All Forum Posts by: Mike Lambert

@Roy N.

Yes if the property is within 50 kms of the coast or the border. So where most Canadians would by. Using a fideicomiso is not a big deal. It confers the rights and obligations of ownership and the annual fee to maintain it is not very big.

Hi Heather,

Yes, going to Mexico is addictive. You want to go more and more and when you get a property there, you're gonna be even more popular with your friends :-). I've been buying property in Mexico as a Canadian citizen so my situation is very similar to yours. Feel free to message me with any questions you might have or you might ask them in this thread so everyone can benefit. Happy to help you of I can.

Joni, I'm buying (vacation) rental condos in Playa del Carmen. It's a great market for both rental income and capital appreciation, as tourism is booming and hotel occupancy is very high I started last year. Moreover, the prices of the nice properties are in USD so you don't have any exchange risks. The best deals are obviously pre-construction, which is what I do but only with developers who I know personally and trust. Indeed, you typically will have to pay 50 - 60% of the purchase price until the delivery of the property.

Visitors want to be as close as possible to the beach and the 5th Avenue. Therefore, I would not buy in the resorts (like Playacar), which are out of town and too far. So beware also of the condo projects that are cheaper but on the fringes of the city as your rental income could be limited.

I would definitely beware of the resorts and condo projects in which you can only rent through their rental pool. Not only you don't have any control on your rental performance but they will charge you for up to 40% of your gross rental income. Some other projects will guarantee you a modest return but they're not the government; there's no guarantee they'll have the money to pay you.

Hope this helps.

@Michael Brockway Well it looks like I'm getting another of those deals shortly. Feel free to send me a message if you are still interested.

@Hai Loc It's getting more and more difficult to get positive cash flows but there are exceptions.

@Michael Brockway These are pre-construction condos. I bought mine a few weeks ago and generally the pre-sale allocation gets snapped up within a few days or even in a few hours! I've asked the developer if he's already done the retail launch.If he hasn't, I could try to convince want to do me a favor and give me a retail condo at a pre-launch price. On the one hand, I get these sort of deals from time to time and I suspect I might get another one this month. On the other hand, they might become more difficult to get as the prices on the Riviera Maya keep increasing.

@Francisco Cimon Sorry I forgot to respond to your email back then. In the meantime I bought a second condo from the same developer. These are pre-launch private sales and so the developer wants those to remain private. Since I'm not telling you the name of the developer and the name of the project, I can give you the following details.

I've been buying with an investor 50/50 at a heavily discounted price to the market and the project launch price. My partner puts down the 20% downpayment upon signing and then pays his remaining 30% part progressively during the construction period and upon delivery. My 50% is then due for payment on delivery but the developer is lending me the money for 5 years at a 6% interest rate. We repay the loan to the developer out of the cash flows from the rent, which should be more than enough to cover. After just 5 years, we own the condo free and clear 50/50.

The price of the condo we recently purchased is $198,400 (we're paying $222 per sq. ft. while the price in other nice buildings varies between $308 and $558). The fideicomiso fees about to around $550 per year, the HOA fees are around $250 per month and the property taxes are around $200 per year. We are hoping to make in excess of $50,000 rental income per year so the costs are negligible in comparison with that.

@Michael Brockway You're welcome. Hope that helps and all is well with you too.

@Everett Bardelman If you want help it would be a good idea to mention why you want to invest there and what’s your objective is.

@Paul Sandhu The purpose of BiggerPockets is to provide education and help each other so I’m not sure what was your point in posting. What you say about Colombia is factually incorrect and based on opinions of the country from 25 years ago before the country changed dramatically. It’s correct to have fears of investing out of your own backyard but why discourage people from being bold and following their dreams?

It’s definitely possible. My business is to purchase short-term rentals with investors and manage them for the benefit of all the investors, myself included.

@Patrick Philip I think what that company most likely does is subcontract to local managers so they hardly do anything and you pay double commission.

@Astva Tsaturyan Management companies are local. But this is potentially a great business idea. As my portfolio grows, I'll have to manage properties in more and more countries for my investors so I could do it for other people as well.