February 2006 / 43
Letter from the Editor The times they are a changin’ It’s true. Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo is experiencing some unprecedented growth of late. I’d wager we have seen more growth in the last five to ten years than in the 30 previous ones. The entire dynamic of the place is changing, that’s what I am hearing from all...
January 2006 / 42
Letter from the Editor Welcome to Another Day in Paradise and welcome to the year 2006 AD. Ready or not here comes the dog. It’s January and off we go, lumbering into another new year. 2005 went out like a light. I wasn’t actually ready for it and found myself fumbling for the...
Buddhism – Suffering is Optional
“One of humanities largest cognitive errors is thinking that pleasure is the same as happiness. Trying to extract happiness from pleasure is like trying to milk a crocodile.” – Israel Lifshitz Israel Lifshitz discovered Buddhism 13 and-a-half years ago when he attended a lecture that opened his eyes and changed the path of his life....
December 2005 / 41
Letter from the Editor Welcome to the big month of December and Welcome to Another Day in Paradise. Intrepid travelers, we arrive here from all corners. By plane, by bus, by car, we make this pilgrim’s journey every year. Braving long roads and long layovers and the more than occasional exorbitant fare,...
Letter from the Editor November 2005 / 40
November 2005 / 40 Welcome Back to Another Day in Paradise. Sustainable development, it’s not just a lofty ecological goal, it’s a natural law. Technology allows us to ignore it for a time, but in the end nature seeks a balance. You can only push so far one way before it comes pushing...
Visas & FM documents
Defining non-immigrant, immigrant and immigrated status
Kip and I are both international bastards—born in once place and choosing to live elsewhere. Fighting to get back to or get away from our homelands all our lives. – Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient. Some of my clients and friends, either newcomers or residents, have asked me if it is necessary to obtain a...
Michener’s Mexico
Mexico By James A. Michener, 672 pages, Fawcett, 1994
James A. Michener’s Mexico is 672 pages of historical fiction that takes the rich and varied history of Mexico, its people and places, throws them all together in a bag, shakes them up and dumps them out like puzzle pieces all across the country. If you know very little of Mexican history or have visited...
The Apostille
Making a document legal for use in Mexico
In Mexico, the ONLY authority permitted to draft a deed transferring real property or an interest in real property (such as the fideicomiso) is the Mexican Notary Public. This person is different from a notary public in the United States where a simple exam, a bond, and a rubber stamp can make a notary public...
Ejidal Property
Is it a bargain…or a problem?
EJIDAL (EEEE-heee-doll) properties were established in Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 as an outcome of the Revolution and represent probably 50 percent of all the land in Mexico. After the Revolution hundreds of millions of acres from the original Spanish land grants were expropriated by the government and classified as ejidal properties....
Mexican Capital Gains Tax
...and how your deed declared property value affects it
Just as in the United States or Canada, the foreigner selling his trust rights in real estate must pay a tax on his profits to S.A.T., previously known as Hacienda, Mexico’s version of Uncle Sam. None of us like to pay taxes but we’ve become accustomed to paying them in our own countries and, believe...
Real Estate & the Law in Mexico
what is a presta nombre?
If you have ever thought of investing or have invested in Mexican real estate you have probably heard the word presta nombre used. But what is a presta nombre? Most people that I have talked to or worked with that have used a presta nombre describe it to me as “the man (or woman) whose...