I am looking for information on buying small piece of property.......I am from Canada...there are plenty of sites that i have found but want to be treated fairly....i know lots of prices are put up for the expat......I am by no means rich and dont want to be taken advantage of......any help would be great
1. Get the price in pesos, NOT in CDN or USD. 2. Get the info in Spanish. If you don't speak it, pay someone to make the calls for you. 3. Ask yourself where you want to buy and why? 4. Don't expect much help from the majority of brokers. The good ones have learned it is a huge waste of time driving tourists around and not making a sale. 5. If you know where you want to buy, go there by yourself, get the "lay of the land", get info from every sign you see, make a note of the street, etc., then refer to 2 above. 6. Take photos to help you remember what you see, first of the sign, then one or more of the property. 7. Be sure you have the dimensions of the properties and the number of square meters. Then do some math to compare the unit prices of the various properties. Given enough properties to compare you may be able to spot an obvious bargain or something overpriced. 8. No matter what anyone tells you, find an English speaking lawyer to get you through this. If you find a broker, remember that anyone can be a broker in Mexico & they really don't have a fiduciary duty to either party. Neither does a Notario, although they are the facilitators of the transaction. The lawyer works for you. 9. Nothing in Mexico works or happens like it does "back home". 10. Feel free to send me a Private Message (PM) if you have any questions. Good luck.
Minor piece of advise. Hola. Be aware that land in Mexico is restricted to Mexican Citizens only. You are however allowed to purchase land under a bank trust or under a person other than human per say. Legally in Mexico there are 2 types of persons or citizens for this matter, “Fisica” and “Moral”. Difference between the 2 strives in Fisica being a human person while the Moral is an Entity (bank trust) whose beneficiary is you. Hiring a lawyer is a good advice, I concur. Vic --
Re: Minor piece of advise. Not quite, Vic - that restriction only applies to the 'Restricted Zone' of 50Km (IIRC) from a frontier or coast.
When I bought, it was from the owner, no middle man. You can find lands that don't cost so much in the classifieds, and novenet.com for Novedades has a good one on line. Then, with the owner, you go to the notary and the notary makes the checks of the property, liens, etc. It helps a lot if you speak Spanish. A good bilingual lawyer can help too and you save 7 percent of an agency commission! Happy hunting!
You definitely need to hire a lawyer. We just purchased our land a few months ago here in Cancun. We did buy direct - from the owner. Feel free to msg me if you have any questions. Good luck!
TJ's advice is right on. From what I have seen most real estate fraud in Mexico takes place in land deals. Get a lawyer. Be sure that you understand everything. Be careful not to buy land that doesn't have proper title already. Be careful not to buy ejido land. Make sure you can actually get permission to build the size and type of house you want to build on that land, before you buy it. There are many places around here where you can get building permits from the city but not from the environmental protection agency. If you hear anyone say anything about the papers or permits not being perfect, or the need to bribe anyone to get anything done, walk away from the deal. If you buy beachfront land be sure you understand exactly where the Federal Beach Zone starts. Be sure you understand how much beach erosion there has been, if any. Beach erosion will push the Fed Zone into your lot, so you will be buying less land than you think which can screw up your chances of getting permits to build. Shop for a Notario. They charge vastly different prices for the same work. Usually the buyer chooses the Notario. Be sure your Notario has experience with that exact type of sale and is competent.
