I recently attended the Mexlaw 2017 real estate summit held at the Hilton hotel in Vallarta.  The overwhelming message was that as Mexico continues to grow its real estate business, the need for professional services has never been more important.

Real Estate 101

I recently attended the Mexlaw 2017 real estate summit held at the Hilton hotel in Vallarta.  The overwhelming message was that as Mexico continues to grow its real estate business, the need for professional services has never been more important.

For any of us who have lived here more than a few years, we inevitably meet someone who has a terrible story to tell.  Perhaps they somehow thought that the excellent price they were paying was a special deal just for them.  However, more often they found themselves buying without professional assistance.  I woke up to some commentary about how much disinformation is shared via social media.  The truth is that many forms of social media are often nothing more than hear say.  At best an opinion of a friend of a friend.

So I felt it worth my time to simply talk about my experiences.  I also want to highlight that Mexico does, in fact, have many professional associations.   First things first, I have owned a couple of properties here and am in the process of selling my current home.  The most important aspect of any purchase or sale is the real estate and legal team you engage.  Mexico is a country in transition, the laws change frequently, and the professionals well they strive to stay updated.

As the client no matter which side of the transaction you sit on, you need to take a bit of time and educate yourself.   There are many articles online about buying and selling, but I encourage you strongly to sit with an AMPI broker or affiliated agent.  An in person meeting is great, but if you are not in Vallarta, then skype or just a simple phone call will work.

Being an immigrant to Mexico, I was at first quite shocked that professionals including lawyers and accountants are willing to meet free of charge to educate you on the requirements for buying and selling.  However, they are, and your agent can and should set up a time for you to talk to them.  You are most likely spending one of the largest sums of money on a single purchase you ever will.  Is that not worth a few hours of your time?

The desire of those working in the real estate business locally and across Mexico is to continue to ensure that you engage with professionals.  Every story that someone shares of an unfortunate experience in Mexico create a lack of trust and affects the entire market.

AMPI maintains an up to date website with current brokers and agents, and you can learn more about them on their website.   “ AMPI is the national association of real estate professionals that have, since 1956, gathered under laws and codes of ethics and conduct to create a reliable, trustworthy and efficient real estate environment in Mexico.”

There is a surplus of online information available, but again the most important person and the one whom you will work with the most is your agent.  So take some time to talk to them and interview a couple if you need to until you find the right fit for you.

Three easy questions you can ask are.

Are you a member of AMPI and how long have you been working with them?

What type of homes do you specialize in and in which price ranges?

What have your sales been like for the past two years?

Any current member of AMPI can also provide you references, so ask for them!  The Banderas Bay area is a tightly connected community, so anyone whom you work with can provide you answers to these most fundamental questions.

For more information on AMPI, you can find them here:  http://www.vallartanayaritmls.com/what-is-ampi-vallarta/