BajaNomad

Unfinished buildings

turtleandtoad - 3-20-2005 at 05:31 PM

While I've been on the Baja I've noticed a lot of concrete block buildings that look unfinished. The first or second floor will be done and occupied but the top floor will just have some unfinished block walls. I was told two things about this, 1) They build when they have the extra money, and 2) As long as the structure is unfinished they get some kind of tax break.

Can anyone confirm or deny the second one?


Currently in Cabo

backninedan - 3-20-2005 at 06:16 PM

I live in Loreto and have been told by long term neighbors that it is the latter, there is some kind of tax break if your structure isnt finished. I cant swear this is the truth, just what I was told.

Bruce R Leech - 3-20-2005 at 10:22 PM

the correct answer is both. you don't need to pay the taxes on the improvements until finished. and since most Mexican people don't save and cant barrow they Build as they can afford.

Bob H - 3-21-2005 at 02:44 PM

....I hear it's mostly the tax break. Look around and see how many structures you come across that have rebar sticking out at the top of the walls as if to indicate another story will be added (which sometimes never ever does).... you'll see them everywhere!
Bob H

yankeeirishman - 3-21-2005 at 04:17 PM

All newer buildings, in use or not, are unfinished. Rebar sticks out of support pilasters and cross beams. This is for two reasons: One; in case they want to expand, add another wing or story, and two; so they can claim they are unfinished and not have to pay taxes.

unfinished buildings

comitan - 3-23-2005 at 12:44 PM

I just talked to an architect and he told me that they call the rebar sticking out the road to hope, that when they have the money they can continue building, he says nothing to do with taxes!

Bruce R Leech - 3-23-2005 at 12:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lencho
Quote:
Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
the correct answer is both. you don't need to pay the taxes on the improvements until finished. and since most Mexican people don't save and cant barrow they Build as they can afford.




Another consideration: most of my Mexican friends have a strong distrust of banks and the financial system, understandable if one considers the number of major currency devaluations the country has seen within their lifetimes. It feels safer to put one's money into a half-built structure than into a bank awaiting a time when one can build the whole thing at a whack. The government can magically reduce the value of a bank account much more easily than the brick and concrete of one's home. :>

--Larry


Larry how true this is

bajalera - 3-24-2005 at 01:34 PM

In the U.S. a "starter" home is a small one that you leave for a larger place when you can afford to. In Mexico, people more often seem to stay in the start and add improvements as their finances improve. My daughter and I recently tried to find the house she lived in after getting married in Mazatlan in the 1970s, and the houses in the colonia nearly all had two stories--took us hours to identify her old place.

To me, this is one of the things that makes Mexico more interesting.

bajalera

Another Broken Dream

White Angel - 3-24-2005 at 02:46 PM

I have heard (and believe) the tax reason for never cutting down that little rebar crown; and it is fun to see a walled two story colonial oozing money next to a couple of shells and one story block homes; but I've often wondered about the ones that appear abandoned for years. Perhaps everyone's $ ran out and it's just "another broken dream". Once started; can they be easily sold to another Mexican national?

Packoderm - 3-24-2005 at 05:15 PM

If I had one of those houses with batches of rebar sticking up through the roof, I think I would cover them by casting concrete statues, gargoyles, and vases over them. When the time finally comes to expand - out comes the sledge hammer.

bajajudy - 3-24-2005 at 05:46 PM

I had them coming out of my roof too.
6 years later we finished the second floor and made columns around them.
Does that make me Mexicana? I sure hope so.