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Most people I know who buy houses as an investment hope, expect, pray that their primary return will be selling the property in the future at a profit.  If they rent it meanwhile, they look at the rent as an aid in making the mortgage payments.

YMMV

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Just now, gringal said:

Mortgage payments?  In Mexico?  You must be referring to NOB, si?

Yes, that's where most people I know do real estate investing.

But just FYI, the two gentlemen from Houston who recently put a contract to buy our condo have obtained a mortgage from a Mexican bank for 50% of the sales price. No home inspection, no title insurance just their 50% was sufficient to get the loan. Now dealing with the details of closing.  Notarios are required to be given proof that all owners have been living in the property for the minimum time and,be either Mexican or permanente if you want to avoid capital gains. Since we each own 50%, each of us needs either a Telmex bill, CFE or bank statement to be only in our name, have our RFC number on said proof and have 3 receipts or statements preceding closing. Since we get CFE every 2 months that means 6 months versus Telmex or bank statement. Telmex now requires the actual person to go and do this in person, no more facilitators. We're learning.

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2 hours ago, solajijic said:

There are no filters for renting to people here as there is up north - references are for the most part useless and there is no credit history information.  So a Facebook page can tell a lot. However color just isn't important and never occurred to me to use for that purpose and I doubt any of the nationals running rental services think about it either. 

Anyway what can be told is if people keep their homes and yards neat and tidy.  Do they have family and friends or are they loners?  Are they consumed with politics of either bent?  Do they seem to have an angry personality or a needy personality seeking validation from others? Do they have an extreme focus on animal rescue?  Are they curious about the world?  Have they travelled?

 

It's just one of the tools now that people use to decide who to rent to just like others use it to decide who to employ or who to date.  The world is changing.

 

Sounds very discriminatory against potential renters!   🤔

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34 minutes ago, suegarn said:

Sounds very discriminatory against potential renters!   🤔

You don't have to give them access to your FB................and they don't have to rent to you either if you won't.  If you were a landlord you would probably understand. Who wants or needs a low-life renter?  Anybody can find a few references who will say anything they are asked to say.

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1 hour ago, gringal said:

It may or may not be discriminatory, but it is very intrusive.

G-gal, share with me how it is intrusive for someone to look at information that a person has willingly slathered all over the Internet. How does one intrude into a life that has been broadcast for any and all to see. If I have an asset I’m trying to ‘protect’, I’ll use anything and everything I can to make sure I don’t share that asset with a no good scoundrel. 

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12 minutes ago, RickS said:

G-gal, share with me how it is intrusive for someone to look at information that a person has willingly slathered all over the Internet. How does one intrude into a life that has been broadcast for any and all to see. If I have an asset I’m trying to ‘protect’, I’ll use anything and everything I can to make sure I don’t share that asset with a no good scoundrel. 

Your Facebook page is not visible to “everyone on the internet” unless you set it to Public. Your posts are not “broadcast for any and all to see.” It is your choice who has access. I would never give access to someone who demanded it of me. Besides, a Facebook page can be specifically designed to present yourself in any way you wish, including responsible renter. The whole rental scene in Ajijic has gotten way out of hand and is now approaching the ridiculous. 

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If facebook is going to be a requirement to be able to rent, then Gringal and I are glad we own. Neither of us has any interest in being on facebook or twitter. Never have and never will be.

Letters of reference come with signatures and contact information. Solid and real. I would hesitate to believe anything that can't be checked... and that includes facebook and twitter or any other "social media" site.

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Thanks to Zena for setting things straight.  I am aware that "privacy" has become an outmoded expectation in our brave new world, but here's a crumb for thought:  In a "normal" application for renting,  one is asked to provide selective information which, when checked, will attest to the credit worthiness and reliability desired in a tenant.  Since when does the potential landlord rate access to information people who use social media with certain limits (as Zena described) give out to friends and family about their private lives?

This is a new form of discrimination:  Those who are fortunate enough to be able to choose homeownership don't have to put up with this, but those who must be renters now do???? And then, there are those who deliberately choose to be renters.  Since when is it okay to demand they make a choice between opening their private information to a stranger or being turned down as a renter? 

Sure, the landlord doesn't care if his nose is poking where it has no business being.  Why should he?

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Tell that to many employers who also require that kind of information from a job seeker. Pejorative terms like discrimination are easy to throw around but it might be more accurate to simply say that you personally would be unwilling to agree with that request.  It seems many people are willing. As far as I know, and I'm not a lawyer, it is not illegal here to ask that of a potential renter. Same as asking about smoking, animals, family members and other things that in the opinion of the owner, are indications of what type of tenant the applicant might be. Especially here in Mexico people will say anything to get that key and afterwards will sometimes completely ignore promises they made.  If you haven't been a landlord here in Mexico you really are just expressing an opinion not backed up by any experience.  If you don't like rent in dollars, giving access to your FB or any other requirement just find another landlord.  The term discrimination has been given a bad rap since the ability to discriminate is a vital tool to help us avoid situations that could be dangerous.  Only when it is used to exclude people in general is it bad and that type is usually made illegal.  When you choose to take a taxi home from the celebration at 2:00 AM rather than walk alone down poorly lit streets you are using your God given ability to discriminate.  You are not making any judgments about those people who may live along your route. Rental units don't exist for the convenience of renters.  They exist to make money for the owners and there are plenty of reasons for owners to be very careful about who they let live there, especially here in Mexico.  There are countries where the government tightly controls rentals so folks can find one of those if so desired.  If you know anything about rent control you know the condition of those units is usually not top notch and the only people it benefits are the renters who got there first.  Good luck finding a place if you want to relocate there.

And when I use the word "you" I mean it in the collective sense, not you personally so no, I'm not picking on you. 

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I know you're not picking on me: we're having a discussion, and we don't agree on all matters.

I have been a landlord, BTW, both in the States and here in Mexico, and it's one thing to reject animals or smokers and It's quite another to look into their political leanings and other private matters not bearing on suitability as a renter as one previous poster suggested was an advantage of peering into the applicant's social media.  That is where true "discrimination" enters the picture.

And yes, I know that currently, employers are peering into whatever they can...because they can.  Landlords are doing this...because they can.  That does not make it right, or fair.  I would not be greatly surprised if some day, legislation is passed to limit the amount of intrusion allowed.

 IMO, many people have jumped on the social media bandwagon without realizing how much access to their information is happening.  Based on the recent defections, some are catching on.  IMO, no one should need to participate in the social media phenomenon in order to have a chance at getting a job or a rental. 

 

 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, gringal said:

I know you're not picking on me: we're having a discussion, and we don't agree on all matters.

I have been a landlord, BTW, both in the States and here in Mexico, and it's one thing to reject animals or smokers and It's quite another to look into their political leanings and other private matters not bearing on suitability as a renter as one previous poster suggested was an advantage of peering into the applicant's social media.  That is where true "discrimination" enters the picture.

And yes, I know that currently, employers are peering into whatever they can...because they can.  Landlords are doing this...because they can.  That does not make it right, or fair.  I would not be greatly surprised if some day, legislation is passed to limit the amount of intrusion allowed.

 IMO, many people have jumped on the social media bandwagon without realizing how much access to their information is happening.  Based on the recent defections, some are catching on.  IMO, no one should need to participate in the social media phenomenon in order to have a chance at getting a job or a rental. 

 

 

 

 

You're right!  If they don't want to participate they should become an employer, not an employee and an owner, not a renter.

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A lot of misinformation on this thread. Firstly, the standard practice in Mexico is to ask for a  "solvent gaurantor" (no mortgage). Secondly, many Mexican rentals (the best and lowest costs) are completely unfurnished, you have to provide refrigerator, washing machine, etc. This way the property owner avoids I.V.A. tax and probably some relief on Capital Gains. Here are two links which may be of interest.

https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Latin-America/Mexico/Landlord-and-Tenant

And this article by Spencer McMullen https://www.expatsinmexico.com/tips-on-renting-in-mexico-to-avoid-problems/

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Just now, Al Berca said:

By Googling Gringal's Content Chapala.com you will find 230 pages of your over 6,000 comments since you joined this forum in July, 2010. Open to the world for their perusal.

...Which I was aware of when I did the posting.   When you put something in writing, It's out there forever.  Might as well be on a billboard outside of Langley.  (Sorry, but that dog don't hunt, as our Texas friends say)😄

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19 minutes ago, gringal said:

To paraphrase one of the Marx Bros:  I've been rich and I've been poor...and rich is better !!!  Good gig, if you can get it.😉

The old crutch..............you're either lucky or you're not.  "Who got the good grades this semester?"  "I guess my name must have been drawn near the end".

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1 hour ago, pappysmarket said:

The old crutch..............you're either lucky or you're not.  "Who got the good grades this semester?"  "I guess my name must have been drawn near the end".

You can do better than that.  I didn't say anything that implied it was all about luck, and I was obviously being facetious about the Marx Bros.   Some folks are born smart, good looking and had parents who raised them with a good work ethic. Some also had a daddy with megabucks to help out.  Others didn't get the cornucopia dumped on them and had none of the above.  That's as far as the luck factor goes.  For most, financial success is a close relative of hard work.

 

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Over 11 years of rental these 4 real situations stand out -  couple with no dogs (so they say) viewed on FB with 3 german sheperds, 2 less than a year old.  When questioned they figured that I wouldn't turn them away after all they are going to pay 3 months upfront.  But everyone pays short term high season upfront. Well its a smallish house with an interior patio maybe 25 x 12 and no place for big dogs.  We have taken small terrier who was fine inside and a deaf support dog but of course he didn't care about being outside. Second - the politics thing, how about the rabid white is right guy from Louisiana.  Who wants that kind of trouble?  Third  -  I see this woman on FB pages looking for a house with 5 dogs and the most she has ever had is 11.  She says right up front she is a animal rescuer.  There is now a woman on Chapala.com who is similar and going to bring her dogs in 3 at a time.  I would want to know that.  These women are upfront about it and many are and  many are not. Fourth - the woman on SDI in a panic yet again because her check is a day late and who shows herself to be seriously depressed and her FB page is filled with kudos from family and friends each day she gets up and out of bed.  Her pictures of her bedroom and living room had piles of clothes and other stuff everywhere.

 

Like other posters said if you put it out there it is mine to use.  When I ask for yours I give you mine.  If you don't give me yours and I don't know you and you are not a direct referral then the answer will always be no.

 

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I've appreciated the comments here. However, does anyone have input on the likely availability of hotels/Airbnbs from Jan-March? Is the area really saturated to the point where there is, almost literally, no room at the inn for weary travelers? If so, that would really frustrate a visit to make arrangements for a later move. I guess we could cancel the pre-visit and just book a trip in the off-season in the belief we'll find something but, damn, that seems even more risky. 

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A quick Airbnb search using Lake Chapala, resulted in only 11% of listings available for those dates and rooms in homes were 18-30K pesos and home were 30 to 100K  per month

Here is the warning at the top of the page - same warning using Chapala and Ajijic as destination.  The CHapala listings had more reasonable choices, the Ajijic had some really expensive options remaining.

Only 11% of listings are left for these dates.
We recommend booking a place soon.
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I had a chuckle over Solajic's comments about the "no dogs" people who show up with a bunch of 'em.  A friend of mine from SMA has a casita upstairs from her own living quarters and a strict "no pets" policy.  When the "tenant" showed up, my friend heard the barking upstairs and confronted her.  The answer was that it is "easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission".  Five minutes later, the "tenant", her suitcase and her dog were out the door.

People should be honest about the pet situation...otherwise, they may find themselves tossed out and nowhere to go at the last minute.  In this tight rental market, landlords can afford to be picky about this, so prospective tenants might be smart to start the application process with offering a very substantial pet deposit.

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