Cholla Bay pulls people in. then captures them. Balboa Island, off the California coast, was my family’s Easter gathering place, and when I found Cholla Bay I was sure it was Balboa Island East. The rustic businesses, the dirt roads, the tumble-down cabins among mansions all took me back to the Easter vacations of my youth, and I immediately decided to find my piece of Paradise in Cholla Bay.
I found my property, assured it was legally owned by the seller, made a deal, paid, and the deed of trust, or bank trust, properly called the fideicomiso, was duly transferred to my name after a mysterious process that cost a bundle, and was largely invisible to me. In my case blind trust worked…almost. No-one mentioned “rectification,” or talked about property boundaries. I did ask about the boundaries, and was told by my realtor, the only one selling in Cholla Bay at the time, that the boundaries were cast in concrete by merit of the fideicomiso, and I need not be concerned.
Now, 26 years after purchasing my Cholla Bay dream property, it turns out that my property boundaries, as compared to my actual lot, are not correct! My property was originally measured using “old school” techniques – think tape measure and sighting equipment. The resulting boundaries declared in my paperwork are the result of that process, which, to add insult to injury, was a process rushed by the authorities once private ownership by foreigners of properties in coastal areas was approved. My buildings, driveway and patios actually occupy more land than is declared to be mine in my fidiecomiso, and that is borne out by a new survey using GPS coordinates, which are extremely accurate – MUCH more accurate than old survey techniques.
So, what is rectification? Simply put, it is the correction of property boundaries with GPS survey, and alteration of deeds of trust such as mine, to correct the boundaries and legal description of the property. ONLY Grupo SBR has the expertise and authority from the city of Puerto Peñasco to accomplish surveys in Cholla Bay, because only Grupo SBR has ALL the historic and current maps of Cholla Bay that show the original, often incorrect, measurements and the current corrections. In some cases properties are larger than deeded, in other cases properties are smaller than deeded, and “extra” land is paid to the developer, while land shortages are reimbursed by the developer to ONLY the original property buyer. In every case, the fideicomiso must be amended to reflect the all-important change to the property boundaries and legal description, which process is fairly costly, and is at the expense of the property owner. NO Cholla Bay property can be conveyed to a buyer without rectification having been accomplished. No Cholla Bay property should be listed for sale until the process of rectification has been addressed, because the property cannot be transferred from seller to buyer until rectification has been completed.
If you hope to become a Cholla Bay property owner, BE SURE your real estate agent is familiar with the rectification process and ask that you be shown ONLY properties that have been rectified or are in the process of rectification. If your agent is not familiar with Cholla Bay property rectifications, probably better to move on to a different agent – you do not want to learn that you must pay an additional fee for land you possess after you buy your property, thinking that the deed is correct when it is, in fact, not correct! Now you know what to ask, so that rectification is no longer a mystery!
