Hi Dina and Chris,
I am happy to hear you are moving here to Rocky Point! I am also happy to see that you reached out for advice, and that there are caring people offering advice, their experiences, and links to Real estate agent sites and recommendations. I am familiar with the majority of the problems some of these members had either experienced or heard about. It was really the wild west many years ago, now, but in the recent years the State of Sonora has required agents to be licensed, which means in 2008 and 2009, in the FIRST classes, they paid $1250 USD for their Diplomado class (I have the list of attendees, and over 200 other agents and myself included, had attended the Diplomado) That came at a time where the U.S. economy and Mexico sales were declining, we had less sales, less commission, but MORE expenses. In addition, we paid for the "no criminal" record from the police station, and approx. $100 more to give our representative our application packages to carry them to Hermosillo, our state capital. Plus we sat our butts in 100 hours of classes including ethics. They held these classes on our prime business days when clients arrive, Friday evening and Saturday during the day! This is the tip of the iceberg. It was a huge deal to get a State of Sonora license here and we value ours immensely because of what it took to get it. The State of Sonora has had AMPI organize the classes, and we just finished the whole month of September. I was there for my license renewal but there were over 20 new agents in town learning the proper way to do business and the classes were excellent and essential to have the correct knowledge of how to navigate Mexican real estate transactions, INCLUDING RENTALS!! There are new rules applying to rentals, glad it doesn't apply to me, I prefer sales. (by the way, license enforcement is a whole other story!)
You are going to have many of your own experiences that will include being told 20 different answers to just one question, and your patience will be tested. If you are like many of us, you will have earned your right of passage! It takes a special person to live in Mexico full time. After a few years living and selling real estate in Rocky Point, I moved to Puerto Vallarta for nearly 3 years, also selling real estate. Yes there were unethical people there too, but the majority are honorable and GOOD everywhere you go. I moved back to Rocky Point a couple months ago and I am seeing several new faces here. There are so many neat events to attend and things to do. I hope you are getting invited by your real estate agent and/or friends you have made.
By the way, if you choose to deal with an AMPI member, (they are required to be licensed) you will have an avenue to file a complaint if you have a poor experience. You can ask AMPI for a report, there were hardly any this past year, I feel its partly due to proper education of the agents.
The best thing you are doing is your due diligence.
If you chose Dee Brooks, as someone suggested, check out her website and see how much she helps the animals in need, gotta love her for her kindness!
If you chose REMAX, you will find yourself in a friendly helpful family business that cares. I see that someone put a link of
www.playa-encanto.com where there is the MacKenzies listed as well, and also listed is Jonni Francis, who has been here many, many years. I've done business with all of them and have dealt with most everyone in town, with no issues at all.
There ARE escrow accounts available, and there are "middlemen" here that are licensed and trusted attorneys that coordinate transactions properly, with no risk for the seller and buyer and real estate agency. Just keep on interviewing until you get the gut feeling you are in the right place. You can perform an MLS search by clicking on the "Search the MLS" tab on the website
www.rockypointampi.com
You had asked about foreclosed homes. I know of some condos, not on the internet, and I know of a Las Conchas home that is a fixer upper, it's a family home paid off, just that the child doesn't want it, selling "as is'. It's not on the MLS yet or any website, will most likely sell before it hits the internet, but these "deals" are hard to come by. Just keep searching and good luck to you and maybe we will meet around town. You can see my photo, so please look for me, the
www.MexicanBeachBum.com (robin) I can tell you some of the cool events we have in town. Also try visitng
www.rockypoint360.com and subscribe to their newsletter.
oops, I tend to write stories, and I think I will make this my next blog! Also you can visit
www.mexicomyspace.com a site for expats. Tell George I sent you, he loves to write, he even has books on Amazon about Mexico.
WELCOME HOME DINA AND CHRIS!!