# Best way to transfer money for land purchase



## circle110

I am going to buy a piece of land in Guanajuato. Obviously, I'll need to get access to a larger quantity of money than I normally withdraw from my US account for month to month living. I have read here that there are Mexican investment firms and they are the most economical way to transfer money to a Mexican account so I can pay for the property in pesos. Is this what is most common when buying real estate? Any other suggestions?

thanks much...


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## RVGRINGO

That is exactly what most folks do. We have branches of Actinver-Lloyd, MultiValores and others in our area. In Guanajuato, you will find the following Actinver locations:

Blvd. Manuel J. Clouthier #110, Local 1.
Fracc. Residencial, Col. El Moral II
C.P. 37125, León, Guanajuato.
Teléfonos:
01 (477) 773 1515
01 (477) 773 7580
01 (477) 773 7581
01 (477) 773 7582
01 (477) 773 7583
01 (477) 773 9500 al 03
Fax: 01 (477) 717 8750
Ext. 5170 y 5171

Blvd. Adolfo Lopez Mateos #2518
Local 47, Plaza Centro Max
Fracc. Jardines de Jerez
C.P. 37350, León, Guanajuato.

San Francisco #33
Col. Centro, C.P. 37700
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Teléfono: 01 (415) 152 4046

Grupo Multiva can be found at:
Blvd. Juan Alonso de Torres 2002 Local 60 Col. Valle del Campestre C. P. 37150 León, Guanajuato 
tel (477) 717 0124 / 9467


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## circle110

Thanks RVGringo! 
I'll contact them right away. Too bad they don't have a branch here in Guanajuato Gto.  
Oh well, Leon isn't too far away and I need to visit the Home Depot there anyway!


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## conklinwh

We use the Lloyds in San Miguel even though 45min away. Others use Intercam(sp?). Always best to use wire transfers. Lloyds has account at BofA that I wire to for retransfer. Our account person helps us max the rate. When we buy property, we also do via wire transfer.
I believe Lloyds has agreement with Mexican bank(Scotia?) to get an ATM card that you could use in Guanajuato. Have also heard that Lloyds in process of buying a bank.


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## f3drivr

I have purchased two properties in Mexico and both times I wired the money to the Notary's account. The first time I had my bank convert the money to Pesos and send the wire, for the second property I set up an account with XE.com. Once your XE account is linked to your bank account you can send money in any currency to anywhere in the world from your home computer. The fees are low and the exchange rate is good.


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## jlms

circle110 said:


> I am going to buy a piece of land in Guanajuato. Obviously, I'll need to get access to a larger quantity of money than I normally withdraw from my US account for month to month living. I have read here that there are Mexican investment firms and they are the most economical way to transfer money to a Mexican account so I can pay for the property in pesos. Is this what is most common when buying real estate? Any other suggestions?
> 
> thanks much...


All banks in Mexico can accept international transfers, you just have to find somebody in your branch that knows all the necessary information.


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## RVGRINGO

The problem, for many newcomers, is going through the hassles of opening a Mexican bank account and putting up with their many fees and other complications. Using an investment house is much simpler and most expats will want to maintain an account with one anyway, in order to have some emergency funds instantly available. Some even have dollar accounts.


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## f3drivr

RVGRINGO said:


> The problem, for many newcomers, is going through the hassles of opening a Mexican bank account and putting up with their many fees and other complications. Using an investment house is much simpler and most expats will want to maintain an account with one anyway, in order to have some emergency funds instantly available. Some even have dollar accounts.


We have an account at Banamex and have never paid any fees however there have been a few complications. The latest one is that they recently updated the netkeys which are small electronic devices that generate codes to login to online banking. We have the old netkey and have to go to a Banamex branch to exchange it for the new one which we can not do right now since we are not in Mexico. My wife called them yesterday to try to find out the balance on our account, the guy asked her questions for about 30 minutes to verify her identity and then told her that he can not tell her how much is in the account and the only way we can find out is to go to a branch in person. It seems that you have to go in person for almost everything which of course is not possible if you are not in Mexico. Still we find it worthwhile having the account. It is nice to have the Banamex Debit/Credit card to make purchases and cash withdrawals at Banamex ATM's when we are in Mexico which is free. We also have our utility bills automatically withdrawn from the account and write post dated checks for our condo maintenance fees. It is also possible to have property taxes automatically withdrawn from the account which we will probably set up next time we go down.


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## circle110

My notary doesn't want to involve himself personally in the transfer of money between me and the seller by using his own account. He recommended that I set up an account at a bank here and transfer the money to my own account and get a cashiers check made to pay the seller. Two questions: 1) Would a "casa de inversiones" be able to make a cashiers check or something equivalent? 2) If not, does anyone have any bank recommendations? f3drvr says Banamex has no fees. Other banks?

Thank you


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## f3drivr

Keep in mind that you will probably need an FM3 to open a Bank Account. I don't have one but my wife is a Mexican citizen so we opened the account in her name. I know several foreigners who were able to open accounts at Bancomer without an FM3. These people all bought condos in the same building as mine and set up Fideicomisos (trusts) through Bancomer.


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## makaloco

circle110 said:


> My notary doesn't want to involve himself personally in the transfer of money between me and the seller by using his own account. He recommended that I set up an account at a bank here and transfer the money to my own account and get a cashiers check made to pay the seller.


That's exactly what I did when I bought my house, and it worked fine. My notario and RE agent both recommended it. I've had checking accounts ($USD and pesos) with Bancomer for four years now and haven't had any problems. As long as I keep the minimum balance, the only fee is 33 pesos /mo for online access. There used to be an annual fee, but they discontinued it. I haven't used the dollar account more than a couple of times, but I find the peso account very useful, especially for the ATM/debit card.


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## conklinwh

I would really suggest investment house like Actinver Lloyd or Intercam. You can transfer money in and put into pesos or dollars. We basically don't see any charges and receive interest. Also, sellers usually don't want cash or check because of government requirements so we use wire transfer to sellers account. Also, we have done everything on FM-T, including direct transfer and escritura.


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## makaloco

Before undervaluing a property, be sure you're informed about potential tax implications in Mexico. See especially the last few paragraphs of this:
Mexico Cracking Down on Capital Gains Tax


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## circle110

Thanks for the heads-up makaloco. It will be my primary (and only) residence. I have to ponder whether I'm 100% sure that I'll be there 5 years. I fully expect to, but one never can be positive.


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