They’re Champions of the LatAm Market.
If you've watched my newest TV show Owning Manhattan, you know two things: It's the greatest TV show of all time and I never exaggerate anything, ever.
After years in the spotlight and no small dose of drama, you may be wondering… Why would I sign up for another reality TV show? Fame? Promotion of my businesses? A penchant for public abuse? A yearning to please my 14-year-old self who never made the varsity hockey team and has been vying to be relevant to my peers ever since?
Those are all reasons most might assume that I, a real estate broker based in New York who runs his own businesses, might pen a deal to return to the screen. And most would be wrong.
Here’s why: I chose to return to TV, specifically on Netflix because of… Mexico. Yes, Mexico.
I’m not alone in seeing something special happening with the LatAm market. Netflix is expanding its Spanish-language offerings, targeting the region as its next growth frontier. They’re currently in production on several shows with filming spanning Mexico and South America, including a $50 million production of the beloved novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez.
But what does any of this have to do with real estate? Let me pull back the curtain on what I’m seeing…
The U.S. has always been an attractive investment target for foreign real estate buyers due to relative stability, consumer protections, and reliable growth. For Mexican citizens, physical proximity to the U.S. is an added bonus. Mexican citizens have purchased 54,500 residential properties in the U.S. in the last 5 years. In 2023, Mexican buyers represented 11% of the $53.3 billion foreign property investment market in the U.S., second only to Chinese citizens (who sadly don’t have Netflix access) at 13% of all foreign property transactions in the U.S. (Statista.com). Canada typically takes the #2 spot, but not last year. In 2023, Mexico beat the odds, and I’m betting on them to keep it up.
You see, as of last year, Mexico became the top trade partner to the U.S. as COVID challenges and geopolitical tensions impacted trade relations with China and the rest of Asia. Near-shoring, defined as a transfer of business operations and manufacturing closer to centers of demand, began to trend as an answer to prevalent supply-chain issues. For the U.S., the world’s largest economy, Mexico was the clear choice for near-shoring efforts. In the last couple of years, major companies such as Samsung, Amazon, Heineken, The Home Depot, BMW, and more have begun moving operations to Mexico. Tesla may be next.
This migration of major companies into Mexico is huge for the Mexican economy, and their new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is meeting the moment with her promotion of near-shoring efforts. As a result, the demand for skilled and educated workers in Mexico is skyrocketing as construction booms and new facilities are opened. The growth of high-paying jobs in the country will lead to more investment dollars flowing into U.S. real estate as more people can afford second homes and lucrative investment properties in the states.
Some experts have suggested that the current growth in Mexico rivals China’s during the off-shoring movement 30 years ago. Could Mexico eventually give the Chinese a run for their money as the #1 foreign investors in U.S. real estate? It’s not out of the question. Compared to what's coming, we haven’t seen anything from the LatAm market yet.
I knew I needed to position SERHANT. to capitalize on this opportunity. Mexico has a population of about 131 million people. 10 million Mexicans have a Netflix account, and at an average household size of 3.4 people (and account sharing that definitely isn’t happening wink), Netflix viewership in the country is undoubtedly much higher. The cost of advertising SERHANT. to the same audience in lieu of the Netflix show would be astronomical.
And this is why having my own Netflix show streaming across Mexico, dubbed in Spanish, is… priceless.
