Entrepreneur Expat
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Entrepreneur Expat
Mexican Real Estate: Buying Land in Mexico Vs. Buying Property in Mexico
Buying Land In Mexico vs. Buying Property: What You need to Know About Mexican Real Estate
👉 Book a Mexico Relocation Consult: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/consult
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👉 Want to learn how to move to Mexico in the next 12 months? If so, click here https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico
V I D E O S T O W A T C H N E X T :
Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2
Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23
Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j
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Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com
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Disclaimer: The information in this video should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Entrepreneur Expat can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.
Are you wondering whether you should buy land in Mexico and build, or whether you should just buy a house that's ready to move into where? In this video, we're gonna be covering all the pros and cons of each with one of the real estate experts we partner with, with for our relocation clients, Angie Lizard. Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat. On this channel, we talk about how to make money online so you can go anywhere in the world. We talk about international investments like real estate. In the real estate series we talk about living in other countries as nomads, as investors, as people who like to internationalize themselves and be global citizens. So if that's something that you're interested in, make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single video we have coming out. On this channel, give it a like, so we can get it in front of more people because we get more and more real estate questions every single week so we can get these answers in front of the people who are looking for it. And if you need help with the process of either moving to Mexico or in investing, uh, in Mexico, you can sign up to work with us. Just go to entrepreneur expat.com/consult. You'll have a quick application, uh, and if you're qualified to work with us, you're gonna get a free consultation. And if you're not qualified to work for the full relocation services, we still got some good, we still got some goodies for you to help you get started on your moving abroad journey. So, alright, Angie, let's talk about a question. We, we literally just got asked this, okay. By a client actually, uh, they're wanting to move to Mexico, we're helping them with the immigration process, we're helping them with the real estate and all those kinds of things. And they asked us this question and they want to know. Um, you know, it, it, does it make more sense to, you know, just buy land and build and customize a house the way that I want it, or should I just scratch that all together and buy a place that's ready to move into? Okay. What are the pros and cons of each? That's a good question.
Angie Lizardi:I guess, uh, you can buy the land for, that's for sure. But the thing, it's where, where gonna be the after that? Right, right. Like the coast, the how much is coast for the construction or how long it's gonna take, or where is this located? I mean, uh, you can find land and it, it could have like very different. Ways of doing it. Like you can buy the land and just wait until the appreciation and then sell it. But in this case, if someone want to build something on their own, it depends, um, how long it's gonna take and the price that you're gonna pay. But let's start with something. The land in Mexico, it's, uh, it depends on the face. That it's on it in the beginning and the profit that you can get the most, it's when the land, it's on the communal. Mm-hmm. But so many people, we call it a hial or a hido, but so many people don't wanna go there because it's a process to get it in the private. Then do the whole thing about the urbanization to have the Yeah, it's a few water services. Yeah.
Amanda Abella:It's a few year project. Yeah. So it's communal land. There's no infrastructure there yet when it's in phase one. Mm-hmm. But from my understanding, uh, the government, the, the land must be used. Yeah. The government is saying this land must be cultivated. It must be used. So, uh, people will go in on these, uh, communal properties. They buy land. And then that land is you then add in the infrastructure. It's developed. We do have some people who are interested in not having any infrastructure at all. Uhhuh and just off Griding and having their solar panels and their Well, yeah. And all that. And I've seen some people do that in Los Cavo. Uh, but in that particular, uh, agreement or that particular investment or sale. Um, you know, you can buy land at different phases Yeah. Um, of the development. Mm-hmm. And if you get it at phase one when there's nothing there mm-hmm. Then you could probably get the best deal. But you're looking at four to five years to weigh until to everything it's done.
Angie Lizardi:And in this case, if you, you can have two options. One, buy the land and do the whole process on your own. That it's gonna take time, it's gonna cost and everything. Or buy the land to someone that is sending us an investment. So they're gonna do the whole thing. They're gonna take care of everything. You just have to wait for the next four or five years until everything is done. And when you get the access of the land, the land is gonna be ready to, not to move in, but ready to, to make the building. Right. So they're gonna show you maybe some options, like how do you want the house, what are the common areas? They already, maybe they already have like the. I don't know, the swimming pool or the amenities that they're gonna share with the rest of the, the, the people that buy the land there. Or you will decide like, what do you wanna do there? As you said, I know people that also, also, they just want the land leave there, have a, a solar panel and nothing else. Or because in the beginning, and it's right, like the communal or hi as we call it, it was for people that wanna do something with the land, but not building. It was about having the The cultivation. Yeah, the cultivation. Do the, the whole system about, I don't know, corn or tomatoes or whatever, agriculture, those kinds of things. It was more about agriculture nowadays that the land is not. Just for that concern that now it's open to sell it or now it's open to do the whole private, uh, issue. And then just, it depends where is the land, you know, and how much are you gonna pay? It's not the same to find, uh, Lotte or Reno here in Guadalajara. It's gonna cost millions, uh, of pesos, million pesos. Yeah. Or if you wanna go to, I don't know, I'm gonna say arand, that it's, uh, two hours from here, you can find the same amount of land for Preti less than one quarter or. You know, it's gonna be cheap, cheap enough to buy it. Yeah. And make the building faster. Yeah.
Amanda Abella:We were seeing, uh, about an hour and a half out of Guadalajara, we have a contact out in some towns out there in tequila country. Mm-hmm. And we were seeing some plots of land going for as little as$20,000. Now there's nothing on it. There's no water, there's no electricity. You'd have to figure out that part. But, uh, you know, like$20,000. Yeah. We were seeing, and this was at the end of last year, so is this idea that, um, people can now in, uh, develop the communal properties, is that one of the systems changes that we've been seeing in Mexico in the last few years where, um, from my understanding, they've deregulated so people can have a lot more business and they can have a lot more investments. I saw something yesterday that they're trying to find a way to extend credit mm-hmm. To small businesses that they're trying to expand that and make it easier for people to have access to credit. Saw that announcement yesterday. Um, is this, in your opinion,'cause you know, you were born and raised, uh, in Mexico. Um, actually I would love your opinion on this'cause I didn't ask it in the other videos. What is going on here? Because, I mean, this place is growing like crazy and people You mean gu Laja? No, I mean Mexico in, in general. Yeah. What is going on? Because Mexico's growing like crazy. They're trying to extend credit, they deregulated so that businesses mm-hmm. Could, mm-hmm. Flourish, which is practically unheard of. Once a country starts to regulate, it's almost impossible, uh, to deregulate Mexico deregulated. I mean, the economy is bumping, uh, in Mexico, a hundred houses being sold to foreigners every single day. The real estate's on fire. There's small businesses, uh, everywhere. when I came, uh, I think the first time I came here was 2016, and then I came. With Justin in 2023. I went, what happened? Like what happened? Yeah. Even for us, I mean,
Angie Lizardi:I don't know. If you go on vacation for two weeks and then come back, it's like, oh my God, what's the new cafeteria? What's the new building? What's new? Yeah. What happened? I guess Mexico is gonna growing that fast because of the, I could say that it's a lot of things going on, like in the economics, in the politics. And, uh, you know, like how the money, it's uh, how we create the money or how we conceive the idea of money or lifestyle. Everything is changing. Everything in this country is changing. So I get, so I guess our neighbors in the north, mostly, uh, United States and Canadians are coming here because we are more relaxed. We are true, like chill out all the time. Like we have this Arita arita, but the arita meaning it could be like days or weeks or when I have the time to do it. And because of that, I guess the people see us seeing Mexico as a. I'm not gonna say it like a jewel or something, but we have many things here. We have good food, good beers, uh, good beaches. We have a lot of, one of the happiest nature
Amanda Abella:places, one of the happiest countries in the world. It was named in the last couple weeks. Right? Yeah.
Angie Lizardi:So I guess people, it's coming here and there are enjoying the, the time that they're spending here and, and they don't
Amanda Abella:feel like they're sacrificing anything. By being here, whereas maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago, they may have felt like there's a sacrifice in quality of life. Now, there's no sacrifice. I mean, we talk to our clients who are mostly American and Canadian. We'll have people from Europe, Australia. And they come here and then with their, you know, American, I mean, it happened to me with our American Canadian mindset and mentality. We look around and we're like, oh my God. There's opportunity everywhere, everywhere, everywhere here right now. Yes. Especially the entrepreneurial people or the investors are just like, whoa.
Angie Lizardi:I think the the world is changing. The world is changing. The world are changing. Times are changing. And it's not the same way, like five years ago or 10 years ago, how we make money. Yeah, or how the people get into the school or get a certification or dedicate themselves to a long-term, contracting a company. Everything is different. Like there's people making money in the YouTube, there's people making money in, I don't know, gaming. I, it's, it's crazy. Like how everything is changing.
Amanda Abella:Yeah. The whole, the whole world is shifting and changing and mm-hmm. It's fascinating to see, you know, Mexico seems to be catching up, whereas like other countries that people thought were like the place to be. It's interesting'cause like, even, even like safety statistics, we just did a video on this. Mm-hmm. Mexico City is safer than Los Angeles. Right now. And like you never would've imagined that 10 years ago ever. You never would've imagined that. Ever. Yeah. Would've never crossed anybody's mind. Mm-hmm. That that would, that would be the case. So, okay. Back to, to the buying land versus, um, uh, actually buying a house. So, uh, buying land, it seems like there's two avenues, right? Mm-hmm. You could just. Go find your plot of land, you know, outside of the city or, or whatever, and you buy and there's nothing on it. And you find the contractors and you find the architect and you find, and you handle that stuff, which a lot of people do decide to do. Yeah. So that they customize it themselves. Uh, and the other area or the other avenue seems to be, hey, you can now, you know, buy into communal land that's being developed depending on what phase it's in. Uh, then. That will determine how much your investment is. Mm-hmm. Uh, into that. And then, you know, you're not the one responsible for developing it.
Angie Lizardi:It's someone else. It's someone else. Yeah. Or
Amanda Abella:yeah,
Angie Lizardi:you can find land that it's already with this regulated things, that it has the services. You can have water, you can have everything you need. You can have, uh, the electricity. But it's gonna be cost a little more. And because that process includes how the government is gonna be like, you know, doing the streets and getting the water and getting the, and everything that it need to provide
Amanda Abella:drainage. Yeah. So
Angie Lizardi:everything that you need to provide all the services, if you find that it's, it's gonna be easier for you, maybe it's gonna be a little expensive than the other option. But it's gonna be faster how you can get the land, build it, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Amanda Abella:And then one thing about land,'cause you mentioned this in other videos in our series, if for example, you're buying land in Yuan and they have some restrictions over how much of that land you can build on, yeah. Correct. So what, what is that about?
Angie Lizardi:Uh, I'm just, I just know about Yucatan, but probably it's the same as talking about Anaro and Riviera Maya and those places. And I guess it's even less the, the thing that I have or the fact that I know it's in Yucatan, you can buy the land where you're gonna have only 40% of the land to be, uh, constructed. And if you go to Tulum or some other places near to, um, Cancun. You have only 20%, so you can buy thousand square meters, but you can only construct, have the construction in the upper between 20 to 40%. And that's because they wanna keep the ecosystem they wanna get, get you in to nature. If you go to Yucatan or if you go to Quintero, you're gonna see that they have this Es, they have these places that it's like. Most of the construction is in the ECCO Village. Yeah. Or ecosystem. And they wanna keep it like that. That's why you don't have the permit from the government or, or the law in the state to construct more than 20 or 40%.
Amanda Abella:Uh, one other question about buying land, because we've talked about how in certain areas there's restricted zones mm-hmm. To foreigners. And in those restricted zones you would need, uh, a freehold lease or a. Is there an, uh, an, um, is there a scenario where you buy land with a and then you, uh, develop that land or No? They say
Angie Lizardi:that you have the right to use the land. Okay. So I guess you have to go with someone that can show you the, the way and the process to be in, in the right position to get the rights on the land. Okay. It doesn't matter if the land is building or not. Okay? So in in, in the case that you have the, and you buy that land, you can use it as normal because you have freehold rights. Yes. Yeah.
Amanda Abella:cause the idea is you're leasing the land, but you have freehold rights. Yes. Uh, on the property, okay? Mm-hmm. So those are the, the scenarios when it comes to buying land. Now, why would someone choose to do that versus, for example, I know all your listings, for example. Uh, they're ready to move in. Mm-hmm. You've done all the due diligence. It's ready to move in. Uh, it's ready to go. There's not like a gazillion renovations that need to be done or anything like that. So, you know, what are the pros and cons of going that route versus, which might be more expensive? Let's be real. It might be more expensive in the end, um, than, you know, just buying land and, and building on it.
Angie Lizardi:I guess you have to consider that the land, it's gonna be outside of the city or in this, uh, far away places because in the city, or let's say Guadalajara for example, it's packed, it's food. There is no land to sell, right? So if you have, if you wanna buy land, you have to go farther than that, I don't know, two hours driving or somewhere else. And if you get the land, um. It depends also in the money that you have. I mean, if you have the money for buying this property and it's ready and it makes you feel, I don't know, imp peace with everything that you have nothing else to do, just buy it. Get the pro in the process and then sell it or rent it or whatever. It's gonna be your decision. But if you want it to build it on your own way, on your own desire. Then probably it's gonna be worth it to buy the land and then get everything involved. I, I guess it's a different sensation where you have these workers that are, you know, like with you every day making a arrangement in the house, or what do you want to be built or, I don't know. I guess it depends how you, how involved you wanna be in the practice. Yeah, I, I
Amanda Abella:suppose it depends on your needs too.'cause I'm thinking about, for example, US youngins. Uh, like Justin,'cause it's your point. There's different groups of people that are now moving to Mexico. It used to be that it was just people who were like retirement age or about to retire. Uh, that's certainly one group of people. Um, and that's still growing all the time'cause people are definitely not affording retiring in the United States right now. Uh, so that's definitely a group that's growing for sure. But there's other groups of people and now you have people a from all over the world. Mm-hmm. Coming here either for work or for business. Yeah. Um, or they're working for a company that's here in Mexico, but they hired people from India. We were just saying there's a lot of people from India. Uh, in Guadalajara, um, there's a lot of people from Asia mm-hmm. Moving to Mexico. A lot of it for work opportunities and things like that. And then there's people like me and Justin that, you know, we're more online entrepreneurs. We've always kind of done our own thing. Uh, but for, uh, you know, business purposes, a lot of times you have to be in the city mm-hmm. In the cities for business purposes. Um, because that's where the bankers are, that's where the real estate people are. That's where the lawyers are. That's where. You know, you're not really gonna find those mm-hmm. As much outside of the cities. At least not real, like not the best ones. Yeah. You're not gonna find them. They're typically in the city. In the city. Yeah. So it totally depends on, on people's needs. Yeah. And and what they need. The profile. Yeah, the profile. But what they're
Angie Lizardi:looking, I mean, if you have the land and you wanna build something. Uh, there is also like two ways of doing it, like in the residential way or commercial way. Okay. So, you know those places that you can see that in the first floor they have this, uh, little shops mm-hmm. Or cafeterias and whatever. The second floor, it's an apartment.
Amanda Abella:I'm looking at one. Right? Yeah, exactly. And,
Angie Lizardi:and the second floor, it's someone, it's living. Yeah. And in the third floor, they're renting it. Yeah. Or they make us along the fiesta, you know, like, like a party social event. So they're rented all those, oh, that's why there's so
Amanda Abella:many of those all over Guadalajara that I sold.
Angie Lizardi:I sold that in in places that I would like. Of course, if it, if there is a land and you start developing, it's like you will need stores, you will need laina. You will need someone that is like making the, the tires or someone the mechanical. I mean, you have to start making the community. Yeah. And so you will see what you can, um, make, uh, the effort to bring something that is gonna help everybody else. Right. Or to convert your ideas or your entrepreneur into something that it's gonna be part of the community. I guess that's a good point. Also, like construct the community. With everybody that it's moving in and put the right business that it needs to be.
Amanda Abella:I have noticed that about Mexico, this is something that what we've obviously noticed that people bring it up in the comments all the time, that one of the things that they like about Mexico is the fact that let's say you are wherever you are, it's usually pretty walkable to the things that that you need. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. You can usually go to the grocery stores, probably three of them. Right. Little stores or ideas and stuff like that, or the mechanic is nearby. Yeah, the hardware store is nearby, the pharmacy is nearby, the bank is nearby. Everything's usually pretty walkable. Um, it seems that that was, you know, obviously done on purpose, uh, in a lot of ways, but that's something that a lot of people bring up is that in Mexico, it's like they take into account. Urban planning. Mm-hmm. At least in the cities. Yeah. Uh, outside of the cities, maybe not as much, but if you're like in the center of the towns Yeah. You can just walk to
Angie Lizardi:mm-hmm.
Amanda Abella:Anything that you need. Yeah. Um, so that is actually something that a lot of people have brought up and that is worth something that is worth a lot because some of us, uh, love that about living.