Trans Caribbean Times » 2002

Vol. 2 Issue 9 | 10 Myths on owning ocean front property in Mexico

admin — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 20:49:09 +0000

There are many misconceptions regarding the purchase of ocean front property in Mexico. As a brokerage company, we are well informed about your rights to own property in Mexico, and would like to share the following with you:

Myth # 1- I am a foreigner; therefore, I cannot own ocean front property in Mexico.

Fact- Beginning in 1994, the Mexican Government has allowed foreigners to own ocean front property in Mexico, via their own Mexican Corporation. The Corporation, being a legal entity, holds title to the property, and you own the Corporation. You need at least two people as stockholders, you and a colleague; attorney; accountant; family member; etc. Your Mexican Corporation can own ocean front property, even if, its owners are foreigners to Mexico.

Myth #2- I need to have a Mexican National as a shareholder, to own property in Mexico.

Fact- This is no longer true. Non-Mexicans can now own 100% of a Mexican Corporation, and this Mexican Corporation can own 100% of the purchased ocean front property.

Myth #3- I need to have a Bank Trust, and pay high annual fees to purchase property in Mexico.

Fact- Before the Mexican Corporation system was passed into law, the only way to own property on a Mexican beach was to form a Mexican Trust. The Bank is the Trustee and you are the Beneficiary.

You would then need to pay the bank $300-$700 a year to administer the trust. In addition, in the trust system you need to hire a lawyer to do the paper work. The lawyer will charge about $2,000. U.S. for the paperwork, and then the bank will charge you another $2,000 U.S. for the creation of the Trust. If you wanted to sell your land, you need specific permission from the bank to do so. Once again, you would need to hire a lawyer, pay him/her again, pay the Bank, etc…

If you wanted to purchase another piece of land, you would need to form another Trust, and go through the same process. It is time consuming and costly. You no longer have to go through all of that. Today you can form a Mexican Corporation, this method is simple and affordable.

Hi there! I am a Coatimundi. My scientific name is Nasua narica, but you can just call me Coati. I am extremely cute, harmless, and I really love to hang out with my family. I live on the Costa Maya, among other tropical areas of Mexico. Keep an eye out, because you may see me strolling through your ocean front property with my family, in groups of 3 or more. See ya soon on the Costa Maya!

Myth #4- The Mexican Government can take my land after I purchase.

Fact- Not true. The Mexican Government can only

take your land, if you fail to pay your real estate taxes for an extended period time. Just like in the United States, there is due process.

Foreign investment is a major part of the Mexican economy, and is so, because land ownership in Mexico is very stable.

Myth #5- The properties in Mexico do not have a clear and transferable Title and I cannot build on the land I purchase.

Fact- Having a clear and transferable title is very important, not only in Mexico, but all over the world. All of the properties Trans Caribbean Trust Company represents have a clear and transferable title and are buildable. We guarantee this in our transactions. If we are not representing certain properties on the Costa Maya, it is because the seller could not provide us with a clear and transferable title.

Myth #6- The seller of the property will get my deposit before the closing of the property has taken place, and if this happens I lose my entire deposit.

Fact-There are many sellers who conduct business in this manner. This is not the case with Trans Caribbean Trust Company. We hold the buyer’s deposit in our escrow account. The transfer of the deposit is given to the seller once the property has gone through closing, and a clear title is transferred to the buyer. We do request a 10% deposit to take a property off the market. This is to show the seller your good faith in purchasing his/her property.

Our policy states, that if for any reason you do not wish to complete the purchase of your property, we will refund to you the entire amount of your deposit.

Myth #7- Closing costs are very expensive in Mexico.

Fact- Closing costs can be very expensive in Mexico, but it depends entirely on who handles the closing. Trans Caribbean Trust Company has worked to make closings as efficient as possible. We have negotiated with the sellers, to have them pay for the entire closing expense including the formation of your Mexican Corporation. The price you are quoted on a property, is the price you pay. You will have no surprises.

Myth #8- I am only leasing the land, I don’t actually own it, and after 99 years I have to give the land back to the Mexican Government.

Fact- This is not true if you form a Mexican Corporation. The Mexican Corporation is the system we recommend to our clients.

Myth #9- I have to build a structure on my ocean front property within five years.

Fact-There is no time limit for construction on property in Mexico. Typically, an area which requires construction within a certain time period, is trying to artificially boost the value of the property with these improvements.

Mexican Caribbean ocean front property, does not need help to increase its value, it stands on its own merit. The value is on the location, not on what is built on it.

Be wary of areas that tell you that you must build within a certain time period. It can mean that the value of the land is not very high and is not expected to increase, unless you place a structure on it.

Myth #10- Annual taxes are extraordinarily high on the Costa Maya.

Fact- Real estate taxes are remarkably low on the Costa Maya. At least we think so. The tax rate is about $50USD for an average ocean front lot. So, if you have a double lot, the taxes would be about $100USD, or the cost of taking your family out to dinner. What do you think?

Now that we have cleared up all of those doubts about owning an ocean front property on the Mexican Caribbean, what are you waiting for? Become part of the Costa Maya today!

Yury DiPasquale, Sr. Correspondence Administrator

Trans Caribbean Trust Company, Mexico

Look for the Costa Maya Enchilada recipes in our next Issue of the Costa Maya Times.

In our last issue of the Costa Maya Times I promised we would have a Costa Maya Margarita recipe. If you would like to receive a copy of this recipe, please e-mail me. Also, if you would like to set up an appointment to view properties with us, or if you have questions, please feel free to e-mail me at:

oceanfront@transcaribbeantrust.com.

Vol. 2 Issue 5 | My Two Days on The Costa Maya

admin — Tue, 15 Oct 2002 20:45:41 +0000

Recently, the entire sales staff from Trans Caribbean Trust Company, went on an ocean front property review. We do this every few months to view new additions to our property listings. The last time I went on one of these was in March. I was amazed at what I saw in September…

We always start out our day by getting together at the office on 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen. There we all meet and decide in whose Suburban we want to ride.

We later meet in Felipe Carillo Puerto, a town which is about 2 hours south of Playa del Carmen. There we enjoy a breakfast together at the Restaurant named “El Faisan y el Venado” the English translation would be “The Pheasant and the Deer.” All of the traditional Mexican dishes come with freshly made corn tortillas. No packaged stuff here. There is a lady who makes them right in front of you. She pats the tortillas into shape with her hands. Seems like too much work for these American eyes.

Once we finished our breakfast, we continued our journey to the Costa Maya, and luckily I wasn’t driving, because I sure needed a nap after that filling meal. When I awoke an hour later, we were making a left turn towards the area of the Costa Maya. I am so glad I woke up, or I would have missed all of the progressive changes to the road. The last time I was there in March, the road had just begun to be widened into a four lane. I was amazed at the progress.

As we made another left towards Puerto Costa Maya (the Cruise Ship dock) I noticed all of the growth of the housing development for the local community. Not only that, but they had laid down beautiful reddish brick roads. The last time I was there, it was all dirt roads and potholes, but now, it is really starting to look good.

From there we continued the saga of property review. We had two long days ahead of us, but it was very much worth the trip. Besides that, all of the people in sales got to know each other a bit better. Come to find out, several southern gentlemen from the States were sharing the Suburban with me.

As we continued our trek through the 52 miles of Coastline we encountered such beautiful sceneries. Being a true nature lover at heart, I have an adoration for animals, and the beauty of Mother Nature’s creations. I had the privilege of seeing Royal palms, Coconut palms, Chit Palms, Papaya Trees, Australian Pines, and Banana trees, among other tropical flora.

As our adventure continued, we reached an area where there was a bridge over a clear hidden tropical river. This river gently flows to the ocean. The water, being as tempting as it was, drew a few of the guys to put on their swimming trunks. They proceeded to jump off of the bridge into the warm water. The rest of us, being the chickens we are, just watched the others jump and swim. It looked as though these seemingly older guys reencountered their younger side once more. Luckily we caught those moments on a digital camera.

On some of the secluded beaches, we saw a few of the locals from town. They were in the water and they had machetes (long thin sword like knives). Come to find out, they were clamming. What a technique! In the warm clear water, they strike the bottom sand with the machete, in a crisscross manner. They continue doing this until they hear a clink!! The clink is the machete hitting the clamshell. They then dig out the clam from the white sand bottom, and put it in a pail that they have strapped to their side.

I didn’t know that the sales guys and my bosses usually buy buckets of fresh clams from these locals. At the end of the day, they make their own Mexican clam chowder, right on the beach, in an open fire. They call it Chinchorro Reef Clam Chowder.

I had a great time on the Costa Maya, and I am looking forward to another beach front property review. Maybe next time, I will have enough courage to jump off the bridge, and maybe the guys will cook some of their famous Chinchorro Reef Clam Chowder for me. Yum! Yum!

If you would like to see any of the pictures we took during these two days of property review, or if you would like the recipe to the Chinchorro Reef Clam Chowder, let me know by e- mailing me at: oceanfront@transcaribbeantrust.com.

Until our next Edition of the Costa Maya Times, please take care and we hope to hear from you soon.

Yury Diana Di Pasquale

Senior Correspondence Administrator

Look for the Costa Maya Margaritas recipe in our next edition of the Costa Maya Times.

Vol. 2 Issue 4 | Special Costa Maya Infrastructure Update

admin — Mon, 15 Jul 2002 20:35:25 +0000

It’s difficult to imagine the tremendous progress being made in all areas of the Costa Maya infrastructure development unless you see it on a regular basis. We see it every day and we continue to be amazed.

HIGHWAY.

The new four lane highway from Chetumal to Majahual is really taking shape. The government has placed big, bold signs at several very visible points along the route, proudly indicating the completion date for the ENTIRE 72 miles of the highway. The anticipated completion date is February of 2003. Considering the amount of “iron” that is hauling, pushing and grading every day, the highway may be finished early.

COSTA MAYA HIGHWAY.

The “high speed” road from Xcalak in the south to Pulticub in the north is nearing completion. New pavement now stretches some 4 miles beyond Uvero, and continues to march north every day.

BEACH ROAD.

Work is scheduled to begin improving the beach road. After the completion of the highway from Chetumal to Majahual, work is scheduled to begin on the improvement of the beach road access. This is the access road, which parallels the ocean front properties (February 2003). This phase of the road project is projected to take about one year.

ELECTRICITY.

Electricity from Merida to Majahual – complete. Electricity to the cruise ship dock and mall – complete. Electricity to the beach club at Uvero – complete. Electricity to downtown Majahual – complete. New street lights in Majahual – complete. So much electrical power is flowing in the Costa Maya that a SECOND NEW power substation is being built to insure uninterrupted electricity. Power along the beach road is to be installed at the time of improvements to the beach road – beginning early next year!

WATER.

The water pumping station in Majahual is complete. Water lines have been installed into Majahual and the cruise ship dock and mall. Water lines are to be laid along the beach road at the time of improvements to the beach road – beginning early next year!

INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

Independent financial fund managers from the U.S. have told us that the Chetumal international airport is indeed soon to begin receiving flights directly from the U.S. This certainly supports information we have received from Government offices in Chetumal. They say that runway expansion is underway and that U.S carriers have leased terminal space. When complete (we hear next year), it will be a quick 50-minute drive via the new four-lane highway to the Costa Maya from the international airport. And commuter flights are already scheduled from Chetumal to Majahual.

TELEPHONE.

TelMex has completed their connection facility in Majahual and is taking orders for telephone service. And internet service providers are in the Costa Maya. This is really remarkable when you realize that this time last year there was only one telephone in Majahual – and it didn’t work all the time!

PEMEX.

The new Pemex gas station in Majahual is almost finished and will soon be operational. No more rationing of fuel after leaving Chetumal or Felipe Carrillo Puerto. And of course, we assume that the Chicle (chewing gum) and Salbute sales teams will be there on opening day.

CRUISE SHIP DOCK.

Work is already underway to expand the new cruise ship dock by extending the pier farther out into the sea. This would make the Puerto Costa Maya a true deep water port, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. Additional scheduled ship days next season are a sure sign that the Costa Maya is a big hit with the cruise lines and with the thousands of new visitors arriving each week.

GOLF COURSE.

Zoning and construction permits have been approved for the first golf course on the Costa Maya. The recent announcement places the location for this facility just to the south of the Explorean (Fiesta Americana) Hotel. One underway, how many more to follow? “Fore” may be a very appropriate golf expression in the Costa Maya. Enjoy Costa Maya!

Steve Nicholson, Director Special Situations

Vol. 2 Issue 3 | Mermaids of The Costa Maya – The Manatee

admin — Wed, 15 May 2002 19:47:53 +0000

MERMAIDS OF THE COSTA MAYA

Never mind Moby Dick. We’re talking mermaids. Real live mermaids. Forgive them Daryl Hannah, the girl who played a mermaid in “Splash”. And what kind of sailor needs white whales, tooth fairies, or Easter bunnies, for that matter, if you have mermaids?

To the sailors of Christopher Columbus’ time, imagine the excitement of not only discovering the Earth was not flat, but that there was a New World, and it had mermaids. Surely, this was a blessed place. What a great sailor’s tale and bar story this would make on the tall ships and in the seaports of 16th century Europe.

Ok, so what if they were a bit ugly, in fact so ugly that only a mother could love them. But they were gentle, real gentle, and they didn’t talk back, or shoot those cussed arrows like the Indians either. Anyway, who could afford to be fussy after being lost at sea for months at a time with a bunch of stinking louts suffering from scurvy?

FAST FORWARD 500 YEARS

Today manatees are an endangered species in the United States and they are a protected species in Mexico as well. On the Costa Maya there is a small, but significant breeding population. These gentle mammals, a mature adult can weigh up to ¾ of a ton, live and breed in the warm protected bays and lagoons of the Costa Maya. With their soft whiskery muzzle they browse on sea grasses, water hyacinths, and other aquatic vegetation as they cruise along just beneath the surface.

Descended from land mammals that returned to the sea during the Tertiary Period, manatees have gradually evolved during the last 20 million years and are unique to the New World. Females give birth to a single calf after a 12-month gestation period. Individual manatees are solitary animals, but are sometimes seen in small groups. Their skin is gray, leathery, and hairless. They have 3 to 4 fingernails on the tips of their pectoral flippers, a reminder of their ancient ancestry. They have no dorsal or anal fins and their round paddle shaped tail is horizontal.

SEEING THEM

On Costa Maya, manatees are difficult to see because they swim slowly beneath the surface stopping only occasionally to expose their nostrils when breathing. This is usually accompanied by a short burst of air. One morning, while sitting quietly in a small boat on one of the Costa Maya bays, we were startled by a large manatee that decided to grab a quick breath beside our boat. His or her acoustic intrusion into the tranquility of our moment was totally unexpected. To see them you need to get lucky. Hang around in the bays and shallows early in the morning when the sea is perfectly calm. You just might catch a glimpse of one of these gentle creatures.

Today, the biggest threat to manatees is man and his machines. Collisions with boats and boat propellers are the single biggest cause of manatee fatalities each year. If you are boating on the Costa Maya, for the sake of all sailors present and future, please be careful and watch out for our mermaids. Their future is in our hands.

Enjoy Costa Maya.

Vol. 2 Issue 2 | Living on the Costa Maya

admin — Mon, 15 Apr 2002 19:44:42 +0000

COSTA MAYA & ME:

My life on the Costa Maya began about three years ago, when I moved from my home in Austin, Texas to help open an eco-adventure and scuba diving resort. In the early months there, I searched for the most breathtaking spots in Southern Quintana Roo to conduct the resort’s land excursions. I started exploring remote stretches of shoreline and kayaking through the calm turquoise waters of Bacalar Lagoon. At times I would just sit quietly under the dense canopy of a rookery island in Chetumal Bay, gazing up through the branches at a dozen species of water foul.

I soon realized that I had managed to blunder into a paradise that went far beyond the gorgeous beaches and virgin coral reefs teaming with marine life that I had been prepared for. There, within the forests, mangroves and waterways surrounding the coast itself, thrives an abundance of exotic flora and fauna and a natural beauty unsurpassed. I made it my mission to bring resort guests to an awareness of this living cornucopia above the Caribbean’s surface.

Not long after I arrived, rumors began to circulate of rapid improvements in the infrastructure, development of tourism, and a new port for cruise ships. As work began on the pier, and the power lines rose over the mangroves, I wondered what the end result would be. Though electricity, fiber optic lines, and four-lane highways certainly appealed to me, images of “Cancun Strip’s” concrete beehives, and the sprawling clusters of all-inclusive resorts haunted me. I wondered then if the development planned would deal the Costa Maya a similar fate.

Then I met the folks at Trans Caribbean Trust Company and began many informative discussions with them about the future of the region. From them I learned about the low-density zoning, and the absolute building restrictions in the mangroves that support the coral reefs and the Sian Kaan Biosphere. I gradually developed a new vision and great expectations for things to come.

I had come into contact with Fidecaribe frequently and with the many other agencies involved in environmental regulation (SEMARNAT, PROFEPA, SEDUMA, Desarollo Urbano, and Ayuntamiento). They are an ever present force of collaboration on the Costa Maya. Yet, In spite of my awareness of the sheer number of checks and balances, I hadn’t begun to understand the degree of intricacy instilled into the comprehensive master plan. As I came to find out, the development of the Costa Maya had been scrutinized and deliberated for years before I ever set foot on its beaches. With that realization came a great deal of relief and a sense of security in what I began to reenvision for the Costa Maya.

Reflecting on the concerns I had a couple of years ago, the irony strikes me above all. I had feared the development planned for the coast would diminish the splendor of the ecosystem and bring an end to what I loved. On the contrary, the economic base that the development of eco-tourism provides for the region has given the ecology there a newfound security. As it stands, I have since stopped managing the eco-resort and tour company and began working with Trans Caribbean to bring people to this magical place on a regular basis. The big difference is that now, instead of taking resort guests on a mere day tour, the people I bring here are coming to live on the beach and make their home here. I invite you to do the same, before prices move out of reach for most people.

ENJOY THE COSTA MAYA!

Todd Newton, Senior Associate

PS: In the next issue look for new information and

discoveries about the manatees of Costa Maya.