Landshark said:
Buying a lot & designing & building a beach home in Mexico sounds romantic at first. Once you really do your homework you realize it's not what it seems. Risk, cost overruns, hassle factor, etc is off the chart. Plan on getting screwed every time you turn around. Do yourself a favor and buy a finished home with a good title. You could always do some remodeling to satisfy your urge to be creative.
I agree with this completely. You cannot begin to imagine the problems you will almost certainly have. It's no joke. Home prices are low and the smart thing to do is as Landshark advises, buy a finished home.
Should you decide to build here's some advice:
Plan on being here 24 hours a day, every day till the home is completed.
Order and pay direct for all supplies.
Be certain your contractor is paying Social Security on all workers.
Plan on construction taking 3 or 4 times longer than initially stated.
Plan on costs being much more than estimated.
Educate yourself about construction and supervise carefully yourself.
Here are a few things I have personally observed:
Contractor presenting an invoice marked paid and showing items purchased. Contractor returns stuff, gets lower quality stuff and pockets the difference.
"Electricians" making a long run of wire with spliced pieces and selling an unused roll of wire.
Installing used stuff and charging for new.
Reporting stuff as stolen that the contractor has kept.
Ordering a larger quantity than needed and keeping the excess for sale.
Contractor announcing he is going to Sinaloa to visit family for a few weeks and leaving town.
Contractor in collusion with supplier to fatten the bill.
Remember too there are no building codes enforced and no building inspectors.
And the list goes on............................