I-864 real estate appraisals, foreign property values and other questions for CDJ

[AbroadABROAD 0]

Hi. We are excited to have found this forum today because we have several questions that we haven't found the answers to elsewhere online.

My husband (Mexican citizen) and I (USC) filed his I-130 form at the Mexico City embassy in March this year. After receiving no form of reply for a few months we followed up with the Mexico City embassy, were directed to a the public inquiry form for Ciudad Juarez Consulate, and through their email reply were provided with my husband's case number and a promise that his "letter" would be re-forwarded to our address here in Mexico (a P.O. Box).

No letter has ever arrived at either my mail service in the USA nor here at our P.O. Box in Mexico. I have great relationships with both mail locations and the staff has been actively looking for a letter at both addresses, but no luck. Last week a follow-up reply to CDJ says we can "request a copy at their service window" ... so, We are doing everything possible to prepare to send my husband to an interview, while worrying we don't fully have complete instructions on what to bring.

So far we have prepared or are preparing:

• Form DS-260 - completed online and submission receipt received.
• Affidavit of Support ( I-864 and I-864a) - under preparation - we are obtaining real estate assessments to include with the forms - question about that appears below.
• Civil Documents - I assume we need to gather original civil documents AGAIN, even though they were submitted with our form I-130 and we are planning to have photos from our relationship along with our insurance policy, wills for the interview
• Bank records - I am wondering what form our cash account bank records should be in. We make a point of not having original bank statements travel through the international mail or through the domestic mail system in Mexico just to avoid possibly becoming a target for theft, kidnapping - may sound like overkill to some, but people have been sequestered in our area for trivial amounts of money and we take the risk seriously.
• Vaccine Records - I saw in another VJ post today that it is recommended that petitioners going to the CDJ office get their vaccines updated prior to going for the medical exam, so I am going to pass that advice on to my husband.

Anyway, my questions are:

1. As best as I can tell, we are "okay" to use the http://mexico.usvisa-info.com website to request an interview, and I am hoping we can pay for it there to limit how much cash needs to be in hand in CDJ . If anyone has any instructions left over for how to schedule the interview on that site I would appreciate it, because it appears that you have to know what category your application is under in order to advance through the first screens, but since we can't get a straight answer out of the public inquiry email response system and we have never received either of the letters they claim to have sent we don't really know which option to select or if there will be ramifications for selecting the wrong option.
2. AOS - Real Estate Appraisals - we understand they need to be current "certified" appraisals, so we are getting that underway as of tomorrow, but if anyone has experience with an examiner asking for your appraisal to include something specific that the appraiser did not think to include, please let us know. Some of our property is raw land, some is improved - so for example are photos, maps, surveys needed? We plan to send deeds. Also, for the appraisals that will be done in Mexico, must we obtain translations? and when we show the value of foreign real estate on the I-864 forms is there a certain source for the currency conversion that we must reference?
3. AOS - Bank records - Can bank statements printed from your online banking service suffice or must the bank statement be stamped / sealed / printed on original bank paper?
4. Attending the interview ... must USC spouse go? I surely will if I must, but we have a 3 year old toddler together (USC) who can not go into the interview since they are not part of the application. My husband is proposing to make this into a week-long trip - get medical exam done a few days prior to the interview and then complete the interview and hopefully only need to purchase one $300 bus fare and a week of hotel stay for one visitor. The only response we can get through the public inquiry form service is that if I don't go, my husband will be told at the end of the interview if I need to come at a later date. Maybe I sound cheap, for not wanting to go, but I'd hate to spend an unnecessary $300 for bus fare plus the added hotel costs for my toddler and I to travel to the appointment and be stuck in a hotel for several days only not to be included in the interview - or worse, leave my toddler with someone else for that long while I go and not be needed, kwim? Our child has never even spent a night away from us both (not the consulate´s problem I understand), so it may be necessary that I actually take a babysitter with us who can wait with him at the hotel, while I see if I am needed - again, an expense, I prefer not to incur if it isn't necessary.
5. Tax Returns - As I have been a housewife for most of my time in Mexico (a few years) and thought I only had the need to file USA tax forms when earning an income (which I did in 2012 but not the prior years), any advice on the three-years of returns requirement? Do I provide a statement (notarized?) that I didn't file due to not having an income, or do I go back and file $0.00 returns for 2011 and 2010 ?
6. Anything else that you think to suggest to prepare will be appreciated - maybe if we had received our letter I wouldn't be so worried that we aren't organizing as we ought.

Thanks in advance for any tips that are shared. We are looking forward to being part of the VJ community.

[AbroadABROAD 0]

Also ... further questions about the real estate appraisals and the AOS ... my understanding is we need to show AOS for THREE times the 125% poverty level for the year in question.

1. Is real estate included at 100% of its appraised value?
2. Is real estate reported by spouse on form I-864a used towards the "Three times" rule or is it the "Five times" rule ?