. It’s a lot of fun to meet new people this way.” The language has not been a barrier for the couple, though. They’ve been taking Spanish lessons on and off ever since they moved to Mexico to help them communicate better, but they admit they still have some trouble speaking Spanish.
Bill, on the other hand, is enjoying his retirement. He fishes a couple of times a week, at least. He has a twenty-eight-foot fishing boat that was made just up the coast in 
It’s also less nerve-wracking for the couple. “Big changes have occurred in 