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Life in Cuba - Selling Houses



Real estate prices in Cuba are relatively high considering the average Cuban income, and the mechanics of accessing a home purchase can be somewhat complex, but not impossible to negotiate.


In the past, it was forbidden to buy or sell a house, even if it was private property. Only the exchange of one house for another was allowed for many years. Of course, there have always been those who invented marriages and wills to be able to sell or buy their house in legal terms.


At the beginning of the 21st century, the sale of houses and motor vehicles was finally legalized, but not without a certain bureaucratic tangle typical of the system.


Buying and selling a house in Cuba can still be a more or less lengthy process, lasting several days or even weeks, if the people involved do not know a cousin who has a brother-in-law who has a friend who correctly knows the right notary who would make the process viable the same day, thanks to a recommendation that translates into a small additional expense but of incalculable value.


To realize the dream of owning your own home, before you become old, you need to work hard for many years and save as much as possible and you still need some additional stable income to be able to moderately afford the current house prices, which have multiplied dramatically in recent years. If you have the cooperation of foreign capital, which takes over the financing of the operation, then things can happen as if by magic.


Several social media sites dedicated to promoting the sale of houses are the first mandatory consultation to get an idea of the fluctuation of real estate prices depending on the different residential areas and the conditions of the houses.


Particularly in Havana, housing prices are currently exorbitant. They have become double or even triple those of any other region in Cuba. Homeowners now talk about their homes in terms of tens of thousands of dollars as if it rained greenbacks all year round in Cuba.


It is also relevant to always try to establish contact with the selling owners and thus avoid at all costs falling into the hands of the infamous brokers, evil intermediaries who can considerably increase the price of the transaction, which must also be carried out entirely in cash.


The process of buying or selling a house in Cuba is no longer as bureaucratic as in previous years. Today there is a notary's office that regulates the type of property and thus determines a reference value for the sale of a property and the tax rate of the transaction to be carried out.


These reference values have been recently updated but, although they are much closer to market reality, they are still symbolic and are well below the real value of a house currently in Cuba.


To close the deal and update the property ownership, the buyer must deposit the reference value of the home in a bank check payable to the owner and seller of the property. This check must be notarized to finally transfer ownership of the house to its new buyer.


The seller and the buyer must each pay the bank 4% of the value mentioned in the check. Right in front of the notary's office, we always find a competent tax manager who is dedicated to filling out these types of tax documents, and in a jiffy, we were able to succeed in less than a day, a matter of perhaps several days. It is also better to have a certain relational level with a bank official in order to escape the typical endless queues, and to be able to settle all these debts the same day.


Of course, you have to provide an envelope for certain additional costs that are essential for the smooth running of the corresponding procedures. This may seem full of corruption to you, but we only see mutual aid and solidarity in it, and to those who have ears to hear...bye.


All that remains is to register the house in the property register, as soon as possible, and of course, most importantly, to round up the real sale price behind the scenes to complete the transaction with the guarantee of a handshake and perhaps a little rum to celebrate the culmination of a once titanic process.

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