Montes de Loreto

So... back to November 2005... our good friend Ashley hunted down a good piece of land for us. A tiny 200 sqM piece. In Montes de Loreto, high up on the side of a hill, looking back towards San Miguel. Behind is a big craggy out-crop with land covered in cactus & mesquite plants.

Montes de Loreto is a little colonia about 10 mins drive from the centre of town. It is a mostly Mexican neighbourhood, the streets are still dirt & all the kids play at the little soccer pitch at the top of all the streets, beside the little church hut.

There is no credit available for building houses in Mexico so people build what they can, when they can with the cash they have & whatever they have. Consequently most of the houses are brick shells or have some rooms finished & others are looking more like ruins than works in progress.

To buy the piece of land we liked, we visited Maria, she is the directora of the colonia. Which means that she has a plan of all the "lots", knows the owners of each piece & if someone wants to sell their land they let her know. She knows the "lay of the land" & all the chismo (gossip). She is also in contact with the local govt. & makes representation to them on behalf of the colonia - seeking roading improvements, etc.

Maria, the vendor, Ashley, an interpreter & us all met at our lawyer's - Notario Luis Felipe Sanchez Hernandez. A very distinguished gentle man. After much discussion, photocopying (always lots of photocopying in Mexico), & many signatures - we had a "compraventa" - which is essentially a contract of sale.

Some weeks later, after all the requisite title searches, applications to govt. & many more photocopies & signatures we had our own "escritura". Title of sale!! That all sounds very straight forward, & luckily in this case it was (touch wood), in many cases to get to the escritura stage takes months & in some cases even years, & even then when you get one it may be contested. So if you are going to scrimp on anything, don't let it be your Notario - get a goody! More on that to come...