Pre-sales fiduciary assignment.

The real estate developer creates this fiduciary assignment to collect the money from the sales, which enters directly to the Trust for its administration and to give the buyer confidence and reassurance that only if the Transfer Conditions are met the money will be used by the real estate project.

Transfer Conditions also known as break-even point conditions:

1. Commercial break-even point: Sales are between 60% or 65% of the properties, which covers the costs of the project (direct and indirect costs). This percentage does not include the cost of the land, professional fees or profit.  On certain projects, sales are required to be a specific percentage.
2. Technical break-even point: Get the license for the project
3. Financial break-even point: A construction business loan with a bank is approved
4. Legal break-even point: The land belongs to the project through the constitution of a Land Trust.

Money is held individually (each client) in a trust fund, but cannot be used or withdrawn unless:

• The buyer desists (in this case it is necessary to consider whether there are fines or not in the documents that are signed with the real estate developer).
• The Transfer Conditions are not met, the returns of these money will be the client's and the trustee will deduct the 4x1000 tax and the withholding tax at the time of returning the returns.

If the Transfer Conditions are met (which is certified by the trustee) the money plus the returns (also in the trust), become available to the developer to use within the project (Administration and Payments Trust). The returns, in this case, is not paid to the client, but become part of the income of the project as an additional income from financial returns.

What is known as free-standing/stand-alone trust fund is constituted, where the land is protected.

If the Transfer Conditions are met, the Land Trust is integrated with the Administration and Payments Trust forming the Real Estate Trust.

At this time the trust delivers the land as collateral to the bank that made the loan.

The bank divides the loan money into two parts: 1. pre-operational or operational and 2. constructor.

The note made by the Public Instruments Registry Office is called “mayor extension” mortgage and the proportional part of the credit in each apartment is called pro-rata.
For the disbursement of the construction loan resources (each time it is requested) a higher percentage of sales is required than that indicated in the Transfer Conditions as well as a higher percentage of money collection and a higher percentage of work progress.

Documents to be signed by the client

1. You must sign an Adhesion Contract according to the model of the Trust Company (request)
2. You must sign an Instruction Letter according to the model of the Trust Company (request)
3. You must sign a Sales Contract (promise to sale) with the promoter which has a series of clauses (request)

To deposit money to the Trust Fund, each client is assigned a Trust Number, which must be used from then on to pay all their installments.

The Sales Contract has a conditional clause which indicates that if the Transfer Conditions are not met in the time determined for it, it is understood as not written or subscribed.

There may be other conditional clauses by the developer.

Along with the Sales Contract, the blueprints of the apartment, the technical specifications of the building and the finishes of the apartment are also delivered. The client must sign these documents along with the Sales Contract. You are also provided with a personalized amortization chart where the agreed terms for the payment of the apartment are found.

In case of being a foreigner, the collection of the money would be through a monetization process.

The monetization process basically consists of the entry of foreign money into the Colombian market legally.

The money you are going to use to buy the real state property must be registered and nationalized through the Bank of the Republic through an authorized agent such as a Bank.
Commonly, what is done is to send a money order to a family member or close friend in Colombia, this process is known as remittances. Sending large sums of money in this way causes the recipient to pay taxes in the country.

Sending money as remittances is fine if you want to help your relatives, but it is not recommended when you want to make your own investment and when you want to sell you can legally take the money out of the country.

There are companies that exchange your currency at the best market rate and transfer them in Colombian pesos directly to the Trust, without intermediaries.

One of the biggest advantages of monetizing money with these companies is that you will not have to pay taxes because they are responsible for entering the money into the country and legalizing it before the Bank of the Republic. This makes the process of buying real estate for Colombians who are abroad, as well as foreigners, simpler and also more profitable so that they can invest in their future with the best rates and getting the most out of their money. 

The first thing is to choose the real state project in which you want to invest, remember that before doing so, you must evaluate your financial capacity, income and expenses so that you are already very clear about the maximum budget you can invest.

The requirements are very simple:

1. You must present your passport
2. Copy of most recent tax returns
3. Bank statements of the account where the money will come out to pay for the investment

This documentation is reviewed almost immediately and within 24 hours, you can have an approval response. Subsequently, they send you the account number for the transfer/deposit and you can do it easily from your country of residence. The company is responsible for legalizing these currencies in the country and making the payment to the Trust.

How long can it take?

The first thing is to send the documents, the same day they give you the approval, the second day you make the transfer/deposit to the account number they indicate and the third day, the money is monetized and deposited to the Trust Number related to your apartment.

It is a fast and simple process for you to invest in your future and make that dream of having your own home in Colombia come true.

There are several foreign currency nationalization forms, in this case you must register your foreign direct investment resources using form No. 4.

The final payment can be cash, credit or leasing.

There are banks that do not lend to a foreigner unless he is a Colombian resident abroad. (See credits for foreigners)

Condominium Rules and Regulation

During construction, once the technical aspects of the project have been defined and the reforms to the license (if any) have been approved, the condominium floor plans are drawn up. A Rules and Regulation document is also made where each property is described. After registering this document at the Public Instruments Registry Office, each property is assigned a real estate registration page in which each property is given legal life. On each registration page is included the Condominium rules and regulation and the “mayor extension” mortgage of the bank.

In order to hand over possession of the apartment to the buyer when the project is finished, the buyer must be in good standing. At the time of signing the deed, the seller must present the paid in full receipt of Capital Gains and Property taxes up to the date of signing. The buyer must have the cash, mortgage loan or leasing approved.

1. If the apartment is bought in cash, the balance must be paid to the bank so that it pays the credit according to pro-rata and the “mayor extension” mortgage is released, which is registered along with the deed of sale.
2. If the client uses a financial lease from the same bank that granted the credit, the process of releasing the “mayor extension” mortgage and the financial leasing process is done internally with the registration of the Deed.
3. If the client uses a mortgage loan from the same bank that granted the credit, the process of releasing the “mayor extension” mortgage and the new mortgage process is done internally with the registration of the Deed.
4. If the financial leasing or mortgage loan is with another bank then you have to do a procedure with the two banks involved so that the bank that granted the construction business loan gives a Certificate of Release and when the Deed is registered, the new bank makes the payment leaving the apartment mortgaged or leased in favor of the new bank.