It’s not just the food that tastes different. Yes, there’s law and details and whatnot, but there’s also a cultural difference, one you need to take into consideration before embarking into any sort of real estate investment in Mexico. Otherwise, you might find yourself confused, irked or even soured from a perfectly viable and long-term business relationship. So let’s keep misunderstandings a thing of restaurant orders and not life-long real estate investments, shall we. How? Keep on reading.
Time isn’t the same (yes I’m serious about it)
Americans and Mexicans have a very different opinion on time. Americans view it in a financial manner. Time is of the essence, time is money, and any time lost is lost cash. Mexicans on the other hand, view time as a resource that is always there, and while yes, everyone knows that time is finite, here at Mexico we’re a lot more laid back about it.
So when your promising business partner arrives at 4:45pm when you said that the appointment was going to be between 4pm and 5pm, don’t throw the towel just yet (or delete the contact if you will). Rather, think ahead. If you want an appointment to happen, state a specific time-slot. That way there’s less margin of error and you have a better range to work with, instead of leaving it up to interpretation.
Also, don’t be afraid to “re-confirm” a meeting the day before, it works wonders.
Schedules don’t always match.
Americans have an average office time of 8am to 5pm, with lunch hour around 12am to 1pm. This is so you can spend the rest of the evening with your family. However, this ain’t quite so in Mexico. Most offices here start out around 9-10am. So instead of starting out early and leaving early, Mexicans instead have longer lunch hours to spend with their families anywhere from 2 to 3 hours.
This means that you need to know the schedule of your business partner. So be direct and ask them about it, that way you can make appointments that will match regardless of your schedules and neither will be trying to contact the other during an inopportune time. It’s also a way to open up, something I’ll talk about in the last point below.
Business attitudes are not the same
Mexicans often find American business people as impatient, which again is because of cultural differences. Americans value directness and going straight to the point, whereas Mexicans prefer to know the person they’ll be working with and the personal relationships that will come of the process. In fact, it’s very rare that you’ll make a real estate deal without meeting the owner face to face. Phone deals aren’t a thing here (most of the time).
However, this value of manners means you might come into situations where a business partner might not say no to something, but they won’t do it anyway. You can easily circumvent this little bump by being both direct, honest and kind. Let them know there’s nothing wrong if they can’t do whatever favor at the moment. Let them know that yes or no answers are perfectly fine for you and that you don’t mind. This will make them feel like you opened up and that you’re approachable, something Mexicans value.
As you can see, getting a good real estate deal in Mexico isn’t just a matter of knowing how things work from a legal standpoint. It’s having awareness of these differing cultural expectations, understanding one another and making stronger, more effective business relationships because of it.