Amidst the myriad of considerations, one factor that caught me by surprise was the importance of roofing services. You might wonder how this connects to my tale of acquiring an apartment in Mexico City, but bear with me. As I was securing my property, I realized the significance of a reliable roofing service when it comes to maintaining and protecting your investment. Whether you’re in the heart of a bustling metropolis like Mexico City or enjoying the vast landscapes of Texas, ensuring your property has a sturdy roof is a universal concern.
In fact, during my research, I stumbled upon a fantastic roofing service based in Texas that provides top-notch solutions for all your roofing needs. If you’re considering property ownership, especially in regions with diverse climates like Texas, where extreme weather conditions can take a toll on roofs, it’s crucial to invest in a reliable roofing service. If you’re interested in learning more, click here to explore how this roofing service can be a game-changer for your property maintenance needs. Now, let’s get back to the main story, where I’ll share some valuable tips for those venturing into the world of foreign property ownership.
I started by talking to my local bank which in a preliminary interview explained to me how much I would be able to borrow, what the interest rates were, and what my monthly mortgage would look like. Interest rates in Mexico are notoriously higher than that of the United States (which is the only country I have to compare them to from experience). Here a loan will include between 9-13% annual interest while in the States that number would look more like 3-5%.
The moment I went to the bank to investigate, I wasn’t ready to plunk down my hard-earned cash so I never went any further with it. When a friend who was a real estate agent told me I could get a much better deal with the mortgage broker that he worked with I believed him and so I went forward with the approval process with La Haus. I didn’t really end up getting a “better” deal with them, I just happened to set it up right after the pandemic when interest rates were low and the monthly costs were marginally less.
There was a lot of paperwork, but I assume that is the norm when someone wants to give a 1 million+ peso loan. I was told by the mortgage brokers that I would be unable to get a loan with a Mexican bank because I had no credit history in Mexico, but that they would take into account my credit history in the United States, as well as my income there, along with my income in Mexico. I never tested this theory, as it seemed easier just to work with them for all of it.
The loan was approved at a little over 9% interest and even when the interest rate rose to 11% in the following weeks and we weren’t completely finished with the process they told me they would respect that amount regardless. I appreciated that and decided to move forward with the loan and the apartment search.
I am a permanent resident here in Mexico and have a business which means that I had all the correct data necessary for the loan (a CURP, an official ID, a Mexican bank account, and a Constancia from the Mexican IRS of my tax status). In the research I have done online, I have found consistent information that you don’t need residency to buy property but can do it with a tourist visa only.
Apartment Hunt
This was the most frustrating part of the process. Perhaps my real estate agent thought I was small potatoes, or perhaps he was just busy with his life but I felt very underserved in the apartment hunt. I did have some specifics which may or may not have been a hindrance to seeing apartments — I wanted a place centrally located, on a lower floor (or with an elevator), with two bedrooms if possible, and within a certain price range.
What convinced me that this was possible was a plethora of options on La Huas’s website, which later I was told were not all “certified” by the company, but posted by agents or individuals outside of the company for extra exposure. I asked if the loan could still apply to one of the places that they hadn’t “certified” (which I came to believe just meant that wasn’t listed with them) and they hedged but said yes.
My agent showed me very few places, and while I think he was trying to get at what I wanted, most were a tad rundown and one had all kinds of humidity stains on every ceiling. We did go and see one great place, in a great neighborhood, that I felt would be the right choice for me, despite the fact that it was only one bedroom.
In order to secure that apartment and keep them from showing it to other buyers I had to sign an offer letter and pay a 500usd
holding fee that would be applied to the final down payment amount, which I was happy to do. But then after I signed the first offer letter I was told that I had to resign it because there was an error with the percentage of the down payment (the standard amount was 10% and I was paying a little more). I admit that I didn’t catch this error and kicked myself for not paying more attention. In the end, everything was corrected and I signed, transferring 500usd to the owner’s account to hold the place until we could sign the paperwork.
Transferring the Money from the U.S.
I had money transferred from two different banks in the United States. I looked up the best services for a large international transfer and the ones that kept coming up were OFX and Wise.com. When we tried to set up the OFX account there were a million problems in getting the account verified and set and so we abandoned OFX and switched to Wise. The Wise.com transfer was very smooth. They require quite a few verification processes in order to transfer money, but with amounts this large I think that only makes sense.
With the other chunk of money from a different U.S. bank Wise.com said that the money would have to be wired to them first and then sent to my bank in Mexico. When we looked at the cost of a wire transfer and the time schedule it made more sense to just wire it direct to my Mexican bank. That also worked out fine and I had the money instantaneously. I wouldn’t say either option was the absolute right thing in any given situation and would advise people to do the research including reaching out to their particular bank in their country to see the best options.
Working with La Haus
Then La Haus needed all my information for the official title signing. I sent them what they requested and didn’t hear back for several days including an answer to a question I asked about payment types. When I followed up four days later someone responded to me and told me what was missing but never did answer my question.
I want to pause here and say that I know attitudes about service, workflow, and efficiency vary from country to country. I have been living in Mexico for 15 years so I have had to swallow some of my U.S. neurosis many a time and just “take it easy” while I waited for someone to get back to me, pay me, or answer my questions. There are times when I think that the culture I grew up in trains us to need constant reassurance and contact in order to feel ok about any and all situations (take road signs for an exit on the highway at 20, 10, 5, and 1-mile intervals versus Mexico when you get one sign right before you have to make a sharp right). I say all this because I want all of you, my readers, to know that I try to be as patient and non-crazy as possible in these kinds of situations. But buying a house or apartment is stressful enough and I wanted someone who was going to be a little more attentive to my needs at this big moment.
Then I wanted to see my new apartment once more before I signed the papers. I wanted to show my partner and just get the satisfaction of knowing that I was making the right decision so I could feel confident about signing. Again, I don’t know if I just wasn’t important enough to my agent, or if he was busy, but for a week I tried to get another look and kept being put off. By the end of that, I was starting to get nervous and my mind was starting to work overtime. Were they trying to keep something from me by not letting me see it again? Had I missed something the first time they were hoping I wouldn’t notice? Or was this simply the lackadaisical style of business in Mexico?
I reached out to my agent telling him that if I couldn’t see it again before the signing I wouldn’t sign. That must have added the right amount of pressure because he wrote me ten minutes later telling me that we could see the place the following morning.
The Down Payment
We met at the office of La Huas for the preliminary signing of the sale contract and the transfer of the down payment in July. The previous owners of the apartment were there with their son who was acting as their legal representation. I was nervous as hell and afraid of making such a massive decision but I didn’t run away or pass out like I thought I would.
The guy from legal at La Haus came into the board room and went over the document section by section which I appreciated, but we found several errors in the contract, including names and addresses, which were some of the only things changed since it was obviously a standard form! This was the second time there were errors in documents, but not the last.
I had been told previously and then the point was reiterated at the meeting by the legal team member at La Haus that the buyer always has to pay for the notario and that I would be able to choose which notario I wanted to work with. A notario in Mexico is much more than a notary public in the U.S. They are much more like highly skilled lawyers who do all kinds of legal transactions, including immigration, property sales, etc..
After we signed the corrected documents, transferred over the down payment to the owner, and I went outside and had a small panic attack, I started to look for a notario to do the paperwork for my transaction. That lasted about three or four days, in which I collected quotes from several notaries that had been recommended to me (including one that had been proposed by the buyers’ son who was obviously the most expensive), until I got back in touch with the La Huas to tell them that I had made my choice and they informed me that because I was going to have a mortgage through them (aka through the bank they worked with) that the bank would be choosing the notary and I had no say in it. All a huge waste of time. They explained this by telling me that the team member from legal DIDN’T KNOW I WAS GETTING A LOAN THROUGH THEM when we signed the first set of paperwork.
You might be thinking at this point… why did she continue with these idiots? I can only say that I was very far into the process at that point and backing out would have been ridiculously hard and complicated. Plus, I didn’t feel like they were trying to rip me off, I felt like they were incompetent.
We’re Not Friends
Once I knew that the notary decision was out of my hands it was all a waiting game, because I would have to pay the fees either way for the work. I was assured by La Haus that they would do their best to get me a good deal on the notary fees, and in the end, I think they did, but I asked over and over again how much this would cost me and it was weeks before they even had a preliminary quote to give me.
Then the mortgage broker company took over and they did the vetting of the property, checking to make sure it was in good order and legal for them to sell it to me, also writing up all the paperwork we would need for the final deal. They required a lot of documentation from the sellers, for instance, the last property taxes they paid, the last bills, the old title and deed to the property, letters from the bank saying that the current mortgage would be liquidated once the payment was made at the final signing, etc. We were all put on a group chat, which was horrible for me because I felt like I wasn’t free to ask any stupid questions because the sellers were also on it. I ended up just observing the chat and sending my questions via private messages to the team members at La Huas.
But the sellers dragged their feet. And dagged their feet. And no one was doing anything about it. It was weeks before they sent along the documents they needed to and sometimes they just ignored messages altogether. One of the clauses in the contract we signed at the down payment said that if the paperwork was not handed over by either party by Sept 15th the other party could back out with no repercussions and the party that had not handed over what they needed would have to pay a fine to the other party.
At one point in the process when the agents were discussing with the seller getting a letter from his bank about his old mortgage being paid off, he actually said he was hoping maybe I could make another cash payment to them towards to price before the final signing! Not only was there no way I was going to do that (what, do you think we are friends?!), but where would I have gotten the money? It was crazy, to say the least.
By the beginning of September, I was getting desperate and sent a message to my agent at La Haus and explained that I already had plans to be out of town at the end of September and that I refused to pay for a power of attorney if this dragged on and that I would invoke the aforementioned clause if need be. I told him to tell his clients (the sellers). He had the nerve to tell me that it would be really helpful if I could put that in the group chat. Coward. But I needed the process to work so I did it, telling him he better also do his job. As soon as I sent the message there was a flurry of fake outcry from the seller and in a few hours, the remaining documents had been sent.
The Signing
The Friday before the Monday signing for the apartment I was sent the final contract to look over. When I did I thought I spied a mistake in the amounts in it for the final payment and the loan amounts from the bank. I wrote to my agent at La Haus and he said, yes, he did think there was a mistake!!! It was unbelievable. He then called me back a few hours later and said, that no, there hadn’t been a mistake, the mortgage brokers had actually lowered the fees that they were charging me, and that was the discrepancy showing. While I appreciated the lower price I couldn’t believe that even on this they had made a mistake.
The day of the signing was nerve-wracking as you can imagine, as well as the fact that it was September 19th the anniversary of two of Mexico’s biggest and most devastating earthquakes in its modern history. I had forgotten there would be a drill for the earthquake, but as we sat and waited for the agents of La Haus to arrive there it was, like clockwork at noon.
As we all filtered back into the office in order to get down to signing everyone commented about the previous earthquakes, where they were, how they felt, etc. Then the earthquake alarm went off again. Was it another drill we all asked. Then the building started to wave back and forth. It felt IMPOSSIBLE that an earthquake was happening on this day of all days and the day I was signing for my apartment.
As we sat in the parking lot after we got evacuated and waited to go back up to the signing I turned to my partner and said “Is that is a sign from GOD??!!”
“If he was trying to send you a sign he tried a long time ago Lydia,” he said. “Just sign the paperwork.”
So we went back up. There were millions of documents to sign and as we started in the process the office manager came in and told us the building’s security was telling them that they needed to empty the building to do safety checks and did we think we could hurry???
So this kid who was about 20 started basically throwing me documents to sign as quickly as possible. I read through every one.
“Don’t worry,” he said hurrying me, “You’ll get copies of everything.”
“Yeah, AFTER I’ve signed them!!!!” I replied.
The one small voice of reason was the old woman who was selling the apartment and was there with her son and husband to sign as well.
“Of course, she has to read everything,” she said to him, “BEFORE she signs.”
In the middle of the flurry of documents, the deed to the property passed in front of me and I went to sign it like everything else until my agent at La Haus, said “Wait, this is the deed to the property! Somebody get a photo!”In that photo, I look like I am on the verge of tears and I was.
The Happy Ending
The house-buying process was so stressful and the people I worked with so incompetent — although the Notary seemed like they knew what they were doing at every moment that they were involved, of course, that wasn’t until the very end of the process — that I wasn’t sure how I would feel once it was all over.
I’m happy to report I don’t regret it. I am happy I bought my apartment and once the work was done to remodel it, it was beautiful. I will never recommend La Haus to anyone, and there are a few things I learned. While some may seem silly to you, perhaps this will help someone out there that has no clue what they are doing:
- I wish I would have talked to several different real estate companies before I decided on a place, I think I could have gotten a better variety. There is no MLS system here, so there is no central website where every property is located so there are a lot of options out there that you don’t see.
- The service culture here is different so expect some more laissez-faire attitudes than in the U.S. but if you feel like you aren’t being taken care of from the beginning get out.
- It was definitely important to have previous knowledge about the city, average prices, and the neighborhoods that I knew would be a good place to make the investment.
- The actual documentation that I needed wasn’t as complicated as I thought in the end but…
- Even though I speak fluent Spanish, it was life-saving (and nerve-calming) to have a native speaker (my partner) go over the documents with me. If I would have had the money I would have hired a Mexican lawyer for sure. I recommend that to anyone going through this process.
- It is possible to get a mortgage here so you don’t need to come up with a couple 100,000 dollars in cash to buy a place. The interest rates will be higher though, so if you have to get a mortgage expect that.
- I also asked someone who worked for my bank in the U.S. and was told they would not give me a loan for buying a foreign property. I never looked into that for my own property, but did find this later.
- There are no HOA fees here for my building. I have been told that is normal. We all pay a maintenance fee for the building and if something goes wrong we have to come together and decide how we will fix it. I have apartment insurance just in case and that covers any third-party pay-outs and it’s very comparable in price to homeowners insurance in the U.S.
- Foreigners have to sign a document saying they won’t claim their property for their country, that’s normal.
- You have to pay a fee to hold an apartment if you don’t want other buyers to view it, this is also normal.
- Part of your monthly mortgage cost is insurance (for the bank) on both the apartment and your life, this is also normal.
What I learned after buying the property:
- In order to change any of the services to your name (gas, water, electricity) you have to first change your predial papers which is the property tax account with the government, but…
- In order to change the predial you have to have the ORGINALS of your escrituras (basically the deed to the property) that have been filed with the public registry and that my friends, takes forever. It is now June and I still don’t have them back.
- I was told I wouldn’t be able to sell my property for at least three years and that it would have to be listed as my primary residence or (if both requirements weren’t met) I would have to pay a hefty 30% tax on the sale. Just another thing that the La Haus told me that was wrong, as I spoke with a different lawyer about it and she told me that was not true.
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