It’s not often that you receive life changing advice from a stranger sitting next to you on a plane. 

Much less these days, when all communication between passengers on airplanes has ceased because everyone is busy staring at a phone or tablet. 

I received this piece of advice from a tall English conductor sitting next to me in the front row of a flight from Düsseldorf to New York.

The year was 2003, the iPhone hadn’t come out yet and people still felt obliged to acknowledge one another’s existence when they sat down on a plane. 

The conductor was working in Germany, we chatted quite a bit during the long flight and in the course of this conversation he uttered the sentence that was going to change my life.

I remembered the conductor’s counsel when I was in Mexico for the first time in 2009. I had

booked a four-week Spanish course in Playa del Carmen. It was a strange time to be in the

country. 

Mexico was the first country to be heavily affected by the swine flu pandemic; Playa del Carmen was deserted and there wasn’t a lot to do.

I decided to heed the advice I had received on the plane several years before and booked a flight to the Mexican capital. I fell in love with the city straight away. 

While Playa del Carmen is a fishing village with beautiful beaches which has morphed into a party town with zero culture, it didn’t even have a single book store when I was there, Mexico City is a splendid capital city, replete with history, art and beautiful architecture. I was particularly impressed with the Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods. 

I loved the leafy avenues, the parks and the slightly dilapidated European style apartment buildings, legacy of Porfrio Diaz, the Francophile autocrat who ruled the country for more than 30 years. 

There were lots of interesting bookstores, restaurants, bars and galleries. It seemed like a great place to live.

I was bored with my job in Germany, the department I was working for was slated for outsourcing and I wanted to learn Spanish well. 

The next time I was coming to Mexico City, I would come to stay for a while. I did so at the end 2010 and met my future Mexican wife outside of a cantina on Avenida Vicente Suárez in Condesa a few months later.

Fast forward to 2022: My wife and I had been living in Germany for almost 10 years and it seemed as if nobody was afraid of Mexico City any longer. 

We had just gone through another pandemic, Mexico never closed its borders and the city had become popular with digital nomads and expats of all kinds. 

Roma and Condesa in particular had become very fashionable for both foreign and Mexican hipsters. 

When I was there for the first time in 2009, it was still rare to hear English spoken on the street. Now you heard it all the time and the backlash against gentrification was starting. 

GQ magazine called the neighbourhoods “Mexico City’s reigning axis of cool”.

My mother had died a few years earlier. I had inherited property, interest rates in Germany

were negative and property prices had climbed to all time highs. 

Our idea had always been to return to Mexico at some point. It was the right time to lay the foundation for that move.

Real estate prices in Mexico had taken a dip after the pandemic, it seemed likely they would only be increasing over the next few years. 

We decided to sell the German property and embark on the adventure of buying in apartment in Mexico.

My wife was busy with setting up her catering business in Germany, so I went to Mexico by myself in the summer of 2022 to scout the market. 

I was a little wary of investing in Mexico, but my Spanish was good at this point, I had family and friends in the country and it seemed like a good time to act. 

I started with a simple Google search and contacted several of the real estate agencies that showed up on the first page.

The first real estate agent I met with was Manuel, a dishevelled guy in his 50s who had changed careers and just started working in real estate. 

He seemed a little desperate and quickly started telling me about how difficult it was to get people to commit and actually go through with a purchase. 

He didn’t receive a salary, commissions were the only income he had. Manuel showed a number of apartments in “preventa”, i.e. unfinished apartments being built by his employer, a company called “Llave MX”.

The apartments were fairly large by European standards, but prices were high: an apartment

on a Avenida Revolucion, a main road with constant heavy traffic, was priced at 6,260,000

Mexican pesos, 335,000 Euros (December 2023 exchange rate) for 93m 2 .

The apartment was going to have all the amenities typical for this kind of development in Mexico City: a roof top terrace, a gym and 24 hours security.

Compared to a similar place in Berlin, it was still affordable: you would have to pay at least

700,000 Euros for an apartment of this size there. 

For Mexican standards, it was quite expensive, however. Interest rates in Mexico are high (12% in December 2023) and salaries are low. 

According to the blog “Everhour”, the median salary in Mexico is about 1,600 dollars per month.

My next broker worked for company called “Gojom”, which I interpreted to be the phonetic

transcription of the English expression: “Go home”. 

Ketchup is called “Catsup” in Mexico, after all. 

Luis from “Gojom” showed me a couple of apartments in fancy development called “Icon Condesa”. The location was a lot more attractive, a quiet street in the Condesa district, but prices were even higher. 8,200,000 pesos, 439,000 Euros ( December 2023 exchange rate) for a 93 m 2 apartment, for example. 

The apartment building seemed new. The designers had tried hard to give an impression of high-end design and luxury, featuring a modernist metal sculpture in the lobby and copious amounts of marble.

Luis told me that it was close to La Salle University, one of the institutions the Mexican elite likes to send their children to and that some of the apartments were rented out to students attending the university. 

He told me this as a selling point, since I would have an easy time renting out the place to the rich kids. 

The building had all the usual amenities as well as a private cinema, a yoga room, a spa and a gourmet restaurant. 

The whole place was obviously intended to cater to the notoriously ostentatious Mexican elite and Americans flush with dollars. 

It seemed like a glossy rip off and I decided to change my search strategy.

Both of the brokers had only shown me either new or unfinished apartments. 

They had emphasized the advantages of being the first owner of an apartment but I figured that new construction was prone all kinds of birth pangs. I decided it was time to look for owners selling their apartments directly. 

I found the website “Inmuebles24.com” and started going through the ads. I found several offers in  Roma and Condesa, all of them more affordable than what I had seen up to then.

A friend of mine had just bought an apartment and recommended the real estate agent she had worked with. 

In my experience, everybody works with a broker in Mexico. There was always an “assessor” present at the properties I visited, even when the owner was there to show us around. 

The commission is normally paid by the seller, so working with a real estate agent shouldn’t cost you anything and it does make your life a lot easier.

You can own property outright as a foreigner in Mexico, for example, but there are restrictions on foreign ownership in the "restricted zone" which includes areas within 100 kilometres of Mexico's borders and 50 kilometres from the coast. 

In those zones, foreign buyers can only establish ownership through a “fideicomiso”, a bank trust or a Mexican corporation. 

In Mexico City, you just have to apply for a permit at the General Directorate of Legal Affairs. Dealing with Mexican bureaucracy as a foreigner can be frustrating, that’s why this is exactly the kind of thing your real estate should take care of for you.

I sent the ads to the broker and she set up the appointments. I quite liked one of the first places we looked at together, an apartment on the second floor of “Durango” street in “Roma Norte”. 

“Roma Norte” is the more fashionable part of the Roma neighbourhood, home to places like” Café Madre” and “Blanco Colima”, stylish restaurants located in beautiful mansions from the times of the “Porfiriato”, the period between 1876 and 1911.

The apartment was about 80m 2 . 

The owner’s price was 5,500,000 pesos, 294,000 Euros, I planned to offer 5,000,000 pesos, 267,500 Euros at today’s, December 2023, rate. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of the exchange’s rate fluctuation, it can end up costing you a

lot of money. I learned that the hard way dealing with my nemesis, the boys from Flat.mx.

But I’m getting ahead myself.

In Mexico, you normally first pay the “enganche”, a percentage of the total price, in order for the seller to take the property off the market. 

The full price has to be paid during the “escritura”, the meeting at the notary’s office when you sign the deed to purchase the house. 

Little did I know the level of stress this procedure was going to cause me when I finally found the right apartment. But I wasn’t there yet; I didn’t end up making an offer for the place on “Durango”.

I decided to hire an architect to do an appraisal of the property before I made an offer. 

The architect charged 270 Euros for the service and noticed structural damage to the building the owner had failed to mention. 

The damage had probably been caused by one of the earthquakes. Mexico City is vulnerable to earthquakes and suffered major damage from an earthquake in 1985. 

The Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods were heavily affected and were hit again by a strong earthquake in 2017. 

When we confronted the owner with the appraiser’s findings, he reluctantly admitted that the problem hadn’t been fixed because the owners couldn’t come to an agreement about sharing the cost for the renovation. 

I discarded the option and kept looking. I finally found the right place on my last day in Mexico City, a 93 m2, two-bedroom apartment on Campeche, a quiet street in Roma Sur, just across the road from Condesa. 

Roma Sur hasn’t been gentrified yet, instead of the ubiquitous modern “Oxxo” supermarkets there are a couple of “Abarrotes”, old fashioned tiny grocery stores and a “comedor”, an inexpensive canteen that looks like the furniture hasn’t been changed since it opened in the 70s.

The apartment itself was located in a modern building that had withstood the 2017 earthquake without taking damage and it came with a roof top terrace, 24 hours security, a parking space and even a paddle ball court.

I Iiked it, I was tired of looking and I paid a small “enganche” of 5,000 pesos that same day. 

The total price of the apartment came up to 4,850,000 pesos, a little under 260,000 Euros. The seller wasn’t willing to negotiate and I didn’t insist. 

It was good price in comparison to many other offerings I had seen. I liked the distribution of the apartment, the high ceilings and the location, the building was well maintained and the location was ideal. I had seen a lot of apartments at this point. 

I had found all of them on “Inmuebles24” website and I was under the mistaken impression that all of them were sold by the individual owners. 

I didn’t realize that the apartment on Campeche wasn’t sold by an individual owner, but a reseller, a start-up called FLAT.mx. 

I finally noticed that I was dealing with a digital start-up when I was bombarded by automated emails while I was waiting for my sale in Germany to clear.

As opposed to Mexico, the buyer in Germany is only obligated to pay when all legal formalities are taken care off. 

The contract had been signed at the end of 2022 but it took more than a month until received the money. I received the automated reminder on a daily basis until I asked them to stop.

Flat.mx - The Nightmare Awakens 

This should have made me suspicious, but it didn’t. 

I was focussed on my end of the deal, waiting nervously until I finally received the money. 

I was selling and buying property for the first time, I had never dealt with such large sums of money before. 

It was a stressful time and I was very relieved when I finally had the money and we could move forward with buying the apartment. 

The broker had taken care of the “RFC”, the Mexican tax identification number I needed to go ahead with the purchase in Mexico. 

It was time to pay the real “enganche”, the down payment for the apartment. The nightmare was about to begin. I was meant to pay just under 25,000 Euros. 

I transferred the money from my German bank account and foolishly thought I was done with it. 

Then I realized that the transaction didn’t show up on my account. 

I called the bank and was told that the German banking watchdog had the right to pull suspicious seeming transactions and that it would only show on my account when the authorities were convinced that nothing fishy was going on. 

It took a couple of days for that to happen. Again, I foolishly thought I was done with it.

A few days later, I received a letter from the bank, telling me that the receiving bank had rejected the money. There was on a problem on the recipient’s end. 

I had to pay fees for sending the money and I also had to pay for returning the money. 

I would have to pay fees again for yet another transfer. I was livid. The people from FLAT.mx suggested a video call. 

I attended the call, but even though the CEO himself, a self-important Spaniard in his 30s, was on the call, they were unable to solve the problem. 

In the end, I had to transfer the money to the broker’s personal bank account and she had to pass it on to the seller. 

Even then, I hadn’t fully gauged the level of conceit and incompetence of the people I was dealing with.

I had to wait another two months for the formalities on the Mexican side to clear. 

Finally, I received a message from the broker that the date for the “escrittura” had been set. 

May 29th 2023, five months after I visited the apartment for the first time. 

I was in Europe at the time, I had given the broker power of attorney, but I would have to transfer the money while she was attending the ceremony.

The broker and I were more than a little wary of FLAT.mx at this point, but the company was using a different bank account for this transaction and assured us that things would go smoothly this time. 

It didn’t come off to a promising start: astonishingly, they failed to give us the complete banking details and we had to google the correct addition to the SWIFT code in real time.

I was chatting with the broker on “WhatApp” throughout the process and I sent her screen shots of every transfer. 

I had to do three separate transfers to the seller’s account. 

The broker showed images of every single transfer to the FLAT.mx representative who assured us that everything was done correctly. 

It was the largest set of transfers I had ever made; the whole procedure took almost an hour. I also paid the notary during that session. 

The total closing cost came up to 11,000 Euros, 5,200 for the notary and another 5,800 for taxes and additional fees.

What is the supposed innovation FLAT.mx brings to the process? 

I can only judge by my experience. Instead of buying cheap, renovating and reselling, they skipped one step. 

They didn’t renovate. 

They just glossed over the issues, an approach perfectly exemplified by the image in the header. 

Instead of fixing the issue in the entrance of the apartment, they put a door mat with their logo over it. 

They sold me an unrenovated apartment, but provided me with the FLAT.mx guarantee.

The supposed innovation? 

You have to use QR code to inform them about the many problems you find with the apartment after you take possession of it. 

I tried taking them up on it after I had finally been handed the keys to apartment. They sent someone, he wasn’t able to fix any of the problems. 

He was supposed to return the next day, I have never heard from him again. I decided to let it go and paid for the repairs myself.

The apartment is almost finished now and I’m happy with it.  

“Don’t be afraid of Mexico City” is still good advice. 

I enjoy walking around my neighbourhood. 

Mexico City is best explored on foot and I believe that the value of the apartment will increase over time. 

But even if it doesn’t, I like having a place I can call home in Mexico City. Don’t be afraid of Mexico City.

Do be weary of digital start-ups who hide conceit and incompetence behind glossy websites,

automated emails and QR codes.

After the publication of this article, Victor Noguera, “passionate entrepreneur and leader with a

background as engineer and management consultant” (profile on F6s.com) and co-founder of

Flat.mx, felt that it was necessary to get in touch. 

I received messages from him on my email, on “Linked In” and on “WhatsApp”. 

For legal reasons, I won’t publish the content of these messages.

We spoke briefly on “WhatsApp” and arranged an online meeting with Victor and his co-founder. 

The call was cut short for technical reasons. 

After the meeting, I finally received an apology from Victor, by way of a “WhatsApp” message. Here is my reply:

Hi Victor,

The reply I received indicated that Victor was upset about my rowdy use of language and unwilling to

discuss my suggestion.