When the La Amada project came along, Herbert recognized from his experience in the resort industry that this Airbnb/VRBO phenomenon has really changed the landscape for both residences attached to hotels and residences on their own. “With our Palm Springs home, we secured a great manager on the ground who greets everyone who comes to the place. People book the place online, but the manager meets them there when they arrive, and it's seamless.”

In Herbert's past experience, rental management and ownership can sometimes coexist uneasily in a resort setting. “At one past project I consulted on, this combination created havoc,” he said. “Residents and rental guests were competing to use the same amenities.”

Herbert says to alleviate this problem, La Amada will now function as a robust condo development, with a café, boutique convenience and grocery store for them to buy items like sandwiches, water and wine. It will set up to rent through Airbnb and VRBO, with one manager managing this booking process. Owners will get maximum exposure, but also have somebody meet guests and check them in and provide security for the resort—and owners from Greater Los Angeles, Texas and Orange County can use it when they need it without worrying about being onsite to act as a rental manager for rental guests.

But buying property in Mexico has certain restrictions attached for non-Mexicans. Herbert explains more than a century ago, Mexico placed a law put into its Constitution disallowing foreigners from purchasing property within 31 miles of the beach on both coasts. However, more recently, a new policy was established allowing foreign investors to set up a trust—called a fideicomiso—inexpensively with a local bank that enables them to buy real estate in perpetuity and set it up with succession rights, even with a group of owners to make it more cost effective. The trusts for second homes are set up from a tax-advantage standpoint or if one of the owners dies or wants to sell. Herbert says lately, celebrities are setting up fideicomisos because they don't want to disclose who the purchaser is.

“The cost of owning real estate in Mexico compared to the US is drastically cheaper: property taxes and labor costs are low,” says Herbert. “The Mexican government is trying to promote tourism and have tax advantages in place, to work in a foreigner's favor.”

So, why are Orange County investors especially interested in fideicomisos? For one thing, Mexico is on their radar because it's within a four-hour flight of their home base. “Orange County has three major destinations for second-home ownership or vacationing: Hawaii, Cabo and Cancun,” says Herbert. “They have airlift, and that's everything when buying a home. Also, people buy second homes when they feel value of their principal residence has gone up, and in Orange County, from 2011 until now, home values have risen off the charts. They're feeling this wealth effect, they're making a lot of money, their homes are up in value and they're saving money. And they can buy in Mexico for a fraction of what they would pay in Hawaii for equivalent product. Plus, they want to generate income.”

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ORANGE COUNTY, CA—The ability to set up a trust quickly and inexpensively and rent out residential and vacation properties using an online format are making the Mexican real estate market hot for those within a four-hour flight—especially Orange County investors, PowerPlay Destination Properties principal Mark Herbert tells GlobeSt.com.

According to Herbert's firm, when you buy a property in Mexico, the bank automatically (as part of its standard operating procedure) creates a trust on your behalf that then purchases the property. This makes it even easier than ever for friends and family members to purchase a property together and even invest different percentages/amounts in that property. On top of that, Mexico has fewer regulations on shared economy rentals, so it's simpler to use VRBO or Airbnb to manage property rentals there.

One property, La Amada Residences, for which PowerPlay handles sales and marketing, is a new resort-style residential community just outside of Cancun, and it is responding to this by doing something novel: enabling owners to rent their properties through whatever website they choose (VRBO, Airbnb, etc.) and keep all the profits, but still offer on-site services for a standard fee, to make the process easier on property owners. For example, the property offers a universal check-in desk and provides on-site cleaning and maintenance services to make it easier for owners to rent out their residences. This is especially helpful if the owner is in a different time zone since someone on-site can coordinate all the cleaning, check-ins and late-night questions from guests. It will also prevent more than one owner from hiding a key under the same flowerpot in the lobby and having a key-swap sitcom ensue.