REAL ESTATE Q&A
By Blake Harrington
Q: What is the closing process when purchasing a home in Los Cabos?
A: There are thousands of Americans, Canadians, and/or Ex-Pats that reside in Los Cabos full time in their deeded full ownership property. The process of closing a deal on your next Baja dream home has continually improved over the years. While each transaction has its own characteristics, here’s how it works in most cases and with our buyers at REmexico Real Estate Group….
Deposits: Once the buyer and seller have come to an agreement on price and terms in writing, we categorize the property as “Pending” and/or “Under Contract”. The initial deposit is usually between 5-10% of the purchase price, or as had been written and agreed upon in the Offer to Purchase submitted by the buyer, and delivered to an escrow account within 5-7 days of acceptance.
Escrow: There are two commonly used escrow holders in Cabo. Stewart Title and Fidelity both have representatives locally and provide services for safe transfers of purchase or proceed funds for both buyer and seller. Each company, respectively, hold accounts in United States and Mexico so the principals/clients can determine which account best suits their needs. Our clients find piece of mind in using these well-respected escrow companies when purchasing a home and we do work hand in hand with the escrow companies on the closings of each deal.
Title and Closing Time Frames: As we’ve discussed before in the Destino Magazine Q&A, the two instruments to hold title depend on your citizenship and status within Mexico.
- For nationals of Mexico, they may use traditional title with “Escritura”. This process is a quicker process where titles can be drawn up in as little as 30 days and closing thereafter.
- For foreigners, the “Fideicomiso” takes a bit longer to draw up within the banks. So, this makes the closing process more of a 60-90 day process, with most closings happening around the 90th day.
Notary and Closing: Once all paperwork, titles are ready for transfer, the buyers and sellers meet with their broker and attorney with a local notary to finalize the deal. At this point, funds are released and all legal documentation transfers are completed.
At REmexico Real Estate, we understand that this process may be a bit confusing. However, that is why we are here! We take pride in our knowledge of the process and in assisting our clients through the closing process smoothly.
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