# Home owning questions



## Daof4 (Sep 14, 2016)

Hi all 
We are new to this forum but have been getting info off it for a while now, as they say; if you look you will find the answers 
We have been to Mexico a few times mostly to resorts but now are looking to buy a home in/around Progreso Yucatan. We hopefully going to visit end of October-ish for a better look-see 
A couple of questions are as would be a vacation home until we retire in a short few years 
What do you guys do with your pool with the extended “Away” time do you drain it or have someone come and look after it for you 
Also with the extended away time how do you keep the house aired out or does that explain some homes with bars/guards on the windows and doors so you can leave windows open to let the breeze blow through 
Thanks in advance for any info :fingerscrossed:


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Daof4 said:


> Hi all
> We are new to this forum but have been getting info off it for a while now, as they say; if you look you will find the answers
> We have been to Mexico a few times mostly to resorts but now are looking to buy a home in/around Progreso Yucatan. We hopefully going to visit end of October-ish for a better look-see
> A couple of questions are as would be a vacation home until we retire in a short few years
> ...


What is your budget ?


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Rent, rent, rent ..... then buy after you retire. Absentee is a bad idea in Mexico


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

sparks said:


> Rent, rent, rent ..... then buy after you retire. Absentee is a bad idea in Mexico


I understand that logic - yet at the same time we visited Mexico many many times on vacations over our working years. Very often we rented condos, privately. I'm sure by renting we helped a few people pay off their retirement homesteads.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

EXPAT absentee owner? BTDT.. as mentioned by others.. It Can Work.. It did sometimes for us and other times for others hahhaahhaaha.. Home invasion can be common and in and around Progresso beach area from time to time it can be very common.. Our little house on Cozumel was broken into 3 times over 6 years yet other folks we knew were never broken into during that time.. Companies making more money off your rental and investment than you are is VERY COMMON..


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

I HATE it but at this moment we have 2 of the 44 homes in our community available via airbnb, One lists for $264/night - the other $864/night. 

I suppose anyone can purchase anything these days and put it out there for rental.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

WOW! Almost a $1000 a Night? You live in a Nice community  .. That said they can only rent those homes LEGALLY if they are NOT held in Fideiocomiso but instead held in a Mexican Corporation or they are Mexican Nationals..



Gatos said:


> I HATE it but at this moment we have 2 of the 44 homes in our community available via airbnb, One lists for $264/night - the other $864/night.
> 
> I suppose anyone can purchase anything these days and put it out there for rental.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

DiverSailor123 said:


> That said they can only rent those homes LEGALLY if they are NOT held in Fideiocomiso but instead held in a Mexican Corporation or they are Mexican Nationals..



Anyone with at least Temp. Residential visa can rent their property anywhere in Mexico and it happens everyday in the Federal restricted zone where a fidecomiso is needed, you just have to register with hacienda so taxes are paid.......


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

DiverSailor123 said:


> WOW! Almost a $1000 a Night? You live in a Nice community  .. That said they can only rent those homes LEGALLY if they are NOT held in Fideiocomiso but instead held in a Mexican Corporation or they are Mexican Nationals..


I don't know where these homes are located. In most of Mexico, foreigners can own houses outright. It is only near the coasts and borders where there are prohibitions on foreigners owning property, and where fideocomisos or other structures are required to purchase.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Gatos said:


> I HATE it but at this moment we have 2 of the 44 homes in our community available via airbnb, One lists for $264/night - the other $864/night.
> 
> I suppose anyone can purchase anything these days and put it out there for rental.


You're actually talking U.S. dollars here?

Can I be your friend?


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

That is all very interesting to say the least.. Just a few years ago there was a HUGE Brewha and it was even in IIRC The Dario ( SP) about Gringos running businesses 
( Home Rentals) using a Fideo instead of a Corp etc etc ..Hummm I was under the Impression that it spelled out just that way in the application for a FC. That's what my Notario informed me of anyway.. Taxes being paid to Hacienda is another issue entirely.. ( Putting Gangsters in Prison for not paying taxes on ill gotten gains is SOP when all else fails : ) I would like to ask ? What other structure are you talking about besides a FC? 



TundraGreen said:


> I don't know where these homes are located. In most of Mexico, foreigners can own houses outright. It is only near the coasts and borders where there are prohibitions on foreigners owning property, and where fideocomisos or other structures are required to purchase.


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## Daof4 (Sep 14, 2016)

Thanks for all the replies 
Some of them have given me a few more questions I hadn't thought about yet but none have really answered my original questions but really appreciate you input


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Daof4 said:


> Thanks for all the replies
> Some of them have given me a few more questions I hadn't thought about yet but none have really answered my original questions but really appreciate you input


You never mentioned what you were willing to pay. The people who lived in the house we are in now were very rarely here (over eight years). They had a gardener come one day a week anyway - who also cleaned the pool. They also had a girl come five days a week to work around the house. We have taken on most the chores ourselves and spend a lot more time here. When we do travel it is normally for a week or less and we have a neighbor's maid come and feed the cats daily. A lot of people in the area - and not just in our fracc. have live-in help (many for life). We live in a community with 24 X 7 security - and have an alarm system to boot. Everyone's answers are going to be different...


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Daof4 said:


> Hi all
> We are new to this forum but have been getting info off it for a while now, as they say; if you look you will find the answers
> We have been to Mexico a few times mostly to resorts but now are looking to buy a home in/around Progreso Yucatan. We hopefully going to visit end of October-ish for a better look-see
> A couple of questions are as would be a vacation home until we retire in a short few years
> ...


Google Maps earth view shows that Progreso has no homes with swimming pools. To keep a place empty for the length of time you want I would suggest you have a caretaker living there and get a central alarm system. I had a house empty most of the time in Mexicali for 10 years [the last 2 1/2 years my friend and handyman lived there for free] and was broken into 4 times in the first 7 years but 3 times the central alarm system went off and scared them away. The bars and block walls surrounding homes is to keep burglars and squatters out. They will find a way in if left empty long enough with no central alarm. I also had a second small home there empty and had 2 different times a year apart squatters living there and had to pay a lawyer the first time $400 USD and the second time $500 USD to have them removed by the pólice and the second time by the army.They will turn off the electrcity and the battery then on the alarm system will drain in about a month if you do not have it connected to a security companies service which here in SLP costs $345 pesos per month. They use a radio phone line not a wired phone line. I didn´t have the security companies contract renewed in my house in Mexicali after a few years and the siren scared them off twice. Once the electricity was shut off and the house was empty and they got a fridge, stove, 2 large cylinder propane tanks and 2 - 1 tonne air conditioners and a nice mirror that was screwed to the wall.


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## Daof4 (Sep 14, 2016)

Gatos said:


> You never mentioned what you were willing to pay. The people who lived in the house we are in now were very rarely here (over eight years). They had a gardener come one day a week anyway - who also cleaned the pool. They also had a girl come five days a week to work around the house. We have taken on most the chores ourselves and spend a lot more time here. When we do travel it is normally for a week or less and we have a neighbor's maid come and feed the cats daily. A lot of people in the area - and not just in our fracc. have live-in help (many for life). We live in a community with 24 X 7 security - and have an alarm system to boot. Everyone's answers are going to be different...


Sorry. I mis understood your last response of "how much" I thought you was trying to sell your house or ???? 
I am not sure as to what I am willing to pay. Don't know what it will cost. I cut the grass and clean the pool at home so have no idea what it would/could cost, 
I should look into costs for property maintenance and maid to come in once or twice a week to keep it up 
Hadn't thought about living in a gated community what would be a ballpark $$$ 
Thanks Something else to look into. I was hoping my questions would raise more questions I hand thought of yet.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

DiverSailor123 said:


> That is all very interesting to say the least.. Just a few years ago there was a HUGE Brewha and it was even in IIRC The Dario ( SP) about Gringos running businesses
> ( Home Rentals) using a Fideo instead of a Corp etc etc ..Hummm I was under the Impression that it spelled out just that way in the application for a FC. That's what my Notario informed me of anyway.. Taxes being paid to Hacienda is another issue entirely.. ( Putting Gangsters in Prison for not paying taxes on ill gotten gains is SOP when all else fails : ) I would like to ask ? What other structure are you talking about besides a FC?


The other structure I referred to was just holding property under a Mexican Corporation that you mentioned earlier. Neither that nor a fideocomiso are required if the property is more than 100 km from a border or more than 50 km from a coast. For the rest of Mexico foreigners can buy property with an ordinary compraventa (sales contract) and hold the escritorio (title) in their own name. The only additional requirement for foreigners is that they need to get permission from the Secretaria de Relaciones Exterirores, a permit that costs about $5000 pesos.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> The other structure I referred to was just holding property under a Mexican Corporation that you mentioned earlier. Neither that nor a fideocomiso are required if the property is more than 100 km from a border or more than 50 km from a coast. For the rest of Mexico foreigners can buy property with an ordinary compraventa (sales contract) and hold the escritorio (title) in their own name. The only additional requirement for foreigners is that they need to get permission from the Secretaria de Relaciones Exterirores, a permit that costs about $5000 pesos.


A few foreigners in Baja have reported under the new tax laws of 2013 [came into effect in 2014] that a Mexican Corp. holding residencial real estate does not get the $3,500,000 peso capital gains tax exemption before capital gains tax cuts in when selling a home that a Residente Temporal or a Residente Permanente gets with a fideocomiso when it is their primary residence for 5 years with proof. True or not, I don´t know.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

JSYK there are hundreds of homes with pools ranging from $40K USD to??? In The Progresso Beach area...Any realty site will show that is how it is.. Walls and Broken Glass and Protectors and Alarms "help" but may not halt someone who really wants in.. As Has Been My Personal Experience... 



AlanMexicali said:


> Google Maps earth view shows that Progreso has no homes with swimming pools.
> .


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Alan states: "Google Maps earth view shows that Progreso has no homes with swimming pools.""

Completely Wrong! If you look at Google Maps and zero in along Calle 29 between Calle 120 to Calle 140 I count at least 28 homes with pools.......

The map also shows in the Yucal Peten area something called Progreso Pool.....Maybe a public pool?


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Renting your home in Mexico when its held in a Fideiocomiso...
As a Fideicomisario (Beneficiary) can I legally rent my property in Fideicomiso (Mexican Real Estate Trust)? · The Paper Chase

Yes its a bit long to read .. but maybe not as long as you might be sitting in court, if the wrong person takes offense to you competing with his hotel..


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## cscscs007 (Jan 8, 2011)

If I were you I would start looking now, as you indicate you are retiring in a "few short years" so this will let you look for the perfect home for you without being in a rush.

As for people breaking in, well it happens in the USA too, so if you are listening to these others, you better sell right away so you don't get robbed while you are in Mexico.

If you let fear determine the decisions you are making, you could miss out on the best things in life. I have no regrets building my houses in Mexico, except to wish I would have done it sooner.


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## Daof4 (Sep 14, 2016)

Thanks for your comment cscscs007. You are right about break-ins they happen all over, locks are only for honest people. 
Appreciate all the info. 
Looking forward to our trip to starting the process of finding a home and have no doubt we will have more questions when we return. 
No telling when we are going for fear of getting broken into. LOL.


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