# Buying A Home - Questions to Ask



## andrea333 (Jan 17, 2019)

When buying a house in Mexico, what important questions should I be asking that I may not think of living in Canada. Like does the house have hot water or internet. I know there are much more important questions I should be asking.

Any guidance would be appreciated


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

first you should make sure that if you speak with the owner , he or she is really the owner or the sole owner. You shoul also know if they have a deed , if it ia a ejido or was a ejido, if near the coast of the border if you have to have a trust.

whose poperty are the 4 walls around you or if they are owned in common.. I own 2 walls and my neighbors own two walls. Who are the neighhbors? If they are empty lots around be careful.. Is it a property that is in town or in a condominium or a fraccionamento. Are they many dues behnd, is everyone paying the water..
Where does the water come from? the city', a private well, , is there water and how it is delivered... Do not assume anything. check the water bills, the electrical bills
Check if there is a aljibe or tinaco, are they clean and in good working order. 
Plumbing and electricity are usually substandard in older construction so check those. Check what kind of rood you have, how is the water from the roof being taken away from the foundation. and on and on.

Here you are on your own. The agences are not responsable for anything and some of the agents will omits to tell you a few things, there is no compulsory disclosure it is buyer beware.

Do not rely on you experience in your country. Home inspectors are just beople declaring themselves home inspectors, some are good some are no good.

Watch out for termites if the house has lots of wood. check for humidity (salitre)..

The notary should do this but make sure that all utilities and taxes are up to date. Make sure employees have been let go and paid off before you hire any or before you sign off and pay and on and on...

Check for the closest evento salon or bar as the noise can drive you crazy. If you buy close to a church you probably will have cohetes falling on your rood and breaking the tiles if you live in a cool climate.

Do not over pay and remember it is easier to buy than to sell so buy in a desirable area if you want to get out quickly later on.


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## andrea333 (Jan 17, 2019)

This is what I know so far...

The house has a "Cesion de Derechos" which I am not sure what this means. It also has a
Cisterna de 5000 Lt., bomba y pozo de agua con su fosa séptica.


This would be all new to me, therefore not sure what to make of it and if it is something I would be interested in pursuing. Are the above things normal?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I would find out if it is a real it is a real septic tank wth leech line or a cesspool that need to be emptied and contaminate then I would checkwere is the fosa septica and where is the well. How deep is the well what capacity does it have, Is it your well or the well of the comunity, does it run dry during the dry season, what is the water situation for the houses around.

If you are really interested in the house find out from a notario and from the owner (separately) what is the cesion de derechos about.Did the house belong to several individuals and they all gave their rghts away or one indidual gave up his clainm to the house to the other. What does the deed (escritura) say? Right there you need a notario to review that document.

Is the cistern in good shape? How is it constructed.? Ask to see it, it is well kept ? Is it clean? Get a contractor to help you and ask him to review the cistern, the bomba, the fosa and the well.. Do you have access to the water from town as well? I assume it is a country property.Is it? Is it ejido or tierra communal or it has an escritura? Is it in an indigenous area where there has been take over of land?

Around which town and in which state are you?


A friend of mine bought land a few years ago.. she is indigenous and bought from an indigenous community of 50 inhabitant. She was sown an escritura, she was asked to pay dues to belong to the community, it turns out the escritura is a fraud, she bought a piece of land from people who invaded an ecological reserve in the 90´s and there is a major controversy about the land and if the government is going to kick everyone out or not.. t is a real mess so be careful if it is in the country.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

cesion de derechos = Assignment of Rights

good site: http://www.escapeartist.com/mexico/real-estate/guide-buying-owning-mexico-real-estate/


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## rmajijic (Jul 15, 2017)

Although I wrote this for Lake Chapala, it holds true for all of Mexico. Best of luck
https://www.retireinlakechapala.net/single-post/2018/06/19/Lake-Chapala-Home-Buyers-Checklist


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Good list with variances to be expected according to the area.

Also there is no such a thing as a home inspector in Mexico. You can hire a contractor to look over the house but home inspectors do not exist unless you are in an area where there are many foreigners and then some foreigners and Mexcans ae happy to call themselves inspectors wether they are qualified or not since there is no certification for inspectors or realtors for that manner.. It is buyer beware..

I have yet to see a septic wth a leeach line here.. the sustem here is more primitive in the ones I saw.

if there s a well get it tested. Hard water is the least of the problem.. contaminated water is what would worry me.

If you are on the coast you cannot get a deed and you have to have a bank trust. same if you are close to a border.

You have to go through a notario when you buy a house. A notario is a blend of realestate attorney and titele company. He is suppoosed to represent the law and is supposed to be unpartial. If you want someone representn gyou het a realestate attorney.. 
The realestate agent are not certified either so beware.. some are good and some are bad also there is no obligation to disclose anything here and there is no garanty that the buyer or agent will tell you the truth.. The seller pays the notario and I said he is not tied to the buyer , he is to represent the law not the party buying or selling. Some are better than others at researching the titles and once in a while here and there you have notarios who will commit fraud , however as a rule they are fine.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

andrea333 said:


> This is what I know so far...
> 
> The house has a "Cesion de Derechos" which I am not sure what this means. It also has a
> Cisterna de 5000 Lt., bomba y pozo de agua con su fosa séptica.
> ...


I would be concerned about the cesión de derechos. It has a “escritura pública “, (property public deed) then, why would someone else be selling the property? One more thing; that cesión de derechos is not “as strong” for saying it in a very plain way as the public deed


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Gary , you got me can you explain escritura publica , please It is a house on public land? ejido, communal land? A private party is selling it?SO it means there is no deed de facto?


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

citlali said:


> Good list with variances to be expected according to the area.
> 
> Also there is no such a thing as a home inspector in Mexico. You can hire a contractor to look over the house but home inspectors do not exist unless you are in an area where there are many foreigners and then some foreigners and Mexcans ae happy to call themselves inspectors wether they are qualified or not since there is no certification for inspectors or realtors for that manner.. It is buyer beware..
> 
> ...


I agree on most of these
Notarios in Mexico are the one that certify that something is taking place (that’s my best description) they do not work solely in the real estate world.
Buyer is the one that pays for the Notario Publico fees.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes you are right Gary , the buyers pays for the notario.


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## kcowan (Jul 24, 2010)

11 years ago, we bought a condo. Here are some of the things I wish I had checked:
1) Propane - we shared a tank with the owner above. They agreed to 50-50 split while we were there, but they had 5 adults compared to our 2. We now have our own tank.
2) Tanacos - They had to be replaced.
3) Drainage - We had several special assessments to improve drainage on the hill where we lived. 
4) Bank Trust - The bank had built in a fee escalator which we had not agreed to. So we got $400 USD for 50 years. The only thing that can increase is IVA.
5) Title - The owner had given a POA to his brother who sold us the place. Turns out POAs are only valid for a year in Jalisco. Fortunately, we had opted for an interest-bearing escrow account, so we had possession in December but got interest until May when they had cleared all the hurdles.

We do not regret our purchase. We eventually replaced all the appliances with top-of-the-line, and did some major modifications. Made it custom for us.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

citlali said:


> Gary , you got me can you explain escritura publica , please It is a house on public land? ejido, communal land? A private party is selling it?SO it means there is no deed de facto?


Escritura pública can be issued to properties in private land, or if the government would sell you a piece of land. 
Properties in ejidos or comunal lands cannot be sold as easily and those are a pain in the neck if you need to legalize them under your name.
Supposedly, Notarios must investigate and assure that the land has no deeds or any other type of problems ( intestados, juicios, etc) this is good in most of the cases.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Do you know if Notarios have insurrance , if they screw up? In France they do and the insurrance pays iif they screw up and they are humans and do screw up once in a while. It happened to one of my cousin..the insurrance paid.. What happens here if a notario screws up his research and give you a feed that is not valid?t is ejido or comunal.. it can go ok but when it goes wrong.. boy does it go wrong..

Ejido or comunal land is a headache.. I am dealing with comisarios from comunal land , just to buy sand from them.. I sure would not buy land that is ejidal or comunal.. I guess sometimes it is ok but when it goes wrong it goes wrong big time and for ever..


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Our property in Tepoztlán is _comunal_. So far it has been pretty straightforward. It may help that my husband is Mexican and lived in Tepoz years before we met. I was very nervous about buying _comunal_ property, so I spoke with lots of local people about it, include the justice of the peace at the _Casa del Pueblo_. They all reassured me it was not a big deal, it would be fine and I didn’t have to worry. Most land in Tepoztlán is still _comunal_, so if you want to buy there, there is a good chance it will be _comunal_. We have the “Cesión de Derechos” document, duly signed and witnessed by other people from the community. We bought the property from someone who had previously purchased it from the hereditary owner. We had the hereditary owner’s wife as one of the witnesses, to reduce the risk that someday they would try to “reclaim” the property. Also, the process required an official land survey, and all the adjacent property owners (which included the original hereditary property owner and some of his siblings) all had to sign off on the survey indicating they were in agreement with the official property boundaries. 

Several local people told us the first thing we should do was “bardear” the property, i.e. build a fence or stone wall around it. This clearly establishes it as our property. Part of the property was already surrounded by a stone wall, and 6 years later we have just finally finished the last very tall stone & cement block wall. In the interim my husband had put in a temporary chain link fence at the property lines that weren’t already walled. 

The other thing we did was to register the property with “Catastro”, the land registry agency. In Tepoztlán so many people have inherited their land since time immemorial, and much of this land has never been officially registered with Catastro. For the same reason, many indigenous in Tepoz do not pay property taxes, as they do not recognize the right of the government to tax what has been in their family for centuries or possibly millennia. We wanted to make sure our right to this _comunal_ land was clearly recognized and officially documented in as many ways as possible, so we paid for another land survey and registered with _Catastro_. We pay our property taxes promptly, in person, and keep the receipts. One year my husband was told there was no record in the system that we paid the previous year’s taxes. Thank heavens we had the receipt!

We also try to be good neighbours, participate in neighbourhood events, whether with our contributions to the barrio fund for the annual fiestas del barrio (there are 2 for our barrio), attending _rezos_ for someone who has passed away (if we in some way know them or the family), getting to know neighbours, etc. etc. In the _comunal_ system, especially in a smaller, traditional town like Tepoztlán where _usos y costumbres_ are important, positive participation and integration into the community counts for a lot. And just to be clear, it’s not like we participate in some calculated fashion just because we own _comunal_ land. We like our barrio and it’s important to us to be good neighbours.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Well good luck to you and your heirs , that is all I have to say .. I have seen so many examples of what can happen in Chiapas that I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole, We do not need the headaches.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

citlali said:


> Well good luck to you and your heirs , that is all I have to say .. I have seen so many examples of what can happen in Chiapas that I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole, We do not need the headaches.


I have a hunch things are a bit more orderly in Tepoztlan than in Chiapas... Not that things can't go south. We've seen some examples of that, but generally in cases where people trusted the wrong person, e.g. accepting verbal promises - which is often still how things are done in Tepoztlan - rather than everything signed, sealed and witnessed, which is how we have done it. We hold on to all receipts and documents to have a strong paper trail. We are registered as the owners at more than one government office (Casa del Pueblo and Catastro). We also will not let anyone else live at our place long-term. That could result in "squatters rights" and we could lose it. We had a niece live there with her common-law husband for about 9 months, but not any longer. She also was getting into conflict with a neighbour, which we try to avoid. She had other options of where to live, so when she offered to stay longer to "take care of the house", we declined. 

But yes, we know a couple (Mexican, but not originally from Tepoz) who gave a sizeable down payment to a supposed "friend" for a piece of land in Tepoztlan. It turned out the "friend" was not the owner and absconded with the money. They had given him the money with no land survey, no Buy-Sell Agreement, nothing written of any kind, no research to show he was actually the owner, etc. Also the owners of one of the properties adjacent to ours had sold that property years ago to a fairly well-off couple from Mexico City. This couple built a house, but left it at the "obra gris" stage, and never moved in. They also apparently never went through all the bureaucracy to get all the proper paperwork, have it registered in their name with Catastro, etc. Then they let the original owners (who had inherited this land from their father) live on the property as caretakers. Big mistake. As the years went by, they never finished the house or moved in, and the "caretakers" continued to live there. After many years, the "caretakers" claimed rights to this property which they had previously sold, because they were the ones living there for so long, and under ejido law whoever is living on the property long enough can make a claim on that property. It went to court, a long, drawn out process lasting many years. We are not still 100% sure what the truth is about the outcome. Apparently the family living in the house (as "caretakers") finally won, but it was a rather Pyrrhic victory, as the majority of the surrounding land went to their lawyer in payment for his services. They just have a now crumbling unfinished house with a small bit of land. 

There is a process to privatize _comunal_ land. Some people in Tepoztlan have done this successfully, and we will likely try to do this at some point. It does involve getting approval from the local _comuneros_. But honestly, if you look at real estate listings in Tepoztlan, a lot of them are "comunal" and everyone in Tepoztlan that I've asked says this generally does not present a problem. I think knowing the community is key.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Even in cities, you have to be careful that people selling things are the real owners. Lots of vacant lots in Guadalajara have a big sign saying "Not for sale" or "Not for rent". That used to mystify me. I can see advertising if something is "For sale", but why "Not for sale". Then I realized that the purpose is to discourage a third party from selling it to some unlucky sucker.

When I bought my house, I discovered that the person I was talking to was not one of the owners. But it turned out all right. He was legitimately acting for his mother and four cousins who were the owners.

Good to be careful out there.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

citlali said:


> Do you know if Notarios have insurrance , if they screw up? In France they do and the insurrance pays iif they screw up and they are humans and do screw up once in a while. It happened to one of my cousin..the insurrance paid.. What happens here if a notario screws up his research and give you a feed that is not valid?t is ejido or comunal.. it can go ok but when it goes wrong.. boy does it go wrong..
> 
> Ejido or comunal land is a headache.. I am dealing with comisarios from comunal land , just to buy sand from them.. I sure would not buy land that is ejidal or comunal.. I guess sometimes it is ok but when it goes wrong it goes wrong big time and for ever..


Insurance for notarios? No way
They get punished by having to pay fines, or they get their notarías licences suspended or taken away
Most of the time you can trust them, but still, don’t trust so much


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## Ajijic Lady (Jan 19, 2009)

I was told by an Ajijic Notario when he was determining whether we had to pay capital gains on sale of residence, that the reason he thoroughly documented the exemption was that when the transaction was reviewed by the tax authorities, if they denied this exemption HE would have to pay the entire amount of the capital gains tax he had exempted, plus a penalty. And yes, too many reversals of any of his decisions could result in his losing his Notario license.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Ok so the notarios get fines or lose their license but what about the consumer? Who protects them? The brother of a friend of mine here in Chiapas bought a lot and got the escritura.. It turns out the land was not comunal land but the land of well known people here that had been purchased illegally by them from the original owners and then invaded by Chamulans after 94.
This notario issued all kinds of fraudulent escrituras and is being persued by the justice dpt but what about all the people who have fraudulent escrituras, paid for them and the land ? 
In France the insurrance would cover them but here , it is just tough luck...

Who cares if the notarios lose their license when you end up with nothing..Yes there are crooked or and incompetent notarios and no protection for the people who use their services altough they are there at the will of the government. Nobody is responsible...great system, they need to update it.

In France my cousin received a bill for 30 years of property tax on a cellar that was under a restaurant she had sold 30 years ago.. It turns out that the notary forgot to include the cellar n the escritura.. It was a big mess because her ex wanted more money for the cellar now etc.. The nsurrance paid for the new escritura and the back taxes and that is the way it should be.. By the way the notario was long dead.. Weird stuff happens in realestate and consumers should be covered for the screw ups of a representant of the State.. Here it is tough luck you should have seen it or known it.


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## AceM (Jan 19, 2017)

citlali said:


> Ok so the notarios get fines or lose their license but what about the consumer? Who protects them? The brother of a friend of mine here in Chiapas bought a lot and got the escritura.. It turns out the land was not comunal land but the land of well known people here that had been purchased illegally by them from the original owners and then invaded by Chamulans after 94.
> This notario issued all kinds of fraudulent escrituras and is being persued by the justice dpt but what about all the people who have fraudulent escrituras, paid for them and the land ?
> In France the insurrance would cover them but here , it is just tough luck...
> 
> ...


I think hiring 2 notarios would be the safest option since there is no insurance option the way france has it

I do know of title insurance but im not entirely sure which protections and coverages it provides


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

I seriously doubt that there is any actual title insurance in Mexico. Notarias/Notarios do real estate, wills and other such affairs in Mexico, as they are highly specialized lawyers, appointed by the state to assure that all is done correctly. Regular lawyers, abogados, cannot handle real estate, but could advise you if you feel the need. Then, you and/or the lawyer would have to hire a Notario to do the actual work. It would be an added expense, and I see no reason to do it that way. A Notario, in Mexico, bears no similarity to a notary public in the USA; just a clerk with a seal, of no value or relevance in Mexico.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Asking two notarios makes no sense to me ..not in France and not in Mexico..and it would be an expensive propostion and if they do not agree , you go to a third one?.. No it does not work that way here.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

There is no insurance in Mexico for that. The law protects the user. Once they find the notario was guilty, user can demand that the case to be reviewed and corrected
No need to hire two notarios. In fact, that cannot be done


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Regarding title insurance in Mexico, there is a paper that provides a very thorough discussion of that question as well as related matters pertaining to purchasing in Mexico.

Do Foreigners Need Title Insurance In Mexico? - An Analysis of U.S. Title Insurance and Mexican Real Estate Law

I believe the author, Jeffrey G. Boman, was a student taking a class in Mexican Law from Jorge Vargas a professor of law at the University of San Diego. Boman is now an attorney working in San Diego.


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