Mexico comes up constantly when Canadians start talking about buying abroad. It’s close, it’s cheap relative to home, the weather solves your February problem, and half the country seems to already have a cousin with a condo in Puerto Vallarta. But “close and cheap” isn’t a strategy – and Mexico has enough legal quirks, financing friction, and rental-market nuance that showing up with vibes and a vague sense that “Mexican real estate is a good deal” will get you into trouble.

This post is the country introduction, not the city guide. It won’t make you an expert on any single market – Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, and Mérida each have their own deep dive, linked below. What it will do is give you the framework: where Canadians actually buy and why, how ownership legally works, how financing really functions (spoiler: not the way you’re used to), how the peso and the US dollar shape your real return, what the taxes look like on both sides of the border, and the practical difference between running a short-term rental and a long-term one. By the end, you’ll know enough to ask the right questions instead of the obvious ones. Mexico is one of the locations I’m thinking of for a next investment.