By Rose Anastasi
USA Licensed Real Estate Agent
This June my husband and I made our dream of retiring to Mexico a reality. This is not a decision to be entered into lightly and there are many well meaning people who will give you wrong information. Such as the lovely Facebook moderator who told me we didn’t need anything for our initial visit to immigration; but I’ll save that for another time.
Buying a home in a foreign country can be quite a daunting task. The best thing that you can do is to work with who will guide you through the entire process . I could not have been luckier than to find Lilliana Elena González Castro and her team at Mexatua. First a little background on Mexican real estate agents. Most of them are not licensed and regulated as they are in the United States so make sure to find someone who is. Also many people are surprised to find that a lot of places in Mexico do not utilize Escrow accounts when purchasing property. Not only can it be done here you should insist on it in your purchase agreement. I used a title company where the funds where held in the US and then transferred to Mexico for the closing. Do not allow anyone to tell you an Escrow account is a waste of money or that the seller won’t agree to it. If that is the case simply walk away and find yourself another house.
You do not have to have a real estate agent or an attorney to purchase real estate in Mexico. The closing will be handled by a Notario who is an attorney appointed by life by the government. Some are better than others and I suggest that you do in fact have an attorney to represent you. There have been numerous stories about folks selling properties that in fact they have no legal right to sell. You’ll want someone who can review the deed for you and make sure that you will receive a defect free deed to your property.
To help you learn even more I recommend the video course How to buy real estate in Mexico. As a licensed Real Estate Agent in the States I still had numerous questions and uncertainties. This course helped me immensely.
