Mexico - Avoid Real Estate and Contractual Scams Part II

A Mexican landlord would rather die than ever return a deposit to a renter. Now, I do not know if that is actually true, but it would seem from those with whom I’ve spoken, Mexicans and Gringos alike, no one, and I mean not one soul, has been able to extract a deposit—ever.

Here is a list of the excuses I have gathered in my interviews with fellow expats and Mexicans who have tried to get their deposits back from Mexican landlords:

· You broke the electricity (how is this even possible?).

· You broke the hot water heater (which was vintage 1940).

· That frying pan of mine looks suspect (the landlord usually provides pots and pans).

· I had to replace the floor (that was installed when the house was built before World War I) and it is your fault.

· You were too noisy and the neighbors complained (huh?).

Something else that takes place constantly and that you have to watch for is the “Gringo Rental price” and the “Mexican Rental Price.”

Just why do Mexicans think they can exploit a Gringo when they see one coming down the pike? Now, is this true of all Mexicans without exception? I do not know since I have not met nor had experiences with “all Mexicans without exception.” But it isbeginning to look like my expat innocence (stupid naïveté) is getting a lesson in what it is “really like” to live in México.

I am a person who can get along with “almost” anyone. I have had the philosophy that someone is innocent until proven guilty. (Oh, my. How naïve is that?). Even if I hear the vilest rumors about someone, I generally regard them as just that—rumors—until that person actually acts out those rumors in my face. In other words, I always give someone the “benefit of the doubt” until he proves to me otherwise.

It is becoming apparent to me there “is” some anti-American sentiment here; only it is subtle and unassuming. I have yet to witness personally, or hear on the news, about any marches as were seen in Argentina the last time Bush was there, in which the locals chanted, “Yankee go home.” However, I do not exclude the possibility of seeing something like that someday in México.

How the anti-American sentiment shows itself here is Americans are seen as stupid, arrogant, imperialistic, and self-serving. (I do not entirely disagree with that evaluation. Witnessing some of the behavior of Americans in this country, I can see where the Mexicans get this idea.) However, this unfortunately seems to work itself out in the attitude “since some Americans are horrid behavioral monstrosities, we Mexicans can take advantage of all of them and exploit them”—and exploit them they do.

It used to be the only Gringos who would come to México were the rich ones. Thus, all of us are still seen in that light. Mexicans, in my experience, see gringo faces and think we are all fabulously wealthy. In fact, they think we throw more money away than a Mexican makes in a lifetime.

Traditionally, it was the “rich American” who would come to México, usually to the country’s west “Gold Coast,” and buy up all the real estate. You can still see this in cities like Puerto Vallarta. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who lived in Vallarta, were prime examples. These rich Americans would hire the locals as servants. The servants, when they went home after work, would tell family and friends just how Americans lived—like movie stars. They appeared to be, and were in most cases, fabulously wealthy and acted like the spoiled children that they, in most cases, were. Thus the stereotype was set.

The rich, upper class Americans became the local servants’ “PATRONS.” They would often pay their servants the lowest possible wages, but the locals accepted this because the Americans provided for them in other ways. They paid for the Mexican’s family members when they took ill, for the births of their children, baptisms, deaths, and so on. The rich Americans got by with treating the locals badly and paying them poorly because, in the long run, they would provide these extra services that benefited the Mexicans. One rich upper class American could not be outdone by his rich upper-class neighbor so he would keep up the Patron act to conform. Again, Mexicans benefited.

What Mexicans never saw, and had no experience with, was an American “middle class.” It didn’t exist then nor does it now exist in their culture. There was absolutely no concept of an American who wasn’t Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton rich. There was no concept of an American who could not, nor would want to, become their Rich American Patron and take care of them and all their family members. There was no idea what an American middle class looked like much less that one existed.

Mexicans with property to sell or rent have been accustomed to rich, upper-class Americans who would breeze into town and show a willingness to pay outrageous prices for everything from housing to food. There developed, therefore, the prices for “The Gringos” and the prices for “The Mexicans.”

My wife and I have seen this over and over again here in Guanajuato. We have experienced this with the landlords here. They see you coming and, suddenly, the local property owners start hearing, “Cha-ching, cha-ching.” Dollar signs start floating before their eyes. The vendors and service providers are the same way. Their culture evolved the idea that anyone from America is so wealthy, he can afford to pay higher prices than Mexicans can pay. They take full advantage of this.