A large share of what sells in Playa del Carmen and Tulum sells before it exists. You buy off plans or during construction, at a price below the finished unit. Pre-construction is the core of our work as a master broker.
What follows is not the brochure version. In the closings we handle, the buyer who ends up protected is the one who knows which documents Mexican law lets him demand before signing. Few buyers ask for them, because few know they exist.
Why the pre-construction price is lower
The lower price answers a cash-flow need: selling early costs the developer less than bank debt, and that saving flows into the first phases. As construction advances and risk drops, the price lists go up.
Two examples of ours: BUZZ, on Calle 28 in Playa del Carmen, opened with units from 2,000,000 pesos; in Cozumel, THE STELLA starts at 12,400,000. The gap between the opening list and the final one is the premium for entering early.
We do not publish a percentage: when we audited the appreciation figures circulating here for our Maya Train guide, not one held up as verifiable. If a specific development interests you, we will show you both lists.
How payments are structured, and what happens when the price is in dollars
The pattern is stable:
- A reservation deposit to hold the unit.
- A down payment when you sign the promise agreement.
- Monthly instalments through construction.
- A final payment against delivery and the signing of the deed.
It works as an interest-free payment plan, with no mortgage for the construction phase.
Many developments list in dollars and collect in pesos, and that line moves real money. The law is explicit: the contract must state amounts in Mexican pesos, though they may also be expressed in foreign currency, and if the parties do not agree on a specific exchange rate, the rate ruling at the place and date of payment applies (LFPC, article 73 TER, section V). Get it in writing: which rate, published by whom, of what day.
The 13 items the law makes a developer put on the table before you sign
Article 73 BIS of the Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor (consolidated text, last reform published 12 December 2025) requires the provider to make thirteen things available to the buyer. The ones that weigh most in a pre-sale:
- Section I. The complete executive construction project, the scale model and, where one exists, the show unit.
- Section II. The documents proving ownership of the property, plus the duty to disclose liens, which must be cancelled by the time the deed is signed.
- Section V. For new or pre-sale properties, the construction authorisations, licences and permits, with technical specifications, safety, land use, materials and basic services.
- Section VI. Structural, architectural and installation plans, or an opinion on structural condition. If the developer lacks them, it must say why and by when it will have them.
- Section XI. The outlays beyond the price: closing costs, taxes, appraisal, administration.
- Section XIII. Whether a mortgage, trust or any other guarantee exists over the property, and how it is instrumented.
Section XIII saves us the most surprises: if the land is mortgaged, you have a right to know before the first peso.
The contract must be registered with Profeco, and you can check it yourself
The second paragraph of article 73 says it in one line: contracts for these transactions must be registered with the consumer protection agency. It is an adhesion contract and the registry is public, open at the Registro Público de Contratos de Adhesión, and Profeco repeats the point in its guidance on real estate.
Before a closing we search the development in the RPCA and compare the registered contract against the draft you were handed. If nothing appears, it may be filed under another corporate name or not filed at all; worth clearing up before the deposit. If the text does not match, you have somewhere to start.
Three clauses the law grants you that almost nobody claims
Article 73 TER sets fifteen requirements for that contract. Three are worth their weight.
Penalties must be reciprocal and equivalent. Section IX requires contractual penalties for breach to apply to both parties and to be reciprocal and equivalent. If the contract charges you for a late instalment and does not penalise the developer for late delivery, that is an imbalance the section does not contemplate, and one worth taking to your attorney.
Spanish governs. Section II requires the contract to be written in Spanish and provides that, where the wording differs between versions, the Spanish text prevails. For a foreigner who signed the English translation the salesperson handed over, that is the only version that counts.
The delivery date is not indicative. Section XII requires a delivery date and releases the provider only when it fully proves an act of God or force majeure directly affecting either the provider or the property. A bounded grace period is common here, with a cause and a ceiling.
The five-year warranty that rarely makes the brochure
Article 73 QUÁTER surprises almost every client of ours: any property whose transaction this law governs must be offered with a warranty, with minimum floors of five years for structural matters, three for waterproofing and one for all other elements, counted from actual delivery. Through that period the provider repairs at no cost, and time spent on repairs does not count against the period.
Article 73 QUINTUS continues the chain. If you invoked the warranty and defects attributable to the provider persist, there is a credit of five percent of the repair value for minor defects and twenty percent of the amount stated in the contract as the price of the property for serious ones. And if, after the warranty and that credit, the serious defects still go uncorrected, you may opt for substitution of the property or rescission with a refund of what you paid plus interest. The law defines serious defects as those affecting the structure or the installations and compromising full use or safety, or else preventing the buyer from using and enjoying the property according to its nature or destination.
On a hypothetical 3,000,000 pesos, that twenty percent would be 600,000. Keep the contract and the delivery record.
Condominium regime: the real reason your deed runs late
Your unit exists as an exclusive-property unit only inside a condominium property regime, and that regime lives in the Ley de Propiedad en Condominio de Inmuebles del Estado de Quintana Roo (last reform published in the state gazette on 12 November 2021). Three things before you accept an estimated date:
- It can be constituted before the building exists. Article 8 allows it on new constructions or on projects. If it is not in place at delivery, there was no legal obstacle.
- It runs through Sedetus and the municipality. Article 4 requires, before filing, the Constancia de Compatibilidad Territorial that the state land and urban development secretariat issues where applicable. Article 9 calls for the construction licence, a description of each unit, its nominal value and its undivided share. Article 10 closes the loop: the constitutive deed must be filed with the Public Registry of Property and Commerce.
- That is where your unit's permitted use is fixed. Article 9 requires stating the destination of each exclusive-property unit. If you bought with short-term rental in mind, that entry and the bylaws weigh more than any occupancy projection, as we explain in our Airbnb ROI guide.
When we ask for construction progress we ask for the regime's status and filing number rather than settling for a tentative date.
VAT: where pre-construction stops being exempt
The Ley del Impuesto al Valor Agregado (last reform published 12 November 2021) exempts, in article 9, the sale of land under section I and of constructions attached to the land destined for or used as housing under section II. That same section carries two limits that matter here: when only part of the construction is used as housing the exemption covers only that part, and hotels are not included.
What that means where condo-hotels and hotel-branded residences are everywhere: the exemption does not arrive automatically because the unit is an apartment, it depends on the destination. And the furniture package sold separately is not a construction attached to the land, so that exemption does not reach it. Ask for the itemised invoice and confirm it with your accountant. The rest of the tax cycle is in our tax guide.
How far this law reaches, and where it stops
Article 73 brings real estate transactions under this law only when the providers are subdividers, builders, developers and others involved in advising on and selling housing intended as dwellings to the public, plus timeshare. Three real gaps follow:
- Raw land sold by a private individual, with no subdivider behind it, falls outside. A lot inside a subdivision is another matter, because the statute names subdividers: ask before assuming you have no protection.
- Neither does a resale between private individuals: the protection runs against a provider.
- A unit sold as hotel or commercial inventory falls outside the housing assumption.
There the defence shifts ground: registry due diligence, developer verification, and the public Sedetus and Profeco searches we collected in our fraud guide.
Pre-construction or move-in ready, and how we work it at Nimbos
Pre-construction suits you if you want the best entry price and are not in a hurry. Move-in ready, if you want to start renting now. The middle option is entering at an advanced construction stage: the price has already climbed, but the wait and the risk drop sharply. If the development is in Tulum, also read whether it is safe to invest there.
We are master broker in Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel and Cancún, with an office in Playacar Fase II. We handle the full commercialisation of the project, so we know the developer, the construction and the contract first hand. Before a client signs we review the title or land trust for the site, the construction licence, the contract registered in the RPCA, the payment schedule, the status of the condominium regime, the bylaws with their fees and the developer's track record. When something is missing, we say so, even when it costs us the sale.
If this is your first purchase in Mexico as a foreigner, start with the fideicomiso guide; the full order of operations is in the step-by-step buying guide. When you want to see real inventory, here are our properties or write to us directly.
This guide is informational and does not replace legal, tax or notarial advice.