Buying property in Mexico sounds like it should be complicated for a foreigner, and the paperwork does look unfamiliar at first. But the process itself is well-established -- thousands of foreign buyers close on property in Baja Sur every year -- and once you see the actual steps in order, it stops feeling like a mystery. Here's what actually happens, start to finish.

1. Get your funding sorted before you start touring

Most buyers here pay cash or draw on home equity back home -- that's the dominant path for foreign buyers in this market. Mexican bank mortgages exist but are rarely used: loan-to-value tops out around 50%, and the income, residency, and life-insurance requirements rule a lot of buyers out. You don't need a pre-approval letter the way you would in the US or Canada, but you should know your real number before you start seriously looking at properties.

2. Find a property with clean, transferable title

This is where deals die before they start. Not every listing you'll see is ready to sell -- some land is still ejido land working through regularization, and until that's resolved, no notario will let a foreign buyer take title through a fideicomiso. A good agent screens for this before you fall in love with a property, but it's worth asking directly: is this escritura pública, or already inside a regularized fideicomiso-eligible parcel?

3. Sign a promesa de compraventa

Once you've found the property and agreed on price, you sign a promesa de compraventa -- a purchase agreement that locks in price, terms, and timeline, usually backed by an earnest deposit. This goes through your notario or lawyer, not a verbal handshake or a one-page offer form. It's the document that formally starts the closing process.

4. Fideicomiso or escritura pública -- decided by citizenship and location

If you're not a Mexican citizen and the property sits in the restricted zone -- roughly 50km of the coast or 100km of the border, which covers essentially all of La Paz, La Ventana, and Todos Santos -- you'll hold title through a fideicomiso, a bank trust set up in your favor. You're not leasing the property and you're not a tenant -- you have full rights to use, sell, rent, and pass it on, the bank just holds legal title as trustee. Mexican citizens, or buyers outside the restricted zone, use escritura pública instead -- a direct deed, the same as a standard property purchase.

5. Due diligence, under NOM-247

Your notario runs the required title search under NOM-247, Mexico's due-diligence standard for real estate transactions: confirming there are no liens against the property, that the seller actually has the legal right to sell it, and that its registered status at the Registro Público matches what you've been told. This step is standard procedure, not an optional add-on, and it's one of the main reasons to work with a notario rather than trying to shortcut the process.

6. Close -- budget 5-6% on top of the purchase price

The single biggest line item is ISAI, the state acquisition tax, which runs around 3% of the purchase price and scales directly with it. On top of that: notario fees, appraisal, certificates, and if you're setting up a new fideicomiso, the bank's trust setup fee. I've broken down a real closing statement line by line if you want to see exactly where that 5-6% goes.

7. What happens after you own it

Ownership brings a few recurring costs worth planning for. Predial, the annual property tax, is due every year with a real discount for paying early. CFE electricity is cheap if you stay under the DAC high-consumption threshold and expensive if you don't. And if you're in a fideicomiso, expect an annual bank trustee fee, typically $500-700 plus IVA. I've laid out the full annual carrying-cost picture here if you want to budget it properly before you buy.

None of this is a reason to slow down if you've found the right property -- it's just what actually happens, in order. If you want to talk through where you are in the process, reach out and I'll walk you through the next step.