Kar
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do your homework as with anything.
It has not been as rosy as some has proposed.
Buying Real Estate This subject alone would require a book to cover. The number one rule in buying real estate in Panama is: "Cover Your A. s .s. ". Of all the discussions regarding rip-offs and scams on gringos the number one complaint concerns buying real estate.
There have been reports of numerous scams regarding Escape Artist, International Living, MLS, projects for teak and noni farms and uncompleted projects on Isla Solarte, If it sounds too good to be true it is. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a "Realtor" in Panama even though everyone seems to use the term.
There is no "Board of Realtors" or code of ethics. Also, there is no such thing as a Multiple Listing Service, although one individual uses that name for his website. For purposes of this subject I will create a new term of art to use, namely Unrealtor. Panama is rife with gringos preying on gringos in real estate scams. It seems that every crooked real estate salesman has moved to Panama, so always CYA. First, never ever buy real estate in Panama sight unseen, I repeat, never ever. Second, never buy real estate on the first look, no matter how hard the Unrealtor presses.
There's lots of available real estate in Panama and most of it will still be available a year from now. It is suggested that you rent a place for six months or a year to make sure that's where you want to live. This will give you time to learn the community, get to know your potential neighbors and check out real estate prices. You may be amazed to find that the house the Unrealtor tried to sell you for $400,000 can be bought for $250,000, he would have pocketed the $150,000 difference, of course. When you get ready to make an offer to buy, get yourself a qualified real estate attorney and make sure he/she represents you and not the seller. Do not, I repeat, do not use an attorney suggested by the Unrealtor or seller. In Panama there is no such thing as Title Insurance so you must use due diligence to the maximum. There are two main categories of property ownership in Panama "Titled" (Titlo) and "Right of Possesion" (Posesserio Derecho) which is beyond the scope of this paper. There are also many ways of holding title which is also beyond this scope.
HERE IS TOP 10 LIKES AND DISLIKES by Panama Neil.
of the yahoo group viviendo en panama.
here is the link.. but in case it doesn't work i posted the top 10 Likes and TOP 10 Dislikes.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/viviendo_en_panama/message/46631
Top Ten Likes
1) Pensionado program that allows you to receive discounts at
restaurants, airfares various services, and no tax on world wide
earnings. But note that many Panamanian business will try and not
honor the discounts or make you go through a very large hullaballo
to use it. Others will simply raise their price to cover the
discount.
2) 20 year tax exonerations on the purchase of many properties.
(but no local services, paved roads, lighting, emergency services,
and watch out when it expires it will make US property taxes seem
like a bargain)
3) US Dollar currency keeps it simple for sure. Even for us
Canadians
4) Excellent medical services. Although we had to be alert to
catch a potential deadly mistake at Paitilla Hospital during the
birth of my son, I have found the services here darn good and
Paitilla Hospital has one of the more advance diagnostic CTs in the
world. It is noticeably cheaper than the US for most services but
not the huge bargain that many make it out to be.
5) Cheap restaurants. It is nice to be able to go out and eat
basic stuff for cheap and the other day I had two pizzas and a beer
for 5 bucks. Panama is not a culinary destination and their local
beef is tough as nails but cheap it is. Stick with the Fillet Mignon
and buy your own at Price Smart for a barbecue (I call Xostco
because it is a Costco clone ). Chicken is great here but watch
where your seafood comes from you would not want anything that even
swam close to the Bay of Panama
6) Road side settling of your traffic tickets
7) Beautiful country side driving through Portobello, Capira,
Chiriqui, Azueros. You can still live here cheap if Ocean front is
not required for your dream fulfillment. But you are in the middle
of nowhere and there is nothing to do.
8) Family nature of Panama. People love their kids it seems and
the poorest of people have their kids smartly dressed in clean
pressed clothing. This strong sense of family is really missing in
North America these days. Kids seem more respectful here and I
don't see the abundance of purple hair tattoos and piercing. Maybe
it is because schools require uniforms. Either way my sense is that
it is a completely different world in that regard and I like it a
lot. I never want to bring up my kid in North America.
9) Beautiful abundant and cheap fresh fruits from roadside
stands (never pay Reba Smith or Super 99 prices)
10) Excellent ex pat community (thanks Laura) that allows you to
make many new friends, share experiences, help each other out and
find new adventures together.
Top Ten Dislikes
1) The culture of deceit and cheating that is part of the very
fabric of Panama. Especially when they see a Gringo coming, Gringos
apparently have a bulls-eye painted on their forehead that says "go
ahead and cheat me". Almost everyone will try and cheat you for as
little as a few cents to a few dollars or as much as they can. They
have a saying Juego Vivo or what is essentially a more polite term
for corruption and thievery. But they also cheat each other this
way and it is almost standard fair so you have to fight for
everything all the time. Your lack of fight is seen as a lack of
intelligence or strength. They get away with it because Gringos do
not know the language or cannot be bothered to speak up, for so
little sometimes, so they keep on doing it. You can never relax and
trust here and this spoils the Panama experience more than anything
else in my books .
2) The other way they cheat you here is to rob your time. They
never do anything right the first time or most times not the second
or third times either. They will tell you whatever you need to hear
to make you go away from the phone or service counter, in order that
they do not have to do any work to serve you. This will force you to
return another time and start over . Free time is almost non
existent it seems since one spends hours everyday just trying to get
basics done. Blatant lies are normal, misinformation almost always
and incompetence usually. Even from the large companies.
3) The complete lack of efficiency, thinking or planning in
advance by Panamanian workers. How come there is never time to do it
right the first time but always lots of time to go back and fix it
later ? I have never seen so many construction people walking around
with out levels or tape measures or other necessary tools. Things
get installed wrong, crooked, sloppy, or damage other things while
being installed and it is acceptable and they are surprised when
you complain. If you think you are going to build something here be
ready for a nightmare. I have been trying to complete a renovation
for a year and a half, using one of Panama top builders, Have lost
thousands of dollars and the place is no closer than when I started
because they keep doing everything wrong.
4) The blatant lies. You will seldom get the truth here. Often
from incompetence (they do not know so they invent a story). Many
people invent a story to suit their purposes and it seems acceptable
to do so. Real Estate web sites manipulate "sold prices" and
publish sales that happened often more than two years ago to
artificially represent the opportunities and get you to call so they
can scam you into something else (bait and switch). Others charge
you hundreds of dollars to give you real estate tours and then show
you properties they own or are flipping themselves. They pressure
you into buying and then if you do not, they call you tire kickers
or otherwise insult you and threaten to have you black balled by
other realtors. Some pose as an MLS service when they are not and
they lie about roads being built or hotels investing in the area. If
I was to believe what I have heard then The President has thousands
of houses all over Panama they are building roads too and The
Decameron Hotel has bought most of Panama to develop new hotels
5) The total lack of competition. Think things are cheap here?
Wrong guess again. The retail market is blocked and many product
lines are exclusively held by one company often from an old rich
Panamanian family. Want a Toyota ? Shop around ? Not. Ricardo Perez
is it. Looking for a deal ? Good luck. When you talk about buying it
from the US and saving thousands of dollars they will tell you they
will not honor the supposedly international Toyota warranty. Same
thing on many other products. Things most often sell here for "more
than US MSRP". What happened to the supposed lower cost of living
here ? It is essentially a myth. Car insurance costs more,
electricity costs more, electronics cost more, name brand cloths
cost more, cars cost more, computers cost more, the only thing you
might save on is the restaurants but the quality of the food will
often disappoint. Panama is not a culinary destination by any
stretch of the imagination
6) Total lack of safety. There are no handicapped access ramps,
limited crosswalks, general disregard for pedestrian traffic and
emergency vehicles. Forget it in a condo fire as not only can they
not evacuate you above the seventh floor, the fire trucks cannot get
there as they will be stick in the traffic gridlock. There are no
roof top heli pads and limited safety provisions for your escape in
a fire. The Busses and Taxis are unsafe, with bald tires and worn
breaks. I have never seen so many corpses on the street or Trucks
overturned on the highway. My whole life I never saw a dead
pedestrian in Canada . Here I am at three and climbing it seems
Safety inspection can be bought for a few dollars in "Propina" or a
tip to the inspector. Trucks and Busses run red lights at top speed.
Kiss your *** goodbye if you are T-boned while riding in one of
those taped together little Corolla taxis
7) Construction quality is painfully bad. Buildings leak and are
not properly ventilated , so they grow molds and fungus and we all
know the heath risks associated with that. They are made cheap and
fast and with little concern for those that have to live in them.
They are build only for profit to the builders since a quality
reputation seems to be of little value in Panama . Often, and in the
case of my building in Punta Pacifica built by the "Berm " company
they sell the parking spots n front of the elevator access so you
do not even have clear access to bring things up and down from your
suite. They (not in my case) often make parking spots so small your
door cannot miss crashing in to the neighbors car. They under
provide storage and guest parking and care not about maintenance and
repair costs after they have sold. That is why monthly fees are
often so high. Buildings are painted, in Panama , which has
incredibly high humidity, and where one rainy season will ensure it
needs to be repainted within a year at owners association expense.
Panama is not known for earthquakes but one can imagine the
devastation if these cinder block buildings received a sharp left-
right jolt.
8) Traffic. It is almost intolerable now. The noise, the car
alarms and incessant honking. But imagine when they complete all the
towers in Punta Pacifica, SanFrancisco and along Balboa Ave. It
already takes me 20 minutes just to get to the Paitilla traffic
circle from Punta Pacifica. Quicker to walk if I wasn't going
further and didn't mind showing up soaked in sweat or rain with a
lung full of diesel fumes and dust. Imagine what it will be like to
go across town to Albrook for instance, when these towers are
finished. To go anywhere for that matter. Balboa is already
gridlock, what will happen ? Bottom line you will have to walk if
you want to get anywhere. Rain heat, lack of traffic safety,
notwithstanding. Or get in a cab only to sit in the same traffic.
Have you seen the taxis taped together, smashed everywhere. This
should tell you about the safety – there is none.
9) Sanitation. This they are allegedly going to fix but when ?
and meanwhile where ever you go, including the posh restaurants in
Amador, your beautiful open air meal is interrupted with the lovely
smell of the open sewers dumping millions of tons into the bay. Hmmm
mmm mm don't you love the fresh seafood from Panama Bay ? The
vultures picking at the effluent on the garbage strewn beaches along
Balboa. Better out than in I always say. Now imagine that combo
with the beautiful Panamanian Diablo Roja (Red Devils) or hundreds
of smashed taxis sitting blocked in traffic spewing tons of Diesel
and gas fumes into the air. Sure is good we saved all that money
coming here.
10) So lets leave the city and go to the Beaches,. Thank God for
the beaches. Too bad they are an hour or two away and well, not so
pretty after all. If you think beach and Hawaii, Cancun, Turks and
Caicos or Brazil come to mind. Then do not bother here because it is
not the same. If the above are tens then the beaches here are
largely a 6 with a few exceptions like Farallon, two hours out from
the city. Here you get to drive down a dangerous, garbage strewn
highway to come to what is most often an unpaved road, surrounded by
ramshackle houses, to get to a place you cannot leave alone without
being ripped off. Notice the razor wire fences, fortified compounds,
and realize they are there for a reason. Most people I know want to
travel from home base here in Panama, back to families in the US or
Canada or to world adventure. So know this. You need to hire a full
time guard unless you are in a gated community. If you leave your
house unattended say goodbye to your Plasma TV, stereo and air
conditioning units etc. And now that you are here two hours from the
city , what will you do ? Shopping is a long drive away as is
medical care, entertainment, and most things we have come to
appreciate. And you will pay pay pay for this privilege now. Before
it was so cheap you lived with the down side. Now it is not cheap at
all , so do you still live with it ? Only you can answer that
question. I think Panama has priced itself out of the market and it
is time to stop overlooking the blemishes because it was such a good
deal. It is no longer a good deal and following the late bloomers
here will only leave you with the quintessential appropriate view
one gets from far back of the herd. |
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