Consider legal advice before signing time-share contracts. RELATED LINKS City Guide: Cabo San Lucas

Almost everywhere you turn in Cabo San Lucas you’ll bump into charming folks who want to take up a few minutes of your valuable time to tell you about some impossibly sweet deal on a Los Cabos vacation home. These friendly invitations typically lead to heavy-handed sales pitches that end, all too often, with hapless visitors forking over large sums of money for time-share contracts they’ll later regret signing.

In its Consular Information Sheet for Mexico, the U.S. State Department specifically warns travelers about the "aggressive tactics used by some time-share sales representatives," and advises against entering into any kind of real estate investment without first seeking independent legal advice. A salesman who insists that you sign a contract immediately probably doesn’t have your best interests in mind, so better take a deep breath, ignore all suggestions that the deal will not be available tomorrow, and do some smart comparison shopping before writing a check.

If you do toss back a few too many tequilas and exchange your child’s college fund for a few weeks a year in a condo on the beach, there could be a way out. According to the State Department advisory, "Mexican law allows time-share purchasers five days to cancel the contract for unconditional and full reimbursement" — through buyers must watch out for clauses in time-share contracts that stipulate penalties for opting out within five days. For more information, visit the State Department website at www.travel.state.gov.