rockypointexposed.com Blog

On Thursday, April 10, Howard and Madeline Israel, the administrators of this blog were invited by AMPI (Mexican Association for Real Estate Professionals) to discuss how North Beach investors could find common ground with the real estate community in addressing many challenges we are facing. This presentation was warmly received by members of AMPI and several action items were generated, with an eye to resolving these challenging issues.

AMPI meeting presentation April 10, 2008

Thank you for your kind invitation to present the investor side of the North Beach story. Let’s begin by imagining what could have been, rather than what is:

1. Imagine for a moment that the North Beach project as presented to the general public in late 1999 went off as advertised. The condos, the hotels, the 6 Jim Fazio golf courses, a 200 slip marina, etc. How many happy investors would there have been. More importantly, how many happy real estate agents would there have been?

2. Imagine if both Playa Azul and Riviera Real had gone off as planned. How many new and resale units would have been available for you to market? How much money could you have made?

3. Imagine if you will that after discovering we had been lied to, and defrauded of our money, we had gone silently into the night. Chalking it up to “well, what do you expect, that’s Mexico”.

4. Imagine how many other investors would have wound up in the very same situation we and many others would have found themselves in, had we not brought our situation to light.

5. Imagine if what has happened to us, happened to some of you (and by the way, I do believe some of you have had it happen). What would you have done?

6. Imagine North Beach as big as and as successful as Sandy Beach but for the likes of a few easily identifiable thugs who should be blamed for the problems that exist now.

I have been told by several people that my website, Rockypointexposed.com is doing irreparable harm to the community of Rocky Point. I could not disagree more. My answer to these people is that:

1. They’re shooting the messenger.
2. They are taking their anger out on the wrong person.
3. They should have been, and should continue to be angry at the Martins, who were arrested for land fraud in 1994, the Grijalvas, the Palacios and the many opportunistic developers who have aided and abetted the fraud that has been, and is still going on in Rocky Point. Villa Cortez, Los Palomas, Fiesta De Cortez and Acropolis are a few that come to mind. And speaking of the Palacios, each time you entertain a client at the Point restaurant, thank the many investors of North Beach — for that’s where part of their $2.5 million investment went in building that place the Palacios now own. We knew them when they didn’t have a dime to their name.
4. They should be angry at the local media who knowingly accept advertising and articles containing blatantly false and misleading claims about Rocky Point real estate. And when made aware of these proven, documented untruths, absolutely refused to make the necessary corrections.
5. They should be angry at the blogs who continue to praise the virtues of owning property in Rocky Point without disclosing the many pitfalls regarding bank trusts, title insurance, management fees, federal taxes, etc, etc, etc.
6. And finally, they should be angry at themselves to allow what is happening in Rocky Point.

Ladies and gentlemen, Maddy and I as well as hundreds of others invested in Rocky Point because we believed in Rocky Point and all it had to offer. So please, don’t place the blame on us for what is happening here in Rocky Point.

On the other hand, we take full credit for making everyone aware of what is going on in Rocky Point, from alerting the Arizona Republic, getting ABC-15 involved and publishing our website and blog.

And just consider the result of our actions:

1. The Arizona Dept. of Real Estate held a meeting on March 5, 2008 attended by government officials of both Arizona and Sonora to become familiar with the real estate problems in Rocky Point.

2. The governments of both Arizona and Mexico have finally come to the realization that there is a problem here in Rocky Point, as well as the entire state of Sonora.

3. We have received a commitment from the Sonora government that they will try and resolve these issues. We look forward with great anticipation to a meeting on June 19 to see the result of that commitment.

4. We have received a commitment from the Arizona Real Estate Commission that they will take a much more active role in policing some of the practices going on in the states regarding advertising of Mexican property as well as other unlawful activities.

5. We have begun a dialogue with some of our adversaries to develop a mutual understanding of the problems here in Rocky Point and to come up with workable solutions to solving these problems, as evidenced by our recent meeting with Raul O’Farrill and with you folks today.

6. Congressional representatives from Arizona and other states (including our son, United States Congressman Steve Israel (D.NY)) have taken an interest in, and are beginning a dialogue with high Mexican government officials.

So, let me ask again; what would have happened if we had gone silently into the night? Quite frankly, we don’t know. However, what we do know is that all our endeavors will hopefully prevent others from going through the heartache of dealing with lies, deceit and fraud.

As I Have indicated on my website and blog, I sincerely feel that we are at a tipping point, that point at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. We collectively are very close to a major tipping point in achieving the mutual goal of cleaning up Rocky Point.

In conclusion, I have done some research about AMPI. I am impressed with Section 1. Relations with the Public.

Article 3 speaks about “truth, protecting against fraud, abuse and immoral practices in the real estate field”. I’m sure you will agree that has not happened in Rocky Point until recently. I commend the real estate community for making an effort to clean up Rocky Point, something we’ve been trying to do for the past seven years. We ask for your help in making Rocky Point the great place it was meant to be, rather than a quaint little fishing village it used to be.

Thank you again for your kind attention.