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First choose the type of property you are looking for, Vacant Land, Real Estate (Homes) or Commercial. Next choose the city you would like to search. For each city properties are listed starting with Beach properties, Ocean View, then flat land. Each listing has a very breif description of the location, the basic characteristics and the asking price in US dollars. Click on a link for more photographs and information. Here is a link to a metric conversion table. The normal lot size is 20 meters (65.6 feet) by 30 meters (98.4 feet). |
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Vacant Property
Real Estate
Commercial Real Estate |
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Most of the Costa Alegre (not all of it) is still Ejido land. All of Costa Alegre is in the restricted zone of Mexico. You must fully understand what that entails. For more information please read the information below - Ejido land and the Restricted ZoneApril 18 2005People often come to the office of Costa Alegre Properties seeking information on what the situation is regarding purchasing land or real estate in La Manzanilla. In this article I will attempt to duplicate what I tell them. This is a rough draft and should not be taken as end truth. I assume no responsibility for anything, I am just trying to help others and understand better myself. La Manzanilla and most of the surrounding area is Ejido land. Ejido land is communal land, it was given to the local people to work, and in the past it could not be sold or leased. I believe the law has changed now as to allow the Ejido to transfer their rights of use on land (without title) to other Mexican nationals. I have talked to the local Notary and am waiting for clarification on the details. As it is now (to my knowledge) no one owns (has title to) property in La Manzanilla, not even the Mexicans who have lived here his or her entire lives. They only have permission to use the land. When Mexicans or foreigner's "buy" either land or a home here today they would get a paper called a Contrato (often referred to as a Constancia) from the Ejido giving them permission to USE the land. Procede is a government program, which changes Ejido land into titled land. It does that by measuring each of the properties then checking to see if any of the neighbors has a problem with those property lines. It also measures the boundaries of the entire Ejido to make sure that there are no conflicts with the adjoining neighbors. When there are no problems Procede then gives out titles of ownership to each of the Mexican property owners. Once there is title on the land it can then be bought and sold legally. La Manzanilla is in the restricted zone of Mexico. The restricted zone is the area located 30 miles from the coast all over Mexico where it is forbidden for anyone not a Mexican citizen to own land under their name. One of the most common and legal ways in which a foreigner can own land in the restricted zone is to hold it in bank trust also known as fideicomiso (see the web site links on bank trust for more information). Some of the issues going on in La Manzanilla have more to do with the land being in the restricted zone than to do with the Ejido. It used to be that you could go to La Huerta and they would issue a tax payment or building permit in your name no matter if you were a Mexican citizen or not. That has changed due to the change of administration that enforces the law more, no more tax registers or construction permits (to my knowledge) are being given to foreigners. The Ejido of La Manzanilla has promised the foreigners who have Constancia's that when title is available they will assist them in the process (which also requires a Notary) of transferring title into a bank trust on the property. In a way the Ejido serves as a Presta Nombre. Currently there are two main ways for foreigner to hold property in La Manzanilla, one is the Constancia's from the Ejido in their name and the other is for them have the name on the Constancia be a Presta Nombre (borrowed name) who is a Mexican citizen. Presta Nombre's are illegal, but there is a difference (I think) when one is using a Presta Nombre to hold property until they can get bank trust and when one is using a Presta Nombre to avoid bank trust. If you are using a Presta Nombre to avoid paying the yearly fees that come with bank trust the Mexican government thinks you are trying to cheat them and can take serious action against you. When you have a Constancia from the Ejido you are trusting the Ejido to give title to the person who's name is on the most recent Constancia issued for a property (if Mexican citizen) or to let them go to bank trust (if foreigner) when it becomes available. There are some buyers who just leave it at that and do not do any other documents. When you use a Presta Nombre (borrowed name) to hold the property you are trusting that Presta Nombre to "sell" the property to you (you have actually already paid for the property) when they get title in their name which will allow you to transfer title to the property into bank trust in your name. Some prefer to go to the local Notario and have them do one or more documents to protect them further weather that is on a Constancia in their name or a Presta Nombre. 1) Cesion de Derechos (transfer of rights) from the person who is selling to the person who is buying as a way to make the transfer more secure. Another paper they could use is a "promise to transfer title". 2) Contracto de Arrendamiento (lease agreement) where the buyer leases the land from the Presta Nombre or the Ejido usually for 99 years. The agreement also contains a statement from the buyer stating who is the heir of the property if they should die. The heirs of the Presta Nombre are automatically bound by the agreement in place if the Presta Nombre should die. 3) Irrevocable power of Attorney gives the buyer all the rights to do whatever they would like to do with the property. To sum it up your are always trusting someone either the Ejido or a Presta Nombre. There are some that have different schemes to bypass the fact that La Manzanilla is Ejido land, none of them have any validity, Ejido land is Ejido land is Ejido land. Perhaps one thing in the favor of the buyer is that the Mexican government has a vested interest in seeing that there are no more stories of foreigners having their land taken away, it hurts not only investment in real estate all over Mexico but investment as a whole. The advantage to "buying" now is that once title / bank trust is available prices will increase significantly and most of the really good properties will have already been taken. Some of the Ejido's who have gone through Procede have reported that prices doubled the first year and again the second year. Be aware of the risk involved and don't invest any more than you can afford to lose. A couple of years ago I did a lot of research on foreigners buying real estate in Mexico. I was going to build a website dedicated solely to this subject but never quite got it finished. So as an alternative to that I am going to list some of the message board and news group postings and link to the articles I found during that research here on this page. Keep in mind that some of the information may be a couple of years old and may have changed since then. I am also going to list some rough notes I had for each of the sections the original website was going to contain. I will not extensively edit these notes because if I do I will never get this project completed just like the last time I tried to finish it. If you find other relevant articles or information on this topic of foreigners buying land in the restricted zone please email me with the link. Please put something relevant into the Subject box of the email or I won't open it. |
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Contact Information e-mail - la manzanilla info @ yahoo.com Telephone~ International ~ 52-315-35-15059 National ~ 01-315-35-15059 Local~ 35-15059 The contents of this site are copyright © 2005 Daniel Hallas. All rights reserved. Last updated: 05 - 09 - 19 |