Apartment-hunting is never easy, but as a foreigner living in a different country, it’s pretty darn taxing.
Over the past three months, I’ve encountered quite a few issues, most of them in the language-and-culture department. Do I use tú with the broker, or usted? How do you say “I want to put a deposit down to hold this apartment”? (I eventually figured out that to “hold” an apartment you’re interested in is to “apartarlo.”) And then there’s the case when the broker’s values might conflict with your own.
Since Joan recently asked for help in the comments, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned with you, in case anyone else happens to be in the same situation. After the jump: Lesley’s Top 10 Tips to Renting an Apartment in Mexico City.
LESLEY’S TOP 10 TIPS TO RENTING AN APARTMENT IN MEXICO CITY(especially helpful if you are a foreigner)
1. Decide what you want and be firm. Make a list of your top three to five priorities in an apartment and stick to it. It’s also helpful to know what size apartment you want in square meters. You’re not going to find the perfect apartment, but it’s good to have this list to weed out all the other places you might be tempted to take, just because you’re so exhausted from looking. When you start thinking, oh, hell, a place for the kitchen table doesn’t really matter, does it?, take out your list and remember that it does. (Or at least, it did for us.)
2. Realize that you will need a fiador, or co-signer, for pretty much any apartment that you’re going to rent. One broker explained to me that this is due to Mexico City civil code, but I’m not sure how true that is, as some rare places don’t require a fiador. Some American companies will act as fiadors if you’re an expat coming here to work. Unfortunately, there isn’t a list of the city’s certified fiador requirements, so the landlord you’re dealing with can make them as exacting as he likes. The most basic definition of a fiador is someone who owns property in Mexico City. You may need a fiador who owns property and is also mortgage-free. Have all of your ducks in a row before you start looking, that way when you find something, you can start the paperwork process immediately. The fiador must also provide copies of the following: his/her title, a valid ID, his last tax statement (the “predial”), a recent utility bill. The fiador must also be available to sign the rental contract in person.
3. Walk, walk, walk. Once you have your desired neighborhood picked out, put on some comfy shoes and grab your cell phone. Take a day or two to walk around the neighborhood seek out “Se Renta” signs. You could also hire a cab to take you there and cruise around; sitio cab stands tend to charge around 120 pesos per hour. You could also hire a broker, but they usually take a cut of the rent, or at least this is my understanding. However, a broker that’s showing you around might be willing to be your fiador for you, assuming they own their own place.
4. If you find an apartment with a “Se Renta” sign that looks interesting, call immediately. Some real estate firms task the doorman with showing the apartment, and if so, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see the place right then. (Also, don’t be surprised if the place is already rented: chilangos are very slow to take down their “Se Renta” signs.) At the very least you can make an appointment to see the place the next day — this is also why it’s a good idea to carry a calendar or a small notebook. The nice apartments go quickly, so if you snooze you lose.
If you don’t speak Spanish well, this is a good opening line for when you make that first call: “Hola, buenas tardes. Estoy llamando sobre el departamento en la calle [insert street name here.] Cuántas recameras tiene?” More often than not, as soon as you mention the street name, the broker/owner will cut you off and launch into the apartment’s salient characteristics: “Claro que sí. Mire, éste departamento tiene dos recámeras, dos baños, su cocina integral…” If you are interested, you can then say: “Puedo hacer una cita para verlo?” They will say sure, and you will probably be able to see it later that very day, or the next day.
6. This reminds me: “Cocina integral” is just a fancy way of saying that the sink, stove and cabinets come with the place. Some apartments in Mexico City don’t have this amenity, but if you’re looking in the Roma/Condesa/Cuauhtémoc/Polanco area (where many foreigners tend to live), chances are they will.
7. The quoted rental price is not final. Whaaa? Yes, you heard that right. You can totally negotiate on the rent, and it’s not considered rude. In my experience, brokers will quote you 1,000-2,000 pesos less if you tell them: “Bueno, me encanta el departamento, pero lo que pasa es que queríamos gastar un poquito menos.” (Well, I love the apartment, but it’s that we wanted to spend a little less.) Then he’ll ask: “How much?” And you will say: “Oh, well, we’re still trying to figure it out, pero no hay posibilidad de oferta?” Oferta roughly means “sale” in English, but in this case, it means an offer of lower rent. At this point, the broker will usually quote you a lower rent, and then say, “If you want it any lower, you’ll have to negotiate with the owner.” You can always negotiate in Mexico. This is one of the great things about this country.
7. Don’t freak out if the broker asks to look at your bank statements. If you find a place that you love, and you start the paperwork process, a common requirement is copies of your bank statements from the past 1-3 months. You may also be asked to provide pay stubs, a letter of recommendation from your current landlord, and a recommendation from your job. (One place I found actually requested ALL of these things, but usually it’s just the bank statements and/or pay stubs, and the fiador.)
8. Most Mexico City apartments do not come with a refrigerator or washer/dryer. Remember that “cocina integral” thing? Yeah, so you get the cabinets and sink, but not the appliances. You must buy those yourself. Some places do include these items, but they’re in the minority — I’d say 3 of 10 places I looked at offered a fridge and centro de lavado.
9. Unless you don’t mind running outside your house at 7 in the morning to refill your gas tank, make sure that the apartment has natural gas. (This is also known as “gas estacionario.”) Many old apartment buildings in Mexico — the vintage, charming art deco buildings in particular — still rely on gas tanks. This means that when you run out, unless you have a backup, you must listen for the gas guy yelling, “Gaaaaas!”, as he does very early in the morning. Then you have out and catch him. Some people don’t mind this activity, but I’d rather stick to hailing the pandulce guy.
10. Follow up. Sometimes, even if an apartment is in the process of being rented, the contract will not go through for some reason. (This might be because the fiador wasn’t sufficient, or the person’s ID was expired, etc.) If you love the apartment and the real estate agent tells you, “We’re in the process of signing the papers,” follow up the following week and inquire whether the deal has gone through. Also, leave your number with them, so they can call you with other leads.
Great and useful post, Lesley! Especially if we should ever look for an apartment in Mexico City, I should live so long.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
I hope you’re gonna send before and after pics of the new place (in a totally non-stalking way, of course). Will you repaint etc…?
Scooter: Will definitely post pics! I’m not sure yet if we’ll repaint. So much to think about right now, that’s on the bottom of the priority list.
Thank you Lesley!!! It really made my day to see this post. It is so informative and helpful that I am going to print it out! I had no idea about the fiador. I would have been totally caught unaware on that one.
It is great to find out how other people do things. Something as common as renting an apartment can be the means to gain understanding and empathy. I have always thought everyone should live in another country for at least six months. Here’s another reason why.
Joan (the one mentioned in the post)
Great post! Thank you. So does this mean you’re looking for a new place yourself? Or found one?
Yeah, we found one! It’s in the Roma Norte. Haven’t signed the papers yet. Doing that this week… after we’ve signed our contract I’ll consider it 100 percent confirmed.
Lesley, when you talk about gas: natural gas isn’t usually piped into Mexico City’s homes and apartments. A ‘tanque estacionario’ isn’t natural gas, it’s just a 300 or 500 liter gas tank that’s usually on the roof of a building, rather than a 30-liter cylinder that’s normally hooked up in the service patio or the kitchen (or bathroom) of an individual apartment. Our house has a ‘tanque estacionario’ that we fill about once every 90 days or so. The truck filled with clanking cylinders that passes by the house every morning isn’t the truck that fills the stationary tank; we have to call the gas company and make an appointment for them to come fill our tank.
Mexico Cooks: Hmmm, natural gas is always how it’s been explained to me by various real estate agents. (Although it’s definitely possible that they didn’t know what they were talking about.) Interesting that you refill your own tanque estacionario — we’ve never had to do that in our apartment building. I’m guessing the next one will be the same way, but it’s a good question to ask.
Good post since I am in the process of looking again: Though I have done the dance before this post was informative.
In the past none of my landlords required a fiador, only a months deposit; one didn’t require anything but the rent!. There are all sorts of possibilities out there. Yesterday I found a cute place but since I don’t have a fiador they wanted two extra deposits, which made pretty much expensive to move in. With fiador = 15,600 pesos or $1,300. USD without fiador = 31,200 or $2,600. USD. Still looking!
Lesley-
Im currently internet searching for a place right now and came across your post – it’s nice to see a recent post about the true conditions of looking for a place! I plan to move to Mexico City in the summer. I am still searching for an apartment for my boyfriend and I, and I am searching from the US. Do you have any suggestions for websites that might post apartment rental listings?? Thanks for your time!
Hi Ashley: Two good resources are MetrosCubicos.com.mx and El Universal’s Aviso Oportuno section, under “inmuebles.” Note that most of those apartments are listed by real estate agencies, so the prices may be a wee bit higher than what you’d find if you were simply walking around the neighborhood. I know walking isn’t an option for you right now because you’re in the States, but it is something to keep in mind, in case you don’t see anything you like online.
Just a heads up that the pictures on both of those sites usually don’t tell the whole story of the place… the photos either aren’t good at all, or they show one nice thing, like the terraza. I don’t know who’s training the next generation of real estate agents in Mexico to take digital photographs, but he’s not doing a very good job.
Good luck!
Jesus, I’m glad to hear you were able to swing your apartments without a fiador! We were able to find rentals without a fiador in Guadalajara as well, but some people are really picky about this.
Can any of you DF residents tell me about typical noise levels in apartment buildings in Mexico City? I’m not talking about traffic and typical city noises – I’m talking about neighbors throwing loud parties until 5:00 am and things like that. Is this as common in DF as it is in GDL?
I’m lucky enough to live in a house, so it’s not a huge issue for me. But it seems like ALL my friends who live in apartments deal with constant all-night parties, bands rehearsing in the apartment until midnight, blasting music day and night, etc. But nobody complains, so the behavior continues.
We want to move to DF and I miss living in an apartment, but the noise issue scares me. I need my sleep!
P.S. Great post, thanks for writing this, Lesley!
Hi Lucy: We haven’t had many problems with neighbors throwing loud parties. It happened occasionally at our old place — maybe three times out of the entire year we lived there. (And unfortunately, every one of those times I had to get up early, which really sucked.) Generally the noise levels were fine. At our new place, our neighbors are young and throw huge soccer-watching parties all the time. Thank goodness the walls are thick, so we don’t hear them until we leave our apartment. I’m expecting it to get much louder during World Cup though. Just part of the price of living here. Overall, though, I wouldn’t say that I’ve had noise problems in DF. Generally it’s fine.
Glad you liked the post and found it helpful!
Thanks! I am moving to DF this august and the article is invaluable.
Hi Michael: Glad you found it useful!
Well I was looking for a place in early May because my landlady is weird. I stopped looking because I thought she had settled down. NOPE. I find my landlady super exaggerating stories of her life, like an old war veteran. I trusted her but have found her to be a pathological liar, one that has a narcissistic personality disorder a real psychopath.
Prior to moving to Mexico City I once read a post: Never move into an apartment where the landlady lives on property and it was right on target. For one example: Last week the landlady called my cell, she thinks she is my mother too, well she calls and I ignore here call. Well calls again and again: She called me 28 times in 48 hrs! So don’t rent where the property owner is a little old lady and she lives on property.
Lucy, you worry about the noise. People talk about the air pollution here but there is also noise pollution too. When friends visit and they cannot talk on the phone because of the street noise – mind you they are inside my apartment – I always say: Welcome to Mexico City Silence is PROHIBITED.
Life in the BIG CITY
Hey all…I see this blog entry is a little old, but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for someone with VERY limited Spanish abilities looking for a place in DF. Are there bilingual brokers that can be contacted? Thanks for any advice you can provide. Michael
Hi Michael: I do know of one broker who speaks English. I’ll email you her info.
Hi. Just found your website and great info on renting in DF. I’m also planning a move in the next few months and am studying spanish currently but not able to converse with any confidence yet. Would you be able to send me the name of the agent as well so that I can contact her when I am ready to move? Thank you again for the time/info.
Regards
Yolanta
Hi Lesley,
So to jump on this post but I would appreciate those details too. I’m a brit, moving to DF (probably Condesa or Roma) in about 6 weeks so i’m currently looking for an apartment.
BTW, I found your post very helpful, thank you.
Hi Chris: I’m sorry, I don’t have those details anymore. I went searching for them the last time someone asked and found that I had deleted the email somewhere along the way. You might try reaching out to The Newcomers Club of Mexico City, which is an organization of English speakers. I’m a member and they do have good recommendations for doctors, where to find specific food items, etc. I know occasionally English-speaking brokers also post information on their list serv. It costs about $50 USD to join and have access to the information.
There’s also a free loosely organized group of English speakers called the New Friends Club of Mexico City — they have a page on Facebook so you might try messaging someone through there. Last, there is an expats group here called InterNations that hosts several networking events in the city. They may have broker listings on their website.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Hi Lesley: I am relocating to DF in a couple of months and would like some realtor referrals. Can you send me some ? Thanks, Jeff
i’m moving to mexico city in september and trying to find some websites (apart from craigslist) that show some rentals in condesa/polanco. Can anyone recommend anywhere?
Hi Daniel: Do you read Spanish? If so, I recommend El Universal’s Aviso Oportuno section (El Universal is the largest newspaper in Mexico City; the real estate adds are linked off the homepage) and Metros Cúbicos. Craigslist is the only site I know of that lists apartment rentals in English. Hope that helps and best of luck.
I’d also take a look on AirBnB. Some owners are open to long-term rentals, or you might find a place to stay short-term while looking for something more permanent.
Just looking to move to DF in Aug and would appreciate the name and contact info of the apartment broker who speaks English. Thanks!
Hi Craig: I’m not sure whether anyone else has had success with her, as my contact info for her is now three years old. What I would recommend to you and others is to join the Newcomers Club, an organization for English-speakers here in Mexico City. (They have chapters around the world.) You can buy a membership for around 500 or 600 pesos, which gives you access to their email list serv — it’s very helpful in cases like this, and in finding doctors, furniture for sale, etc. http://www.newcomers.org.mx/ Best of luck!
Thanks. Never heard of newcomers.
Lesley: pls let me know what is average rent for 1br fully furnished apartment in mexico city.
Hi Ragu: It really depends on the neighborhood and the building. The last time I was looking was a few years ago, and the furnished one-bedrooms in Condesa and Cuauhtémoc were probably 13,000-16,000 pesos a month. However, I remember some Tabacalera listings (in shiny new buildings) that had furnished apartments upwards of $20k a month. So I think there’s a wide range.
Rents in the Centro, San Rafael/Santa Maria la Ribera, Escandón, Napoles and Narvarte tend to be cheaper.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for reply Lesley…
Hi Lesley,
Apartment-hunting in Mexico City is so easy now and very different from the traditional way of the past years. Just take a look at http://www.bestmexicoapartments.com, you don´t need a “fiador” (co-signer), you can see good apartment pictures online as well as equipment, location, prices, etc. There are a wide variety of options and neighborhoods. All the apartments have a fully equiped kitchen with refrigerator, microwave oven, dishes, etc. Finally you can book online from your country.
Regards.
Carlos
Thanks Carlos, but I’m afraid if you’re living in Mexico long term, you *do* still need a fiador in most cases. Your listings are for short-term rentals only — getting a furnished apartment is I’m sure a whole different matter. (I was never looking for a furnished apartment, as I had my own furniture.) But thank you for the tip, I’m sure it will be helpful for someone out there.
Hola Leslie,
Thanks for a great read. Some very good insights. I am moving back to Mexico City next month. I’ve lived there a few times in the 90’s and wanted to share a few things. I’ve lived in 5 Mexican cities and have never encountered any of the stated requirements(fiador, references, bank statement, proof of employment, etc.) I speak Spanish well, and since I learned it from the people, not in school, I also learned the culture at the same time. Because of this I have a good sense of how informal I can speak with someone when looking for a rental.
From my experience, sites like CraigsList are good for refining what I am looking for: a room in a house, kitchen use, wi-fi, non-smoking home, etc. I have always found places much cheaper than the prices I see on CL. Regardless of the country or city, often the best places are by word of mouth, and never get listed on-line. My landlord in Mazatlan years ago, could barely read or write so he would not likely be posting ads on-line.
One place I rented in Mexico City simply had a small cardboard sign in a 2nd story window that read “Hay Cuatro” No tel. number, did even have an arrow as to how you reached the second floor. You’ll notice that the sign had a typo, which made it say “There’s)or we have) Four” The word for “room” had been written wrong. This is something most foreigners would not have figured out meant room for rent.
My next place, besides being non-smoking I hope is near a Metro station, near an EcoBici bike station(I bring my own helmet!), and hopefully in one of 4 colonias I like best.
Best wishes to you, and thanks for sharing your knowledge with people about Mexico City rentals.
Great and helpful post. Thank you so much!
I’m planning on moving to Guanajuato…to start an export shoe company any advise about rentals of apartment in that area and doing business?
Make sure to have the contract read. Mine originally had a clause making me responsible for earthquake damage. I had it removed. Do not just glance it over and sign it. Also beware of the penalties they apply if you break the agreement. Cost me $4k.