Houses in Oaxaca, Mexico: "Why are there so many unfinished houses?"
AutoThey ask me the question at least once a month: Why are there so many houses in Oaxaca started and apparently unfinished? It is one of the most remarkable places in this colonial city in southern Mexico, as well as in the towns on the outskirts and beyond. The phenomenon is clearly visible when traversing the connecting roads along the central valleys.
The brickwork on the houses is finished, but there are no panes on the windows, and otherwise it seems obvious that no one lives in these revenue streams, buildings in which a considerable amount has obviously been invested. And even if the houses are finished and inhabited, the rebar still extends skyward from the roofs. Why is it left there, an eyesore by Western standards?
It’s a fallacy that leaving the reinforcing steel bars on top of your roof intact means your house isn’t finished and therefore you don’t have to pay estate taxes. In fact, at least in Oaxaca City and its suburbs, a tax reform began to be implemented in the early 2000s, whereby you were assessed both based on your land and living space, at different rates. Interestingly, any structure with a concrete roof was considered habitable space and therefore taxed at the highest rate. Even a carport used only for vehicles. You see, many Oaxacans tile their driveways and use them more for living and entertainment than parking, and some residents don’t even own cars or trucks. Many residents circumvent the regulation by building a canopy roof known as a reed, thus keeping their vehicles in the shade and without having to pay the higher fee. In our case, our concrete roof is used only for our vehicles, so we had to negotiate the issue with the tax department.
Because many homeowners are low-income, you are given the option of having a government-licensed architect come to your home to take measurements to calculate the increase, or defer the process. If you choose the latter option, the new rate will only take effect upon your death or the sale of the home, and penalties, interest, and back taxes will pass on to your heirs or buyers. Let the negotiations begin! We decided to take the bull by the horns, do the reassessment, and immediately began paying about ten times what we had previously been paying, still a bargain relative to what we were paying as Toronto homeowners, even without the bonus. now. taxing at the rate for the elderly (over 60 years of age), that is, 50% of the usual tax rate of the habitual residence. At the end of the day, our daughter will inherit a little less to tax the transition.
So why rebar? After their passing and before, most Oaxacans have little to offer their children other than their homes, or rather, where their current homes are located. Therefore, there is always in contemplation the construction of a second or third level in a house, when the funds are available in the space of a snail, and when the time is right. If you cut the extendable rebar upon completion of your initial build and then decide to build another level, it is more expensive; Instead of just tying it to the old rebar, you have to break through the concrete to access the bare rebar used in the old construction. There is a different sense of aesthetics or, more likely, a priority placed on the economy. Therefore, it is prudent to leave the rebar.
Going back to all those partially finished houses, it all relates to the cost of borrowing in Mexico and the fact that Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in the country with most residents without savings. Only the dull or the very rich have mortgages (actually, buy anything on credit). I have seen interest rates as low as 9% and as high as 65% for secured loans. Regarding the latter, a couple of years ago I was thinking of buying a scooter for our favorite goddaughter. Buying on credit would have cost us 65% per year.
Therefore, the norm is to buy when you have cash on hand. This means that if you want to build on a piece of land, you buy 1000 bricks, then another thousand, then blocks, then rebar, then cement. You hire your masons and your plumber who grinds the underground facilities. You build, then you save, then you build more. You can leave your “black work” as it is called, indefinitely, without fear of theft because there is nothing to steal.
Then you can have your electrician break up the interior concrete, bricks and blocks, to install wire and connections for switches and the like. Once those fixtures and the rest of the house have been covered in concrete, again your future abode will be secure from vandalism and theft (yes, acknowledging that copper is still accessible, but it’s pretty difficult with cement covering it). That is your “gray work”. It can also be left, unattended, indefinitely.
The above are the two most common completed stages of home construction one encounters when driving on the roads and highways around Oaxaca City, its central valleys, and beyond. It all makes economic sense and, at the same time, offers a current homeowner a reasonable degree of security. Although it delays the completion of the home, it avoids being charged with prohibitive mortgage interest rates.
Family members often provide some of the labor necessary to move through these two stages of construction. However, home completion often requires more specialized trades and, along with that much more significant financial outlay. Thus, we find many houses in the “gray work” stage, staying there for years, if not a decade or more.
The final phase of the construction includes finishes such as more detailed and fine work on tiles, painting, door and window frames and glassware, electrical fixtures and plumbing installations, etc. Especially regarding the latter, a partially completed home in this state of construction is not usually left unattended, so a night watchman or “velador” will most often be hired to ensure security. Only then will the family be ready to move in, and the house will appear complete from all outward appearances, but with the rebar extended skyward.
So remember, an unfinished house is probably a sign of a working family struggling to keep everything together, for itself and its individual members, without giving in to the pressure to borrow at an often exorbitant interest rate.