Lawyers, Notaries and the Purchase Process

This week Top Mexico will be presenting its´ latest webinar entitled ¨Safely Purchasing Property in Mexico¨. I´m sure all of you can´t wait for it to begin, so I will dedicate today´s blog to the subject which I will be speaking about. I´ve included special mention of the role played by your lawyer and the notary public, who is an important part of the overall process.

The process of purchasing a home in Mexico will begin with the preparation of an offer to purchase, usually done with a broker. You will agree with the developer on an offer and then send it to a lawyer in order to prepare a promissory contract. This contract will have all the specifications that would finally become the title. The details of the transaction will include: the price , the timeline, what is included, and the amenities. So it´s really important to have a promissory contract reviewed by a lawyer to insure you are protected. You will also need to decide whether to buy through a bank trust or a corporation if you are purchasing in the restricted zone near the coast or border.

Afterwards your lawyer needs to prepare whichever of the 2 legal entities that you will be using to actually acquire the property. On average they take 2 weeks to prepare everything on the bank trust to have everything ready, then the notary needs to send them the draft of the title. After it has been approved it will be ready to sign.

For the corporation you will need to provide 3 options of names for the corporation, and then apply for one of these names. The government will approve one of them and then everything will be ready to sign for the corporation. In those cases when this document is ready the steps are the same. Once everything is checked they make sure the seller doesn´t have any debts either in water service or some previal tax. Everything that the notaries or the lawyers checked make sure that this property is actually ready to be transfered. The notary prepares the draft of the title and sends it to the lawyer to review that everything is correct and then schedules the date of the final signature.

The notary will then have to collect the necessary info in order to finish the closing of the title and the notary needs to certify all the documentation provided by the lawyer and the seller. They prepare everything, pay the taxes, and send it to the public records. It will take between 1-4 months for this title to actually be registered. In the meantime you will have a certified copy of the final title. 

It´s important for someone to review that all the taxes are paid to make sure once you sign the document and the notary sends it to the public record there isn´t something affecting the property. If there is something wrong after the notary has taken the documents to the public records they will give it back to the notary for correction. At this point the property has still not been transferred you, and the proper time must be taken in order to avoid this in your transaction.

Now if you have any questions about Mexico market or any of the Top Mexico Real Estate properties we have listed anywhere throughout Mexico, please feel free to contact any of our Top Mexico Buyers’ Representatives  and we will be glad to help you find your very own piece of paradise.

And remember, here at Top Mexico Real Estate…

We Make It Happen!