Ocean View or Amenities? We Asked Two Top Cabo Agents to Pick One

If you're shopping for a property in Los Cabos and trying to decide what to prioritize when the budget doesn't stretch to everything, here's a question worth asking: when it comes down to it, do buyers care more about the ocean view or the building's amenities?

We put that exact question to Mitch McDonald and Alejandro Donnadieu of Cabo Real Estate. Their answer was immediate, and unanimous.

"In your eyes, generally, when a buyer comes down, if it had to come down to one of the two, which is more important — ocean view or amenities?" Mitch was asked.

"Ocean views," he said, without hesitation.

Alejandro agreed. "I agree, ocean view," he said, adding a bit of nuance: "My amenities have their value, of course, in the client's perspective. It's not like, 'oh, I have the view and that's it.' But overall, the view is much more important for what they have experienced."

That distinction is worth sitting with. Amenities — a pool, a gym, a concierge desk, a rooftop lounge — genuinely add value and shape a buyer's day-to-day experience of a property. Nobody's saying they don't matter. But when push comes to shove, and a buyer has to choose between a unit with a better view and one with a better amenity package, the view wins. It's not close.

Why? Part of it is emotional. A view is what you experience the moment you wake up, the backdrop to every morning coffee and evening sunset — it's the thing that makes a vacation property feel like an escape rather than just a place to sleep. Amenities, by contrast, tend to be occasional-use: nice to have, but not the reason someone falls in love with a property.

For buyers weighing trade-offs in today's market, this is a genuinely useful data point. If you're choosing between two properties at similar price points — one with a stronger view and a smaller amenity package, another with the reverse — the agents' experience suggests the view is the safer long-term bet, both for your own enjoyment and for resale.

For sellers, it's a pricing signal too. A property with a strong, protected ocean view has real leverage in a negotiation, even against a competing listing with a longer amenities list. Don't undersell the view.

About the agents

Mitch McDonald is a real estate agent with Cabo Real Estate, specializing in condominiums in El Tezal and Pedregal, with a focus on vacation homes that can generate occasional rental income. Reach him at mitch@caborealestate.com.

Alejandro Donnadieu is a real estate agent with Cabo Real Estate, focused on helping buyers understand the full breadth of the Los Cabos area and find the neighborhood that matches their lifestyle. Reach him at alejandro@caborealestate.com.