• Soumaya Museum / LAR + Fernando Romero
• he Soumaya Museum, slated for completion in 2010, will house a diverse collection of international painting, sculpture, and object art from the 14th century to the present, including the world’s second largest collection of Rodin sculptures.  Conceived as a sculpture, the museum’s amorphous form will be a contemporary icon for Mexico City that is also a functional curatorial space.
• Its “avant garde form” is a drastic break from art museums that typically become standard volumetric boxes.  The distinct form will allow every user to perceive it in a different way upon entering the museum.  The façade is made from translucent concrete that filters light, making the spaces feel light and open, without sacrificing the material’s structural integrity.  Once inside, the “intermediate levels are open to each other in a continuous volume, but partially separated by enclosed areas, making all spaces unique in their shape and form.”
• Constructed with steel columns of varying diameters, the structure  provides a non-linear circulation route taking viewers past the nearly 20,000 square meters of exhibition space.
• The  museum will also include an auditorium, library, offices, a restaurant, and gathering lounge as well as four underground levels of parking below two underground levels of storage and restoration labs.

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• Foreign Investment Law allowed foreigners to purchase real estate anywhere in Mexico, except the restricted zone.
• A corporation may own property in a restricted zone without a fideicomiso.)
• The NAFTA trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico is passed. A constitutional amendment allows corporations to be 100% foreign-owned.

• The Purchase Agreement

   

   A purchase agreement (contrato privado de promesa de compraventa) is typically a boilerplate two-page document prepared by a lawyer or a notary. It states the seller's and the buyer's name, address, age, marital status and other particulars. It also states the exact size and location of the property as it appears on the deed.

     The agreement must show the amount actually to be paid including the down payment which is paid at the signing of the agreement. For tax purposes - or to avoid paying more taxes than necessary - the seller may request that the declared purchase price be less than the actual purchase price. (The capital gains tax is 15%; 28% for foreigners.) In this case, both amounts must appear in the purchase agreement. (If the purchase agreement is written by a notary and the declared price is not the purchase price, be sure to request that the document not be notarized, i.e. entered into the public record.)

     The date of initiation of closing must also be declared. My purchase agreement allowed for three weeks to lapse before the title transfer process would be initiated with a notary. This was the amount of time that the seller would need to get a certificate of non-encumbrance (certificado de no gravamen) from the deed office and that the buyer might need to get his papers in order. If the sale does not go through because the seller does not present the paper work to the notary by the agreed upon date, he must return the deposit to you.

• The Fideicomiso

   

   The fideicomiso is a bank trust wherein the bank (trustee) holds the trust deed for the purchaser (beneficiary). While the trustee is the legal owner of the real estate, the beneficiary retains all ownership rights and responsibilities and may sell, lease, mortgage, and pass the property on to heirs. The fideicomiso is authorized by the Mexican Government under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    The bank is required to check ownership and insurance, and to verify that the property is free of liens. A trust is granted for a 50-year period. The trust is renewable at any time (for another 50-year period) by submitting an application to the bank. If the 50-year period expires without renewal, the owner has another 10 years in which he may submit an application to renew the trust. If property is purchased that already has a fideicomiso, the existing trust may be transferred to the new owner and will be good for the remainder of its 50-year period, or the trust may be renewed. If property is already in a fideicomiso, probate and transfer tax are avoided when the property is transferred.

    There is a fee of about US$350 (varies from bank to bank) to obtain the fideicomiso and an annual fee as well. To obtain the fideicomiso, you will need your accepted purchase offer, a photo ID and 10% of the purchase price. Monetary transactions are handled through the bank.

   

     

  Taxes

   

   The predial (property tax) is 0.1% of the assessed value, paid annually. The value of the real estate is determined at the time of sale. There is a 2% sales tax.
• The buyer pays closing costs, which are usually about 6%
• Property insurance is available in Mexico and the rates are relatively low.

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• Story by Carole Sinclair of Walfre Real Estate
  www.walfre.com. mx
• To begin with, the Notary Public in México has the legal obligation
  and responsibility to pay the taxes on a real estate transaction on
  behalf of both the buyer and seller
• The
  Capital Gain is 30% of the gain. To get this information the notary will
  send the necessary information to a tax accountant to calculate the
  amount. This information will include the date of your purchase and the
  value which was declared on your deed when you purchased the property.
  It will mention deductions such as the acquisitions tax you paid when
  you bought and the public registry fee and the notary's fee if you
  have the proper fiscal receipt for this expense. The realtor's
  commission is also deductible but again, you will also need to provide
  an official receipt.

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• Restricted and Federal Zone notes

• Ejido Information

• from the past.
• Ejido land is communal land, it was given to the local people to work, and in the past it could not be sold or leased.
• Currently there are two main ways for foreigner to hold property in La Manzanilla, one is the Constancia's from the Ejido in their name and the other is for them have the name on the Constancia be a Presta Nombre (borrowed name) who is a Mexican citizen. Presta Nombre's are illegal, but there is a difference (I think) when one is using a Presta Nombre to hold property until they can get bank trust and when one is using a Presta Nombre to avoid bank trust. If you are using a Presta Nombre to avoid paying the yearly fees that come with bank trust the Mexican government thinks you are trying to cheat them and can take serious action against you.
• When you have a Constancia from the Ejido you are trusting the Ejido to give title to the person who's name is on the most recent Constancia issued for a property (if Mexican citizen) or to let them go to bank trust (if foreigner) when it becomes available. There are some buyers who just leave it at that and do not do any other documents.
• 1) Cesion de Derechos (transfer of rights) from the person who is selling to the person who is buying as a way to make the transfer more secure. Another paper they could use is a "promise to transfer title".
  
    2) Contracto de Arrendamiento (lease agreement) where the buyer leases the land from the Presta Nombre or the Ejido. The agreement also contains a statement from the buyer stating who is the heir of the property if they should die. The heirs of the Presta Nombre are automatically bound by the agreement in place if the Presta Nombre should die.
  
    3) Irrevocable power of Attorney gives the buyer all the rights to do whatever they would like to do with the property.
  
• All of Costa Alegre is located in the restricted zone, it is against the constitution of Mexico for individual foreigners to own land in the restricted zone unless it is held in a bank trust. Parts of Costa Alegre are in the process of going through Procede (which is a process where the Government of Mexico regularizes the land) And parts of it have completed Procede and a bank trust is available.
• The way the regularization process (Procede) works is they measure off each property and make sure that everything is in order as far as where the property lines are for the individual properties and the Ejido land as a whole. Once that process is complete the Mexicans will get title to their land and the foreigners will be able to get a Bank trust (fideicomiso) for the property that they can then legally "buy".
• They said that it was basically a waste of time for everyone to be running around getting presta nombre's and doing the wills and power of attorney that usually go with the presta nombre method. They told us that we should trust the Ejido and put the property in our names, then when the Procede process was completed they would transfer the property to our name via fideicomiso for something like 5 pesos per square meter. Basically they were telling us to let the Ejido be our presta nombre.

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