Advice on Buying Property in Mexico

Y.,

You really should be nervous about buying any property in Mexico. The Consitution of the Mexico guarantees that every Mexican citizen is entitled to OWN proeprty and foreigners are not permitted to actually own property, rahter a sale is a ong term lease. Furhtermore, in recent years Mexican citizens selling their land claim they have ownership rights to property and have "sold" property that they were actually LEASING and thus making the American "buyer" a subleasee. You must be VERY careful when buying in Mexico, because most titles that you buy are actually 99 year (or more) leases and do not actually grant ownership rights to foreign buyers.

I would suggest you research newspaper articles about buying land in Mexico. In the past 10 years there have been numerous articles on this specific topic. Most articles have revealed that Americans who thought they bought property actually have been kicked off or had to negotiate some other deal by which they could keep the land they had invested into, including building large estates that they would nto have otherwise been ableto affrod in the US.

If you can and are legally able to purchase property in Mexico, I would suggest you find a real estate attorney recommended by the San Diego Bar Association first. If you are unsuccessful there look in the LA Area at some real estate development firms who have developed property in Mexico, such as hotels, and ask who their attorneys are. Or if you have a favorite plce you go in Mexico and the owners are foreign, ask them who their attorney is.

I would also go to your local law library or try justia.com or findlaw.com and look up land laws of Mexico and Constitutional guarantees to the citizens of Mexico.

My husband and I have contemplated land purchases in different countries, even in Hawaii, but found that we would never really be "owners" and instead be 99 year leaseholders. Not a good investment if someone else can swipe your land you paid for and the government will back the citizen's rights over the land ownership rights.

Anwyay, these are my two cents for what it is worth.

L.

I've heard that you can't actually buy the land in Mexico unless you are a Mexican citizen, so you will be sold only the structure and the land would be leased to you. I don't know this for a fact, but its something to check out.

We have property in Mexico (KM55). We have always loved it! We've owned it for over 21 years! Mexico is a little scary right now with all the drug wars...really research the area you are interested in. Make sure there are plenty of Americans owning in that area. There are plenty of realtors in CA that help can help with the sales transactions, but be careful because Mexico has it's own real estate laws and they are tricky. Check out some websites on "advice for buying real estate in Mexico." Good luck!

If you are not a citizen of Mexico you are not legaly able to own property there. My father is a Mexican citizen and owns property in Mexico, he is in the process of selling one of his properties to my brother who had to apply for a duel citizenship to be able to own it. The problem with that is he had to have my dad sponsor him and it's not a common or easy thing to do. Good Luck!