Testimonials

Dear Prospective Home Buyers & Sellers:

This letter serves as my exceedingly high letter of recommendation for Real Estate Agent John Smith. He assisted my wife and I with the purchase, rehabilitation, and new construction addition of a home in Telchac Puerto, Yucatán, Mexico in 2018/2019. Furthermore, John assisted me with the sale of the same home in December 2023. I have worked with various real estate agents and brokers on several real estate transactions over the years and can say with confidence that John is the best agent I have ever used.

John personifies integrity, honesty, reliability, and dedication to his clients. In other words, John is trustworthy and a gentleman who you can depend on with confidence, especially in a foreign country which can be a daunting experience.

John has the qualities that make him an extremely successful and effective real estate agent. I cannot say enough about his professionalism and knowledge within the Mexican real estate industry. He has high integrity and is very conscientious and tenacious, always keeping his client’s best interests in perspective. Our original real estate purchase transaction with John was not only a purchase, but a rehabilitation and new second floor construction addition as well. As mentioned above John also managed our sale transaction. One of the qualities I respected the most was his no-nonsense style. He gets to the point quickly yet professionally, always respecting the client’s time. He does an excellent job of listening to his client’s needs and does not waste time showing properties which do not meet the buyer/seller client’s objectives. He does research to assist with assessing a “fair market value” of the property for the offer and then negotiates effectively with the opposing agent on behalf of “HIS” client. He is extremely responsive to questions, often responding immediately to our late-night e-mails. He demonstrates great attention to details enabling a successful completion of the transaction. I have the highest level of confidence in him. Our sale transaction went very smoothly, and we closed on the contract agreed upon time.

As you interact with John his expertise will soon become both apparent and invaluable to you. The information and guidance John provided were vital relative to my home purchase and sale in Telchac Puerto, Yucatán, Mexico. In addition, when I originally purchased the home, it required extensive rehabilitation and that’s where John’s contractor experience was instrumental in effecting a successful rehabilitation of the home.  John provided constructive advice, ideas, suggestions, and recommendations that I had not even considered, which resulted in a unique house with every detail considered and addressed by John’s positive influence and personal experience.

As mentioned above, he represented us on both the purchase and sale sides of our transactions. John is highly intelligent and has a broad knowledge base of both the real estate and construction industries. Real estate transactions can sometimes be tricky and rapidly become extraordinarily complex, so I’d highly recommend having John on your side.  I have the highest level of confidence in John Smith and in my opinion, he would be able to accurately assess numerous circumstances and if required figure out an effective solution.

John Smith and Aurea Hernandez Canto are a pleasure to work with in Merida, Mexico. Selecting a real estate professional for an international property is a major and scary decision. Well, John is the person to handle such decisions. John is the most professional, honest, and integrity person that I have ever met. John not only helped find and process the paperwork for my beach home in Telchac Puerto, Mexico, but he oversaw and involved in the property management of renovations of my beach home. John will keep you up to date with all details. John is your choice for the real estate business and I highly recommend him for project management in construction if you need it.

Aurea is my Property Manager for my beach home in Telchac Puerto, Mexico. Aurea’s diligent hard work, advertising/marketing skills, and care of my property grosses high revenue for rental sales in the Yucatan Peninsula. By far, Aurea is the best property manager in Merida, Mexico!

My husband and I were so fortunate to have met John Smith.
John was wonderful to work with in our search for our new home in the Yucatan.
We appreciated his knowledge of the area and his low key approach that allowed us to by our home without any pressure to do so.

John was a tremendous help to us from start to finish. It was indeed a pleasure to work with someone that kept in constant touch with us and was always willing to answer our many questions.

We have since seen John’s design skills as well. With his construction background, an eye for detail and his ability to visualize the finished product I would not hesitate to hire him for future projects.

I would encourage anyone looking for a knowledgeable honest agent with integrity to look no further than John Smith.

Thank you! We would be more than happy to refer you. Both of you are probably the most honest and reliable people in this area and after two different homes we have owned and a third that we built and owned you are certainly the people to deal with. Wish you all the best and look forward to doing business with you.

Regards

John Smith picked me up at the boutique hotel, Mayan Gypsy, and showed me numerous houses on a busy holiday.  He is knowledgeable about local real estate and has experience as a builder in his country of origin.  He has immersed himself in the cultural and social scene of the Yucatan in many ways.  So, his opinions and thoughts on purchasing a home in the area are  very informed..  Ask to see photos of his charming house, “Casa Piedra.”  It got away before I could sell my home in the USA or I would have purchased it.  John added lots of personal touches that made it unique.  I trust he will find or build another to my liking!

I will be in touch John!

Thank you!

Mr. John Smith personifies integrity, honesty, reliability and dedication to his clients.  In other words, John is a trustworthy gentleman who you can trust and depend on.

John has 4 years’ experience in the real estate industry and over 40 years’ experience in the home contracting industry, and as you interact with John his expertise will soon become both evident and invaluable to you.  The information and guidance John provided were vital relative to my home purchase in Telchac Puerto Yucatan, Mexico.  In addition, I purchased a home that required extensive rehabilitation and that’s where John’s contractor experience was instrumental in effecting a successful rehabilitation of the home.  John offered constructive advice, ideas, suggestions and recommendations that I had not even considered which resulted in a uniquely finished house with every detail considered an attended to by John’s positive influence and personal experience.

I’m an individual that has confidence that a real-life example best demonstrates more than words can ever hope to express. Therefore, I’d like to offer a real-life example of John’s character.  I needed to change the electric utilities from the previous home owner’s name to my name.  A simple task to perform on your own if you’re in the United States.  However, a dauting task if you’re in a foreign country and do not know or understand the process.  John stepped forward and offered to drive me to the CFE utilities office to accomplish the change.  In doing so John coordinated with his personal contacts at the office to walk me through the change process and effect the change.  This is an example of John’s dedication to customer care and ensuring client satisfaction.

Sincerely.

Regarding John Smith Yucatan Coast Realty and construction. We can not say enough good things about John and the services he has provided for us.

Two years ago we took the plunge and purchased a home in Mexico lucky for us we found John to help us find our home. John sat with us asked what we were looking for and what we did not want he really listened to our needs and met them. His ability to look at a home and it’s potential were remarkable! John was with us every step of the way about buying a home in Mexico he calmed our fears about buying and construction.

Our closing date was delayed due to a problem on the seller’s end John was kind enough to offer us one of his apartments to stay in till closing. At closing, he stood firm on our behalf we felt very secure with John in our corner.

We currently are using his construction skills which are remarkable and his crew of workers is beyond our expectations.

We would highly recommend John and all his services offered to help you transform your dream into reality.

We want to add our thoughts and accolades regarding our recent beach house purchase and renovation with John Smith and his team of workers.

These are not normal times and Covid 19 certainly played a part in our year long experience.
Back in October of 2019, we ew down to the Yucatan and met with John at the house we were interested in. As John put it, “this house has good bones” ..and we could see that, as well as its lovely view of the ocean.

By January of 2020, we had signed the nal papers and were ready to begin the total renovation of the house and the addition of a pool and stone privacy wall.
We were in awe of the hard working crew , under the supervision of foreman Beto.
These men pretty much deconstructed what still was a nice 40 year old beach cottage.
The big picture was new electrical, new plumbing, new ooring, new kitchen , recon guring a second bedroom to allow room for a pool and patio.

John’s real estate acumen in helping us through the circles of ‘buyers confusion’ now transformed into his ability, as a former builder in Canada, to create our new beach house here in Chabihau.

As John told us early on, “buying and renovating in Mexico is not for the faint of heart”…and that is certainly true.
We o er this advice from our experiences:

• Understand that things run di erently here and that applies to getting your legal work attended to in a timely manner as well as a reality check of how work gets done by a Mexican work crew.
• Don’t expect a work crew that speaks English…
• Don’t expect a formal set of plans unless you are speci cally hiring an architect
• Be prepared to be hands on with your own drawings for speci c things you want completed in a certain way.
• Being close by for the renovation is very important as your presence greatly reduces the need to have things redone to your satisfaction.
• Understand that your work crew is paid by the job and not by the hour.
• Understand that these men work very hard with few modern tools and that your appreciation can be shown in simple ways like arriving with cold cokes and snacks.
• Don’t get annoyed if you see your work crew stop several times a day to rest and eat, as I mentioned , they are paid by the job..not by the hour.

In saying all of this, we want to thank John for being our valuable and appreciated realtor and contractor. John is more than he promises to be in as much as he understands how confusing the process can be for a rst time home buyer in Mexico. John led us through the various requirements for permits , securing a good legal rm to handle the sale and transfer of title …for getting water and electric accounts in our names…and for timely advice during demolition and reconstruction.

Ours was a long renovation because the onset of Covid 19 in March, required that all work stop until June of 2020.
We had to y back to Canada in March. John came to our rescue by nding us secure accommodation for our household belongings.

Having been ‘hands on’ for The initial demolition and the beginning of the renovation in January and February, we felt comfortable in leaving the next phase of the work in John’s capable hands while we remained isolated in Canada.

He kept in touch with us on a weekly basis and as work began again in June, John oversaw the project and sent weekly updates to us , with pictures. In this way, we were able to advise and assist with our renovation going forward.
We arrived back in the Yucatan early November and were happy with what we saw.
From then on, we came onsite twice a day and met up with John as many times as we needed him to be here . We were able to adjust minor details as they presented themselves.

John dealt with all issues we had in a way that was assuring and proactive.

We were ‘hands on’ for the installation of our ooring and custom kitchen cabinets as well as all other inclusions that were not a part of our renovation package. John continues to be of great assistance as we ne tuned the nishings.
In particular, John was very particular as to the quality of those last items. He insisted that baseboards be taped while walls were painted. He worked with us to x small mechanical issues and minor building adjustments….things that don’t necessarily happen by themselves.

Our move in day on January 7 was made easier by John who made himself available to move our newly purchased fridge and freezer from our rental house to our new home.

It is easy to see why his clients remain friends with him after the job is completed.
John is an honest and completely trustworthy person who we are grateful to for his expertise and guidance.

Having been in the interior design and job management industry, I found John’s work ethic to be excellent.
Daniel and I are very satis ed with the job John did for us and we highly recommended him to you.