Resort
Condos
Cancun

PICTURE NOTE:  As you scroll down, you are looking at before and after pictures with the before being on the left side and after the hurricane being on the right side.  The exception is the first picture on the left is of my my Mom left, brother middle and I, so you know whom I’m referring to in the story.  Thanks and enjoy!  

In October of 2005, Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun Mexico with bulls-eye precision.  Wilma was the most powerful hurricane in recorded history, with wind speeds in excess of 275MPH.  Some of the larger furniture items were completely gone, sucked right out of the condo.  We had already resigned ourselves to expecting the worst.  But it didn’t make it much easier to see it.  

When you first walk in you had the spiral stairs right away and the big cherry wood book case to your right.  So the first thing I saw was the picture you see to the right.  As I continued touring the destruction, at every turn I was in awe.  Just amazing to see  the power of a monster hurricane first hand .  Incredible!  

When we first bought our place, it had needed work and we had just finished the updating a few months before.  So it was painful on a lot of levels. We didn’t have insurance.  Hurricane insurance is very expensive when you are on the beach in Cancun.  So we thought we’d put the money away each month into an insurance fund. That’s a terrific idea unless you get hit right away with a hurricane!  The resort’s insurance company did cover the exterior glass of the condo.

As I toured the wreckage for a second and third time the ideas just started pouring into my mind for how we could improve our place.  And there was one idea in particular that stood out among the others.  Have you ever had an idea for a small improvement you wanted to make in your home? Then your little $100 idea ended up turning into a $1,000 project or more?   It was that kind of thing except on a larger scale.  I’ll get back on what the idea was in a bit.

My brother and I weren’t born into a family with money.  Our parents had raised themselves out of poverty to middle class.  We never had much, but we never really went hungry either.  What my brother and I did manage to do in 2003 was put little down to secure a lot of property on the beach in Florida.  We had bought one, then two vacation rentals in Cocoa Beach Florida.  Money was so easy to get back then as I’m sure anyone reading this so fondly remembers.  But moreover, beachfront property values were sky rocketing back then.  We refinanced our first couple of units to buy more and make improvements.  After buying more, we refinanced a few months later to pull out money to buy the one in Cancun here. The appreciation was insane!  We were among the group that didn’t see the crash coming a few years later.  And as we all know, when this giant crashed, it crashed hard. We lost everything we had worked so hard on in Cocoa Beach.  But we were able to keep the one in Cancun.  And boy did we learn the hard way about how markets can change in a heart beat.

But before the big crash we were able to refinance the condos in Cocoa Beach one last time.  That’s how we were able to have the funds to make the renovation in Cancun happen.

I knew nothing about construction.  And I’m not at all “mechanically inclined”.  In other words, I’m not good with building anything.  I certainly had no construction experience and I didn’t speak Spanish.  So we set out to hire a general contractor and get the project moving forward.  It turned out that we had no earthly idea of what we were in for.  The demolition was a big part of this project to be sure. But after nearly four months and going through three general contractors, scarcely anything had been done beyond the demolition. When the third general contractor ran off with the deposit money, I had had enough.  I remember looking at my wife at that point and saying “Baby, if I don’t get down there to do this myself, it’s just not going to happen”.  Knowing what she did about my severe lack of talent in contruction, I’m grateful my wife had compassion for me as she held a poker face and shook her head gently in agreement.

My brother couldn’t possibly help much with the project.  He had spent nearly two decades in schooling and as an attending to become a doctor of anesthesiology.  He works 70 hours a week, he’s a busy guy.  Although Rod and I were on the same page about what to do with our place, it was understood that whatever ideas I had were fine, but it was on me to make it happen.  

Getting back to that idea!  If you’re still with me on that last statement I’m impressed!  Thanks for your interest!  For the proverbial light bulb to go on as I share the idea, you’ll want to first look at the floor plan for the 2nd floor of the condo BEFORE the renovation.  To view it, please hover your mouse over:

Note:  It’s best to scroll down first so you can view the whole floor plan when it pops up for you.

BRAIN TEASER:
After looking at the floor plan, how would you change or alter it in order to accommodate the following:
*  Each bedroom must have it’s own private bathroom and shower.
*  Each bedroom must have a 2 person hot tub.
*  Each bedroom must have storage for luggage.
*  Each bedroom must have a dresser for foldable clothes & personal items.
*  Each bedroom must have a place for hanging clothes.
Rules:  You can use the terrace area for the above, but the views in all the bedrooms cannot be impeded in any way.
To view the brain teaser problem hover over:

To view the brain teaser answer hover over:


The idea:  While walking through the hallway upstairs after the hurricane it occurred to me that the spiral staircase sure took up a lot of room. I wondered why more of that space wasn’t devoted to the great view in bedroom 1.  That’s when the proverbial light bulb went on.  I thought, “Wait a minute, if I could come up with enough space to get a bathroom in bedroom 1, we could have 3 master suites”.  Because bedroom 2 was the existing master so it had a private bath.  And I could incorporate the existing hall bathroom into bedroom 3 if only bedroom 1 had it’s own bathroom.  I knew from rental experience that would be a real difference maker in rental income. Adding to the challenge Mom had been pushing all along for a hot tub in each bedroom.  Mom loves hot baths.  To do it, we removed the closet in bedroom 1 that was adjacent to the big spiral staircase.  Then what was open air to the first floor where the stairs were was partially replaced with more concrete floor space on the 2nd floor. The “space hogging” spiral staircase was replaced with a more space conscience version.  


UPPER LEFT:  Bedroom 1 - The Special Headboard & bed during renovation.  The headboard had to serve as a place to hide the drain run and water lines to the hot tub.  To store away luggage, we built special beds made of concrete block and a poured concrete surface.  The only way we were going to get the much needed luggage storage under the bed was to build it ourselves.   

UPPER RIGHT:  Suitcases shown in the storage area under the bed in BR 1 after completion.

LEFT:  BR 1 facing West.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 18 seconds.  

RIGHT:  BR 1 facing East:  the hurricane through the renovation in 22 seconds.  

LEFT & RIGHT:  The Main Terrace and some of the demolition portion of the project.  I give credit to one of the general contractors for this because he did get this done and it was a lot of work.  Many interior walls were removed and every one of them was made of concrete block. All of the terrace rails were also made of concrete block.  Over 125 linear ft. of concrete block terrace rails were removed.  The amount of concrete debris was staggering.  It looked like we were being bombed!  Because the resort was mired in negotiations with the insurance company, there was no elevator available throughout the project.




LEFT:  BR 2 facing South East.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 30 seconds.  

RIGHT:  BR 2 facing straight East:  From the hurricane through the renovation in 16 seconds.  









LEFT:  BR 2 facing West.  This large pipe went way out into the bathroom area of BR 2.  To get it out of the way, we reworked the piping to hug the corner on an angle as it entered the room.     

RIGHT:  BR 2 facing West, the same direction as you see on the left.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 20 seconds.  







LEFT:  BR 3 - Renovation in 14 seconds.  

RIGHT:  Across the hall from bedroom 3.  This space was the hall bath before the renovation. We used the space to create the bathroom area for the BR 3 master suite.

LEFT:  Down to the 1st floor now.  Entryway area view 1.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 24 seconds.

RIGHT:  Entryway area view 2.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 22 seconds.

LEFT:  Dining Area View 1.  From the hurricane through the renovation in 22 seconds.

LEFT:  Kitchen:  From the hurricane through the renovation in 34 seconds.

LEFT:  There was plenty of terrace space off the kitchen (main terrace) so we decided to make the long narrow terrace on the lower level part of the interior space.   From the hurricane through the renovation in 10 seconds.

LEFT:  Main Terrace View 2.  Twelve months of renovation in 12 seconds.

RIGHT:  Main Terrace View 3. Twelve months of renovation in 8 seconds.

LEFT:  Main Terrace View 4.  Twelve months of renovation in 14 seconds.

Tim Miller
McHenry, IL

Hi, I’m Tim Miller.  

Myself along with my extended family in Cancun welcome you! Briefly stated, I rent and manage a beachfront condos in Cancun Mexico.  We are small and family oriented.

My history in the vacation rental business:  My brother and I started investing in Beachfront vacation rentals in Florida back in 2003.  When we set out to hire a management company to keep our properties rented and managed, we were disappointed. We thought the rental income numbers they were estimating were very week.  My brother was and still is very busy as a doctor.  So we agreed I would do the bookings on my own via the inter net.  

When we discovered Cancun on a tip in 2004, we were amazed at the sheer beauty and the heartfelt friendliness of the people in Cancun.  We ended up buying a beachfront condo in Cancun that same year.  It needed some updating but soon we had it looking good.  A year later along came hurricane Wilma which completely destroyed our condo, except for the concrete walls of course.  We do still own it, it’s Penthouse #2701 on the site here.

Over the coming years I spent a lot of time in Cancun.  Other owners would see people coming and going out of our place frequently so they started to inquire to see if I would book and manage their places also.

I really enjoy this business!  People are excited to be going on vacation and I’m excited about Cancun and the vacation rentals I am able to offer our guests.

Unlike many other management companies, I am very familiar with each and every property I represent.  Many of the improvements to the properties were expedited by me personally.  Mike and Arturo to the left take care of servicing our guests in Cancun, and day to day maintenance of the properties.

I think a good way of giving you a good feel for some of the history I have with Cancun, and how I came to know many wonderful people here is to give your my story, the quick version that is.  Below I created a photo story of our own property here in Cancun.  The story quickly takes you through the our experience with hurricane Wilma.