The six-month rule: rent before you buy

This post draws on Miguel's free bilingual guide, The Veteran's Guide to Mexico Relocation, where the six-month rule is rule number one. The guide returns to it again and again on purpose, because it is the protection around every other decision you will make.

What the rule actually is

Rent in your target area for roughly six months before you commit to a purchase there. Not a long vacation, not a weekend of viewings: live there through seasons, schedules and quiet days, and let the place prove itself before your money is at stake.

Why it saves money

Buying in Mexico is slower and more expensive than renting. Along the coast, foreign buyers purchase through a bank trust called a fideicomiso, and closing costs typically run about 5 to 8 percent of the price, on top of the purchase itself. Renting first keeps that cost at a distance while you still can, and it keeps you from paying it twice if the area turns out to be wrong for you.

Why it saves regret

Photos and a week of sunshine cannot teach you a neighborhood's reality: which streets flood in a storm, how quiet or loud the block is, who the neighbors really are, what low season feels like when the tourists leave. The guide's point is that those lessons are cheap to learn as a renter and expensive to learn as an owner.

How veterans should use the six months

Use the window the way you once used a good training plan, deliberately. Test the neighborhoods on your shortlist, walk them at night, talk to residents, watch the weather through a rainy season and line up the professionals you will need when you do buy. By the time the six months are over, you will know the answer, and the guide trusts that knowing.

The takeaway

Rent first, every time. Veterans who follow the six-month rule buy later and buy better, with fewer things to undo. It is the guide's number one rule for a reason, and Miguel helps you plan a rental window that turns into the right purchase.