Many people are choosing retirement in Mexico. If you are thinking about retirement in Mexico but are unsure of where you want to settle, consider the beautiful little beach town of Puerto Penasco in Sonora. Known by locals as Rocky Point, this idyllic little beach town is only 94 miles from Ajo, Arizona and the international border. It is accessible by excellent toll roads and even has a small international airport, making it very convenient for all kinds of travel. Choosing Puerto Penasco for retirement in Mexico is a good choice for many reasons.
The process of purchasing property in Mexico is much different than in the United States. Real estate laws protecting buyers/sellers and property owners are just coming into existence, the Mexican Constitution places restrictions on foreigners owning property, the process for registering and tracking title to property is in it’s infancy, and U.S. lenders still consider the purchase of property in Mexico high risk. With that said, real advancements have been made to stream line the buying process, protect the rights of property owners, and provide guidance to foreign investors.
Mandatory Registration of Real Estate Agents
The most recent development intended to protect the rights of buyers and sellers is the passage of a real estate law by the State of Sonora to require all real estate agents selling property in the State of Sonora to be a licensed registered agent.
Taxable Event?
For years, Americans have been creating U.S. LLC’s to be the beneficiary’s of Mexican bank trust, known as fidiecomiso’s, for the ownership of residential real estate that is located in Mexico’s restricted zone. It has been a practice utilized for more than 20 years when foreigners acquire houses on Mexican beaches intended for their third party residential use. The intent, as was originally contemplated, considered that the sale of the U.S. LLC, having established trust rights as “fideicomisaro” (beneficiary) of the Mexican realty, would not trigger a taxable event under Mexico’s tax law.
Happy New Year to all, and welcome to 2007. With the beginning of another 365 calendar days, inevitably there are questions to be asked about the previous year and questions about the coming one, especially in the volatile world of real estate. Questions are easy; meaningful answers can be much more difficult to obtain. Here are several that are worth considering as we venture into 2007 with a new President in Mexico.
So what happened to the second home market in the United States during 2006? The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight proclaimed during the first quarter of last year that residential homes values had appreciated at 20% or better in four of the major second home markets during 2005.
Let me clarify the situation on electricity rates in San Felipe for this summer. Most residential users will find themselves on the 1F tarrif. If you use a total of less than 1200 kwh of electricity per month you get a bargain rate. Your maximum bill (including the 10% tax) will be 777 pesos or less. You can approximate what you will pay by using the figure of 0.65 pesos/kwh, so 900 kwh/month would cost you around 585 pesos.
So my parent’s finally pulled the trigger and purchased a condominium at Las Palomas Sea Side Golf Community. This is a big deal for the family. The answers do not come easily in Mexico. And the numbers don’t always match up as expected. Some of the answers to questions may be unknown or you may have two different answers. To help alleviate a lot of the unknowns you will want to work with experienced professionals.
I wanted to provide you with the closing cost estimates on the purchase of a 2 bedroom condo at Las Palomas valued at $185,000 dollars. We worked with a very experience realtor at Realty Executives Rocky Point, John Witt. Our Mexican Attorney was Pablo Davila LL. M..
It is recommended that when considering the purchase of Mexican property that you seek out the assistants of a AMPI Member agent. AMPI stands for “Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios” or The Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals. The AMPI is affiliated with the National Association of Realtors(NAR) in the U.S. and with the Canadian Real Estate Association. Through a mutual agreement between NAR and AMPI if you are an enrolled AMPI agents you are automatically enrolled in NAR. AMPI helps to facilitate agent enrollment to the Diplomado licensing classes and other approved programs. A Diplomando is a Real Estate licensed earned though a 60 hour real estate class mandated for all agents selling real estate in the State of Sonora. See more on agent licensing here. Additionally the organization works with federal, state and municipal Mexican authorities, proposing new laws related to real estate activity in Mexico. The members of AMPI have pledged to uphold strict ethical standards set forth in the AMPI National Code of Ethics & the United States NAR (National Association of Realtors) Code of Ethics.
AMPI member shown above participated in the CIPS certification class in June 2010.
View the AMPI Website here
