How to sell real estate to foreign buyers: a long decision, contact channels, pricing and brokers

How foreign buyers differ from local buyers

In our experience, about 60% of buyers in Cancún and Playa del Carmen speak English, and Playa has a large number of French-speaking Canadians. These buyers behave differently from a buyer from Mérida or Mexico City:

• They choose slowly and early. First they gather options remotely, then plan a trip, and during the visit they tour every project on their shortlist. The decision takes shape through messages, videos, documents and calls over the weeks or months before the trip.
• They work with several intermediaries at once. In our experience, foreign buyers start out talking to 8 to 10 agencies and brokers. Your project is competing for a spot on the list they'll bring to Mexico.
• They don't know the market. So the first thing they look for is safety, reliability, and someone who will show them the whole market and compare options. A «this week only» discount is more likely to make them suspicious.
• They buy to invest and to vacation. Most often the goal is to rent the unit out while also coming 2–3 times a year for a couple of weeks. In practice, it's a vacation home. Ask about the goal in the first conversation: it shapes which floor plans and arguments you lead with.

How to build marketing for foreign buyers

Ads for Mexican buyers often aim for a quick step: inquiry, call, showroom visit that same week. That doesn't work with a foreign buyer. They submit an inquiry, get the brochure, and come back to it when they start planning a trip. Marketing's job is to stay on their list until then.

• Lead with safety and reliability. Delivered projects, documents, construction reports and clear purchase terms work better than an ocean view in a render.
• Help them understand the market. Foreign buyers look for someone who will show them the whole market and compare. Area guides, format comparisons (a rental studio vs. a family condo) and honest answers about who your project isn't for make you that someone.
• Talk about why they're buying. Show how the unit earns rental income while the owner is away, and what it's like to stay there for a couple of weeks when they visit.
• Ask for their travel dates. As soon as a buyer shares dates, book a tour for a specific day. A date on the calendar keeps you on the list they'll see in person.
• Nurture the lead for months. Regular touches before the trip: construction updates, newly released units, answers to their questions. Without a plan, this lead is lost long before they land.

Language: reply in the buyer's language from the first message

A common mistake we see in audits: the lead writes in English and gets a Spanish template or a machine translation with a typo in the price. People judge a project by the first message. If the sales rep can't quote a unit price in their language, it's hard for the buyer to believe that same rep will guide them through the whole purchase.

• English: every coastal project needs it.
• French: pays off in Playa del Carmen. There are many buyers from Quebec, and replying in their language sets you apart from neighboring projects.
• Spanish: remains the foundation for Mexican buyers and brokers.
• Other languages: add them based on CRM data. Export the language of first messages over the past six months and see who is actually writing to you.

Translate everything the buyer sees before closing: the brochure, price list, floor plans, payment terms and reservation agreement. Have a second person check the numbers and legal terms. A mistake in the reservation deposit amount on the English price list costs more than the entire translation.

Contact channels: WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, phone and video

In Mexico, WhatsApp is the main channel, but foreign buyers have different habits. Canadians and Europeans who spend a lot of time in Mexico usually already use it. But most foreign buyers still prefer phone, email, SMS or iMessage.

We've often had buyers who didn't respond by email, WhatsApp or phone, while iMessage worked very well. In the first message, ask which channel they prefer, record it in the lead record, and keep the conversation there. If the buyer goes quiet, rotate channels according to a predefined follow-up plan.

Before the trip, a video call replaces the showroom visit. Prepare it like a tour:

1. Schedule and confirm the call in the buyer's time zone: «Tuesday, 10 am Toronto time».
2. Show the construction site live from your phone. Fresh site footage convinces more than renders.
3. Keep up-to-date unit availability open and answer about specific units.
4. Send a same-day recap in the buyer's language: units, prices, terms, next step.
5. Ask when they'll be in Mexico and book a tour for a specific date right away.

Time zones: they matter for Europe

With buyers from the US and Canada, the time difference is small and the workday mostly overlaps. With Europeans it's significant: an inquiry from Paris or Berlin arrives when it's early morning or the middle of the night in Mexico.

Even so, US buyers often submit inquiries in the evening after work or on weekends, when the sales team is off. Measure speed to lead separately for inquiries that arrive at night and on weekends: that's usually where the gap is.

A night-shift sales rep rarely pays for themselves and burns out fast. More often developers use an AI sales agent: it replies 24/7 in the buyer's language, pulls prices and availability from the current price list, asks qualifying questions and books a video call at a time that works for both sides. In the morning, the sales rep sees the conversation, the budget and the call time.

Pricing: dollars, payment plans and the full-payment discount

Show the payment-plan price in your ads

A project usually has two prices: the installment price under the payment plan (for example, 30/70) and a discounted price for paying 100% upfront. Never use the full-payment price in ads. The buyer will negotiate down from it, arguing that they're paying everything at once. Show the payment-plan price and keep the full-payment discount for the negotiation.

Prices in dollars

In beach markets where Americans and Canadians buy, a price list in dollars saves the buyer from converting. Keep the law in mind: under Article 8 of Mexico's Monetary Law (Ley Monetaria), a dollar-denominated debt paid in Mexico can be settled in pesos at the exchange rate Banco de México publishes in the DOF on the payment date. State the price currency, the payment currency and that exchange rate in the contract, and include a sample calculation in the price list. That way the exchange rate question doesn't come up for the first time at the second payment.

Total cost of purchase

Foreign buyers are used to different closing costs and don't like discovering them at the end. On top of the price, the buyer pays roughly 7–11% at closing (escrituración): notary, acquisition tax and paperwork. Share that number early, ideally in the first quote.

How to structure payment terms before construction starts is covered in how to sell pre-construction condos. For land: how to sell land lots.

Trust and working closely with brokers

Foreign buyers know that some pre-construction projects in Mexico fall through, and they vet the developer from home. Complaints against developers reach the authorities:

Put together a proof page on your website that buyers can verify on their own:

• Delivered projects: addresses, photos, videos with residents. If this is your first project, show the track record of your team and builder.
• Timelines: be honest about whether you delivered on time. A US buyer will search for it online anyway.
• Documents: land title, construction license. List what you're willing to show before the reservation.
• Construction report: a monthly site video for buyers and for those still deciding.

Brokers: local, and from the US and Canada

A foreign buyer who doesn't know the market often comes in through a broker: their realtor back home or a local broker they trust. The broker is exactly the person who shows them the whole market and compares. In our experience, about half of the demand in Cancún comes through brokers, and the commission there is usually 4–5%. With foreign buyers, you need to work closely with brokers:

• one price list and unit availability for all brokers, updated without delays;
• clear client registration, so there's no dispute over whose lead it is;
• English-language materials the broker can forward to the client;
• regular construction updates, so the broker can see the project is moving;
• written commission rules: how much the foreign realtor gets, whether they split it with the local broker, and when you pay;
• payments on the agreed date. Stories about late payments spread fast: the press has already covered such cases in Nuevo León.

Don't bet everything on foreign buyers: a bilingual sales checklist

Foreign demand depends on things a developer can't control: tariffs, exchange rates, the situation in the US. Tulum showed this: the boom rested on foreign buyers, and when their inflow slowed, new-home sales dropped noticeably from 2023 and thousands of units piled up on the resale market (Expansión, 2025).

So keep a local funnel running in parallel: Spanish-language materials, Mexican brokers and payment terms for local buyers. In beach destinations, lead-to-sale conversion is 1–2% in our experience, and a single-language process that cuts off half the market is expensive. How to raise conversion at every stage: lead conversion guide. If your CRM already holds foreign leads who never got a reply in English, start with them: how to reactivate leads.

Bilingual marketing and sales checklist

1. The CRM records the lead's language, country, preferred contact channel and travel dates to Mexico.
2. The first reply arrives within minutes, including evenings and weekends, in the buyer's language, with a price and a next step.
3. Leads are routed by language automatically.
4. The brochure, price list, floor plans, payment terms and reservation agreement exist in English, and in Playa also in French.
5. Ads show the payment-plan price, not the full-payment price.
6. The contract states the price currency, payment currency and exchange rate.
7. Follow-up rotates WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, email and phone; calls to the US get at least three attempts.
8. The contact plan covers the weeks and months before the buyer's trip.
9. There's a proof page: delivered projects, documents, construction reports.
10. Brokers get one price list, English materials, construction updates and on-time commissions.
11. A Spanish-language local funnel runs in parallel.

Frequently asked questions