The best apartment isn't the one they show you. It's the one you compare.

1. Offer. You put your proposal in writing and price and terms are negotiated.
2. Holding deposit. An amount is paid to reserve the property and take it off the market, typically between $50,000 and $100,000 pesos. Make sure it's covered by a written agreement stating what happens if either side backs out: without that paper, a holding deposit is a verbal promise.
3. Legal review. Before you commit further, the title is checked, along with whether the property is free of liens, and whether property tax, water and condominium fees are up to date.
4. Promissory purchase agreement. It is signed and typically 10% of the total operation is paid, with the holding deposit counted inside that figure. The agreement sets deadlines, who pays what, and the penalties if someone defaults.
5. Notary. One is chosen and both parties submit their documentation.
6. Filings. The notary requests the lien-free certificate, the appraisal and the no-debt certificates, and files the preventive notice so nobody else can sell the property in the meantime.
7. Financing, if any. The bank does its own appraisal, approves, and instructs the notary. This is the step that stretches the timeline most.
8. Tax calculation. The notary calculates the buyer's acquisition tax and the seller's income tax, and issues the closing estimate.
9. Signing the deed. The balance is paid and the deed is signed before the notary.
10. Handover. Keys, and it's worth recording in writing the condition in which the property is received.
11. Registration. The notary records the deed with the Public Registry and later gives you your certified copy. This last step happens once you already live there and usually takes weeks.

End to end, a cash purchase usually takes one to two months; with a mortgage, longer. We're with you at every step and tell you what comes next before it's due.

There is no single nationwide rate. Notary fees are set by each state's tariff schedule and calculated in value brackets rather than as a flat percentage, so the same transaction costs differently in Monterrey than in Mérida.

As a budgeting reference, a buyer usually sets aside between 4% and 8% of the property's value for the whole closing. That covers several different items: notary fees, acquisition tax, Public Registry recording, appraisal and certificates. Worth knowing that the tax is usually the largest part of that package, not the fees.

That range is a market-practice reference, not an official figure: it moves with the state, the value of the property and whether a mortgage is involved. Before signing, the notary issues an estimate with the items broken out. We ask for it in writing and go through it with you line by line.

It's called the Property Acquisition Tax (ISAI, or traslado de dominio) and the buyer pays it. Here's the detail that surprises people: it isn't set by the federal government or the state, it's set by each municipality. Two cities in the same state can charge different rates.

As far as we were able to confirm in September 2026, in the markets where we work:

• Mexico City — progressive bracketed rate, roughly 1.5% to 7.6% depending on value
• Monterrey and the rest of Nuevo León — 3%
• Los Cabos — 3%
• Cancún — 3%
• Playa del Carmen — 4%
• Tulum — 3%
• Mérida — progressive bracketed rate; the notary confirms the exact percentage

These rates are reviewed every year and some moved recently: Playa del Carmen went from 3% to 4% in December 2025. Use them to budget, not as a final figure. The notary is who gives you the exact number for the day, and if you tell us which property it is, we'll request it for you before you put down a deposit.

Possibly. Mexico's income tax law provides an exemption for the sale of your primary residence, in article 93. The main conditions: that it genuinely was your home and you can prove it with documents in your name at that address; that the sale is formalized before a notary; that you haven't used the exemption in the previous three years; and that the price does not exceed 700,000 UDIs.

Careful with that last one: the UDI is updated daily, so its peso equivalent changes. Don't rely on a figure you read months ago. If the price exceeds the cap, the exemption applies up to the limit and the excess is taxed.

The exemption is per person, so a married couple can have two. The notary does the calculation and withholds accordingly. Confirm it with your accountant before signing: it's one of the points where the most money is won or lost in a sale.

It's a program that discounts notary fees so that more people can get their property properly deeded. In Mexico City it has run permanently since 2017, coordinated by the Notaries' Association and the city government. Other states run their own sessions on specific dates, so if your property is outside Mexico City it has to be checked case by case. It mainly covers regularizing homes, purchases, estates and wills.

Who qualifies. The core parameters:

• The property must be in Mexico City
• It must be residential. Land and commercial units are excluded
• Its cadastral value — not its market price — must fall within the program's brackets
• Once a year per person
• You must first obtain the beneficiary certificate from the Land Regularization Office (DGRT), before going to the notary

How much it discounts. It's tiered: the higher the cadastral value, the lower the percentage. For purchases it runs from around 60% at the lowest values down to 10% at the program's ceiling, and for estates the discounts are higher. The peso brackets are updated every year, so the current table has to be requested from the DGRT or the Notaries' Association — don't go by one you saw last year.

Two things worth knowing up front. The discount applies to the notary's fees, not to taxes or registry duties, which are paid in full. And the program's cadastral value ceiling is relatively low, so in practice it's very useful for regularizing a family home or settling an inheritance, and rarely stretches to a market purchase in the areas where we usually work. If you think your case qualifies, tell us and we'll check before you build a budget around a different expectation.