_{By Jeffery Kimmel, Esq.}

The house is often the easy part.

A buyer can fall in love with the architecture, the views, the courtyard, the rooftop terrace, or the location within minutes. Central Mexico has a way of doing that.

The difficult part comes later.

For Americans and other foreigners accustomed to buying real estate in the United States, Canada, or Europe, purchasing property in Mexico can involve a fundamentally different legal and financial process.

The transaction may look familiar on the surface: find a property, make an offer, sign a contract, deposit money and close.

But beneath that familiar sequence is a different system—with different responsibilities and, most importantly, a different answer to a question many buyers never think to ask:

Who is actually protecting my interests?

One of the most important differences concerns representation.

In a typical American residential transaction, buyers often have multiple layers of professional protection. A lender may require title insurance, legal review, property inspections and other safeguards before advancing its money.

Cash transactions in Mexico can be very different.

Because many property purchases are made without a mortgage lender, there may be no bank sitting between the buyer and the transaction insisting that its own interests be protected.

That leaves a fundamental question: Who is looking after the buyer?

A real estate agent's job is to facilitate the transaction and earn a commission. That does not automatically make the agent the buyer's attorney.

Even if an agent happens to be a lawyer, that does not necessarily mean the lawyer is representing the buyer as legal counsel in the transaction.

For a foreign buyer, the distinction is crucial.

The person helping you find the house is not necessarily the person whose job it is to protect your legal interests.

This is another area where American expectations can cause confusion.

Mexico uses a system involving a Public Notary, or Notario Público, in real estate transactions.

The notary is a specially trained lawyer appointed by the state and plays a central role in ensuring that the transaction is legally processed and recorded.

But the notary does not represent the buyer.

Nor does the notary represent the seller.

The notary's role is to ensure that the transaction is conducted according to Mexican law and properly registered with the state.

That is fundamentally different from having an attorney whose client is the buyer.

For a foreign purchaser, this distinction is not academic. It can determine whether anyone is specifically responsible for scrutinizing the transaction from the buyer's perspective.

The safest approach is therefore to make sure that the buyer has legal representation from the beginning of the transaction.

Before falling in love with the house, before negotiating the price, and certainly before signing a Purchase and Sale Agreement, a foreign buyer should be able to answer one simple question:

If something goes wrong, whose client am I?

That question may be more important than the view, the kitchen, or even the price.

The perfect house is not necessarily a good purchase.

A good purchase begins with making sure someone is specifically responsible for protecting your interests.

Jeff Kimmel is the founder of Kimmel Realty Group, a San Miguel de Allende brokerage
focused primarily on serving foreign buyers. Kimmel Realty Group is the only brokerage in San Miguel de Allende that provides its buying clients with their own attorney to represent them in the transaction, through an engagement letter, at no additional cost to the client.

That distinction reflects Kimmel's belief that foreign buyers need someone specifically
responsible for protecting their interests—not simply someone facilitating the sale.
Kimmel has been a member of the California Bar since 1980 and has had a lifelong connection to Mexico, beginning in 1973. In 2012, he and his wife, Marty, moved from San Francisco to San Miguel de Allende. He later became a partner in the Mexican law firm Portilla, Ruy-Diaz y Aguilar and entered the San Miguel real estate business in 2017.

Today, Kimmel continues to practice law and real estate in San Miguel de Allende, where he lives with his wife. His work focuses on helping foreign buyers understand both the opportunities of owning property in Mexico and the legal and practical differences that make buying a home there very different from buying one in the United States.

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