✅ 1. COLOMBIA PROPERTY PURCHASE CHECKLIST (Straightforward + Safe)

Before You Make an Offer

• ☐ Pull Certificado de Tradición y Libertad (title & lien history)
• ☐ Confirm seller identity with Cédula
• ☐ Verify Catastro records (property taxes + cadastral info)
• ☐ Confirm no outstanding:
  • ☐ Predial tax
  • ☐ Service bills
  • ☐ HOA/admin fees
• ☐ Check occupancy status (no hidden tenants)

Offer & Contract

• ☐ Negotiate price, terms, timelines
• ☐ Draft Promesa de Compraventa
• ☐ Add penalty clause (usually 10%)
• ☐ Determine who holds deposit (preferably fiduciaria)

Financial Requirements

• ☐ If foreign money: file Formulario 4 with Banco de la República
• ☐ Use a Colombian bank or fiduciary service for clean transfer
• ☐ Keep FX paperwork — you’ll need it to take profits out of the country

Pre-Closing

• ☐ Get updated Certificado (things change overnight here)
• ☐ Confirm tax clearance again
• ☐ Prepare for notary fees + registration costs (1.5–2%)

Closing

• ☐ Sign Escritura Pública at Notaría
• ☐ Pay balance
• ☐ Collect certified copies of deed

Post-Closing

• ☐ Follow up on Registro (this is your true ownership)
• ☐ Update Catastro records
• ☐ Transfer utilities
• ☐ Transfer HOA
• ☐ Insure property

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2. FULL GUIDE: HOW BUYING PROPERTY IN COLOMBIA ACTUALLY WORKS

STEP 1 — Title Investigation

This is the make-or-break step.
You’re looking for:

• Embargoes
• Mortgages
• Court claims
• Liens
• Illegal subdivisions
• Pending inheritance claims

Colombia protects buyers if you check the registry — if you don’t, you’re on your own.

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STEP 2 — Seller Verification

You confirm:

• Seller is the legal owner
• No other heirs/partners have rights
• Property boundaries match Catastro
• No unresolved debts

Many properties here are inherited without proper paperwork. This kills deals.

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STEP 3 — Promesa de Compraventa

Think of this like a binding Option + PSA combined.

It includes:

• Full legal description
• Price
• Deposit amount
• Payment timeline
• Closing date
• Penalty clause (usually 10% of purchase price)

Once signed, both parties are locked in unless they’re willing to lose money.

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STEP 4 — Deposit

Deposits aren’t held by a title company (those don’t exist the same way here).
Safer options:

• Fiduciaria (trust company)
• Attorney
• Notary-managed escrow (rare but possible)

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STEP 5 — Foreign Investor Registration

This is where U.S. buyers often get burned.

If you want to pull your money back out or prove foreign investment status for visas, you must register the incoming funds using:

👉 Formulario 4 (Registro de Inversión Extranjera)

Without it, you can buy — but you cannot repatriate.

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STEP 6 — Notary Closing

Notaries are powerful in Colombia; they function like attorney + title office.

You sign the Escritura Pública listing:

• Buyer
• Seller
• Price
• Terms
• Legal description

Notary collects:

• Taxes
• Transfer fees
• A portion of recording fees

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STEP 7 — Registro

The deed goes to the Oficina de Registro.
This is the only moment where you truly become the legal owner.

Once they enter it into the system, you are untouchable.

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STEP 8 — Catastro & Taxes

Final step is updating:

• Catastro
• Predial
• Utilities
• HOA

Congrats, you own it.