What is the first key step in buying Mexico real estate safely? Searching thorough listings? Visiting the area where you want to buy? Researching Mexico law? Arranging viewings by calling agents on the signs? Try this: putting together the team of professionals which will prepare you to make the most of your search process and guide you safely through the purchasing process.
This may run contrary to that almost overwhelming eagerness to “get the ball rolling†and start the process quickly (after all, we do fall in love with Mexico quickly!) However, not preparing yourself properly can leave the door open for problems later on – unnecessary complications, headaches and bureaucracy or something as simple as missing out on the property best for you.
For this reason it’s best to take the time at the beginning of your search process and start forming your team. The following are the key steps in this process:
- Find your Mexico agent. The right agent will be the central figure in guiding you through the search and purchasing processes, as well as finding and forming the rest of your team. In short, the traits you will want to look for are experience, qualifications and a good gut feeling (all three are important, and you may be causing yourself troubles by overlooking any of them.) Your agent’s office should be a part of AMPI, the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals. This should be the part that you take your time doing, making sure you know you have the right agent and that you feel good with them.
- Begin your search process. While you form the rest of your team (see point 3 below) you can begin to search for real estate with the help of your agent with confidence.
- Complete the rest of your team. This will include a lawyer, notary public, an escrow service provider, title research company and a mortgage broker or bank. The last two depend on each given purchase, but your agent will be able to point out which services you need, and suggest professionals with whom past clients have worked, and who have given excellent service.
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While excellent resources exist online to research legal and real estate information, this information will be best understood and applied by someone who has done so dozens of times. Researching online information can be a good way of “measuring†your agent’s professionalism while you are choosing, but in the end you will need to rely on the professional agent you choose to guide you through these areas.
Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 15 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the current president of TOPmexicorealestate, you can contact him at (512) 879-6546
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