There is a federal standard that spells out what a residential property listing in Mexico may and may not say: NOM-247-SE-2021. It applies to anyone marketing homes, including those sold through a trust —which covers much of what is sold to foreign buyers on the coast.
It is not a dead letter: PROFECO enforces it and breaches carry penalties. Worth knowing, because it hands you a list of questions nobody can call rude.
What the information must make clear
The standard requires what the seller tells you to be truthful, verifiable and clear, and not misleading about:
- the features, location, nature and composition of the property;
- the cash price; and if bought on credit, a warning that the total depends on variable financing and notary costs you must check;
- the terms of the deposit, the down payment and payment in general;
- the warranty: what it covers, how long it lasts and how to claim it;
- handover and deed terms, put in writing in the contract;
- the duration and restrictions of any offer or promotion.
What advertising may not do
The same standard expressly forbids several things you see every day:
- claiming qualities the property does not have or cannot prove;
- suggesting that buying it makes you superior to those who do not;
- giving inaccurate information about credit and its requirements;
- using absolute or superlative terms that confuse buyers about the real features;
- displaying endorsements from associations that hold no supporting documentation.
And one that works as a quick filter: all advertising must carry the seller's name, address, phone number and email. A listing without that is already outside the standard.
Pre-sales have their own rules
If you buy off plan, the seller must make the full construction project available to you, and display the scale model from the moment it is promoted until handover. At your request, they must walk you through it: land survey, location and siting plans, and the rest of the project.
Asking for it is not distrust. It is what the standard assumes will happen.
The contract is registered, and the register is public
Standard-form contracts for sale, pre-sale and brokerage must be filed with PROFECO. That register is public and searchable by provider at rpca.profeco.gob.mx.
It is one of the few checks you can run yourself, online, without anyone's permission: if the development has no registered contract, the paper they are about to hand you does not meet the standard.
How to use all this
Three questions, in this order:
- Does the listing carry the seller's name, address and phone?
- Am I given the cash price in writing, with what it includes and what it does not?
- Is the contract I am about to sign filed with PROFECO under the name of whoever is selling to me?
If all three have answers, you are on solid ground. If one draws an evasion, you now know what is missing —and the standard is on your side.
