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 Here
is M.J., a woman who has offered to share her experience of the bumpy
road in just getting started to build in Baja. Following is her email
(with just a few edits) and then I will add some possible help in
avoiding this problem but with no guarantees for there always seem to
be a few kinks as M.J. points out.
We have been coming to the Baja for nearly 20 years and have owned our
own condo on Costa Azul, San Jose del Cabo for 12 years. Two years ago
we decided to purchase a lot in San Jose to build a workshop/garage
with small living quarters. The lots were free and clear, so there was
no foreseeable problem.
The first foul up was that the Mexican owner did not sign off for a
Fideicomiso but
rather for a
factura. That is the paper one needs if they are Mexican citizens,
not the one for U.S. citizens. The person with power of attorney had
moved to another office and so the paper work set until the next
season, when we returned. One stop at the real estate office and it
was signed off and we were ready, once again, to apply for our
Fideicomiso.
We had purchased 2, 200 meter lots and the bank wanted 2 Fideicomisos
with charges. So the next thing was to get the lots fused into one.
This required a fusion process. The paperwork set in the government
offices from May of 2006 to January of 2007. Finally we had our fusion
and could once again proceed with acquiring our Fideicomiso. All we
really wanted, at this time, was to get our water and sewer in and
start building our walls and driveway. We were told that since all
papers were in order that we could go, with our representative, to the
water company and get permission to start this process. We did this on
Tuesday and were turned away because we did not have with us our
original bill of sale for the lots, even though the Fideicomiso is in
process and would not be if we did not have the legal papers.
We are still waiting, it has been almost 2 years and we have been
unable to do anything with this property.
More below...
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 The
moral of the story is that even when the property is signed off you
still are snowballed with a ton of weird problems. Would I buy to
build again? “Probably not.” The longer we are held up the higher our
building costs will be. I would have just stuck to our little condo
with a view on the beach. Buying property seems to have a lot of
strange loopholes. Perhaps, armed with our experiences those who buy
in the future can be sure they will not have to fuse lots in order to
build one house on one small parcel that is considered 2 lots. The
other moral of the story is that in Mexico things take a lot of time,
even when you have property that is indeed free and clear.
After reading this I called and spoke with M.J. for a bit and she
explained “I really did not want to be negative about buying here,
just informative about one more kink in the system. I am sure I will
settle down and patiently wait out the process and that our building
will eventually be put up. She further added “Indeed things are slow
here in Mexico. Part of my personal frustration is that several
friends bought properties at almost the same time we did. They have
their Fideicomisos, they are finishing their building or are already
living on their properties, while we sit around waiting for the system
to finish up with our paper work.”
One of the major problems down here I have personally experienced time
and time again is that; if it doesn’t go smoothly it can get really
bumpy as far as correcting mistakes. I recently had a surveyor make a
simple error on a division of property and he said no problem he would
correct it immediately. It had already been registered with CATASTRAL
(Public Records office) but he said it would be just few weeks. After
three months and after much prodding and pushing, it was finally
recorded correctly! Mind you that this same surveyor and Notario, I
used 4 years ago, when I purchased the lots and fused them under my
corporations name took just under 2 weeks from start to finish! Sorry,
M.J. it can go smoothly, but I agree when it doesn’t it can be very
trying and frustrating.
I’m not sure how your fideicomiso was not properly signed for by the
seller but it should have completed correctly at the closing and I
believe this first foul up is what started your chain of Mexican
standoffs and slow downs as it seems to be when correcting things down
here. People, if you are interested in buying and building yourself
you must do a lot of homework as this country definitely has different
systems and laws that just like in the United States; ignorance is no
excuse. Unfortunately you will not always know what to ask of whom and
so the answer back to you many times when you finally discover
something you should have known or done is “But you didn’t ask” and of
course your reply is “I didn’t know to ask.”
Please realize you will need to use many different professionals in
the purchase and eventual construction of a home. You must either use
those professionals that come with good referrals and experience or
you are taking a larger risk. A prime example of what is happening
though is my surveyor, who I would not recommend now, was someone who
I had used many times and recommended to many others in the past. Get
current recommendations, referrals and use translators if need be, to
be sure you understand what is going on. For example a Notario, one of
the largest in the state fairly recently began insisting all
foreigners use a translator. In the past if you told them you
understood Spanish they would accept that but not any longer. While
some think this is a ploy, because for an additional cost the Notario
provides a translator. I spoke with them about this and they said”
They are just trying to avoid any misunderstandings and the client may
bring their own as long as they can show their ability to read and
understand Mexican legalities.”
I also want to make sure you understand this is not only happening to
Foreigners but many of my Mexican friends have told me of many a bumpy
road; as they too have trouble of knowing all the legalities and
pitfalls. In many cases not even the professionals: Mexican or
foreign, or the government officials know their businesses that well,
as things are changing very fast here. Baja is still the frontier of
Mexico and parts of it like Los Cabos are growing at an alarming rate
and the amount of titles, property transfers, fusions, divisions,
corporations and fideicomisos are really beginning to clog the system.
Mexico has been working hard at trying to improve the government
offices and additional infrastructures quickly but even when I lived
in Aspen, Co. in the 70’s or Hood River, Or. in the late 80’s I saw
the same problems occur in the United States as a result of booming
real estate markets. I think the hardest thing to do is to be
persistent and patient at the same time. Nothing really gets
accomplished by getting mad, or at least showing it. Avoiding mistakes
in the first place is the only way to keep things going smoothly. This
requires you to really take more responsibility for the process of the
purchase and construction than you might have had to coming from other
parts of the world.
I want to thank M.J. for sharing her story as I know there are many
more out there but as she even pointed out other friends of theirs
have gotten their fideicomisos and have already built. The fusion of
two or more lots is commonly down done here and many as I have
explained have done it without a hitch. I do know that M.J. told me
she is just about at the end of this starting process as their fusion
has been approved and by the time I publish this they will probably
have their proper fideicomiso.
I hope the rest of you who are interested in building in Baja will
follow up on your homework before starting your purchase and or
construction. Some key subjects such as contracts, permits, and social
security for workers for example can be found in the previous “Build
or not to build” and other legal articles we have on
www.bajainsider.com . Please read them and get references and use
legal contracts to help avoid having to correct mistakes later.
Building in Baja can be challenging enough even without a bumpy start.
Thank you and if you are truly in need of help and can’t find the
answer for yourself or have a valuable experience to pass along,
please email me via the contact form
James Glover
Publisher/Consultant/Broker
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