Paul & Vince would like to welcome Malusa de Nova, a luxury real estate partner and advisor based in Mexico City, where she co-leads the Macafe Team. With more than a decade of experience in the luxury real estate market, Malusa has worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and with Sotheby’s International Realty in Mexico City.  She holds a degree in International Relations from Tec de Monterrey, studied at Sciences Po Paris, and completed negotiation courses at Harvard University. A passionate traveler and foodie, Malusa loves discovering hidden gems across the city, and above all, she is a proud mother of three.

1.

Paul & Vince: What are the best things about living and working in your market?

Malusa: Mexico City is a city of twenty-two million people, it’s huge, it’s so full of culture, art, history, roots…You can still see indigenous people mingling with foreigners in the hippest and coolest areas of the city. The culinary scene is never ending, and as of this year, we have 23 restaurants with Michelin ratings. The city is huge, but it’s very green, with old trees and tropical plants like the purple Jacaranda everywhere…It’s much more lush and green than perhaps, a city like New York. And the weather is very nice, because it’s at a higher elevation than a lot of Mexico, which is desert.

Paul & Vince: Yes, when we were there in August the weather was perfect. Wasn’t it originally a lake?

Malusa: Yes, Mexico City was actually built in the 1300s by the Aztecs, right on top of a lake. And then the lake dried completely. Our flag has a coat of arms with an eagle on top of a cactus perched right in the middle of that lake! And that’s why we have so many earthquakes that can hit very badly, because everything was built on top of it. 

Paul & Vince: That’s really interesting.

Malusa: Yes, and now surrounding downtown, it’s booming…many of the hippest neighborhoods are there, like Roma or Condesa Juarez, where the Soho House was built. Polanco would be the poshest area, there we have Avenida Masaryk, which is like our Fifth Avenue, where all the designer stores are.

Paul & Vince: And is it true that Mexico City is home to many multinational corporations?

Malusa: Well, it is true that many global corporations have a presence here, like Ford, Cisco, McDonalds. Many industries like pharmaceuticals and tech companies. Also the film and TV industry here is very hot. So there’s so much going on, so many interesting people from all over the world are moving here.

2.

Paul & Vince: Tell us what you did before you worked in real estate?

Malusa: I actually studied international relations and I thought that I was going to be an ambassador. I spent a year in Paris, working at the Mexican Embassy there. And then I studied at Harvard and worked at the Mexican Consulate in Boston. And then I began helping friends, mostly Latin American students, who were coming to Boston, and I opened a small relocation company, so that’s how I got into real estate. And when I moved back to Mexico City, Sotheby’s was opening an office, so I worked for them for six years, until I met my partner Rodrigo Perez del Toro. Together we reached out to an international real estate brand and very quickly received approval to open an office here.

3.

Paul & Vince: That’s fantastic. But now tell us, what’s unique to the Mexico City real estate market right now?

Malusa: Of course, there are many foreigners coming into the city. If you go to areas like Roma or Condesa, there’s a joke among Mexicans where we say, “we have to bring our passports.” You can hear every single language. It started actually, with the pandemic, because everybody was closed and we were open. So people kept coming here and finding out that Mexico is actually quite safe, and it’s far cheaper to live here compared to so many places in the world. So they started buying properties, and before the pandemic, an average price for a house in the city was $500,000 US. But since the pandemic, now, we have clients that are coming with unlimited budgets. I just showed a $15M house in Roma. $15 million American dollars. So our profile of buyers has changed considerably, it’s the whole rainbow now. 

Paul & Vince: Where are they coming from recently, what parts of the world? 

Malusa: A lot of New Yorkers, a lot of people from San Francisco, and many people from Spain are coming to Mexico. All the Latin American countries, but now we have more people from Asia than we used to. We actually have a Koreatown that we didn’t used to have. I had a client the other day from India looking for a house in Lomas. He has a tech company and he had an $8M budget. What’s happening with this market is really, really something important. We have a lot of high-profile clients. 

Paul & Vince: And are these foreigners learning Spanish? Or can you get around speaking English?

Malusa: It’s true that many Americans get around speaking English, but many people from other countries make more of an effort to learn Spanish. 

Paul & Vince: Interesting. And you likely have travelers who are only in Mexico City part time, so that makes it even harder. Do you have laws against short-term rentals?

Malusa: We have a new law, where a single person can’t own more than five Airbnbs. There’s also a 50% occupancy limit, so a unit can’t be rented more than 180 days a year. So many people who have invested are trying to overturn this law, or convey short term rentals back to hotels, since the hotel industry has plateaued compared to Airbnbs.
But a lot of people come here and think it will be part-time, and then they stay! I had a very funny conversation the other day with a Spanish lady. She said that in her company, they don’t want to send people to work temporarily to Mexico anymore, because they are all staying. They never come back!

4.

Paul & Vince: Oh, that’s very funny. So tell us what you like most about your career in real estate right now? 

Malusa: Connecting with people, definitely. We tend to make friends with our clients. I can remember when I turned 40, I had clients coming from different parts of the world for my birthday party! And I love how this job is like a puzzle that I absolutely love. When you have somebody looking for something and in your mind something just pops up, the perfect property. I love it. And now Rodrigo and I are business partners, and things are growing fast. We launched a year ago, and we already have 22 agents. And we just signed a contract for a development, so we will have 120 new properties in the next month. So I enjoy all the new challenges, growing our team and finding new opportunities everywhere.

And one more, Just for Fun

Paul & Vince: Now it’s time for our Just For Fun question. What is something you secretly do better than anyone?

Malusa: Well, I am a foodie, so the most important thing in my life is eating the right food, I enjoy it so much. My mom is a chef, so I grew up with this, and I mean, we only have one stomach and we only have three meals a day. 

Paul & Vince: Good point! Ha!

Malusa: I am constantly thinking what I’m gonna eat and where, and I’m one of those people who has all the guides of the city of what new restaurant is open and what’s their specialty and where the chef came from, all of that. So I am very good at secretly getting people to go eat where I want to eat.

Paul & Vince: How on earth do you do that? 

Malusa: Well, I might say, “Oh, today’s so cold, right? Perfect for some soup, like maybe some Thai coconut soup could be very good.” And then slowly I put it in their minds, and they start thinking about it and getting hungry. And then when we get there, I make my friends order every single thing on the menu. And we share. 

Paul & Vince: Wow, we really don’t experiment like you. We eat in the same two restaurants over and over. But there is a funny thing about New York where they say the “third place,” where if you can find a place where you feel really at home in New York City, then you tend to go back again and again because you’re sort of defying the anonymity of the city in a way, so we get that.

We love the idea of three meals and one stomach. So if you were to go to three different dream restaurants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, where would you go?

Malusa: I would have chilaquiles for breakfast, which is fried eggs with chips and cheese, salsa, and cream. There’s a place in Condesa where people line up for blocks. Lunch could be many things of course, but it could be a Thai restaurant with a lovely green curry. And dinner would be fabulous sushi. And we’d have to have a second stomach for street food! Esquites, which is “elote en vaso” or corn in a cup…with a bit of mayo, lime, cheese, chili spices, and you mix it all up.

Paul & Vince: Sounds delicious! We’re ready to come visit!

Malusa: I will make all the reservations! Ha!

Original artwork by Jolisa Robinson, Gavriani-Falcone Team Marketing