Buying in Mexico

When buying Real Estate in Mexico you want to have a active AMPI member and a Licensed Agent working on your behalf.   Make sure your agent is a AMPI member and is  active in the real estate community like SCMAR, the San Carlos Mexico Association of Realtors. All SCMAR Realtor members are active in the local Multiple Listing Service, San Carlos MLS Service.

There are restrictions on foreign ownership of land within 50 kilometers, or 31 miles, of the coast and 100 kilometers of all borders, including all of Baja California. In most cases, any residential buyer who is not a Mexican citizen must place the property in a Mexican bank trust, or fideicomiso, which is controlled by the buyer and easily renewed after 50 years.

The national real estate association, Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios (AMPI), recently signed an agreement with the National Association of Realtors in the United States that allows its members to use the Realtor designation.

National Association of Realtors, or NAR, strives to be the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry in the United States. It seeks to be the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property; the acknowledged leader in developing standards for efficient, effective, and ethical real estate business practices; and valued by highly skilled real estate professionals and viewed by them as crucial to their success.

Working on behalf of America’s property owners, the NAR provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property.

NAR has been involved in the international arena for nearly half a century. In the early 1950s, the association helped establish the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), and has since hosted and participated in several public forums on housing and property rights issues around the world.

The agency has recently formed an alliance with its Mexican counterpart, the Asociacion Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios, or AMPI, seeking to achieve greater uniformity in the United States and Mexico real estate industries.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will exchange business standards.

AMPI benefits by receiving NAR membership and permission to use the NAR logo and trademark. The union will assure customers that AMPI follows a U.S.-style code of ethics, plus the logo will help the Mexican agency seem familiar to Americans.

NAR members get something out of the deal, too, of course. They are eager to learn about real estate opportunities in Mexico from their peers at the AMPI. NAR recognizes that more and more Americans (and Mexicans living in the U.S.) are making the move to Mexico.

Mexico is particularly attractive to U.S. citizens because, in addition to its proximity, it offers a similar standard of living. All this while still being Mexico ? a beautiful, tropical, inexpensive alternative to the U.S.

In 1981, NAR formed an International Policy Committee to expand its affiliation with real estate organizations in other nations and pursue a leadership role in the global marketplace. The Association’s International Section (now called the CIPS Network) was formed in 1992. Currently, the Association maintains bilateral reciprocal agreement with 62 real estate associations in 52 countries.

In May of 2001 the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA) was formed around a multilateral agreement, with 23 founding members. NAR took the lead in the formation of this new organization and is a member of its Executive Committee and co-chair. In 2002, NAR signed the group’s Transnational Referral Protocol, providing NAR members access to an easy and safe system for cross-border referrals.