THE BAJA PLUNGE

Sandra and Mel Peters once owned a vacation home in Little Whale Cove on the Oregon coast. Both loved the ocean and missed it long after they moved to Beverly Hills to raise their children. Years later, as empty nesters, they began to look for a second home on the California coast, “but there was nothing . . . to rent that was nice, and lots to buy were ridiculously high--$6, $7, $8 million,” says Sandra, now a striking grandmother of six.

Then one day, she says, the proverbial light bulb switched on: “Why not try Mexico?”

She and her husband had traveled there over the years--Guadalajara, Zihuatanejo, Oaxaca, Cabo San Lucas--and loved the land, its people “and the food--don’t forget the food,” she says. They could drive to their vacation home instead of having to fly, she thought, and the children and grandchildren could come for visits. In April 2006, they decided to take a weekend trip to Punta Piedra, 40 miles south of the Tijuana border, and explore.

They fell in love with what they saw.

A week later they returned and met with Punta Piedra developer Roberto Curiel. “He showed us some plans,” says Mel, the semi-retired chief executive of an industrial auctioneering company. “I told him the square footage and other things we wanted; we made a few adjustments. Then he took out a pad and wrote down the amount: ‘I’ll do it for this much,’ he said. I reached over and we shook hands. We never had a formal contract. This would be totally unheard of in the U.S.”

Mel hired a Mexican attorney who arranged for the title and the 50+50 bank trust, which he says allows him to “sell, lease, transfer, build on or give away” the home. They paid a visit to the notario in Ensenada three weeks later and closed on the property. Seven months later they moved into their two-story, 5,500-square-foot vacation home. “It all happened so fast,” Sandra says.

The couple contacted Los Angeles designer Larry Rizkowsky of L Riz Design to help organize the handsome stucco and stone interior, which includes six bedrooms, 7{dagger} baths, open living, kitchen and dining areas and a maid’s room. Together, they created a sleek, modern Mexican hacienda.

Mel and Sandra had seen Raul Gonzales Rosas’ work at the Toke showroom in Tijuana and commissioned him to turn Rizkowsky’s sketches into furnishings. One day, the designer and the Peters decided to visit the craftsman’s shop in nearby Rosarito to check on his progress with the furniture. “The workroom was so tiny, most of the furniture was sitting outside in the field covered in dust,” Rizkowsky says. “We were shocked at first, but it all turned out beautifully.”

Kitchen appliances, barbecue equipment, plumbing fixtures, television sets, bedding, upholstery and other home amenities were sent to an On-Time Logistics warehouse in San Diego, where they were stored until the house was ready. “We had items shipped from at least 20 different sources,” Mel says, “and they delivered every item on time with nothing damaged.”

Sand-colored plaster walls act as a foil for the dark beams and sophisticated Mexican furnishings that sit atop blue-green slate floors and sisal carpets. Mexican art and accessories--carved wood pears, amber glass gazing balls and lamps with delicate paper shades that Sandra discovered in Rosarito shops and galleries--give the modern home real Mexican warmth. A long walkway leads to the couple’s favorite backyard spot--a fire pit of volcanic stones overlooking the shore. Waves break hard on the black rocks below, spraying water high into the air. Overhead, brown pelicans fly in precise V formations. The Peters’ daily ritual, Sandra says, is to sit at the point at the end of each day and watch the sun slip into the ocean: “We often say buying this home in Mexico is one of the best decisions we ever made.” *

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THE COMPS

Location: Punta Piedra

Size: 5,500 square feet

cost: The Peters won’t say, but nearby oceanfront lots start at $1 million-plus and 2,000-square-foot homes sell for about $200,000.

equivalent malibu cost: $15 million to $20 million.

Buying Arrangement:

A 50+50 bank trust, which means the buyers have a 50-year trust on the land that’s renewable for another 50 years.

Advice: “Buy a place in Mexico; it can make a huge change in your life. It has definitely enhanced ours.”

--Sandra Peters

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See Page 72 for Resource Guide