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AGAIN BUYERS CHECK THEIR BRAINS IN AT THE BORDER -
NOTE THERE IS NO REFERENCE TO TITLE SEARCH, TITLE INSURANCE, ESCROW OR
>EVEN>NOTARIO!
By WILL CARLESS Voice Staff Writer
Monday, May 22, 2006
>
Russ Young wanted his own slice of paradise. In 1983, he found it: a small
parcel of land in what was then the quaint enclave of Campo Torres, on the
Pacific Coast about 20 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Young and his wife bought the land from another American, who assured them
that the sale was a legitimate transfer of land. Because the house stood on
federally owned property, the seller said, the Youngs would simply need a
federal concession -- a special document that would allow them to use the
land. As part of the deal, the seller passed on his copy of that concession
document to the Youngs and they began building their dream beach house. But
almost a quarter century later a knock on the beach house door brought the
Young's fantasy crashing down. Officials from the Mexican federal government
had come to inspect their documentation to check that they were on the land
legally. Russ Young had been working for years to try and get the Mexican
government to recognize the legality of his concession, to no avail. The
officials informed the Youngs that they had no right to be on the property
and, last April, gave them 15 days to apply for a legitimate concession. The
original concession that the Youngs bought was deemed invalid, as a
concession cannot be obtained by a foreigner. Therefore the Youngs had
effectively paid for a document that was worthless and for land that they
were not legally entitled to own. The same story has been playing out up and
down the misty, ramshackle coast of Baja Norte. As California's real estate
fever has spilled across the border, the metal skeletons of new condo towers
have sprung up every few miles along the picturesque toll road from Tijuana
to Ensenada. Land values have spiraled skywards, and the various players in
the real estate game have galvanized into action. The federal government,
spurred into action by leadership changes in Mexico City, has begun
conducting a census of the federally owned coastal land and people like the
Youngs have found themselves caught in the middle of the tempest. "We're
between a rock and a hard place," Russ Young said. "We're kind of at a
stand-off right now. "Mexican law states that coastal land 20 meters (66
feet) inland from the mean high-tide line is owned by the federal government.
In essence, all land within the so-called Federal Zone is owned by the nation
and cannot be bought and sold. Instead, Mexican nationals can arrange for a
concession from the federal government, which is basically a document that
allows them to use the land for their own purposes. Non-Mexican nationals are
not allowed to own any land in Baja. However, over time, a system has
developed that allows foreigners to acquire de-facto ownership of Mexican
property by entering into a trust with a Mexican bank. The Mexican bank
purchases the land on their behalf and enters into a trust, or contract, with
the foreign national. That trust allows the foreigner to use the land just as
if they owned it. However, many plots of land inhabited by foreigners lie
partly in the Federal Zone and partly on private property owned by Mexicans.
That's the problem for people like Russ Young and other residents who live on
the stretch of beachfront property know as Campo Torres. The Youngs have been
renting the privately owned portion of their land from the Mexican owners,
and never arranged to purchase that land using a bank trust. Silvia
Perez-Thompson, a real estate consultant based in Rosarito, said there are
many people the same position as the Youngs. She said hundreds of Americans
paid for beachfront property in Baja in the1970s and 1980s without realizing
the technicalities involved with owning on federal land. Many people have
also been leasing part of their land from private homeowners while most of
their property is actually on federal land. That hasn't been a problem until
fairly recently, Perez-Thompson said. The federal government has, from time to
time, sent out agents to confront homeowners and to demand documentation, she
said, but in the last few years enforcement really kicked up a gear.
Perez-Thompson puts the upswing in activity down to an increase in the
political will to collect the fees and a realization on behalf of the federal
government that they are missing out on cashing in on the real estate boom by
not charging people who live and run businesses in the Federal Zone for
their concessions. "The federal government finally is enforcing the laws and
demanding that people get a concession because also they realize they will
receive money this way," she said. Only Mexican nationals may apply for a
concession and doing so is a complicated process that has, until recently,
been something of a haphazard legal nightmare, Perez-Thompson said. She and
other real estate professionals in Baja tell stories of paperwork that has
gone missing time and time again; of inept and corrupt officials and of
applications that took, in some cases, more than a decade for the government
to process. Things improved at the federal level recently, Perez-Thompson
said, and the concession application process seems to be running a lot more
smoothly these days. The application process varies from property to
property, she explained, but foreign residents who live on the coast and
whose property encroaches into the Federal Zone can basically be split into
two groups: Those who have "bought" the privately owned part of their
property through bank trusts and those who, like the Youngs, have not.
Foreign residents who have set up bank trusts for the privately owned part of
their land may apply for the concession through their bank. Basically, the
bank applies for the concession on the foreigner's behalf. For those who,
like the Youngs, have only been leasing the privately owned portion of their
land, things are much more difficult. Perez-Thompson said people in that
position are best advised to negotiate with the land owner who has been
leasing to them. If they can convince the landowner to sell the land to them
through a bank trust, they can then seek the concession through the bank. If
they can't convince the landowner to part with the land, however, then they're
basically stuck. That's where Russ Young finds himself. After thinking for 23
years that he owned the property where his house sits, he and his wife now
don't know what will happen to their property from day-to-day. For now,
there's little he can do but wait and see whether the federal inspectors turn
up again. "We've been there a good number of years and it's our little piece
of paradise," he said. "We still are quite nervous about it. "Some investors
in Baja have negotiated the trap in which Young and his wife find themselves.
In 1989, Bob Gee and his wife Pat bought a small hacienda, or guesthouse, in
the small village of La Mision just north of the famous Hotel La Fonda, less
than 40 south of the border. Gee, like Young, bought his property from
another foreigner and was assured that the concession for using the federal
land was in place. When he went to renew the concession in the 1990s, however,
he found the process to be a bureaucratic nightmare. He said he spent 12
years trying to renew the concession, to no avail. Then, one day, the federal
government showed up at his door." I got a fine for $800, even though I had
done all the work and it wasn't my fault," Gee said. But Gee fought the fine
and, after managing to arrange a bank trust for the section of his property
that sat on private land, he was able to use the same bank to arrange for a
federal concession for the part of his property that's in the Federal Zone.
Getting his ownership deemed legal took a long time, money and heartache, Gee
said. But in the end it was worth it. As the building boom continues along the
Baja coast, Gee said, foreign residents in Baja would be advised to start
cleaning up their paperwork and to get their applications in early, because
there are lots of people lining up to take advantage of the hot commodity
south of the border: beachfront land. "They thought they had a place in
heaven, but now it's getting to the point where it's just become too
valuable," he said. "It's got to be solved, they're illegal there. "Please
contact Will Carless directly atwill.carless@voiceofsandiego.org with your
thoughts, ideas, personal stories or tips. Or submit a letter to the editor.
No one dares expose El Dorado because of retaliation. Baja News reported
about the El Dorado scam and Baja News has been is court ever since. Pat
Butler has filed several false claims against the newspaper and the newspaper
is now spending thousands of dollars to defend itself. It is sad that most
North Americans believe bigger is safer! lol
I disagree with your comment about Baja. Most Mexican landowners are very
honorable people. If they weren't, thousands of North Americans would have
lost their homes by now. Numerous North Americans have bought land
incorrectly and guess what - they still are. There are crooks and
corruption in Baja - just like there are crooks and corruption in the USA.
I don't like news stories that tell you half the truth. Doug and Dru Davis
could have stopped anyone from building on the beach in front of their home
had they filed the proper permit. The people at Punta Banda left their
brains at the border. They knew the land ownership was being challenged in
court but they got it very cheap and decided to put up inexpensive housing.
As new people came in they decided to "show up the Jones" and over time
build expensive homes. It's a good example of the saying "If you are going
to be King you better know what you are doing!" As for the people in
Rosarito -- did you read the "long term lease?" Anyone who spend more than
10 minutes knows there is no sure thing as a long-term lease. Any lease
over 10 years is not valid.
Why is it that people who spend the least time researching spend the longest
time complaining?
By Marla Dickerson Los Angeles Times
BUYER BEWARD
LA CRUZ DE HUANACAXTLE, Mexico ” Doug and Dru Davis sold their San Diego
County home several years ago to buy a $200,000 house on the beach here.
The value of their new place increased five-fold until some developers moved
the beach. The couple's serenity ended last fall when construction
crews began dredging the bay in front of their property to reclaim land from
the sea. A planned marina, hotel and high-rise condos now may block their
ocean view. Instead of watching whales glide just a few hundred yards
off their patio, the couple fear they'll soon be looking at garbage
dumpsters, a service road and beer trucks. "This is sending a terrible
message to investors," said Doug Davis, 61. "You think you're buying
oceanfront property, and then the Mexican government lets someone build in
front of you." Flush with equity from the steep run-up in U.S. real estate
prices, American boomers are snapping up properties in Mexico. But
while the Mexican government has made it easier to purchase in coastal zones
that were once off limits to foreigners, some buyers are finding out the
hard way that consumer protection hasn't kept pace with soaring demand.
No agency on either side of the border keeps statistics on the number of
Americans that have encountered problems. But interviews with homeowners,
real estate experts and government officials reveal real estate deals gone
sour and a host of potential pitfalls. Some would-be buyers have had
brokers disappear with their deposit money. Others have had their homes
seized in land disputes. A few have even landed in jail.
U.S. officials warn that Mexico's murky land records system exposes
foreigners to complex title disputes in courts that may not give them a fair
shake. "There is a history of problems," said Liza Davis no relation
to Doug and Dru Davis, public affairs officer at the U.S Consulate in
Tijuana. "We ask people to go in with their eyes open." The most
high-profile dispute in recent years was the eviction of dozens of U.S.
citizens from the Punta Banda peninsula south of Ensenada in Baja California
in 2000.Mostly retirees, the homeowners built their dwellings on so-called
"ejido" land, communal farmland that has been the source of complicated
title struggles nationwide. Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that the group from
whom the Americans negotiated their land deals was not the rightful owner,
forcing some to abandon homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Such extreme cases are the exception rather than the norm, according to
international tax expert Patrick Martin, a partner in the San Diego law firm
Procopio, who said there are plenty of satisfied Americans who have bought
Mexican property. "If done properly and carefully it can be a very
attractive investment," Martin said. But in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle,
the Davises and other homeowners said they did meticulous research before
purchasing. They just never imagined that someone would be allowed to drain
the ocean near their homes and build on land reclaimed from the sea,
effectively elbowing them off the waterfront. Doug Davis said he was
stunned by the lack of transparency when he and other mostly American
homeowners began asking questions about the $50 million project, whose
Mexican developers are four well-known local businessmen. The 17 affected
property owners had to hire attorneys to obtain basic information about
building and environmental permits. The homeowners said the original plans
called for a much smaller marina development and that officials had yet to
show them permits authorizing the expansion in front of their homes. Armando
Zepeda Carrillo, an official with Mexico's Secretary of the Environment and
Natural Resources, said the expanded project obtained all the necessary
permissions. The agency has not responded to requests by the Los Angeles
Times to view those documents. The local prosecutor denied the homeowners'
request to halt the project until the developers and government could
demonstrate all approvals were in place. Heavy-equipment operators continue
to dig and dredge just yards from the homeowners' seawalls. Dru Davis said
she was taking antidepressants to cope with the stress. The couple fears
that their property, which they calculate is worth more than $1 million,
could lose half its value.
About 1,400 miles north in Baja California, Bob Torres says the $63,000 he
lost on a modified trailer home was nothing compared to being deprived of
his liberty. The Los Angeles cinematographer and his wife were arrested and
held in a Tijuana prison in March stemming from a legal dispute with the
owner of a Rosarito trailer park who was trying to evict them from their
oceanfront lot. Released on bail after three nights, they fled back to the
United States with no plans to return to their favorite getaway. "Rosarito
has a bitter taste for me now," said Torres, 60. "I would not invest in
Mexico again." Torres said the decision was particularly painful since he
and his wife, Aide, had vacationed in Rosarito since they were children.
Many of those years were spent in a seaside trailer park called La Barca,
where the couple in 2002 secured a $300-a-month long-term lease on a lot
with a spectacular view of the ocean. Starting with a 35-foot travel
trailer, they added on little by little, eventually creating a two-story,
four-bedroom structure with a deck. Weekends and vacations were spent
barbecuing with other long-time residents, mostly Americans. Bob Torres said
things changed dramatically last year when Fidel Valdespino, son of the
park's long-time owner took charge of a major portion of La Barca following
his father's death the year before. Torres said he arrived one weekend in
September to find the water pipes to his dwelling had been severed. Other
former tenants, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said their water and
electricity had been cut about that time, access to the public beach blocked
with debris and that a rash of burglaries swept the park. An abandoned
trailer sprouted English graffiti that read: "Gringos go home. This is
Mexico." The word around La Barca was that Valdespino was trying to pressure
the tenants to give up their bargain-priced, long-term leases to make way
for a more profitable condominium development. Many fled as conditions
deteriorated. Among the holdouts were Bob and Aide Torres. Arriving at La
Barca March 18 for what they thought would be a relaxing weekend, they were
arrested following allegations by Valdespino claiming that they had damaged
the water pipes at the trailer park. A local judge found them guilty without
hearing their testimony, unusual for even Mexico's disparate legal system,
according to their attorney, Jose Heing Chig Bazua. The frightened pair
spent three days and nights in the notorious La Mesa penitentiary in
Tijuana. They were released after signing an agreement with Valdespino to
remove their dwelling from La Barca within 30 days. Valdespino denied making
the allegations against the couple, saying the agreement for them to leave
was a mutual one. Informed that the structure mysteriously caught fire over
the Easter weekend, the Torreses hired a contractor to haul it away for
scrap. "I am not going to fight it," Bob Torres said. "I fear for our
lives."
From: "Peter Schuster" phschuster321@yahoo.com
Date: Mon May 15, 2006 7:00pm(PDT)
Subject: try to get your deposit back in Mexico
There's a wonderful place in Mexico to live. The only problem is: when you
put a deposit on a house and the real estate agent, a century 21 agent, doesn't
sell you the house or give you back your deposit, what do you do?
TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERETAOO, is such a place. Century 21 has not
returned our deposit. The PROFECO GOVERNMENT AGENCY told us there's nothing
further they can do. After many attempts the police have looked into this
for months and have told us "Its not a crime for which they can lock them up for
keeping our money."
Sounds like a big money maker! Just open a real estate company collect
deposits on house and keep the money. From what we can see crime pays in
Mexico Any information Please send me at phschuster321@ yahoo.com
[Comment: This situation is not unique.
In fact, it is very common. However, it is more common for the property
owner to keep the earnest money. He doesn't mean to be a crook but
he is poor and the money is gone immediately and he has no way to repay it.
As I always say "Walk away if the seller won't use an escrow company and the
property doesn't qualify for title insurance." Remember, the buyer pays
the escrow fees and for the title insurance so why would an honest seller
refuse? Darrell.]
Plainclothes officers shot in
Mexico By Jorge Vargas, Assoc. Press writer
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- Four
plainclothes federal police agents were killed Thursday after an unknown number
of gunmen sprayed the unmarked pickup truck they were riding in with more than
30 bullets, investigators said. The shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m.
across from a grade school in Nuevo Laredo, a city on the U.S.-Mexico border
city plagued by a spike in drug violence since last summer. The victims
were all members of a special operations and intelligence wing of the Federal
Preventative Police, Mexico's public safety secretary said in a statement.
Three of the agents were identified by name and ranged in ages from 34 to 57.
All four were in an unmarked Ford pickup when the shooting started. Only
the vehicle's driver remained unidentified, Almanza said.
There were no arrests in the case and investigators had yet to determine why the
group might have been targeted. Forensic teams recovered more than 30 machine
bullet shells at the scene.
The shooting occurred just as the grade school was letting out for the day.
Witnesses said the agents had been seen snapping pictures in front of the
Federal Palace, an administrative building housing, among other groups, the
Federal Agency of Investigation. The agents wore street clothes, but their
military boots and short hair cuts made it obvious they were police officers,
according to witnesses.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 50 people have been shot and killed
in ambush-style attacks in Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. The city of
330,000 has been caught in a turf war between rival drug gangs fighting for
billion-dollar smuggling routes into the United States.
The city fired many of its police officers, replacing them with a new force
whose members were vetted for links to drug traffickers. President Vicente Fox
has assigned federal agents armed with automatic weapons to patrol the city in
an effort to curb drug violence, but added police presence has done little to
stop the killings. Thursday's slayings came a day after 600 new members of
the Federal Preventative Police arrived in Nuevo Laredo as part of
extra-security efforts. The newly assigned agents moved into a military barracks
and are also occupying fair grounds, both situated in western Nuevo Laredo,
where violence has been especially bad.
International Water forum begins
with dire warnings of shortages, inequalities
By Mark Stevenson ASSOCIATED PRESS 2:38 p.m. March 16, 2006
MEXICO CITY – An international
summit on global water supplies opened Thursday with presidents and princes
calling for solutions to shortages and inequalities in the most basic of
commodities. Organizers of the weeklong forum said their goal was to improve
water supplies for the poor. But opponents claimed their real mission was
privatization. "Water is a public possession that all governments must
guarantee," Mexican President Vicente Fox said in his welcoming speech at the
Mexico City convention center.
"Water is endangered, and with it, so are we all," Fouchon said, referring to
increased pollution and eroded watersheds that are damaging water supplies as
demand continues to climb. The poor often pay far more for their water today
than they did when the first global water forum was held in Marrakech, Morocco,
in 1997. Many non-governmental organizations and environmental activists have
complained about campaigns to privatize water systems, an approach meant to
upgrade systems through private investment – but that sometimes leads to rate
increases.
Mexico – where about 40 percent of the nation's 103 million residents live in
poverty – is now the second-largest consumer of bottled water in the world, just
behind the United States in terms of volume and behind Italy in per capita
consumption. Sales of bottled water in China jumped by more than 250 percent
between 1999 and 2004. Worldwide, the industry is now worth about $100 billion
per year. It's not because people can suddenly afford the luxury; it's that the
tap water in some countries is so bad that people are loath to use it. German
Martinez, director of the water system in Mexico City, said one problem is that
people are accustomed to paying little or nothing for municipal water in many
developing countries. "What we really have to do is get people to pay for their
water," he said.
Well, our fun Christmas/New Years family vacation was
completely turned upside-down with the theft of our '02 Chevy 3/4-ton pickup
from Pete's Camp, San Felipe 1/05
Unless you can get the person (covertly) out of the country
by car or personal vehicle, Mexican law does not permit injured people to be
removed from Mexican jurisdiction, especially those involved in some sort of
vehicular (car-plane, bus, motorcycle, at, boat) wreck or crash.
recovering the vehicle is usually out of the question, and don't expect any help
from the US Consulate, because they cannot do anything for you. Mexican
hospitals are not regulated nor verified, and many doctors and dentists
practicing are not licensed to practice. Ambulances are in cahoots with several
shady clinics and hospitals, and trying to interfere with due process (for want
of a better word) will only get you a ticket to your own trial.
Tread lightly and don't get forceful or threatening, for best results 3/06
OF COURSE IT'S HOT IN JUNE,
July, Aug. and Sept. in San Felipe. Who says you have to stay there all year?
Especially if you are retiring there? We stay until end of June, it's getting
hot but still tolerable. 8/05
Wife is from Mexicali- been to SF many times, I would NEVER
live there (part time maybe)... it is WAY too fricken hot.... late
fall/winter/early spring OK. 8/05
Under Mexican law, no body has to charge you with anything
or do anything pertaining to your case for 364 days (365 in leap year). To make
things work in Jail, you'll have to have someone on the outside bring you food
and clothing, cash, and blankets. If not, life will get really raw...3/06
If you don't want to stumble over a corpse, don't go
hiking. I've found them with bullet holes, beat to death, knifed, things cut off
or out, tire tracks in diverse spots. Just about any way a person could die. I
have found a few that were still alive, but nothing that I could do to keep them
alive. BCN, Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango--- all killing grounds. If you
want to stay alive, learn some conversation Spanish and signs of what to avoid
and when 3/06
On Saturday night, January 7th, 2006, at about 10pm, THE
SAN FELIPE ANIMAL RESCUE in Las Minitas was broken into and vandalized. The
double wide trailer which houses our clinic and ALL our supplies, food and
medicines, as well as newborn puppies and sick dogs was set ablaze and literally
burned down to the ground. Thirteen dogs were needlessly destroyed. Other
outside kennels were vandalized 1/06
Steer clear of Atochamex Trucking/moving company and their
sweet talking main man, Ruben Posada. I contracted with them to transport my
goods from California to La Paz and they turned out to be the moving company
from hell. I was forced to pay more than twice the amount of our contract if I
wanted to see my belongings again! They kept no records and so when my goods
arrived minus almost half of what they picked up, there was no means of knowing
if it was taken, lost or delivered somewhere else. And they could care less!
Unlike me, you have been warned. 10/05
I've gotten two tickets, both in Constitution, and both
bogus 3/06
I am a lawyer and thought I knew what I was doing. But I
got burned badly, along with several others. I didn't realize that escrow agents
in Mexico are not bonded. America Alvarez is the escrow agent at Los Cabos
Escrow Services who disappeared with multiple clients' escrowed funds. She used
to work with Lulu Jacobsen, the real estate agent who is believed to have
skipped town a year or so earlier with clients' escrowed funds. America is
possibly in Ensenada or San Diego. 6/05
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