# Canadians buying in Mexico, paying U.S dollars



## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Are there any Canadians on here who have bought a place in Mexico, in U.S. dollars, and used any of the 3 following money xchange company's to both buy the U.S amount and then transfer it to the escrow company in MX, and if so, would you recommend one of them over another, and why/why not, or did you use one not mentioned, or just used your Canadian bank,:confused2: Gracias. 
The 3 company's are ..........Knightsbridge, Transferwise, XE,


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## Perrier (Dec 18, 2016)

gringotim said:


> Are there any Canadians on here who have bought a place in Mexico, in U.S. dollars, and used any of the 3 following money xchange company's to both buy the U.S amount and then transfer it to the escrow company in MX, and if so, would you recommend one of them over another, and why/why not, or did you use one not mentioned, or just used your Canadian bank,:confused2: Gracias.
> The 3 company's are ..........Knightsbridge, Transferwise, XE,


I bought a place down here in January. The deal took over four months to close. 
At the time I was going to use Canadian Forex because they were connected to RBC. It turns out that I had to go through RBC private banking due to the size of the transaction. The exchange rate was pretty much the same going through RBC


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

Banks give the worst rates. XE is slightly better. I use Olympia Trust but it is a corporate account. I don't think they do personal trades. You can also try your stock broker.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Lots of Canadians on the *Yolisto* Board who own homes in Mexico.... A few who have bought and sold numerous homes, a couple who buy land, build spec homes and sell them.. or buy older beach homes rehab them and sell them..


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

The money is not transfered to an escrow account but to the seller´s bank account in Mexico. My US friend just bought a house here in SLP [San Luis Potosi] and it took a little less than 2 months to complete. The title ["escriptura"] will take up to 6 months to get. The escrow companies here are called "Notarias" and the lawyers doing the work are "Notarios". He transfered US dollars to the seller´s Mexican bank account and the Mexican bank automatically deposited pesos. He didn´t use a third party currency exchange company but his own bank with no problem. He got a prime rate of exchange he prearranged for a larger amount. The Mexican bank gave him the day before Banco de Mexico rate of exchange for the international wire transfer which is better than their walk in exchange rate for cash that Bobbyb mentioned in an above post [not used for international wire transfers by Mexican law].


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

We live in a trust zone so things are a little different. The Real Estate agent holds the funds in a US bank and transfers to the seller. But that was before all the new banking regs. I don't know how it is done now.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> The money is not transfered to an escrow account but to the seller´s bank account in Mexico. .......


I was told by an agent in Puerto Vallarta that the money is held in escrow until the deal is finalized and then transferred to the sellers account, but either way, just trying to see if any Canadians have found one exchange company to be better than the other ones when it comes to having better U.S. dollar exchange rates with lower fee's, be they hidden fee's or not. In other words, when all is said and done, which company had the best "bang for the buck". :noidea:


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

The “escrow“ is generally the real estate agencies US bank account. I have never heard of an escrow agency in Mexico. The Notarios do not usually handle any of the funds; simply handle the legalities of the sale, deed preparation or trust, searches and final closing. Then, they register the deed and eventually deliver it to the buyer.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Escrow accounts are IIRC a misnomer in Mexico.. add to that the Realty Profession still lacks much of any governmental oversight and accountability.. I made an earnest deposit with my realtor of $1000 USD and received a receipt from them that my Lawyer approved.. I had both a Lawyer and a Notario.. I paid the Notario about 50% up front IIRC and when he said everything was in order and my FC was all but done we started exchanging money ( Wired) Until the closing IIRC ( this was in 1999) I stood to possibly lose maybe $5000 if it all ended up in a dog poop parade.. I was dealing with a Franchise of a VERY POPULAR US Realty Company..( Just So You Know That Appears to mean NOTHING Its A Franchise and the Mother Corporation could really care less what happens in Mexico) _That might all have changed since we can now bring pressure to bear on the internet!!!! _ The first house we tried to buy fell thru because of my Lawyer.. The fellow selling his parents property was there with "His Parents" My Lawyer whispered to my wife and I ... " Get Up Say Nothing and Leave and I will meet you back at the Dive Shop" WTF! But I trusted her explicitly and an hour later she walked into the bar next to the dive shop and said .. That property was NOT his to sell .. Those were NOT his parents signing off on the deed... I asked " How did you know that? " she said wrong dialect ... those peoples accent so to speak, didn't match where they claimed they were from.. About 6 months later we did manage to buy a home and it took about 6 weeks maybe it was 2 months.. at that time that was an incredibly short amount of time to close on a home that wasn't previously owned by another ****** with a FC already in place...


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

DiverSailor123 said:


> Escrow accounts are IIRC a misnomer in Mexico.. add to that the Realty Profession still lacks much of any governmental oversight and accountability.. ...


My experience was different. I dealt with a Notario Publico selected by me. No lawyers involved. It turned out the the individual who showed me the house was not the owner. It was owned by his mother and four cousins, children of his mother's brother. The only real hang up was that all five of them had to sign the compraventa and and they could not all show up at the same time. So the notario got all the signatures then I transferred the money into the mother's account. Then the notario released the escritora to me. The whole process took 4 weeks.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

One Thing seems to be for sure.... Realty dealings can be very different area to area.. state to state even city to city and this I am GUESSING is because of a lack of Government oversight .. We are looking at buying in the Progresso Beach Area and its all very different there from what we experienced on Cozumel..



TundraGreen said:


> My experience was different. I dealt with a Notario Publico selected by me. No lawyers involved. It turned out the the individual who showed me the house was not the owner. It was owned by his mother and four cousins, children of his mother's brother. The only real hang up was that all five of them had to sign the compraventa and and they could not all show up at the same time. So the notario got all the signatures then I transferred the money into the mother's account. Then the notario released the escritora to me. The whole process took 4 weeks.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Posted my original question on another forum, and someone replied saying, .....""Not sure why you're asking about $US""..... ""By law anyone selling ANYTHING in Mexico has to accept pesos for payment, regardless of what currency it is advertised for sale in.""...... Anyone on here have a comment on that statement regarding buying any type of property in Mexico, specifically a condo? or anyone on here actually paid in U.S. dollars, or are they correct in saying we HAVE to pay in pesos. I know the purchase price is calculated and recorded in pesos, but thats not the same as paying in pesos.:confused2:


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

gringotim said:


> Posted my original question on another forum, and someone replied saying, .....""Not sure why you're asking about $US""..... ""By law anyone selling ANYTHING in Mexico has to accept pesos for payment, regardless of what currency it is advertised for sale in.""...... Anyone on here have a comment on that statement regarding buying any type of property in Mexico, specifically a condo? or anyone on here actually paid in U.S. dollars, or are they correct in saying we HAVE to pay in pesos. I know the purchase price is calculated and recorded in pesos, but thats not the same as paying in pesos.:confused2:


I am posting this with tongue in cheek - better hurry up before Sr Trump turns his attention northward. Oh - but wait - his family actually comes from 
Canada - so perhaps you are sparred.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

That's my understanding as well. Especially large purchases that are recorded by the State or Federal Government.. I don't " THINK" Canada or the USA will accept registering the sale of your home in Canada or USA in say Japanese Yen.. 
The physical sale will have to relate in the National Monetary system.. The burden or fear should be for the person making a purchase in a foreign currency looking for the best exchange rate.. I did some cash "stuff" and we used an agreeable exchange rate but USD's is what traded hands and MNP is what was recorded.. So that said buying a Mexican Condo from a Expat in dollars could work if all involved agreed... and the transaction was recorded and all taxes paid in MNP??



gringotim said:


> Posted my original question on another forum, and someone replied saying, .....""Not sure why you're asking about $US""..... ""By law anyone selling ANYTHING in Mexico has to accept pesos for payment, regardless of what currency it is advertised for sale in.""...... Anyone on here have a comment on that statement regarding buying any type of property in Mexico, specifically a condo? or anyone on here actually paid in U.S. dollars, or are they correct in saying we HAVE to pay in pesos. I know the purchase price is calculated and recorded in pesos, but thats not the same as paying in pesos.:confused2:


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Had this forwarded to me as they know I have asked a similar question, it was the response the person ( a Canadian) got when asking a Puerto Vallarta real estate agent about what currency they would pay in if a property is listed in U.S Dollars even though its in Mexico. The answer they got is the same thing I have heard from from quite a few buyers and even more agents when I asked the same question. And as I have stated, I know the sale price is "recorded in pesos" no matter what currency its sold in. But the consensus is, if its listed in USD, then that's what the seller wants, and that's what the seller gets, although you can offer any currency you want, and seller can choose whether to accept it or not, and what they do with it after they receive the money is up to them, if they want to deposit USD into a Mexican bank and change it into pesos, so be it, but if its going directly into a US bank account, why would they want anything but USD. Heres the reply they got to the question.......

"""In Vallarta, everything is in US Dollars. Can you pay in Canadian dollars?..Yes…best to another Canadian, otherwise it could be a week or more during closing to get the exchange rate. Can you pay in pesos? Yes..see above hiccup…US Dollars is the easiest."""


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

I would ask a reputable Mexican notary what he/she thinks - and not rely on expat internet expert.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Gatos said:


> I would ask a reputable Mexican notary what he/she thinks - and not rely on expat internet expert.


What! And take all the fun out of being misled. :wave:


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Mexican Notarios are not concerned with the financial part of the transaction, and do not hold funds, etc. They are simply concerned that the buyer and seller are satisfied and sign off. 
As stated above, the seller may demand whatever conditions he wishes. I once paid for a house in two currencies; part in pesos in Mexico and another part in dollars to a US account. In another home, we paid in dollars, but the seller received pesos. On our final sale, we sold in dollars to a Canadian buyer, who had to make the deposit to our US account in US dollars purchased in Canadian dollars for a Mexican house, whose sale was recorded by the notario in pesos.
Easy.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

RVGRINGO said:


> Mexican Notarios are not concerned with the financial part of the transaction, and do not hold funds, etc. They are simply concerned that the buyer and seller are satisfied and sign off.
> As stated above, the seller may demand whatever conditions he wishes. I once paid for a house in two currencies; part in pesos in Mexico and another part in dollars to a US account. In another home, we paid in dollars, but the seller received pesos. On our final sale, we sold in dollars to a Canadian buyer, who had to make the deposit to our US account in US dollars purchased in Canadian dollars for a Mexican house, whose sale was recorded by the notario in pesos.
> Easy.


So in 'today's' world there are no concerns of money laundering with transactions such as you describe ? Gosh we have one US account (which we have had for 30 years now) and they give us the third degree if we ask to transfer monies to our OWN Mexican bank account.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Gatos said:


> So in 'today's' world there are no concerns of money laundering with transactions such as you describe ? Gosh we have one US account (which we have had for 30 years now) and they give us the third degree if we ask to transfer monies to our OWN Mexican bank account.


All of those concerns are taken care of by just a few reams of paperwork signed by all parties at the time of closing. I am sure the governments involved get their copies in triplicate.


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## michmex (Jul 15, 2012)

RVGRINGO said:


> Mexican Notarios are not concerned with the financial part of the transaction, and do not hold funds, etc. They are simply concerned that the buyer and seller are satisfied and sign off.
> Easy.


Actually the role of a notario is a bit more complex and entails more responsibilities than just satisfying the buyer and seller. The Texas Secretary of State's office republished an article by Jonathan A. Pikoff and Charles J. Crimmins that compares a Mexican notary to a U. S. Notary Public and details some of the responsibilities of a notario to include:
"ensure that documents such as bylaws of companies, wills, deeds, powers of attorney, real estate purchases and establishments of trusts do not include any legal inconsistencies, ensure payment of taxes, and protocolize public deeds."

Nice, easy to read comparison

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/notariopublicoarticle.shtml


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