Another checklist if you’re buying land with the intention of building your own home (more on this tomorrow)
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- Will you be in the country during construction? If not, how will you build from thousands of miles away? Who will oversee the work for you?
- What’s your timeline and budget? What are your contingency plans if the project takes longer and costs more than you’re planning? (It will; take my word for it.)
- What kind of title comes with the land? There are many different kinds of title. While freehold is certainly the most secure, it’s not always available in every market. Lack of freehold title is not necessarily a cause for concern, but it is something you want to understand in whatever market you’re buying in. Educate yourself on the kinds of titles you might encounter in a given country and know which are legitimate. For example, rights-of-possession (ROP) property in Panama does not come with a title that you can trust. ROP simply gives you the right to reside on the land, it doesn’t mean you actually own it. Ejido land in Mexico likewise does not come with a true title because it’s not meant to be sold; it belongs to the people. If you buy it, you and the agent have both broken the law (unknowingly or not) and the land could be confiscated back to its rightful owners—the government. You may have heard sensational stories about expat land being confiscated in various countries—you can be sure that in every case the foreigner “bought” land that wasn’t legally to be sold (again, whether he knew it or not); he never owned it, he only thought he did. Sooner or later, the other shoe will likely drop…