Owning Property in Puerto Vallarta

It is a common misconception that foreigners cannot own Real Estate in Mexico , but the reality is that they can. Outside the Restricted Zone, defined below, a foreigner or foreign corporation can acquire any type of Real Estate, holding the property as a direct owner complying with Mexican law.

However, there is the Restricted Zone. The Mexican Constitution regulates ownership of the land and establishes that ". in a zone of 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) along the border or 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) along the coast, a foreigner cannot acquire the direct ownership of the land". These areas are known as the "Restricted or Prohibited Zones".
Nevertheless, the latest Mexican Foreign Investment Law, enacted December 28, 1993, provides a solution in the form of a Fideicomiso (pronounced Fee-deh-com-ee-so). Within the Restricted Zone, a foreigner or foreign corporation can obtain all the rights of ownership with a bank trust, known as a Fideicomiso. Read More...

A.M.P.I.

Currently in Mexico there is no licensing required for real estate sales professionals. In order to assure that realtors are performing in a professional and ethical manner, the Mexican real estate association, A.M.P.I., (Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios), has taken on this responsibility on behalf of buyers, sellers and the general public.

A.M.P.I. has published ethical and fiduciary standards that its members are required to maintain. Those standards provide some assurance that the often complex process of a real estate transaction is less likely to go awry through a lack of due diligence on the part of the real estate professionals.
In addition, A.M.P.I. standards require that their associates be involved in the community they are servicing. Among the requirements for membership in A.M.P.I., there is a need for 100 hours of continuing education and testing, and foreigners working in real estate must be approved to do so by immigration. In a real estate market as active as the Puerto Vallarta area, it is important to know that your realty agent will still be around the day after the ink has dried on the sales agreement. Read More...

15 good reasons to buy real estate in PV

While Los Cabos and Cancun seem to always be in the news as appealing Mexican destinations, Puerto Vallarta has been keeping a low profile in the background. And while the spotlight's on them, it is actually Puerto Vallarta that has created this country's largest resort real estate market — more Americans own homes in “PV” than in the other two cities combined! It offers mountains as well as ocean, more marinas and golf courses, the best dining of any Mexican resort, and more variety in the pricing, type and style of the real estate offered than either of the other destinations. All that, and yet the cost of real estate is much less expensive in Puerto Vallarta!

Probably the most active real estate market south of the American border is in and around the famous tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta. In 2004 it was estimated that $400 million USD of resort real estate was sold, with most of that purchased by American second-home buyers. In 2005 this increased to $550 million USD, with 2006 beginning with very promising numbers. So this year's sales should easily surpass last year's. Read More...

Best place to Retire?

During the past 15 years, International Living magazine has calculated its Annual Global Retirement Index; a resource intended to assist retirees and future retirees in evaluating and comparing the world’s most popular retirement destinations. It is based on a number of criteria, giving various weights to each, depending on its importance to retirees. Listed below are those criteria considered with their individual weighting:

Cost of Living—20%
Health Care—20%
Special Benefits—20%
Real Estate—15%
Ent., Recr. and Culture—10%
Climate—5%
Safety and Stability—5%
Infrastructure—5%

Believe it or not, until this year, Panama had topped the list for the past six years. Read More...

Capital Gains Tax (ISR) on the sale of homes in México

This is a subject that everyone wants to know about and everyone wants to find a way to legally avoid. In an effort to keep you up to date, the following is the “cliff note” version of what you need to understand. In 2007 the Mexican government modified the rules pertaining to the exemption of income tax obtained in the sale of primary residences. The reason they did this was principally to close loops holes that allowed the upper class to avoid paying taxes on any homes they owned.

In order to understand how the tax authority views a sale we must go through a few definitions. Read More...