Real Estate Ownership Information for Mexican Property by Foreigners   Foreigners can own property fee simple in the interior of Mexico, including valuable sites in such tourist micas as Guadalajara and Cuernavaca and the Capitol of Mexico City. The property referred to as the “Prohibited Zone” runs along Mexico’s coasts and borders is a restricted area, which was established under the Mexican Constitution and extends 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) deep along the coasts. This means that virtually all of Baja California is included in the “Prohibited Zone”. The Rosarito Beach / Ensenada / Cabo San Lucas type areas require a Mexican Bank Trust for a Foreigner to enjoy owning a home in “The Baja” or on the coasts of mainland Mexico such as Cancun, Acapulco, etc. Four Ways to Hold Property in Mexico Mexican Bank Trust ~ Fideicomiso (Pronounced Fed-e- co-mi-so) Mexican Land Lease Federal Zone Concession Commercial Property The Mexican Bank Trust The Mexican Bank Trust was created in the early 70’s to promote tourist and retirement investments along popular coastlines by Mexican President Echeverriua, which authorized the 30-year Bank Trust program. This is the most secure method to hold real estate in Baja California. Your Bank Trust must be established at an authorized Mexican Bank in their Trust Department. In 1989 President Salinas mandated the 30 year Trust be extended for an additional 30 years. Then, December 27, 1993, President Salinas extended the Trusts from 30+30 year arrangement to the new 50+50 year time period. The property you hold in a Bank Trust is yours to improve, build, sell, leave to your estate, etc. You’ll enjoy all the same rights you have in your U.S. fee simple real estate via the Bank Trust. Your Family Trust in the USA can also be the owner of the Bank Trust if you so desire. There are several Subdivisions in the area that were set up as a Master Bank Trust by the developers 30 years ago. Two of those subdivisions were San Antonio Del Mar and Las Gaviotas. They both had the original 30-year Trusts, which expired March 2003. All the owners requested their new 50 + 50 Year Bank Trusts and those new Trusts have now been issued. When you decide to sell your home, in all probability, another foreign person will be purchasing your Bank Trust Rights. You will write a letter of instruction to the Bank that will include your new Buyer’s name and beneficiaries. The new Buyer can assume the remaining years of the Bank Trust or they can apply for a new 50 + 50 year Bank Trust. It is the Buyer’s choice. If you sell your Trust Rights to a Mexican National, he has the option to take title in his name in the Trust or remove the property from the Trust and take title in “Escritura” (Mexican National form of Ownership). Sometimes the Mexican National will opt to pay the annual Trust fee and stay within the Trust, especially, if his most likely buyer would be another foreigner. A Land Lease for More than 10 years is not Legal and never has been ! The Mexican Land Lease Nearly every day clients ask, “Can I get a 99 year land lease?” A land lease for more than 10 years is not legal and never has been. Not the 10 + 10 + 10 year arrangement, either. If you enter into a 10 + 10 + 10 agreement with a Mexican landowner and at the end of the first 10 years the landowner decides he does not want to recognize that second ten-year lease you thought you had, he does not have to do so. You have no recourse, because you entered into that agreement which was designed to circumvent Mexican Law, thereby giving you no legal status to use the Mexican Court System. If you lease land, the lease should be 9 years and 11 months to stay with in the lease land laws. It is possible and perfectly legal for the Mexican land owner to give you a new 9 year 11 month lease at the end of your first 9 year 11 months and so on. I only suggest Lease Land arrangement if you are #1. Limiting your second home investment to a smaller total purchase amount rather than a Bank Trust purchase and #2. Only if you can obtain a 9 year 11 month lease. Just be sure the total investment you are willing to pay for the structure on lease land is an amount you can average over a 10-year period and be willing to “walk away” from at the end of your first lease period of 9 years 11 months. That may not be the case, but know it could be the case in the future. Lease Land Fees Land lease rents run about $150.00 to as much as $600.00 per month. Most leases have a “cost of living adjustment” at the end of your lease for the next lease term. Usually there’s 3 to 10 % fee when you sell your structure that goes to the landowner and your buyer will probably have a nominal increase in the rent as well. Usually a 10% increase. Commercial Property Commercial property like the Ford, Sony, Zenith, Toyota and Sharp facilities are allowed to own their commercial piece of property as fee simple. This exemption was made to encourage the large investment for these type facilities that employ so many Mexican Nationals. You, as a foreigner, can also own a piece of land/building and business such as a restaurant, hotel, store, etc. You no longer need a Mexican National to own the Mexican corporation or your commercial property. You then obtain a Work Permit Visa, as a foreigner, to operate the business and provide jobs for the Mexican people. For a Mexican corporation you need 2 shareholders & they can be from any country. Rosarito Beach...The City Rosarito Beach...The City ~ Baja's Newest City PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, B.C.N.'S 5TH MUNICIPALITY was effective December 1, 1995. If you're a new visitor to our area, you will not notice the much improved infrastructure Rosarito has enjoyed due to the citizens voting NOT to be part of Tijuana as of 9 years ago. The locally collected taxes (IVA), and property taxes, show in the streets, street cleaners, parks, the main boulevard and many other improvements. If you remember 15 years back or more, you'll remember the dirt side streets and the main boulevard was two lane asphalt with dirt off street parking. Rosarito Restaurants http://www.livebaja.com/baja-tips/baja-restaurants.cfm Ensenada Ensenada is located 116 km (about 70 miles) south of San Diego - about a one hour drive. Ensenada is also the municipal seat of Ensenada Municipality, one of the five into which the state is divided. Ensenada is locally referred as La Bella Cenicienta del Pacífico (The Cinderella of the Pacific). Located in the Bahía de Todos Santos — an inlet of the Pacific Ocean — Ensenada is an important commercial and fishing port as well as a cruise ship stop. There is also a navy base, an army base and a military airfield. The city is backed up by small mountain ranges. Due to its location on the Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean latitude, the weather tends to be mild year-round. Although the winter rain season is short and the area is prone to prolonged droughts, Ensenada sits in the heart of a wine country that is widely regarded as the best in Mexico. Ensenada is a Port city with frequent stops from cruise ships traveling between Los Angeles and the Mexican Riviera (Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, etc.). Ensenada features extensive sidewalk shopping as well as boutique shops. The city offers a wide variety of tourist-friendly bars, restaurants and local cantinas. Travel a short distance from Ensenada to experience some of the region's most acclaimed golf courses, spas and wineries. Do you have a Mexican Parent? http://www.livebaja.com/baja-tips/own-property-mexican-parent.cfm Property Taxes, Trust Fees and Homeowner's Insurance http://www.livebaja.com/baja-tips/mexico-property-taxes.cfm About Mexico Officially United Mexican States, republic (1995 est. pop. 93,986,000), 753,665 sq mi (1,952,500 sq km), S North America. It borders on the United States in the north, on the Gulf of Mexico (including its arm, the Bay of Campeche) and the Caribbean Sea in the east, on Belize and Guatemala in the southeast, and on the Pacific Ocean in the south and west. Mexico is divided into 31 states and the Federal District, which includes most of the country's capital and largest city, Mexico City. Land Most of Mexico is highland or mountainous and less than 15% of the land is arable; about 25% of the country is forested. Most of the Yucatán peninsula and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the southeast is lowland, and there are low-lying strips of land along the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of California  In the south the deserts yield to the broad, shallow lakes of a region, comprising the Valley of Mexico, known as the Anáhuac and famous for its rich cultural heritage. South of the Anáhuac, which includes Mexico City, is a chain of extinct volcanoes, including Citlaltépetl , or Orizaba (18,700 ft/5,700 m, the highest point in Mexico), Popocatépetl , and Iztaccihuatl . To the south are jumbled masses of mountains and the Sierra Madre del Sur. People The great majority of the population are of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent and speak Spanish, the official language, as their first language. Various Mayan dialects are also spoken. Since 1920 the population of Mexico has had a very high rate of growth, almost entirely the result of natural increase; from 1940 to 1990 the population grew from 19.6 million to 81.1 million. *Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2003.