By Russ Wiles |The Republic | azcentral.com
Ah, Mexico: Land of broad beaches, balmy weather, low-cost seafood dinners and, unfortunately, cumbersome and costly restrictions against Americans owning property near the coast or border.
Those deep-seated prohibitions, incorporated into the country’s constitution, require Americans and other foreigners to set up a Mexican bank trust if they want to hold property within roughly 31 miles of the coast and 62 miles from the border — the “restricted zones.” Foreigners must pay trust setup costs and possibly hundreds of dollars in yearly fees, and they still can’t own their properties directly.
But as Mexico seeks to modernize and liberalize its economy under new President Enrique Peña Nieto, and as bilateral trade continues to rise, some observers think there’s a good chance the real-estate barriers will come down sooner or later.
