Covers opening the file and running initial checks on you and the property before any real underwriting work begins. It is the smallest amount on the schedule and the earliest one you pay.

Why it does not vary: the work behind it is the same regardless of loan size.

A deposit that starts a full underwriting review rather than a surface-level estimate. It is credited against the $2,000 underwriting fee, so it is not an additional charge on top. You are paying part of that fee earlier.

Why it exists: a fully underwritten pre-approval means a human has reviewed your income, assets, and credit against the actual file rather than accepting stated figures. Sellers and agents in Mexico treat that differently than a soft estimate, particularly in competitive coastal markets.

The full cost of underwriting the loan, less the $650 already collected. This pays for the credit analysis, income and asset verification, collateral review, and the cross-border checks that a domestic United States loan does not require.

Why it is higher than a domestic loan: the file has to satisfy both United States lending standards and Mexican property and trust requirements, and the collateral sits in a foreign legal system.

Pulled twice. Once to make the credit decision and once shortly before closing to confirm nothing has changed. Cost rises with the number of borrowers on the file, which is why the schedule shows a floor rather than a fixed number.

Practical note: opening new credit, financing a vehicle, or running up balances between approval and closing shows up on that second pull and can affect the loan. Hold off until after you close.

The largest lender charge on the schedule and the one that scales directly with how much you borrow. On a $500,000 loan the spread between the low and high end is about $3,800, so it is worth understanding where your file lands before you budget.

What moves it: loan size, loan-to-value, property type, and overall file complexity. Your advisor can tell you the applicable figure once the file is underwritten.

Covers the Mexican-side administration of setting up the loan, including coordination with the trust bank, the notaría, and the public registry so the lien is properly constituted and recorded.

Not a closing cost. This is an ongoing charge for servicing a cross-border loan, billed alongside your payment for the life of the loan. Budget it as part of your monthly housing cost rather than your cash to close.

Why it exists here and not on a domestic loan: servicing a loan secured by Mexican collateral involves the trust bank, Mexican property tax and insurance tracking, and cross-border payment handling.

The single largest third-party charge in most transactions, and the one that varies most from market to market. It is a one-time tax the buyer pays when ownership transfers. Depending on the state you will see it written as ISABI, ISAI, or Traslado de Dominio. Same tax, different local name.

Los Cabos and the rest of Baja California Sur sit at a flat 3 percent. Los Cabos moved from 2 percent to 3 percent at the start of 2025, and a decree published in the state gazette in December 2025 brought La Paz, Loreto, Comondú and Mulegé in line, so all five municipalities have been at 3 percent since January 1, 2026. A reduced rate of 1.5 percent applies to transfers by donation or inheritance between spouses or between parents and children.

Elsewhere it depends on the municipality, not just the state. Around fifteen states hold a flat 2 percent, Nayarit among them. In Quintana Roo the rate is set locally, so Cancún and Playa del Carmen do not match each other. Nationally the spread runs from roughly 1.5 percent at the low end to about 5.5 percent in the most expensive states, with a national average near 2.9 percent. Two identical houses in two different states can carry a five-figure difference in this line alone.

Compare the base, not just the rate. This is where headline comparisons mislead. The tax is assessed on the highest of three values, which are the price in the deed, the municipal cadastral value, and the appraised value. Some states apply their rate to the sale price while others work from cadastral value, which is typically lower. A state with a higher published rate can produce a smaller bill than one with a lower rate, so comparing percentages across states without knowing the base tells you very little.

Who handles it: the notario calculates it, withholds it from closing funds, and remits it to the state. Without that payment your deed does not get recorded at the public registry, which means you are not the legal owner. Rates are revised each January as states and municipalities publish their annual ley de ingresos, so a figure quoted to you last year may be stale.

Paid to the Registro Público de la Propiedad to enter the transaction in the public record. Recording is what makes your ownership enforceable against third parties. An unrecorded deed is a serious problem.

Why it varies: the registry is state-run and each state sets its own tariff, some as a percentage and some as a stepped schedule tied to value bands.

The permit issued by the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores that allows a foreign national to acquire rights in Mexican real estate through a trust. It is a federal requirement, not a lender requirement, and it is what makes the fideicomiso possible in the first place.

Timing matters more than cost here. The permit is issued by a federal office on its own timeline. It is one of the more common sources of delay in a cross-border closing, which is why it gets ordered at credit decision rather than at closing.

The set of official certificates the notario has to pull before a transfer can proceed. These typically confirm there are no liens registered against the property, that property taxes are current, that water charges are settled, and that the cadastral record matches the property being sold.

Why they matter: unpaid predial or water bills attach to the property, not the previous owner. These certificates are how you find out before you inherit them.

The notario's professional fee for drafting the escritura, verifying the legal status of the property and the parties, calculating and withholding the taxes, and submitting everything for recording. This is the second-largest third-party charge after the acquisition tax.

Why the range is so wide: notario tariffs are set by state, and within a state individual notarías price differently based on complexity and reputation. A financed purchase with a trust involves more instruments than a straight cash transfer, which places most MoXi transactions above the bottom of the range.

You choose the notario. The schedule says so directly. It is worth asking for a written quote from more than one before you commit, because a two-point spread on a $700,000 purchase is real money.

A power of attorney lets your representative sign in Mexico when you cannot be there in person. It has to be drafted correctly for Mexican use, notarized in the United States, and then apostilled so Mexico recognizes it.

The apostille is the step people miss. It is a state-level certification under the Hague Convention that authenticates the notary's signature for use abroad. Without it, a perfectly valid United States document is not accepted at a Mexican notaría.

Each additional power of attorney beyond the first. Files with multiple borrowers, a spouse who cannot travel, or an entity in the ownership structure usually need more than one.

Applies to any other United States document the transaction requires in Mexico, such as corporate resolutions, marriage or divorce records, or trust documents. Each one goes through the same notarize-then-apostille path.

Official translation into Spanish by a translator the Mexican authorities recognize. Anything in English that has to be presented to a notaría, the registry, or the trust bank needs this. Machine translation is not accepted.

An independent valuation establishing what the property is worth, which determines the loan amount. The range is wide because appraisal cost tracks property value, property type, and how much comparable data exists in that market.

Where it runs high: unique properties, large parcels, homes in thin markets with few recent comparable sales, and anything requiring travel for the appraiser. A condo in a well-traded development sits at the low end.

A separate official valuation used for tax purposes. This is not a duplicate of the commercial appraisal. The cadastral value is one of the three figures the acquisition tax gets measured against, so the authorities require their own number.

A search of the chain of title plus a written legal opinion on whether the seller can actually convey what they are selling. On a cross-border purchase this is the diligence step most worth paying for.

Why the range is ten to one: some properties have a clean, short, well-recorded history and the search takes hours. Others involve ejido conversions, inheritance splits, developer parcelizations, or gaps in the registry, and the work climbs accordingly. Markets differ too, since registry quality is not uniform across states.

The review that confirms the property can legally serve as collateral for a United States-originated loan, and that the security structure will hold up on both sides of the border. It covers the legal work of constituting the guaranty trust and confirming the lien position.

Why it steps up at $1 million: larger loans generally involve more complex properties and structures, and the review scope grows with them.

Coordination of the third-party workstream, which means ordering appraisals and certificates, chasing the permit, moving documents between the notaría, the trust bank, and escrow, and keeping the file moving. On a cross-border file with providers in two countries and two languages, someone has to own that.

The one-time charge to establish the trust. The bank becomes trustee and holds title, while you hold the beneficial rights, meaning you can occupy, remodel, rent, sell, borrow against, and pass the property to your heirs.

Why it varies: banks price their fiduciary services differently, and the fee scales with the complexity of the structure and sometimes with property value. Which bank you use is generally driven by the transaction rather than by preference.

The trust carries an annual maintenance fee for as long as it exists, and the first year is collected at closing. Budget for it every year afterward, because it does not go away once the loan is paid off. The trust is the ownership structure, not a financing device.

Common mistake: letting the annual fee lapse. The bank is the titleholder and an unpaid trustee is a problem you do not want on a property you live in.

Holding and disbursing funds through a neutral third party. Escrow is not universal practice in Mexican residential transactions the way it is in the United States, and using it is a meaningful protection on a cross-border purchase where you may be wiring six figures before you have title.

Required coverage, paid a year in advance. The premium depends on replacement cost, construction type, and location, and coastal exposure is the dominant factor. Hurricane and named-storm coverage on beachfront construction prices very differently than an inland home of the same value.

Order it early. The schedule flags three weeks before closing for a reason. Coastal placements sometimes take multiple carrier submissions, and a missing binder will hold up your closing date.

Optional, and the one line on this schedule where you are making a genuine judgment call. It protects against defects the title search did not surface, such as a competing claim, a recording error, or a forged instrument earlier in the chain.

Worth considering when: the property has a complicated ownership history, sits on former ejido land, came out of an inheritance or a developer subdivision, or the registry in that state is known to be uneven. Discuss it with your attorney rather than deciding on price alone.

Prefunding the account that pays your property tax, homeowners insurance, and annual fiduciary fee as they come due. The amount depends on your figures and on how many months fall between closing and the next due date.

This is not a fee. It is your own money, held and then paid out on your behalf. It still has to be part of your cash to close.