In January 2020, Guillermo Solomon and his wife traveled from Mexico to visit relatives in McKinney. On a whim, they decide to look around at local houses.
The 55-year-old technology executive and his wife, Karin, are American nationals who currently teach at Frisco ISD and lived in Toluca, west of Mexico City. He had lived there for 22 years and was discussing his move to the United States with his wife.
They were surprised to find that prices were lower, transactions were faster, and rents were higher in Collin County than in the Mexico City area at the time.
Solomon had no credit history in the United States, which made her question the purchase, but she found a Mexican-born real estate agent who helped her find a loan. This was a third of the cost of a 20-year loan in Mexico, he said. “It was an obvious decision.”
They purchased a home in McKinney in March 2020.
Thousands of buyers from Mexico are making similar moves. After foreign purchases in the U.S. declined in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, U.S. home purchases by people who immigrated or invested from within Mexico will increase from April 2021 to March 2022 and through 2023, according to a new national association. Real estate agent surveys for real estate agents increased by 19% over the same period.
In a 2023 study, Mexico was the second-largest country of origin for U.S. home buyers after China. Almost half of buyers from Mexico make purchases in Texas, a much larger share than the next most demographic states such as California (18%) and Ohio (6%).
Eric Juarez, a real estate agent with Great Western Realty in Fort Worth, said the rising value of the peso, Dallas-Fort Worth's proximity to Mexico and the lack of state income taxes are big benefits for investors and business owners. He said that there is. President-Elect of the Dallas Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
“We're very close to Mexico, so being able to provide a passageway for workers coming from Mexico to the United States is a huge buffer,” Juarez said. “You’re still close to home, but you’re also close to business.”
Home prices in North Texas are rising along with mortgage rates, but the value of the dollar in terms of pesos has fallen about 15% in the past year, making it less attractive for Mexican investors to buy homes in the U.S. It's a good time.
Solomon said that uncertainty in Mexico surrounding its upcoming 2024 general election and security concerns over drugs and gangs in the country make U.S. housing a more stable investment. Ta.
He found that although insurance, taxes and maintenance costs are higher in the United States, lower mortgage rates and rising prices still make investing in North Texas worthwhile.
“as if of “Now is your chance to invest in the United States,” Solomon said. “If you know how to crunch the numbers, investing here is a better investment. The economy here is much stronger, so I have much more confidence putting my money here than there.” Masu.”
With mortgage rates hitting record lows in 2021, Solomon and his wife decided to buy more property in North Texas and refinance their home in McKinney. They looked for opportunities outside of Collin County because prices in Collin County were rising.
In February 2023, they purchased a 1,300-square-foot home in Denison. This is in the wake of Texas Instruments' multibillion-dollar chip factory near Sherman, which broke ground last year and is expected to bring thousands of jobs to the area.
They also bought a home in Granbury, about an hour southwest of downtown Fort Worth, attracted by weekend sightseeing at Lake Granbury and the benefits of building versus buying an existing home. Began construction. Two are completed and one is under construction. They plan to sell two properties and keep one as a rental property.
market questions
Estelle Perez, 50, works as a tax preparer, bookkeeper and translator in Irving and has lived back and forth between California and Mexico during her childhood and teenage years. She has been investing in single family homes in Texas for over 25 years.
In 1997, she bought her first home in Irving, where her family lives, for $55,000. She sold it for $95,000.
“For them, there was an opportunity to get a good price and make a good profit,” Perez said.
After 2020, and before the spike in mortgage rates that started last year, she was making tens of thousands of dollars, if not $100,000, on a single flip. But since then, her mood has changed.
“Two years ago, when you put a house on the market, you were getting offers that were $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 above the asking price,” Perez said. “Now you're going to get what you're worth.”
She hasn't bought a home in over a year and feels interest from other investors is waning.
Pérez said other investors he knows have been forced to invest in areas of Mexico such as Puerto Vallarta, Aguascalientes and San Miguel de Allende rather than in the state because of rising raw material prices, rising interest rates and property taxes. The company is reportedly considering investing in.
He said he is waiting to see if the U.S. economy moves closer to where it was before the interest rate hike. Meanwhile, she is also considering investing in Mexican real estate herself.
“There's not much room to make money here. [in Texas] rather than investing in Mexico,” she said. “If I go over there and buy a house for $80,000, it'll sell for $200,000. I just need to go and fix it.”
But she is also holding back because the value of the dollar against the peso has fallen significantly.
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Rodrigo Manzanilla, 38, moved to Dallas about nine years ago. He had moved to Texas from Mexico City in 2012 to pursue a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Manzanilla, now a vice president at experience management company Qualtrics, has since purchased two single-family homes in the Lakewood and Knox-Henderson areas of Dallas. He is also investing in his own projects with his developer friend, one north of Love Field in Dallas and two in the Tampa area.
“There aren't many super profitable investments out there right now. I think real estate is a very reliable investment,” he said. “Even in the environment we're in, this is a growing city, so when interest rates come down again, we'll probably continue to see more price increases.”
He and his wife bought the Knox Henderson property about five years ago after renting it for several years. They considered the property as an investment property as they considered returning to Mexico to be closer to friends and family, but decided to remain in Dallas. A year later, they bought a house and live in Lakewood.
“It’s always nice to be close to family,” he said. “But at the end of the day, staying in Dallas provides political stability and economic stability, which I enjoy.”
After starting a family in Dallas, they are looking for a third home to purchase in or around East Dallas, Trinity Groves, or Love Field. Mr. Manzanilla also considered investing in Mexico, but decided not to, citing the political and regulatory uncertainty surrounding the upcoming elections.
“This is a great market if you get in early and find the right investment opportunities,” he said. “For political reasons, I'm a little risk-averse in that sense.”
He said his friends in Mexico have called him about developing Dallas and investing in single-family homes.
“You'll probably get a higher rental yield than if you bought a property for the same amount in Mexico,” Manzanilla says. “You get more stability, you get more currency diversification.”
