Detailing five very good reasons why it is still a great idea to invest in some stunning property in Panama – whether you’re an investor or a new home seeker. The world is in financial crisis, globally speaking real estate markets are in decline, no banks are lending money for consumers to buy houses with, and chances are there has never been a worse time in our recorded history to buy property – and yet, in our opinion there are still at least 5 good reasons to buy property in Panama! You may have read the hype that the boom is continuing and that every property that’s for sale in Panama is a sound investment bet – well, that’s not entirely true. But neither is the negative hype about the market being saturated with greedy speculators and that Panama is heading for an almighty crash. There are 5 very sound and solid reasons why property in this stunning Central American nation is a good bet for long-term investors, holiday home seekers or even retirees and early retirees… (more)
1) Tourism is Increasing in PanamaPanama is a first world nation offering the associated comforts, and at the same time it is an ‘undiscovered’ gem of a nation where it’s possible to get truly away from the madding crowd and discover hidden coves and beaches, stunning rainforests, amazing flora and fauna, unaffected people and communities steeped in history and culture. In other words, Panama has something for everyone – and it’s cheap too, relatively speaking! All of these are reasons why the country has been welcoming increased numbers of tourists year on year – in fact, it has welcomed a 12% increase annually since 2004.
Hotel occupancy rates are exceptionally high, new airline routes are opening up bringing travellers direct from nations such as Italy and the Netherlands for example, and the government in Panama is continuing to plough substantial funds into the promotion of the nation internationally.
All this bodes very well for anyone who is interested in buying property in a country with a healthy and affluent outlook for the long-term. It means that desirable homes will make good rental properties, and that as more people arrive and learn about the delights of Panama, so more people will think over the long-term about relocating to live there – thus giving a property owner an exit strategy.
2) Desirability of Panama and its Property Product. Panama has it all – from a bustling and cosmopolitan capital city to tiny rural enclaves, from high rise luxurious real estate, to beach huts and fabulous fincas. Therefore, yet again there is something of appeal to everyone. So whether you want to live on the coast and be a beach-bum or you want to live the high life in Panama City, you can when you choose the right type of home for you in Panama. This makes the nation a great choice for anyone thinking about moving abroad – because you can likely find your perfect home in this one nation – no matter what it is you’re looking for in a property!
3) Property in Panama Can be Competitively Priced. Because the really booming times in Panama’s recent history are currently over, there are many speculators keen to exit the market and consolidate their debts, there are developers doing their best to off-load already constructed stock, and there are private vendors willing to accept below asking price offers for property. What’s more, away from the glitzy, modern high-rise property market in Panama City, most real estate in Panama is sold on a more personal basis. You’ll find that those who are selling a family home for example, are far less likely to want to sell to an anonymous buyer from abroad and far happier to sell to you if you befriend them, enter into direct negotiations with them and remain calm, open and friendly throughout. These sorts of vendors would rather sell to you for a lower sum if you take this approach, than they would to an overseas buyer they have never met who is dealing with a slick real estate agent and offering them their asking price!
In other words, Panama is a market where there is a lot of room for movement when it comes to asking prices – no matter which approach you take and which properties you’re looking at. And it’s also a market with some exceptional bargains.
4) Long-term Potential for Profit. Panama’s canal extension project is on track, tourism numbers are consistently rising well, the government and business environment are stable, fiscally speaking Panama is affluent and successful, the ‘pensionado’ scheme attracts more wealthy ‘retirees’ annually and the real estate market’s transparency is improving. These are all very good reasons why Panama has exceptionally good long-term potential in terms of its property investment prospects. Whilst things are looking less favourable at the moment due to the current state of the global financial market, those who look to the long-term and take anything but a speculators approach to the market stand to reap the rewards eventually.
5) Lifestyle. The final reason why we feel that property in Panama is a good bet is simply because the lifestyle available in Panama is fabulous! It’s once again the case where you can get what you want from life – so, if your idea of heaven is shopping in glitzy boutiques, working in the City, dining out in posh restaurants and living in luxury – you can have that lifestyle in Panama City. Or, if you prefer the thought of living in a friendly expat community close to the sea and with wonderful views and a very laid back pace of life, this type of lifestyle is also possible. Alternatively, those who want to get away from it all or who want to live on the beach, in the mountains or perhaps in the local community can also find a property that will give them the lifestyle they want.
Hopefully this article has demonstrated that property in Panama can be a solid investment purchase, a lifestyle home choice or just a great buy for long-term potential appreciation…and that you can find whatever it is you’re looking for in Panama.
Showing posts with label Panama as a top destination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panama as a top destination. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
The World's Top Property Hotspots for 2009
Oxford 26 January 2009 - International real estate investment specialists Property Frontiers have named their top six property investment hotspots for 2009 – and the list contains some surprises. Panama, the Central American republic tops the list due to a strong economy, a favourable tax regime and offshore banking attracting businesses from across the globe. Investors can choose a variety of different options, from hotels enjoying high occupancy rates, to offices, and beachside resorts. The expansion of the Panama Canal looks set to underpin future economic growth. The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur is a thriving city with affordable property and accessible cheaply with a new budget airline linking direct to London with flights from just £99. Outside of Kuala Lumpur is the teeming tourist playground of Sabah on North Borneo,Where Brazil is a booming economy and with sun, samba and a cheap cost of living, is taking over from Florida as the fun capital of the world – and is the same flight distance from London as Miami.
Tourism is lifting off around the northeast city of Natal, which boasts average daily temperatures of 28°C all-year-round and mile after mile of sandy, palm fringed beaches. If traditional buy-to-let is the target, Sao Paulo is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing cities with an insatiable demand for quality accommodation. Slovakia’s High Tatras national park offers all-year round tourism as a UNESCO area of outstanding natural beauty. In the summer, the mountains are an attraction for walkers and golfers, while in the winter cheap skiing lures visitors from all over Europe.
The USA is tipped as one to watch as prices bottom out. Apartments in Florida are selling at 54% lower than their launch price, and according to the builders, at less than their build cost and offer an instant 6% rental return. Coming in last is the UK, with property bargains piling up at auction houses and market commentators still forecasting that prices are stagnating or still falling in most areas. “In real terms the pound is at a point not seen for 10 years. This offers a fantastic buying opportunity for international investors. As a company we have never seen so many enquiries from our international investors looking for UK property. A combined depreciation of the pound and the market now makes UK property some 54% cheaper than a year ago.
source: Panama-Guide.com
Tourism is lifting off around the northeast city of Natal, which boasts average daily temperatures of 28°C all-year-round and mile after mile of sandy, palm fringed beaches. If traditional buy-to-let is the target, Sao Paulo is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing cities with an insatiable demand for quality accommodation. Slovakia’s High Tatras national park offers all-year round tourism as a UNESCO area of outstanding natural beauty. In the summer, the mountains are an attraction for walkers and golfers, while in the winter cheap skiing lures visitors from all over Europe.
The USA is tipped as one to watch as prices bottom out. Apartments in Florida are selling at 54% lower than their launch price, and according to the builders, at less than their build cost and offer an instant 6% rental return. Coming in last is the UK, with property bargains piling up at auction houses and market commentators still forecasting that prices are stagnating or still falling in most areas. “In real terms the pound is at a point not seen for 10 years. This offers a fantastic buying opportunity for international investors. As a company we have never seen so many enquiries from our international investors looking for UK property. A combined depreciation of the pound and the market now makes UK property some 54% cheaper than a year ago.
source: Panama-Guide.com
Thursday, November 15, 2007
A day in Panama City— brand-new skyscrapers, and a colonial quarter
Nov. 13, 2007, 12:56PM
By ARTHUR FROMMER King Features
Still reeling from the fact that our Panama City hotel had a full-scale casino of roulette wheels, blackjack dealers, craps tables and slots (nothing had prepared us for Panama's Las Vegas-style gambling), Roberta and I headed for our first morning in town to the city's outstanding quarter of colonial gems, the Casco Viejo district of 17th-century Spanish charm.
Preserved as the conquistadors left it, Casco Viejo vies with Old Havana and Old San Juan in authenticity — but it is beginning to leave the others behind with the restored beauty of its courtyards, and the sparkling tiles and marble that line many of the cafes, restaurants and shops that occupy these historic structures. Just as Panama City's downtown across the bay is transforming itself into a totally unexpected, skyscraper-packed Hong Kong, Casco Viejo is in the process of being restored into the most tastefully attractive area of the city.
Here the district is studded with fun gift shops (potholders and eyeglass containers in the strongly colorful designs — "molas" — of Panama's indigenous Indians, dolls in the ruffled long skirts of Panama's 19th-century women, feather-light Panama hats), the cafes and restaurants are gracious and courtly, the sight of the city's skyline across the water is stunning, the Presidential Palace (currently housing the Honorable Martin Torrijos) is the center of power and is surrounded by military — but friendly — guards, and the chief sightseeing attraction is the Museo del Canal Interoceanico (the museum that relates the history of the Panama Canal — although its inscriptions are in Spanish only, its many visual aids and movies are understood easily). The Canal museum is an indispensable stop, a necessary prelude to your visit to the Miraflores Locks later in the day.
After a $30 lunch for the two of us (including appetizers, main course, two Panama beers and dessert) at the elegant Mostaza Restaurant, we took a cab to the Miraflores Visitors' Center on the outskirts of town for a look at the actual workings of the canal. As we stood on a high outdoor balcony overlooking the Miraflores Locks, an announcer speaking over a loudspeaker in Spanish, English and French explained the intricate workings that lifts these giant vessels to different levels of the artificial waterway. Asian sailors stood on the deck of one enormous container ship, looking up at us tourists as we gazed at them and their ship.
From Miraflores, we visited not one but two successive marketplaces of Panama City, and bought gifts for relatives back home at prices that were a quarter the levels charged in the lobby gift shop of our hotel.
The tourism of Panama is centered not simply in Panama City, but to a far greater extent in the picture-perfect, uncrowded beaches (with several large resorts) just outside Panama City, and in the renowned San Blas Islands, Pearl Islands and Bocas del Toro offshore islands, as well as on the Gulf of Chiriqui. It's found in the mountain stretches of Boquete, housing rain forests, coffee plantations, and Embera and Kuna Indians — a superb setting for tourism.Just as Americans began flocking to Costa Rica a decade ago, they're now going to what might become the new hot spot of Central America, Panama. You should consider a trip.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Forget Florida; Central America the New Hot Spot for Retirees
Forget Florida; Central America the New Hot Spot for RetireesBy Travis AltmanTheStreet.com Ratings Reporter6/28/2007 12:31 PM EDTURL:
http://www.thestreet.com/funds/toponepercent/10364262.html
If you travel regularly, it happens eventually. You'll be in another country, lying on a white,
sandy beach or strolling through some charming village, when you turn to your significant other and say, "I could stay here for the rest of my life." The idea seems tantalizingly exotic, an elaborate scheme to be hatched over dinner while on vacation -- only to be discarded and forgotten upon return to the workday world. However, the dream may not be unrealistic at all. In fact, many Central American countries are betting U.S. baby boomers will be the generation that globalizes retirement.
They're gearing up by offering financial incentives that could make retiring internationally a smart financial move for some individuals.
The same advances that allow companies to do business across borders are making it possible for people to live out their golden years in another country. "Technology and travel developments have put us in the position to do more with our lives while still staying in touch," says Susan Black, director of financial planning for eMoney Advisor.
If you retire in Panama, for instance, you can talk to your children and grandchildren via phone or email every day if you want to, fly home a few times each year, and probably even get a satellite dish to keep up with your favorite TV programs. Still, that doesn't mean things are the same as they were at home.
Making Adjustments
Jim and Donna Hawley found this out the hard way three years ago when they moved from Minneapolis to an apartment they bought in Panama City.
When they arrived, they discovered that not only were appliances not included, but there were no lights, air conditioner, water, or even a bathtub! "It never crossed our minds to ask about that," Jim says.
Paul McBride, an American expatriate who offers free advice on relocating to Panama though his company Prima Panama, says many retirees don't ask enough questions or fail to use common sense when relocating to a new country.
Recently, he met a businessman from New York who was ready to buy property from the cab driver who picked him up at the airport. "Don't leave your brains at the border," McBride cautions. "You have to be very careful." That said, he believes Panama is on the verge of something big, and expects as many as 30,000 Americans to move there in the next 15 years -- a major development in a country of around 3 million people.
They'll be drawn by Panama's pleasant climate, lower cost of living and stable dollar-based economy. Many will also appreciate the generous incentive package the Panamanian government has put together: Retirees on pensionado visas get import exemptions on their household goods and cars, may not have to pay property taxes for up to 15 years and even receive special discounts such as 10% off prescription drugs, 25% off domestic airfares and 50% off movie tickets.
The Hawleys say it was the low cost of health care that motivated them to move. They pay $130 apiece for what they call a "Cadillac" insurance policy. As for the quality of Panamanian health care, "a lot of the doctors in Panama are U.S.-trained," Jim says.
Southern Comforts
Anticipation of the boomers' arrival is fueling wild speculation on real estate in and around Panama City.
It is also spurring the development of retirement communities all over the country such as Valle Escondido, a gated development in the mountains with its own sewage and water systems, paved roads, 24/7 security, a golf course and Internet access. Home construction costs typically run about $55 to $60 per square foot.
Throughout Central America, countries are jockeying for position, trying to attract flocks of North American retirees they believe will be willing to settle a bit farther south than Florida or Arizona for the right price.
Countries such as Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua and Honduras all offer retirement incentive packages similar to Panama's. Generally, the rule of thumb is the less developed the country, the lower the cost of living and the better the enticements.
And this is not to say that your retirement experience in these areas will be an unpleasant one. Ray Auxillou says he and his wife are living much better in mainland Belize than they would have if they had stayed in Florida. "In the U.S., we would currently be homeless or upper poverty class," Auxillou says.
Instead, they own their own hostel catering to backpackers and enjoy luxuries such as two pickup trucks, cable television, a nursery and maid service. The price tag? Around $700 a month.
Concerns about crime and political unrest are part of what keeps costs down for retirees in countries such as Belize and Nicaragua. However, Auxillou feels those fears are overblown. "Nothing happens here that hasn't happened in Miami," he says, "and usually [there's] much less of it."
Still, retiring to another country is definitely not for everyone, and Central America will never turn into Florida Lite.
In many areas, you need at least a bit of Spanish to get by. Routine chores that can be handled online in the U.S., such as paying the electric bill, may require you to stand in line for hours. And of course you'll have to give up some comforts of home if you want to live frugally somewhere else.
"If you have to have your Kraft macaroni and cheese in Nicaragua, it's going to cost you more than in the U.S.," says Lief Simon, who covers the Central American real estate market for International Living.
Black says the best candidates for retiring abroad have flexible personalities. Many in the expatriate community are people who traveled heavily in their former careers or who immigrated to the U.S. from another country in the first place.
"You have to ask yourself," Black says, "do you feel comfortable treated as a foreigner every day for the rest of your life?" If so, then it may be time to start looking toward Central America for your golden years.
http://www.thestreet.com/funds/toponepercent/10364262.html
If you travel regularly, it happens eventually. You'll be in another country, lying on a white,
sandy beach or strolling through some charming village, when you turn to your significant other and say, "I could stay here for the rest of my life." The idea seems tantalizingly exotic, an elaborate scheme to be hatched over dinner while on vacation -- only to be discarded and forgotten upon return to the workday world. However, the dream may not be unrealistic at all. In fact, many Central American countries are betting U.S. baby boomers will be the generation that globalizes retirement.They're gearing up by offering financial incentives that could make retiring internationally a smart financial move for some individuals.
The same advances that allow companies to do business across borders are making it possible for people to live out their golden years in another country. "Technology and travel developments have put us in the position to do more with our lives while still staying in touch," says Susan Black, director of financial planning for eMoney Advisor.
If you retire in Panama, for instance, you can talk to your children and grandchildren via phone or email every day if you want to, fly home a few times each year, and probably even get a satellite dish to keep up with your favorite TV programs. Still, that doesn't mean things are the same as they were at home.
Making Adjustments
Jim and Donna Hawley found this out the hard way three years ago when they moved from Minneapolis to an apartment they bought in Panama City.
When they arrived, they discovered that not only were appliances not included, but there were no lights, air conditioner, water, or even a bathtub! "It never crossed our minds to ask about that," Jim says.
Paul McBride, an American expatriate who offers free advice on relocating to Panama though his company Prima Panama, says many retirees don't ask enough questions or fail to use common sense when relocating to a new country.
Recently, he met a businessman from New York who was ready to buy property from the cab driver who picked him up at the airport. "Don't leave your brains at the border," McBride cautions. "You have to be very careful." That said, he believes Panama is on the verge of something big, and expects as many as 30,000 Americans to move there in the next 15 years -- a major development in a country of around 3 million people.
They'll be drawn by Panama's pleasant climate, lower cost of living and stable dollar-based economy. Many will also appreciate the generous incentive package the Panamanian government has put together: Retirees on pensionado visas get import exemptions on their household goods and cars, may not have to pay property taxes for up to 15 years and even receive special discounts such as 10% off prescription drugs, 25% off domestic airfares and 50% off movie tickets.
The Hawleys say it was the low cost of health care that motivated them to move. They pay $130 apiece for what they call a "Cadillac" insurance policy. As for the quality of Panamanian health care, "a lot of the doctors in Panama are U.S.-trained," Jim says.
Southern Comforts
Anticipation of the boomers' arrival is fueling wild speculation on real estate in and around Panama City.
It is also spurring the development of retirement communities all over the country such as Valle Escondido, a gated development in the mountains with its own sewage and water systems, paved roads, 24/7 security, a golf course and Internet access. Home construction costs typically run about $55 to $60 per square foot.
Throughout Central America, countries are jockeying for position, trying to attract flocks of North American retirees they believe will be willing to settle a bit farther south than Florida or Arizona for the right price.
Countries such as Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua and Honduras all offer retirement incentive packages similar to Panama's. Generally, the rule of thumb is the less developed the country, the lower the cost of living and the better the enticements.
And this is not to say that your retirement experience in these areas will be an unpleasant one. Ray Auxillou says he and his wife are living much better in mainland Belize than they would have if they had stayed in Florida. "In the U.S., we would currently be homeless or upper poverty class," Auxillou says.
Instead, they own their own hostel catering to backpackers and enjoy luxuries such as two pickup trucks, cable television, a nursery and maid service. The price tag? Around $700 a month.
Concerns about crime and political unrest are part of what keeps costs down for retirees in countries such as Belize and Nicaragua. However, Auxillou feels those fears are overblown. "Nothing happens here that hasn't happened in Miami," he says, "and usually [there's] much less of it."
Still, retiring to another country is definitely not for everyone, and Central America will never turn into Florida Lite.
In many areas, you need at least a bit of Spanish to get by. Routine chores that can be handled online in the U.S., such as paying the electric bill, may require you to stand in line for hours. And of course you'll have to give up some comforts of home if you want to live frugally somewhere else.
"If you have to have your Kraft macaroni and cheese in Nicaragua, it's going to cost you more than in the U.S.," says Lief Simon, who covers the Central American real estate market for International Living.
Black says the best candidates for retiring abroad have flexible personalities. Many in the expatriate community are people who traveled heavily in their former careers or who immigrated to the U.S. from another country in the first place.
"You have to ask yourself," Black says, "do you feel comfortable treated as a foreigner every day for the rest of your life?" If so, then it may be time to start looking toward Central America for your golden years.
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