Use This Checklist Before You Wire Funds
A working checklist of what to verify across legal, financial, infrastructure, and operational dimensions. Each item is something to ask your agent or attorney.
We are not real estate agents. We are owners and operators. We have bought, managed, and continue to operate properties in Cabo San Lucas. Most buyers in this market succeed — they find good homes, work with good agents, and close clean transactions. But some don't, and the difference often comes down to what was disclosed and what wasn't. This is what we have learned, shared so the next buyer knows what to ask.
Most of these are not secrets. They are systemic disclosure gaps in how Cabo real estate transactions are structured, and they exist whether or not anyone raises them. Some sit on the developer and builder side — projects structured to retain buyer deposits while delaying regime incorporation, deed delivery, or both. Buyers close, move in, pay HOA fees, and wait — sometimes years — for what was promised at signing.
This article is here to arm buyers with the situations to recognize and the questions to ask. The market in Cabo is full of opportunity, and most transactions close cleanly. The ones that don't usually fail at the diligence stage. Hire your own attorney — not the developer's — and work with a licensed, experienced agent who can help surface these issues. If it would help, we can refer you to good agents we've worked with.
Most buyers don't realize that in a pre-sale deal, their deposit goes directly to the developer — who uses it to build. If sales slow down, construction slows down. Projects stall. Some never finish. No escrow. No protection. Just a purchase agreement full of grace periods that protect the developer, not you.
Learn more →In Mexico, a building can be physically complete for years before the regime is incorporated and individual deeds are issued. Buyers move in, pay HOA fees, and wait — sometimes years — for legal title. Less-experienced agents may not raise this. Good agents confirm the deed timeline before you sign. Ask the question before you sign.
Learn more →Non-refundable earnest money is common in Cabo purchase agreements, and you may hear "this is how we do things here." It isn't acceptable. Earnest money should go to escrow, after due diligence, with a refundable clause. A good agent will hold that line with you. Full stop.
Learn more →Some developments sell units through a Master Trust — where the developer holds title and you hold a beneficial interest. When you try to sell, the developer controls the transfer. Some demand 10% of the sale price to sign off. Individual fideicomisos are the only way to have clean, transferable title.
Learn more →In Mexico, the listing agent's legal duty is to the seller — not the buyer. Good agents go further anyway: they verify outstanding HOA debts, unpaid trust fees, property tax arrears, and any liens before signing. Less-experienced agents may not know to ask. We have seen buyers discover ten years of unpaid trust fees at the table. The disclosure gap is real. The right agent closes it.
Learn more →Former ejido (communal agricultural) land requires a specific legal process to convert to private title. If that process was not completed correctly, the property may be subject to agrarian claims — regardless of what the deed says. Always verify with the Registro Agrario Nacional before buying land.
Learn more →Some properties in Baja are sold as homes on leased or third-party owned land. The structure may be yours. The land is not. This limits your ability to sell, mortgage, or build. Always confirm in writing exactly what is included in the sale — land and structure both.
Learn more →A homeowners association that is not properly incorporated under Mexican law has no legal authority to collect fees, impose sanctions, or enforce rules. Verify your HOA's legal registration before purchasing in any condominium development. A rogue or unregistered board is a red flag.
Learn more →A working checklist of what to verify across legal, financial, infrastructure, and operational dimensions. Each item is something to ask your agent or attorney.
When Pierro Holdings brings a property to market in Mexico, the work has already been done.
We don't list properties we haven't lived with, operated, or understood firsthand. Each asset has been through a full diligence process before it is ever presented to a buyer — title, regime status, HOA standing, utilities, operational performance, and the details that often get overlooked in this market.
The goal is simple: no surprises.
Most of our buyers don't remain just buyers. They become long-term relationships. Many return for additional acquisitions. Others ask us to stay on and manage the property after closing.
That only happens when expectations are aligned from the beginning.
Full disclosure isn't a selling point for us — it's a requirement. It's how trust is built, and trust is what carries forward into the next opportunity.
In this market, the most meaningful deals aren't created through transactions. They're built through relationships over time.
The property that solves exactly what this article describes.
The only lock-off unit in Pedregal Towers. Fully deeded, cash flowing, walkable to the marina — priced $100,000+ below every comparable unit in the building.