My in-laws live in Mexico City. My FIL told me how much easier it is to buy a home there. First, the gov't is the primary builder/lender. Only the extremely rich have private builders. There is no down payment, but you cannot just wake up one day and decide to buy a home, you have to earn 'credits' on your job much as we earn sick leave and vacation days.

Once you've earned these credits you can buy, and the interest rate is 0%. You then have 15 years to pay off the gov't loan. If the HUSBAND loses his job, he has one year to find another one without having to make a single payment. If the husband loses his job and the wife works, she is not obligated to make the payments.

You can buy more than one home this way and use the others as rental property. In fact, my BIL just bought a third home because the gov't is encouraging people to buy, buy, buy.

Interesting, no? And why can't the U.S. be this easy?

That's a really interesting system. I wonder what the rates of home ownership are like there vs. the US.

I think once people have earned enough credits, they buy. I only know of one person who rents and that's only because he's renting from a relative and the rent is free!

I should say that single family homes are pretty much unheard of, all the homes I've seen are more like townhouses. No side yards. Common walls. And the poorer population lives in the hills, unlike here!

Ola - just checking in as I follow Houzz for some building ideas and input as I just signed the final papers today at the Notary here in Aquascalientes as I purchased a 9 x 23 meter lot next to Santa Monica golf course and plan construction next week. Took me the better part of 7 months from start to finish on buying the land - since I'm Canadian - had some paperwork to go through...but in the end it was a pretty simple process (having your FM3 was a big help).