For any foreigner to purchase a property in Mexico, they must have a permit from the federal government. The notario will obtain the permit on your behalf, but there is a cost of a few thousand pesos for the processing. Realtors call it an SRE permit because it comes from the Secretary of Foreign Relations or Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. 

The permits are property specific, so it is impossible to obtain one until you have a property under contract. In addition, an SRE permit is required to have at closing. All of our agents are very well versed in this process and will help you if you would like to connect.