There are a lot of misconceptions about owning property in Mexico, and many people
don't think foreigners can own property. More than 50 km from the coast or the nation's borders,
foreigners can hold title outright to property. On the coast, including Huatulco, a bank holds the title for you in a trust and you pay
about $500 a year for the bank trust, known as a fideicomiso. You are free to sell the property at anytime and a fideicomiso
is every bit as secure in Huatulco as having a title. It's just an extra layer of paperwork to make banks more money. When you set up the trust,
the initial cost includes the first two years of the trust fees and you don't begin paying new fees until the third year.
Elsewhere in Mexico people have heard many horror stories about land being resold multiple times by people that don't own it, dubious titles, and all other
manner of chicanery. Hardly any of this is possible in Huatulco, because Fonatur claimed all the land in 1984 in creating Huatulco and voided any past history to ownership. Because in
nearly every case Fonatur is the original owner, the history of
ownership is usually easy to establish to ensure you are actually buying it from the person who owns it. In other parts of the Mexican coast, land is often only available for sale when it has
been reclassified from the communal land system that only allows residents of local villages to own land in their area. It is the confusion of the conversion process from the communal land
system that has left places around Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere in a nightmarish disarray of crooked land deals. Even still, you have to be VERY careful who you deal with in buying property.
Full disclosure does not exist. Particularly with condominiums, you want to make sure you are getting an individual fideicomiso for your unit, and not
just some piece of paper that says you have a share in the condo. There is no licensing for realtors in Mexico and anyone can be a realtor. There are about five or six realtors in Huatulco, and with all of them you can usually find someone to swear by them or swear at them. Some are definitely better than
others, and I will privately recommend ones I trust as well as those that should be avoided to those who contact me.
No matter who you deal with, however, have everything spelled out up front. My closing costs were about $2500 for the fideicomiso and the notary fees - what the costs should be -
whereas I've heard of less than reputable realtors inflating it to as much as $7500 for a similar property. The popular book "Gringos in Paradise" is an almost must-read for a would-be homebuyer in Mexico. The entertainment
value of the couple's experiences in Mexico is worth it alone, but it's also a good primer on how things are done in Mexico. Most of the realtor's listings are highly inflated over what you should be able to get a place for
in Huatulco, so if you can find a way of eliminating the middleman completely, you'll save a great deal of money. If you're interested in building a home, Casas de Ensueño is one of the most reputable builders in town,
run by a group of Canadians. There are good Mexican builders as well, but all too often things get "lost in translation" here. Unless your Spanish is fluent, in as tricky a business as building a house there's something to be said for dealing with native English speakers. We're always
keeping an ear to the ground for good deals around town for sale by owner, so feel free to contact us if you're in the market. |
