How to Safely Invest in Real Estate in Mexico

[Brian Bradley]

My wife and I like to travel. And we like to invest in real estate. One of the places we travel to annually is Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I always toy with the idea of investing in a vacation rental property in Cabo, but I am always hesitant to pull the trigger. I am just not convinced or sold on the safety of investing in real estate or land in Mexico.

I understand the process of owning your property either through a Fideicomiso (a real estate trust held by a Mexican bank) or through a Mexican Corporatoin. I am just hung up on how secure my ownership in the property really is, and having the Mexican Government take my property from me at any moment. And yes I do undertand that Mexico has the same eminent domain concept as the USA.

http://www.investmentpropertiesmexico.com/buying-safely#1 this site seems to have a good breakdown of property ownership in Mexico for foreigners. Not sure. It would be great to hear some personal experiences and advise from some USA investors with property in Mexico on BP. 

[Francisco Cimon]

Good day Brian,

I have lived and worked many years in Cabo San Lucas, now located in the Caribbeans (i work in the hospitality industry).

Cabos San Lucas is beautiful destination (the tourist destination of Mexico).  Great fishing, great golf and many (short) flights from the US and a very large new airport and convention center. There has been hundredes of new hotel rooms opened in the last couple of years and many hundreds more in the pipeline for the next 1-3 years. There will certainly be extra demand for rentals but it will be mostly for workers of the hotel industry and not so much for toursim. In fact, with all the new hotels opening up, there will be a huge supply of new and beautiful rooms available for toursits.

Your real estate investment is safe in Mexico. The mexican government will never be seize your property or land as long as its legally purchased and you pay your taxes. The issue, in my opinion, is not so much the safety of your property but the cost of buying (extra high fees when buy as a foreigner) and when you sell (other fees when you sell as a foreigner). There is alos HOA fees, poperty taxes, ect. Financiing is another issue. You will need to get your financing from a us institution...