Any Canadians who have retired/immigrated to Cozumel?

[Mike]

but I guess a condo is not land. and a house in town is not waterfront so we should be okay

It's my understanding that Cozumel is in the prohibited zone and all foreigners buying property of any type will have to do so through a 50 year renewable bank trust. You shouldn't need a Mexican corporation unless you plan on renting it out.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Diver0001]

I love Mexico and I can really see the allure of retiring there but I'd be much more inclined to move to Veracruz, tbh. Places like Cozumel and Playa del Carmen are so incredibly overrun with tourists that it would drive me crazy. Also coming from the city it would only take me a month or two in Cozumel to start getting really *really* bored if I didn't have a full-time job. I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere and believe me you don't know soul-crushing boredom until you live in some small place 600km from the nearest decent sized city.

That said, Cozumel isn't *that* small or *that* isolated but still I'll second the advice you got above to go live there for 6 months before making a final decision. It's a big change.

R..

 

[mjatkins]

Stay at the Blue Angel and talk to the owner and dive shop folks. All of them are Canadians. According to Matt the dive shop manager, they are taking over Cozumel, then Mexico and then the world, apologizing and being polite while doing so.

That does sound like something I would say, I just can't quite believe that I let the plan slip. Now the element of surprise will be lost.

 

[dmeeve]

I don't own property in Coz, but I do on the other coast, perhaps the rules on the island are different, but my experience was: to buy "property" ie condo house etc, within 50km of the coast, title has to be held in a fideicomiso (bank trust) which, when I bought in 2005, was 10% of the purchase price and is renewed annually at 10% of the original trust fee. It was easy to do as the banks, lawyers and realtors do it all the time. Do some research on the net....there is a ton of info out there, and do some research into the capital gains tax you will have to pay the mex gov't when you sell. If you want to avoid the trust, Canadians can own a Mex Corp...so could form a mexican corporation of which you own 100% and then the corporation can own the property outright. Wasn't worth the hassle since the trust was so easy

As Christi said an FM3 is something you might want and is easy to get since you're in Toronto and there's a Mex consulate there. The FM3 allows you to stay in Mex all year and to bring personal possessions for your house...furniture or whatever.

 

[prosdog]

That does sound like something I would say, I just can't quite believe that I let the plan slip. Now the element of surprise will be lost.

It was about a month ago. Really, you shouldn't have told me and let me live.

 

[cvchief]

I don't own property in Coz, but I do on the other coast, perhaps the rules on the island are different, but my experience was: to buy "property" ie condo house etc, within 50km of the coast, title has to be held in a fideicomiso (bank trust) which, when I bought in 2005, was 10% of the purchase price and is renewed annually at 10% of the original trust fee. It was easy to do as the banks, lawyers and realtors do it all the time. Do some research on the net....there is a ton of info out there, and do some research into the capital gains tax you will have to pay the mex gov't when you sell. If you want to avoid the trust, Canadians can own a Mex Corp...so could form a mexican corporation of which you own 100% and then the corporation can own the property outright. Wasn't worth the hassle since the trust was so easy

As Christi said an FM3 is something you might want and is easy to get since you're in Toronto and there's a Mex consulate there. The FM3 allows you to stay in Mex all year and to bring personal possessions for your house...furniture or whatever.

We have the condo in a fide. It didn't cost anywhere near 10% to set up the bank trust. And it costs me $541 a year for the trust. You can do the MX corporation, but I think that is supposed to change cost of the electric from residential to commercial, plus doing all the business paperwork.

 

[dmeeve]

It didn't cost anywhere near 10% to set up the bank trust.

So either you got a deal :thumbs-up or I paid too much :doh:....I have land with my property so maybe that makes things different? Not sure....

 

[cvchief]

I dunno. And 1% annual trust costs sounds like more than 4 times what pay. Mine is with Scotiabank.

 

[mstevens]

I guess a condo is not land.

Buying a "condo" involves buying a share in the land on which it is built, so a "condo" is very much covered under this law.

a house in town is not waterfront so we should be okay

That is correct, as long as you can find a house on the 16 kilometer-wide island that is more than 50 kilometers from the coastline. That's going to take quite an effort.

We have the condo in a fide. It didn't cost anywhere near 10% to set up the bank trust. And it costs me $541 a year for the trust.

Our fideicomiso did not cost near 10% of our house sales price, either. Closing costs overall were surprisingly high and included a substantial payment to the notary. I think some people conflate the notary fee with the actual cost of the fideicomiso.

You can do the MX corporation, but I think that is supposed to change cost of the electric from residential to commercial, plus doing all the business paperwork.

A corporation is great for rental property, but not supposed to be used for residential property. People do get away with it, but it creates a number of gotchas, including the risk of paying commercial utility rates.

---------- Post Merged at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:23 PM ----------

So either you got a deal :thumbs-up or I paid too much :doh:....I have land with my property so maybe that makes things different? Not sure....

Our house is free-standing on a lot, not a condo. Our annual fideicomiso fee is very similar to cvchief's, and is at the same bank.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Thanks everyone. More great stuff. Hmm I thought foreigners could buy since the 1994 NAFTA. I guess I read that wrong. Lots of research still to do. Everything we do we compare to moving to Hong Kong since that has been our plan for almost 10 years and it has been researched to death.

Good too that hubby was born there and is automatically considered a permanent residence. Subsidized health care is a biggy. Too bad the housing is so expensive. $350K for a 700 sq ft flat (2 bedrooms/1 bathroom) on one of the outer islands; 5 minutes to beach; no pool. HK is the gateway to all of the Pacific/Asia/Australia diving. Big bonus there for variety of diving.

We still have about 1.5 year until we need to finalize our plans so lots of time to do research.

Thanks again everyone