Option Agreements & Reserving a Lot in Mexico

When you find a lot you like on the Oaxaca coast, the first real decision is not the price. It is the kind of commitment you make while you decide. Sellers here use a few different documents to hold a lot for a buyer, and they are not interchangeable. The difference between a simple reservation, an option agreement, and a purchase promise is the difference between losing a few hundred dollars and losing a good deal more — or, done right, the difference between a lot that slips away and a lot that is genuinely yours.

Three different commitments

The difference between reserving, optioning, and promising

Walk into any broker's office on this coast and you will hear three terms, often used loosely: apartado, contrato de opción de compra, and promesa de compraventa. They mean different things, carry different obligations, and involve different amounts of money. Knowing which one you are signing is the whole game.

An apartado is a simple reservation. The word means "set aside," and that is what it does: you pay a small amount, usually a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and the seller takes the lot off the market for a short agreed period — commonly a week or two, sometimes a month. It is often just a receipt, sometimes a one-page letter. It does not transfer any ownership and it does not lock the price forever. Its job is to give you time to finish your due diligence or arrange funds while the seller holds the lot for you. If you buy, the amount is applied to the price.

A contrato de opción de compra is an option to buy. You pay a deposit for the right — not the obligation — to purchase the lot at agreed terms within a set period, commonly 30 to 90 days. You can exercise the option and buy, or let it lapse and walk away. The seller, for their part, is bound: they cannot sell to anyone else while the option is live. The deposit is the price of that right, and it is typically not refundable if you simply change your mind.

A promesa de compraventa is a promise to sell and buy — a bilateral contract. Both sides commit: the seller promises to sell at a fixed price by a closing date, and you promise to buy. Deposits commonly run 5–10% of the price. If you default, you typically lose the deposit; if the seller defaults, they usually have to return it, and the contract often doubles it as a penalty. This is the document that precedes the final deed at the notario's office.

Here are the three, side by side:

Document	What it does	How binding	Typical deposit
Apartado	Holds the lot for a short period while you finish checks or arrange funds	Light — usually a receipt; applies to the price if you buy	A few hundred to a few thousand USD
Contrato de opción de compra	Gives you the right to buy at agreed terms within a set period	One-sided — you can walk away; the seller must hold the lot	Often 5–10% of the price
Promesa de compraventa	Commits both sides to a sale at a fixed price and closing date	Strong — both parties obligated; default has consequences	Commonly 5–10% of the price

If you are early in the process, our step-by-step land purchase timeline shows where each of these documents fits in the wider sequence.

The seller's side

Why sellers ask for a reservation

From the outside, a reservation can feel like a seller asking for money before anything has happened. From the seller's side, it makes sense — and understanding that makes you a better negotiator.

The first reason is simple: a reserved lot is off the market. When a seller agrees to hold a lot for you, they turn away other interested buyers. On a coast where good lots move quickly, that is a real cost. If you walk away after two weeks, they have lost the offers they could have had. A small deposit is the seller's compensation for that risk, and the reason the amount is usually modest — it is not a profit center, it is a filter.

The second reason is practical. Small reservation deposits often go toward funding the paperwork — a fresh survey (levantamiento topográfico), an updated predial receipt, or the cost of pulling documents from the Public Registry. The lot you are reserving may need a current survey before it can be sold, and somebody has to pay for it. A reservation deposit quietly covers that, and it is applied to the price if you buy.

The third reason is sincerity. A seller who has hosted ten "very interested" visitors who never came back learns to separate talk from commitment. A few hundred dollars says you are real. It is the same logic as a table deposit at a restaurant — small enough not to hurt, large enough to mean something.

The terms

What a fair option agreement contains

An option agreement worth signing is short and specific. If a seller hands you a one-page document with blanks, that is fine — as long as every blank gets filled before you sign. Here is what a fair one covers.

The price, locked or formula. The agreement should fix the price, or fix a formula — for example, a price per square meter that adjusts if the survey comes back with a different area. Vague language like "price to be agreed" is not an option; it is a hope.

The option period. How long is the right valid — 30 days, 60, 90? What happens at the end — does it lapse, can it be extended in writing, and does an extension cost more? A fair agreement gives you enough time to complete due diligence and arrange funds, and no more.

The deposit and what happens to it. This is the clause to read twice. The deposit is usually applied to the price at closing. If you do not exercise the option, it is typically forfeited — that is the cost of the right you bought. It is refundable only if the written agreement says so, for example if the seller cannot produce a clean title within the period. Whatever the rule is, it must be written.

The due-diligence window. A good agreement explicitly gives you time to check the title at the Public Registry, verify boundaries on the ground, confirm zoning and the predial, and review the paperwork with a lawyer or notario. If the agreement is silent on this, you are expected to do your checks before signing — which is why most people reserve first and check second.

The closing date. If you exercise the option, when does the sale happen? What happens if the seller cannot deliver a clean title by then, or if you cannot close? The answers belong in writing, not in a handshake afterward. Our timeline of how long buying land in Mexico takes gives you a realistic sense of how much time to ask for.

The money

How much deposit is normal

Honest ranges, with the caveat that every seller is different: a simple reservation on the Oaxaca coast is often a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. An option deposit commonly runs 5–10% of the price. A promesa deposit sits in the same 5–10% band. Those are ranges, not rules.

A few things to watch. Never pay more than the written agreement says — if the paper says $1,000 and the seller asks for $2,000 "to be safe," the answer is no. Always get a signed receipt (recibo) that names the lot, the amount, the date, and what the money is for. Ask whether the deposit is in pesos or dollars, and keep the exchange rate in writing if it matters. And treat a large deposit request for a mere reservation as a warning sign: reservations are supposed to be small precisely because they are not binding purchases.

The size of a deposit is a negotiation like any other. What is not negotiable is clarity: you should always be able to answer, from the paper alone, how much you paid, what it buys you, and what happens to it in every outcome.

Our side

How The Slow Coast handles reservations

Worth stating plainly, because it affects where your money goes. The Slow Coast curates lots and introduces buyers to licensed Mexican brokers and sellers. We publish a real price on every lot we list. What we do not do is hold money.

When you reserve a lot you found through us, the reservation deposit goes to the seller or their licensed broker, under a written agreement between you and them. It never passes through us. That is deliberate: it keeps the incentives clean, and it means every question about your deposit is answered by the same people who signed the agreement with you.

Our role is to make sure you know what you are walking into — which document you are signing, what the deposit does, and what the honest next steps are. For the full picture of how the purchase process works in Mexico, from first offer to registered deed, our complete guide to buying land in Oaxaca walks through the whole sequence.

The fine print

Risks and protections

Most reservation problems on this coast are not dramatic. They are quiet: a deposit that was "going to be" refundable, a seller who "would never" sell to someone else, a period that "obviously" was going to be extended. None of that exists unless it is on paper.

On this coast the handshake closes the deal socially, but the paper closes it legally. If it is not written down, it did not happen.

Before you sign anything, know the answers to these. Who holds the deposit? The seller directly, or their broker? Some brokers hold deposits in a dedicated account; some pass them straight to the seller. Both can be fine, but you should know which one you are dealing with. What are the refund conditions? Written, in the document — not "of course we would give it back." What happens if the seller backs out? In a promesa, the common pattern is a return of the deposit and often double — a penalty clause. In a simple apartado, you may only get the money back. Either is acceptable; the problem is not knowing.

And the universal protection: verbal promises are worthless. If a broker assures you the deposit is refundable, ask them to write it into the agreement before you sign. If they hesitate, you have your answer. Run the paperwork past an independent lawyer or a notario, and work through our due-diligence checklist for Oaxaca land before money moves. The problems that catch buyers on this coast are almost always the ones that rely on urgency and trust — our notes on common scams when buying land in Mexico cover the patterns to recognize.

Before you sign

Questions to ask before you sign

Print this list, or keep it on your phone, and go through it at the table:

• What am I paying for? A hold, a right to buy, or a binding promise — and which document is it?
• How long does the period last, and what happens when it ends — lapse, extension, or renegotiation?
• Is the deposit applied to the price if I go through with the purchase?
• Under exactly what conditions is it refundable? Written in the document, not promised at the table.
• Who holds the money, and will I get a signed receipt naming the lot and the amount?
• What happens if the seller accepts another offer or backs out? Return, penalty, or nothing?
• Does the written price match the published price, and does the description match the lot I walked?

A seller or broker who answers all of these comfortably, in writing, is someone worth doing business with. One who waves them off with "don't worry" is telling you everything you need to know. Reserving a lot in Mexico should feel calm and specific — and when it does, it is one of the best steps you can take toward owning your piece of the coast.