Christopher Snell

Christopher "Chris" Snell (born 1960) is an American-born businessman who owns Snell Real Estate, which specializes in the sale of luxury properties in the resort area of Los Cabos, Mexico. Snell helped introduce the safeguards of title insurance and third-party escrow accounts to Mexico, enabling Americans to purchase high-end properties in the Los Cabos and Cabo San Lucas areas with greater confidence. Snell's firm handles a majority of luxury property sales in Southern Baja.

Impact on Mexican Real Estate Industry
Previously, when Americans purchased property in Mexico, they typically paid for the land first and obtained title later. This created undo risk for purchasers of land in Mexico and, in some cases, titles were never transferred. “In some cases Americans have been scammed by sellers with fake property documents,” the Dallas Morning News reported in 2009. In 1997, Snell Real Estate introduced the use of U.S. escrow services and U.S. title insurance to Mexico, providing American-style protections to the purchasing of real estate in Los Cabos. “To help foreign homebuyers, several American companies now sell title insurance in Mexico, thanks to the help of experts such as Chris Snell in San Jose del Cabo,” reported the Dallas Morning News. Now, real estate companies throughout Mexico routinely offer title insurance and escrow accounts to their clients.

Career
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Snell first moved to Los Cabos in 1991 to work for Koll International out of Newport Beach, California, and began developing golf courses and selling properties at the Palmilla Resort. In 1997, he began Snell Real Estate, which has sold over $1 billion in private real estate in the last decade and handles 80 percent of southern Baja’s luxury properties. Snell also has helped develop the Cabo Del Sol, Villas Del Mar, Espiritu Del Mar, Villas De Oro, Querencia and Punta Ballena resorts in Los Cabos.