Everything sellers ask me, from setting the right price to handing over the keys in San Miguel de Allende.
If you're thinking of selling, be sure to see my page above named "My Competitive Advantage." It gives explicit details about the advantages my American franchise offers over all of San Miguel's other real estate offices, which are just disconnected Mexican master franchises with no support, backup, or connectivity to their sister offices in the U.S. This page is meant to answer your questions about the process of moving toward listing your home with me.
I always start with an actual market analysis looking at current listings and recent sales relevant to your home. Because we don’t have an American-style MLS here, such a report takes half a day to create by hand, that’s why I’m essentially the only Realtor in town who creates a real market analysis, rather than pull a pricing number out of thin air. Then, just as important, I work with my legal team to do a full Capital Gains tax analysis for you and actually help you manage all the steps to maximize the net proceeds in your pocket at the sale, this is critical to do in advance, not waiting until you get an offer.
From there we agree on the right price together, sign a Listing Agreement to exclusively represent your home, which means I market it heavily to the local Realtors in town as much as to my Buyers’ database since the Realtor bringing the buyer can earn half the commission, then we get your home ready to show at its best, I help stage it for photos, if necessary, then we schedule a day’s worth of photos and video, including dramatic dusk shots and drone video, and potentially, for large enough properties, another day of Matterport 3-D video filming and floor plan mapping. I then utilize every marketing tool outlined on the My Competitive Advantage page to give your home the most market exposure available to a global audience, especially with targeted marketing to High Net Worth zip codes in our feeder markets. This of course is the Cliff Notes version, we do much more, but remember, my team of real estate attorneys and I personally conduct every showing and manage every offer all the way through to closing.
I look at our private AMPI recorded statistics to learn what’s actually sold recently in your neighborhood, what’s currently competing with you on the market, and what makes your home genuinely different, in other words, because I’m from the U.S., I work just like an American MAI appraiser would to put a true market-value price on your home so it is competitive in the market. We want a price that ensures your listing does not become stale by sitting too long at a high price, but also maximizes the proceeds to you.
Mexico is a very privacy-based society, unlike the U.S. where the County Clerk & Recorder’s office allows public access to every bit of data about any home and its history. We also have no real IDX-based American-style MLS system that feeds ancillary apps like Zillow, Trulia or Redfin, so accurate, public data about the real estate industry in San Miguel is very scarce. For example, I’ve had clients point to a Claude AI response about a sale that Claude says occurred last year when I can prove it sold eight years ago. Because of the lack of public data in San Miguel de Allende, it’s critical to work with a highly-experienced and licensed Realtor with access to the private AMPI real estate statistics who can vet out the incorrect information often provided by poorly-fed AI systems. When computers first needed coded cards to function in the 70’s, there was a saying “Garbage in, Garbage out,” and that saying is once again entirely applicable to the poorly fed AI systems who cannot access accurate data on real estate in San Miguel.
It’s very simple: as a seller, your only selling costs are the commission, the IVA that must be charged on that commission per Mexican law, any Capital Gains tax you might owe, if any, and half the escrow company fee, roughly $375 USD. Remember, my legal team and I will walk you through a full Capital Gains Tax analysis early on and we may recommend tools that will lower your taxes due, if those are needed, they will be another small fee. Rest assured, I’ll walk you through a full “Net Proceeds” analysis.
Yes. San Miguel de Allende sits well inland, outside Mexico’s restricted coastal and border zone, so you hold fee-simple deed ownership here, the same as owning property back home. Selling is straightforward; no bank trust or special structure is required.
No, that’s a common misconception. Fideicomisos only apply within Mexico’s restricted zone, near the coast or border, and San Miguel de Allende is well outside that zone. You hold fee-simple deed ownership here, so there’s no trust or bank structure standing between you and your sale.
Unlike in the U.S., time on the market here is much longer and can vary widely depending on price point, accuracy of pricing relative to market values, home style and type, and most importantly, location. As examples, a market-priced updated Spanish Colonial home in a good Centro or equally walkable location might sell in six to nine months, however a home in a less desirable location needing some updating might take nine to 15 months to sell, sometimes longer. Each property varies dramatically, I will give you a realistic estimate based on my extensive 15-plus years of experience in our local market. Remember, good staging, the best marketing imagery, extensive global marketing outreach, and getting the price right from day one all shorten that timeline considerably, regardless of the home’s location.
I’ll personally walk you through what I would recommend in order to have your home best showcased to a potential buyer. But essentially, it’s what you did to prepare when selling your prior homes: declutter, deep clean, handle the small repairs you’ve been putting off, and let the light in. A little staging in the key rooms goes a long way toward helping a buyer picture themselves living there.
Real estate laws in Mexico involve a change about every six months, but I’ll always walk you through the full current list when we first meet. Currently you need: a full scan of your original property deed, proof that your taxes are current via a scan of your property tax statement, a copy of a hard-wired utility bill, like electricity or internet, with each spouse’s name on each separate utility bill and with your respective RFC numbers actually printed on the utility bill statement, and scans of your passport and residency visas, if applicable. If one exists, I need a scan of your Power of Attorney. And in rare instances where we have difficulty proving the owners are indeed spouses, we may need an Apostilled copy of your marriage certificate or a bank statement with both your names on the account.
Not necessarily. I always consult my selling clients on their vacation plans, family trips, or medical needs, and if there is a possibility they may not be here at closing, we can create a Power of Attorney (POA), here called a Poder, to allow you to be absent from the actual closing. My legal team most often serves as your POA, so you needn’t burden someone else with the task of being available. The POA cost is only a few hundred dollars and can be valid for up to five years.
Almost always, though the algorithm to calculate those taxes is so complex it spits out two legal-sized, single-spaced sheets of calculations to arrive at your tax due with the calculation variables being length of ownership, residency status, exchange rate at original purchase and at time of sale, and other factors that I’ll walk you through. Personally-held homes, not in a family trust or LLC, allow one Capital Gains Tax exemption per person on the deed every three years, if you have a residency visa. Again, this is exactly the kind of information I’ll help you get clarity on early in the listing process, not after you’ve already accepted an offer, because there are a variety of ways to minimize those Capital Gains Taxes due if you address them early enough.
Our market is much like the U.S. where Sellers realize that an exclusive listing, a legal contract that gives one named, specific Realtor the right to market your home and earn a commission upon a successful sale, is far more productive and profitable than attempting an open listing or a pocket listing. With an open or pocket listing, you have one agent who is trying to sell your home all by themselves and are dependent on how many buyers they personally know, versus an exclusive listing with me means I will market your home to the other 275 Realtors in San Miguel and you will have 276 Realtors bringing you buyers, we simply split the commission between the Buyer’s representative and the Seller’s representative. I personally invest thousands of dollars in marketing my exclusive listings because I know I will get reimbursed when I sell your home, an open listing agent will not invest a dime in marketing your home because they have no assurance of getting reimbursed for any marketing investment they may make.
Any nationality, Mexican, American, Canadian, or European, can easily buy your home, there are no restrictions other than any non-Mexican must apply for a rubber-stamp process called an SRE permit to purchase as a foreigner, but it is a simple and easy process. My marketing outreach, not just the web site, is global, so the odds are good a buyer will come from another country.
I’ll walk you through it, we’ll review it relative to the current market and your needs, and help you negotiate the terms that matter most to you using what knowledge I may have of the buyer and their motives. My legal team and I will guide you through due diligence and tax consequences, all the way through to final offer acceptance.
Once terms are agreed and signed, the expectation for all-cash closings in San Miguel is within thirty days. On occasion, one party or another may need an extended closing period and that becomes a negotiation point, perhaps trading a higher price for a longer closing period. And on the rare occasion that a bank or mortgage company may be involved, that closing timeframe can double or triple.
A Notario Publico is required by law for any property transaction in Mexico, that part isn’t optional. A separate lawyer is optional on top of that, though my own entire support team are all Mexican-licensed real estate attorneys, so you’re already covered from that perspective.
The Notario reviews the transaction details to ensure they meet with his standards of how he chooses to interpret Mexican real estate law concerning your specific transaction, makes sure every document is in order, calculates the taxes owed, handles the title transfer, and registers the sale with the Public Registry. It’s a formal role, not just a formality. Note that Notarios in Mexico have wide leeway in how they choose to interpret and enforce Mexican real estate law, that’s why it’s critical to work with a Notario that will allow you to use majority-approved and accepted tools to minimize your Capital Gains Tax owed. Since you as a Seller typically don’t know what Notario is best for your needs, that’s why it’s critical to work with a highly experienced Realtor like me that works with the Notario that will best represent your needs.
Didn’t find what you were looking for in our FAQ section? Whether you’re buying, selling, or just exploring San Miguel de Allende, I'm happy to answer your questions personally.
What Greg's Clients Say
"Greg sold my Centro home the first week for full price in the middle of the pandemic. We loved his service so well we hired him again for our second home sale, which he successfully sold as well. If you need the best Realtor for your home sale, do like Mr. Buffett and call Greg."
Don & Carol Blivas
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