This is the true level of luxury in Los Cabos, and it can be found from the quiet elegance of the East Cape to the chic Pacific side, although most visitors to Los Cabos will never see past the impressive or sometimes even understated gates. Privacy is of paramount importance to the super-rich, as is exclusivity.

To enter one of these communities, you must have business there. Once inside, you’ll find that the residents are never bored unless of course, they choose to be so. Therefore, the “uber-posh” residential enclaves offer their owners a wide variety of amenities and activities. Beach clubs, tennis clubs, golf courses and their requisite clubhouses, spas, gyms, beauty salons, business centers and more are mandatory.

In family-oriented communities, such as El Dorado and Querencia, you’ll find staff devoted to providing young persons’ activities. Discovery Land Company’s El Dorado offers the Outdoor Pursuits program through which younger residents can enjoy supervised activities such as surfing and sailing lessons, desert hiking and other sporting adventures. At Querencia, a special section of the village center clubhouse is devoted to younger residents, while adults can enjoy culinary events and classes. Exclusive wine tastings and members-only golf tournaments are organized to prevent ennui. Movie theatres, restaurants and shops comprise mini-villages and keep the owners privately within the resort boundaries. Yacht clubs and private marinas, most notably in Puerto Los Cabos, Capella Pedregal and El Rincón de Pedregal are popular. A small private marina is planned for Cabo’s Chileno Beach Club, which is rumored to be poised for take-over by El Dorado’s Discovery Land Company.

As wonderful as all these amenities sound, shortly they may seem mundane. Plans are underway for two new mega-communities on the Pacific side. At press time, Club Polo Los Cabos was planning to break ground on a state-of-the-art polo center. The resort will be anchored by Raffles Hotel and will include practice and competition courses designed by Alejandro Battro. As owners will be bringing their own ponies to compete, an equine hospital will be staffed 24-hours a day. The resort’s details are still being developed but initial plans suggest both villas and custom home sites will be available. If horses aren’t your cup of tea, there are very preliminary plans to also build a resort community on the Pacific side offering Formula One racing. Those activities only add to the many amenities the other communities provide. Both polo and racing will have to wait for now; building the infrastructure for these resorts may take several years. From east to west, where can you find the finest lifestyle real estate in Los Cabos now?

Serenity On The Sea of Cortés

The brainchild of noted developer Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro, Puerto Los Cabos is the East Cape’s most comprehensive high-end development. Just east of the estuary in San José del Cabo, it boasts two golf courses, one Jack Nicklaus and the other Greg Norman, plus beach clubs and a town center surrounding the marina, making this is a self-contained resort community. Three communities within the development, La Noria, El Altillo and the most exclusive Fundadores, all offer exquisite ocean and golf course views and access to the impressive list of amenities. The developer, Grupo Questro, is releasing a new section of lots within Fundadores, the gated-within-gated community at Puerto Los Cabos. Fundadores has a private entrance, beach club, and will offer special marina privileges. The new lots average just over one-half acre, prices range from $1,500,000 to $1,768,000 USD. Built resale homes in the community start at just over three million dollars in Fundadores and $1.8 million in La Noria. For developed properties, a 20% discount applies for cash purchases.

If you cherish the lifestyle but don’t fancy owning another full-time home, Misión La Serena, within Puerto Los Cabos, offers the opportunity to partake in the development’s privileges while only committing to partial ownership. This top end deeded fractional resort* offers 75 two- and three-bedroom residences, which include all the amenities of Puerto Los Cabos. As deeded fractionals, these homes are purchased in partnership with others and each owner has a few weeks’ use per year. Deeded fractional ownership allows one to enjoy the benefits of a true uber-posh vacation home without the price tag of full-time ownership.

The first private golf course in Los Cabos, the 18-hole Tom Fazio course at Querencia, is soon to be joined by a second 18-hole course designed by Gil Hanse. The latest offerings in Querencia are the La Quiñadas, which are three- and four-bedroom single-family detached homes, complete with spectacular views of the ocean, mountains and golf course. Each home provides top end finishes, a private pool, spa and outdoor fireplace. The owners in La Quiñadas will enjoy social or golf memberships. The homes are priced between $2,100,000 and $2,275,000 USD. Querencia bucked the trend early; as a primarily golf community, the first developers concentrated on the golf course site. Subsequently, land has been earmarked and plans are underway to add a beach club just across the highway from Querencia’s main entrance. The clubhouse here is the center of community life with restaurant, spa, pools; a young persons’ area, yoga and Pilates pavilion, retail shops and more. Residents often commute between the clubhouse and their homes via personal golf cart, and the homes incorporate garage space and charging stations for private carts. The association is quite active with a full menu of activities for adults and families.

Almost adjacent to Querencia, you’ll find the Dowager Queen of Los Cabos’ communities: the venerable Palmilla. Proving that some things improve with age, Palmilla’s legendary Nicklaus courses, the One & Only Resort Hotel, Mandara Spa and other amenities keep the original luxury resort up to date. The exclusive Club 96 serves residents of sub-community Villas del Mar, and a similar facility is planned Pamilla’s newest community, the Espíritu del Mar. Pre-construction prices for homes range from $3,750,000 to $7,000,000 USD. Palmilla is also home to Villas de Oro, unique in that the homes were designed for year-round living within the golf resort environment. This community of attached homes features a new tennis club, and is an opportunity to live in an uber-posh resort for under one million dollars.

Heading west, you will find the exquisite private El Dorado Golf and Beach Club. Once a premiere public venue, the course and surrounding land were acquired by the Discovery Land Company who created what is currently considered one of the finest resorts in the area. Ownership opportunities include villas, casitas and custom home sites, a total of only 196 exceptional residences on 520 acres. The casitas and villas are two-, three- and four-bedroom attached residences or condominiums, with between two and four thousand square feet of living area. Penthouses are also available with six bedrooms and 11,000 square feet of interior space. At press time, the prices for the casitas started at $2,000,000 USD. Villas are priced from $4,000,000 to $7,000,000 USD. Home sites are available with prices from five to eight million dollars; a few finished homes are available for under $15,000,000 USD. El Dorado set a new measure of quality in Los Cabos. Everything here is done to the highest standard, from the greeting at the gate to the immaculate grounds. The beach club and the Nicklaus-designed course are in operation. In conjunction with the Outdoor Pursuits program, owners and their families can enjoy a full complement of activities in a safe and utterly private environment.

As the only gated community within the city of Cabo San Lucas, Pedregal has seen impressive growth since it was founded over twenty years ago. Today, Capella Pedregal is a joint venture between the original developers and Richard Holland, founder of Hotel Ventures International, in association with West Paces Hotel Group. The grounds include the boutique Capella Hotel and Spa, and 31 Pacific-facing three- and four-bedroom residences, sold in fractional shares. There are also full ownership opportunities in three-, four- and six-bedroom casonas facing the marina and bay. The Pacific side homes and hotel are accessed via a tunnel under the mountains at Land’s End. The community includes a yacht club on the marina in Cabo San Lucas, and owners who join it have the use of a fleet of cruising yachts and sport fishers. The fractional residence packages are priced from $490,000 to $560,000 USD with an additional $95,000 USD for membership in the yacht club. Full ownership casonas start at $3,100,000 USD. Each of the fractional homes is staffed by a butler, who is charged with acting as chief of staff and catering to the individual needs of the owners when they are in residence. The final touches are being put on the project, and it is expected to be fully functional and owner-occupied by the end of 2008.

Also under construction in Pedregal is the El Rincón project, a group of 26 attached homes with prices starting at $1,900,000 USD for full ownership. The centerpiece of this wellness-themed project will be a health club and spa, and each of the homes is designed to evoke the sensation of the elements of earth, sea, or air. The project offers completely vertical management: not only will staff be available to manage the normal details of vacation home ownership, but in addition they will arrange for the home to be judiciously rented out as a source of income when the owner is not using it. A model home has recently been completed; pre-construction reservations are being taken.

To the immediate west of Pedregal, work is underway on the $1.5 billion Quivira project, within the grounds of Cabo Pacifica (formerly known as Sunset Beach) and anchored by the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort and Spa. On over 1,800 acres, Quivira will include the Ritz Carlton Residences. Home sites are also available. Two championship 18-hole Nicklaus courses are planned along with state of the art fitness facilities, full-service spa, tennis courts, family sports center, business center, and a nature preserve with 20 miles of hiking trails. One of the more novel amenities planned belongs to the Kid’s Club: a landscaped labyrinth, the first in Baja. The Ritz Carlton Residences will offer 44 ocean-view and 78 beachfront homes with price tags starting at approximately $5,000,000 and ranging upward to $11,000,000 USD. Each home will offer four to six bedrooms, plus a guest casita. Restaurants and beach clubs will be dotted along the resort’s three miles of beach.

As these resort communities and others prove, Los Cabos is now a premiere posh destination. Within their privileged walls, the owners can enjoy a completely carefree existence with every amenity at their fingertips. While they may never have to spare a thought for the more mundane details of life, their carefree lifestyle is not the only option in Los Cabos. A wide range of ownership opportunities exists in a variety of price ranges. Some of the more affordable properties offer a commendable list of services and amenities. Los Cabos has something to offer almost everyone. With reasonable financing available, a vacation retreat is within the means of many. Very favorable financing terms are available to citizens of the United States, Canada and Great Britain with as little as 20% down payment. Fixed rate mortgages are available for vacation homes or primary residences at rates with up to 30 years length of the loan.

Los Cabos is also home to México’s most sophisticated real estate protocol. Every possible measure has been put in place to safeguard the buyer and to be certain that whether you’re purchasing an $11,000,000 beachfront mansion or a comfortable $200,000 condominium, your investment is safe for you and for future generations. The Multiple Listing Service covers the entire area; the real estate professionals who belong to this group must adhere to a code of ethics and operating procedures. These experts can explain Mexican ownership procedures to you, and help you select your perfect home. The experienced realtors will assure that your purchase is handled properly.

Monaco. The Hamptons. Malibu. Mustique. There are many places where the wealthy and privileged spend their leisure time. Thanks to developments of the caliber described here, Los Cabos now numbers among the most sought-after and exclusive destinations on the planet. Uber-posh resort homes leave no detail unattended, and the lives of the most famous and fortunate are truly carefree. And that, after all, is just exactly how they like it.

[* Author’s Note: There are two types of property being sold as ‘fractional’ in Los Cabos. The ownership opportunities mentioned in this article are deeded fractional, or true real estate, with actual transfer of title. Consult a realtor or Mexican attorney for more details of ownership options.]

Carol Billups is Broker/Owner of Realty Executives Los Cabos, located in Cabo San Lucas. Her team was recently awarded Realty Executives International’s Circle of Excellence.

By Carol Billups