The Real Estate Market

The Real Estate Purchase Process

The Steps to follows

A) Offer: stating price, closing date, name of notary public selected and special conditions. Accompanied by a strong binder which should be returned doubled if the owner backed out of the deal before closing date. It is important to request updated floor plans that reflect actual construction. Failing to this may lead the new buyer to the payment of back taxes otherwise payable by the previous owner.

B) Boleto: It is an intermediary step, usually taking place within the first fifteen days following acceptance of an offer, allowing owners to receive between 30 and 50% of the purchase price and, thus, enabling seller to secure a replacement property for the one to be sold.

C) Escritura: The actual closing date where all parties get together to sign the official transfer of deed. Prior to this situation, the acting notary public must be in possession of the old title deed, have performed the necessary title searches, received a surveyors report on the property and verified debts, liens, encumbrances, etc. When buyer and seller go straight to “Escritura„, 100% of the proceeds are delivered at the time or a transfer to a foreign bank account is set up and verified at a second meeting. It is important to note that the payment required for the escritura is not required to be made in pesos. In fact, most owners will only accept US dollar bills or transfers to their accounts held abroad. It is not required that the buyer personally be present to sign the transfer of deed. One may leave a power of attorney to a third party to sign on one's behalf. Current banking legislation has been tightened up following pressure from the US government regarding money laundering. In this regard, local banks will require copies of your previous year tax return in order to receive funds.