People who buy in Tulum usually do it feeling two things at once: urgency and excitement. The area is trendy, the brochures are flawless, and there are always “only three units left.” With all that working against them, the only thing that protects a buyer is a simple filter, applied in order and with no exceptions. We use four questions. If even one fails, you don’t buy, no matter how beautiful the property is.
These aren’t lawyer questions and they don’t require technical knowledge. They’re the ones you should be able to answer, with documents in hand, before putting down any deposit.
Question 1: Who is selling, and are they able to sell it?
It seems obvious, and it’s where most people stumble. The person showing you the property isn’t necessarily the person who can transfer it. Before you fall in love with it, ask for four documents:
- Registered deed in the Public Registry of Property, in the name of the seller or the developer.
- Certificate of no liens, to find out whether there are mortgages or attachments.
- Property tax (predial) paid up to date.
- Condominium regime, if it’s an apartment: without it, what’s being sold isn’t legally divided.
If the seller stalls on any of them, you already have your answer. A lot “with paperwork in process” or with “rights” instead of a deed doesn’t pass this question, whatever the price.
Question 2: What exactly am I buying?
Two properties at the same price can be different things in the eyes of the law. Tulum lies within the restricted zone, the 50 kilometers from the coast, where a foreigner cannot hold direct title to the land. The mechanism that solves this is the trust (fideicomiso): an authorized Mexican bank acts as trustee, and you keep the rights to use, rent, sell and bequeath the property, for renewable terms of 50 years.
That’s why you should have the following clear, in writing:
- Whether you’re buying through a trust and in whose name it is held.
- Whether the unit is pre-construction or resale. In pre-construction you buy a promise; in resale, something that exists and can be visited.
- What is common area and what is yours, and how much the maintenance fee is.
Be wary of any arrangement in which another person appears as the owner “on your behalf.” The nominee arrangement (prestanombres) doesn’t protect you: it leaves you with nothing if that person fails.
Question 3: Where does the return they’re showing me come from?
This is the question that most separates an advertisement from a fact. It’s common to see return figures with three decimal places and not a single source. The rule is simple: a return without written assumptions isn’t a return, it’s a wish.
Ask the seller to tell you clearly:
- What rate and occupancy they’re using to calculate the rent.
- Which expenses they deduct: management, maintenance, property tax, utilities, platform commission.
- Whether the figure is the unit’s historical performance or a projection by the seller.
So you can see this isn’t someone else’s problem, we measured it in our own inventory. On October 20, 2026, we read through this site’s API the listings published in Spanish: 79 in total, 47 of them in Tulum. Of those 47, only one has a delivery year filled in and none has a monthly rent or annual return. We haven’t filled them in with decorative numbers precisely for this reason: we prefer an empty field to a figure we can’t stand behind. If someone gives you a specific figure, you have the right to see where it comes from.
Question 4: How do I exit, and at what price?
Most people buy thinking about getting in. Investors think about getting out. Before you sign, answer:
- Who would I sell it to? Some areas have plenty of supply and little resale demand. Look at how many similar units are listed and how long they’ve been on the market.
- What costs do I pay at closing and at exit? Between acquisition tax, notary, registration, appraisal and opening the trust, the prudent approach is to set aside 5% to 8% of the transaction value on top of the price. When you sell, there are taxes and commission again.
- Can the trust be assigned? It must be transferable to the next buyer without starting from scratch.
If the only way the numbers work is for the price to rise, it isn’t an investment: it’s a bet. A good deal holds up with a flat price.
How to use the four questions in practice
- Ask them in order. Question 1 before 2, because if the seller can’t sell, nothing else matters.
- Demand answers in writing. What’s said verbally during a viewing doesn’t exist on signing day.
- An evasive answer counts as a no. It isn’t interpreted, and it doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
- Don’t let the calendar pressure you. If putting down a deposit “today” is the condition for keeping the price, that condition is the answer to question 1.
An example of what a failing answer looks like
Imagine a pre-construction apartment in Tulum at a good price. You ask the developer question 1 and they show you the deed to the land, but the registration is in the name of another company. It isn’t necessarily fraud: it may be a legitimate structure between companies in the same group. But it’s exactly the kind of thing that must be clarified in writing before putting down a deposit, and the seller should explain it to you without getting annoyed.
Now question 3: they tell you the unit “yields 12% a year.” When you ask about the rate and occupancy, the answer is “it depends on the season.” That isn’t an answer. It isn’t a lie either, but it is a sign that the figure has nothing behind it. Whoever does have data shares it without being asked twice.
With even one of the two answers like that, you don’t buy yet. There’s no need to rule out the property forever: the seller needs to resolve what’s pending. If they do it with documents, the question passes. If they do it with more enthusiasm and fewer documents, you also have your answer.
Why only four
There could be twenty, and each would have its reason. But a filter you can’t remember is a filter you won’t use. These four cover the failures that cost the most money: buying from someone who can’t sell, buying something different from what you thought, believing a number that nobody stands behind, and being stuck with no way out. Everything else, the area, the finishes, the view, is preference. These four are conditions.
If you want to run a property through the filter
If you’re looking at a property in Tulum, ours or anyone else’s, and you want to check it against these four questions before putting down a deposit, write to us. We’ll tell you which documents to ask for, what to look for in each one, and which answer you shouldn’t accept.
The listing count is as of October 20, 2026, read through the inversionesdemexico.com API. Closing costs and timeframes are approximate: they vary depending on the transaction, the notary and the property’s legal regime, and should be confirmed with a professional before signing.
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Versión en español: Las cuatro preguntas antes de comprar en Tulum: si falla una, no compras · Versão em português: Antes de comprar em Tulum: 4 perguntas — se uma falhar, não compre · Version française: Les quatre questions avant d’acheter à Tulum : un non, et vous passez
