How to look for housing in Mexico - Real estate in Mexico

Of course, you know how to look for accommodation on your own when going on vacation. Booking.com, Airbnb and similar sites are indispensable assistants for finding short-term housing. But if you plan to come to Mexico for a long period of time, you should approach the search for housing somewhat differently.

You can't help but think that looking for long-term housing — it's as easy as clicking a couple of buttons on the website and booking a hotel for a few days. Your active participation in the process — guarantee that you will quickly find accommodation with a good price/quality ratio and in a safe area.

If you are looking for a luxury apartment with an ocean view, our advice will not help you. Realtors will do all the work to find such housing for you.

We also assume that you know Spanish or at least English. Without knowledge of the language, the chances of successfully finding housing are sharply reduced.

If you want to buy property in Mexico, read thispublication

Where to start

First, you need to decide on a city. We are sure that in most cases you already know which city in Mexico you want to live in. However, the debate about where it is better to live, in Cancun or Playa del Carmen (if we talk about the Caribbean coast of Mexico), does not subside. If you find it difficult to choose a city to live in, first live in each place for a while, walk the streets, feel the atmosphere, and only then make an informed choice. However, sometimes the realization of the choice may drag on for a long time.

In addition, you should have an idea in which area of the city you want to live and what type of housing you prefer (detached house, apartment, studio, etc.). Read online opinions about safe areas and their infrastructure for your needs. Some will agree to live only on a protected reservation, while others will accept housing next to ordinary Mexicans. Let us note that the danger to life in many areas is seriously exaggerated. If you have agreed to live in a foreign country, it is not a good idea to view its indigenous population as a potential threat.

First, rent a home for the first time. Hotel or private apartments — it's up to you to choose. This will be your base for further, basic searches for long-term housing.

The offer of housing in most Mexican cities and especially in travel areas is simply huge, for every taste and budget.

Personal searches

Many homeowners in Mexico post rental notices («se renta») on their houses or balconies. In most cases, these objects never appear on the Internet, since they give up anyway. It is believed that walking the streets, reading such advertisements, communicating with the owners, first by phone, and then in person — the fastest and most successful way to find housing. Mexicans themselves most often do just that.

Mexicans — very friendly and sociable. Therefore, you have the right to ask your current tenant or the owner of the house that you looked at, but which did not suit you, if he knows someone who rents out exactly the kind of housing that you are looking for.

Renta casa en Cancun — This house in Cancun is for rent

Airbnb

Usually onAirbnblooking for short-term housing. However, there are advertisements for long-term rentals on the platform. It is possible that prices on Airbnb will seem higher to you than on other home rental sites. But almost all objects here — absolutely real, the connection to the regions is also real. At the very least, you will be better able to get an idea in which area of a particular city the housing you are interested in is concentrated.

Most listings on Airbnb — from home owners. We strongly advise you to write to EVERYONE who rents out housing in your area. Personal contact can lead to the fact that the owner, having learned that you are looking for long-term housing, will remove his property from the listing and directly offer you a lower price, bypassing the Airbnb commission. The owner (or intermediary) has the right to have other rental properties that are not available on Airbnb. «Word of mouth» In addition, he is able to play his role: he will tell his friends about you who have something to offer you.

In addition, be prepared for the fact that the real details of the room will be different than in the photographs on the Internet. Therefore, the more you learn about the property in advance by contacting the owner directly, the better.

On our second visit to Mexico, we rented housing for the first time through Airbnb, intending to start looking for a long-term stay upon arrival. Searching on my own without knowing Spanish turned out to be a difficult task. All the realtors with whom we communicated before our arrival and who promised to show us a lot of properties when we arrived in Mexico immediately disappeared as soon as they realized that we did not intend to rent the first housing offered at clearly inflated prices.

And then we wrote a letter (in English) to the landlord from whom we rented on our last visit. His ad was still up on Airbnb, but we asked if he knew anyone who was renting out a larger space for a longer period. A couple of days later he said: «Come!». During these couple of days, he and his brother vacated a large room in their house with a separate entrance, which had previously been empty, made quick repairs there, brought in some furniture and offered it to us at a very attractive price, and even with utilities included in the price. This was already progress, since there was no need to pay daily rent.

Housing search sites

We have an ambivalent attitude towards searching for housing through specialized sites. It seems that all the major sites offering homes for sale or rental in Mexico — just bulletin boards where, unlike Airbnb, no one checks the reality of the objects, just as no one checks the reality of the prices. Half of the ads — without photographs, with a very abstract description and indication of the location of the property, which requires further communication with the author of the ad to clarify the details.

It is no coincidence that we wrote «with the author», because the bulk of worthwhile advertisements — from intermediaries. We have more than once encountered a situation where, when asked about housing with beautiful photographs and a good price, we were told that it had already been rented out, but there were 10 other properties that needed to be visited and looked at. Half of these properties are not suitable for rental housing at all; they have been trying to rent out the second half for a long time and at a clearly inflated price. And every time they proved to us that nothing is better «for such a price» we won't find it.

Here we will simply list a few sites for finding housing in Mexico:

Recently, the largest e-commerce site in Mexico has been developing its own housing rental portal.Mercado Libre. For now, this is also a bulletin board, but with more or less real offers.

Want more sites? In Google search, type «renta inmuebles mexico».

Facebook

Facebook groups — a good option for looking for long-term rental housing. In fact, they have the same disadvantages as specialized sites, but there are also advantages that are worth noting.

Fast live communication. You can very quickly find out the relevance of the offer, location, ask for more photos and find out detailed rental criteria.
You have the right (and obligation!) to write an advertisement stating that you are looking for housing. If you think it necessary, immediately set the price level and indicate other requirements. A lot of Mexicans do just that.
There are a lot of ads for shared rental housing (roomie) in Facebook groups — someone is looking for a neighbor to save money. This does not mean that you will have one room for two. Everyone will have their own bedroom, but the rest of the rooms — general.
In the tourist areas of Mexico, many foreigners own and rent out homes. Their listings do not appear on Spanish-language housing search sites. Their listings will not be counted on Airbnb to avoid paying a commission. Their advertisements appear in Facebook groups.

To find rental groups on Facebook, search for «rentas» (or add «ventas») and the name of the city where you are looking for accommodation, for example «rentas playa del carmen». After that, you should join the group (or even all the groups you find) and start communicating with those who posted the ads.

There are very, very many such groups, and the number of their participants is measured in tens of thousands. In particular, to find housing in Cancun, we can recommend the following groups:

And even such popular Facebook groups for selling all sorts of things asMercado Libre Cancun OficialandBazar Cancunare full of advertisements for rental housing.

Realtors

You must understand that realtors exist for those people who do not want to search for housing on their own. Activities — certainly important — Most realtors in tourist areas of Mexico, such as Cancun or Playa del Carmen, are aimed at visitors and quick real estate transactions. No one will court you for long. You will be shown objects that are mainly important to the realtor himself. You are for them — non-resident, and the price of objects for you may be the same as for foreigners.

We know only a few Russian-speaking realtors in Cancun who are able to contact homeowners directly and offer properties outside the tourist area. On the other hand, renting good housing for a long time in the Cancun Hotel Zone is most often possible mainly through realtors.

Advice:

if a realtor in Cancun asks you to pay for viewing, find another realtor,
if the realtor says that if you don’t make a deposit now, the apartment «will go away», — find another realtor,
if a realtor says that without knowing Spanish you will be deceived, find another realtor and ask someone you know to be your translator during viewings;
If the realtor is annoying or threatening, find another realtor. There are as many realtors in Cancun as there are housing offers.

We have collected contacts of Russian-speaking realtors in Mexico here:Realtors

The subtleties of renting housing in Mexico. Deposit

When you sign up for a long-term lease, you enter into a lease agreement. If this is not an expensive piece of real estate, the contract is usually considered a «filkina» literacy. But in some cases, knowledge of its conditions can avoid unpleasant situations. Typically, a lease is for six months or a year, or for whatever period you agree with the landlord.

You will be required to pay:

Cost of the first month's rent.
Cost of the last month's rent.

Instead of the cost of the last month's rent, you may have a security deposit (deposit), which is most often equal to the cost of a month's rent, but can be either less or more.

The landlord's reluctance to return the deposit — a topic very often discussed on forums. In this regard, be sure to read the contract!

For example, if the contract says that you are obliged to notify the landlord one month in advance about terminating the contract, but you did not do this, in other words, you violated the criteria, then in addition to this, he is also capable of violating the requirements for the return of the deposit. In addition, the contract may indicate that part of the deposit may be used to repair the premises after your stay, to compensate for the cost of damaged items, etc.

The most common way to buy back a deposit — notify the landlord of the termination of the contract on time and live for the remaining month on the deposit. But this is not always possible if the rental scheme involves the tenant (you) issuing a set of promissory notes to the landlord for each month of rent. Receipts are returned to the tenant monthly after each payment. In this case, at the end of the lease, you will have to pay the last month of rent, and then wait for the landlord to return the deposit.

The deposit return period can be up to 60 days or more. During this period, you will have to pay all utility bills that will come after your lease is completed.

The price of notarization of a lease agreement — on average, 800-1500 MXN — depends on the rental price.

Usually, but not always, in addition to rent, you will have to pay for utilities (electricity is the highest additional expense, gas, water, Internet). In addition, sometimes the rent does not include the maintenance fee (mantenimiento) charged in condos or private gated communities (privadas).

We talked about the documents that will be required for long-term rental housing in Mexico in thismaterial.