Plunging into Baja

Plunging into Baja

Leading the charge south of the border, Southland buyers are snatching up bargain-priced retirement or second homes on the beach.

By Ann Brenoff, Times Staff Writer
October 22, 2006

THE trick to buying a home in Mexico, say those who have done it, is to not leave your brain at the border. The days of writing up deals on bar napkins and sealing them with a handshake and a shot of tequila are over — or should be, experts say.That said, you can buy an oceanfront home in Baja for about one-third of what it would cost 30 minutes north of the border. And that alone was probably enough motivation for the 1.5 million Americans who own homes in Mexico today, according to estimates from the Mexico Assn. of Real Estate Professionals. The number is expected to jump to 12 million within 20 years as more baby boomers retire south of the border.

An AARP study last year ranked Mexico fourth among places in the world Americans are retiring to. As healthcare improves in our neighbor to the south, expect more Americans to get comfortable with the idea, said Mitch Creekmore, coauthor with Tom Kelly of "Cashing In on a Second Home in Mexico."

Fueling the trend is the fact that financing is becoming more available and the process of buying in Mexico more streamlined, transparent and professional.

"Just use common sense," said Mauricio Monroy, a tax expert with the firm of Deloitte in Tijuana, speaking at a September conference at UCLA on buying in Baja. "Apply the same cautions you would have about conducting business in the United States.

"The worst thing a purchaser can do, author Kelly said, is to remain ignorant of Mexican law.

Buying a home isn't a simple process, and the rules of the Mexican real estate game are radically different from those in the U.S. To start with, little is regulated, few involved in the process are licensed, and to some extent, a few margaritas may be necessary to achieve the proper level of blind faith.

So before you jump into the Gulf of California, here's the short course on buying in Mexico:

THE HISTORY. The Mexican Constitution says foreigners can't own property within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the border and 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the coastline. Foreigners have always been able to directly own land in the interior, with a few limitations on specific agricultural tracts. But for second homes or retirement, Americans want the beach. Since the early '70s, non-Mexicans have been able to purchase coastal and border properties through a Mexican bank trust known as a fideicomiso.

HORROR STORIES. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, land and homes in Mexico were so cheap that even if all the Ts weren't crossed, Americans — giddy at the prospect of how far their dollars would go — bought them. Many were in held in ejidos, communal land agreements that date back to the time of Aztec rule in Mexico. Under the ejido system, the land is owned by the government and supported by a national bank.

Since the constitutional reforms of the early '90s, ejido land now can be converted into private property and sold to third parties, including foreigners.But the effect of events such as the eviction of U.S. citizens from the Punta Banda peninsula south of Ensenada in 2000 lingers. In that case, the mostly retired homeowners had built their houses on ejido land, and when Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that the ejido group was not the land's rightful owner, some of the Americans were forced to abandon homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

THE FIDEICOMISO. The closest legal mechanism to a fideicomiso in the U.S. is a family trust. The bank — the "trustee" — holds the legal title to the property. The trust "beneficiary" (the foreign buyer) holds all rights and privileges of ownership. The beneficiary has the right to occupy or rent the property, and can transfer the title to any legally qualified person. Beneficiaries can modify the property in accordance with local zoning regulations and receive the full appreciation on the property when it is sold.

Trusts have an initial term of 50 years and are renewable at any time for a $1,000 fee for additional 50-year periods.

Banks charge a predetermined fee to establish a fideicomiso, plus a percentage of the property's value, to cover the costs of preliminary studies and the drafting of the trust agreement. The bank also charges an annual fee to maintain the trust, about $500 per year.

THE DEAL. Real estate transactions involve several players, including the buyer's lawyer, a notary public who functions as a neutral agent to both buyer and seller, a real estate agent or broker, and a bank.