Clear & concise

Guides

How buying property in Mexico works, step by step, plus 196 articles on costs, tax, rentals and life in the Riviera Maya.

The buying process in 4 steps

Buying in Mexico is different from the US and Canada. Read these in order before you make an offer.

1Step 1IntroductionEach country has their own rules for buying Real Estate and when you first buy in Mexico it can seem confusing! If you…Read step 1 →
2Step 2Fideicomiso or CorporationA Fideicomiso gives a foreign buyer all the property rights and privileges of a citizen, with the additional advantage…Read step 2 →
3Step 3Buying ProcessWhen making your initial offer, this should be done using a written Offer to Purchase contract, ensuring no confusion…Read step 3 →
4Step 4Closing and Title TransferAt this point, both parties should be able to execute the purchase/sales agreement (compra-venta), start the closing…Read step 4 →

Articles

Location & Lifestyle

Neighbourhoods, beaches, schools and day-to-day life.

Location & Lifestyle

Five Years In: What Long-Term Owners Say They Wish They'd Known at the Start

There's a predictable gap between what a buyer expects in year one and what they've actually learned by year five. None of it is secret information, but it tends to get skipped over in the excitement of a purchase. Here's an honest composite of the patterns that show up again and again among longer-term owners in this region. Rental income is more seasonal than the pro forma suggested Almost every new owner starts with a projection built on peak-season nightly rates extrapolated across the...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Raising Teenagers in the Riviera Maya: A Different Conversation Than Raising Young Kids

Families relocating with toddlers and families relocating with teenagers are, in practice, having two completely different conversations. Young kids adapt fast and don't yet have an established social world to leave behind. Teenagers do — and that changes the calculus considerably. The school question gets more specific The region has a genuine range of bilingual and international schools — Greengates School, Colegio Inglés, the International School of Playa del Carmen, Colegio Americano de...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Sargassum Season on the Riviera Maya: What It Means for Your Beachfront Property

Sargassum is one of those topics that gets either downplayed by sellers or wildly overstated by alarmist blog posts. Neither approach helps a buyer. Here's a factual, current picture of what sargassum actually does to this coastline and what it means for owning beachfront property here. What's happening in 2026 Forecasters at the University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Laboratory, who track sargassum using satellite data across the Atlantic, have flagged 2026 as a potentially...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Single Women Relocating Solo: A Realistic Look at Safety and Community

Solo relocation questions from women buyers tend to fall into two camps: people who've read only the alarming headlines, and people who've read only the glossy expat-blog version. The real picture sits in between, and it's worth being specific rather than reassuring in vague terms. What the safety data actually shows Quintana Roo, the state covering Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum, carries a US State Department travel advisory of Level 2 ("exercise increased caution") — the same tier as...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

The Reef and the Ocean: What Snorkeling and Diving Access Actually Adds to a Property

"Steps from the reef" shows up in a lot of listings, but the actual value of reef access varies enormously depending on which stretch of coast you're on. Here's what the Mesoamerican Reef actually offers, and how it genuinely affects property value and rental appeal. What you're actually near The Mesoamerican Reef is the second-largest barrier reef system in the world and the largest in the Western Hemisphere, running roughly from Cancún's coastline down through Belize and Honduras. It...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Yoga, Wellness, and the Culture That Shapes Tulum's Identity

Tulum's wellness reputation isn't just marketing — it's genuinely shaped the town's architecture, business mix, and even which streets became valuable first. For buyers, understanding that culture is useful context, not just a lifestyle bonus. Where it comes from Tulum's wellness identity draws on two threads that have merged over roughly the last fifteen years. One is the site's own history — the Tulum ruins sit dramatically above the Caribbean, one of the few Mayan archaeological sites...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

LGBTQ+ Life in the Riviera Maya: What Buyers Should Know

LGBTQ+ buyers considering the Riviera Maya are usually comparing it, consciously or not, to Puerto Vallarta's long-established scene. That's a fair reference point, but it undersells what's actually happening here — and it's worth being specific about both the legal reality and the day-to-day social experience. The legal foundation Quintana Roo — the state that includes Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum — has a genuinely significant history here: it became the first Mexican state to...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Riviera Maya vs. Belize: A Comparison for Caribbean-Coast Buyers

Belize and the Riviera Maya sit on the same reef system and share a border, but they offer meaningfully different ownership experiences and market realities. If you're comparing the two Caribbean coasts, here's what actually matters. Ownership: the headline difference Belize is the only English-speaking country in the region with genuinely unrestricted foreign property ownership — buyers can hold fee-simple title directly, with the same rights as Belizean citizens, no trust structure...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Riviera Maya vs. Costa Rica: Comparing Two Popular Retirement and Investment Destinations

Costa Rica and the Riviera Maya show up on nearly every "best places to retire abroad" list, and buyers frequently cross-shop the two. They differ more than most comparisons admit — starting with how ownership itself actually works. Ownership structure This is the single biggest legal difference. Mexico's coastline falls within a constitutionally protected "restricted zone" (roughly 50 kilometers from the coast), so foreign buyers can't hold direct title to coastal land — instead, they use a...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Riviera Maya vs. Puerto Vallarta: Comparing Mexico's Two Top Buyer Destinations

Riviera Maya and Puerto Vallarta are Mexico's two biggest magnets for US and Canadian buyers, and they attract genuinely different crowds for genuinely different reasons. Here's a fair look at both sides. Setting and climate Puerto Vallarta sits on the Pacific coast in the state of Jalisco, wrapped around Banderas Bay with the Sierra Madre mountains rising dramatically just behind town. The Riviera Maya sits on the flat, jungle-backed Caribbean coast of Quintana Roo. Weather-wise, Puerto...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

Region 15 and Aldea Zama: A Closer Look at Tulum's Top-Performing Neighborhoods

Ask five different Tulum agents where to buy and you'll likely hear "Aldea Zama" and "Region 15" in the same breath — and then very different opinions about which one makes more sense. Both are legitimate, but they serve different kinds of buyers. Here's the honest breakdown. Aldea Zama: the established choice Aldea Zama is Tulum's most mature master-planned neighborhood, sitting between the pueblo (town center) and the beach road, close to the archaeological site. It was built with...

Aug 29 · 3 min read

Location & Lifestyle

La Veleta: Tulum's Emerging Neighborhood, Explained

La Veleta doesn't get the same spotlight as Aldea Zama, but it's arguably where more of Tulum's day-to-day energy is actually happening right now. It's also a neighborhood in the middle of a real transformation — which is exactly why buyers should understand what they're getting into. From residential side street to cultural corridor La Veleta sits between the town center and Aldea Zama, historically more of a local, working residential area than a tourist zone. That's changed quickly. Calle...

Aug 29 · 3 min read