The New Face of Panama

One of the things that is dramatically changing is the height of buildings around Panama. While single family homes are still the most common form of housing, the development of condo projects has grown exponentially in the last 40 years from nothing, to this sort of amazing collection of condos.  On the Pacific beaches and in the interior around Boquete and on the Caribbean in Bocas Del Toro there are amazing residential communities which are all governed by the same law that governs these high rise developments.

There are also numerous new malls springing up all over the place to provide services to these new condo dwellers.

Like many places in the world with condo developments, Panama has had to create and bring into force laws that would allow them to sell condominiums and so the Horizontal Property Act was born. This law not only covers the high rise condominiums like you see in this picture but also covers the many beach front communities that are springing up all over Panama. Just be sure you have your lawyer carefully reviews the Horizontal Property law with you and the By-laws as it relates to the development that you are considering buying into.

There are even developments that are not covered under the Horizontal Property Act and if this is the case then you really need some understanding of how your rights will be protected and how the rights of other home owners may affect your rights and how those rights are being enforced.

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Historical New President in the US

It is January 20th, 2009. Barack Obama is being sworn in as the President of the United States. Here in Panama there is just no getting away from this news as it is compelling here as it is to people the world over.

What does his Presidency portend? While there is a lot of hope and there is no question for the black movement in the United States, and perhaps in other countries where there is a black minority, there is now no going back. A black man is the President of the United States.

But the question which holds the world’s rapt attention is the financial crisis. Can Obama somehow get the economy in the US moving again? Can he somehow stem the flow of red ink that is overwhelming the financial sector.

For Panama one of the important questions is world wide trade as the traffic through the canal yields substantial fees which definitely help support the economy of Panama. In addition, Panama has a huge expansion planned for the canal. Can they get all the money they need to complete that and does it make sense in the current economic climate?

In addition there are a lot of developers in Panama who are concerned about the sale of their projects. It was reported in the press this past weekend that some of the developers who have luxury-high-end condos to sell may be having trouble finding buyers for those units. If that is true, is there any chance of that slowdown spreading generally throughout Panama’s burgeoning real estate market?

While only time will tell what really is true with respect to all those questions, the promise of Obama plays a big role in so many of those answers. And so a new era with Barack Obama at the helm in the White House starts today.

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Caribbean Beaches

Do you have a longing for that powdery coral sand, blue seas and a home built right out over the water where you can fish from the dock?  Then, whether you know it or not, you are looking for a spot on the Caribbean.

Every time I see these powder white beaches my heart skips a beat. I guess living right on this sort of beach is my dream, as yet unfulfilled. Here in Panama there are a lot of Caribbean beaches that look like this. The challenge is that there is not a road into many of these beaches and so the only way to find them is by boat and the boats that are usually on offer are pretty rough. Is this a problem or an opportunity? It does depend on your perspective.

A more genuine problem for people looking for this sort of property is that they are not titled. However that does not mean they are unclaimed. Panamanians are entitled to claim Right of Possession for lands where they have lived for a long period of time. That seems reasonable. But the question becomes how much of the land is properly claimed by them? How far does their property properly go and how can you decide? The government has a process for determining these sorts of issues. First you must have it surveyed and once surveyed you must get all those who live around you to agree the property you have claimed is really property you have lived on for years and years and no one has a competing claim. Once that is clear you can get registration in the Reforma Agraria and eventually once the government does all the necessary checking and you pay Panama for the land, it will be titled to the Panamanian who first said it had been his for years.

So if you are going to buy Right of Possession property know that is can be fraught with many, many challenges. If it has been surveyed and registered in Reforma Agraria the risk factors diminish greatly but in any event don’t pay the same money for Right of Possession land as you pay for Titled property. With titled property you can pretty much count on getting what you are paying for, but if it is not titled this is much less certain.

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Palacio Del Mar – Caribbean Paradise

At Palacio Del Mar, you have access to everything wonderful about the Caribbean lifestyle of Panama. Owners can relax in gracious sun-strewn spaces, swim in luminous crystal clear caribbean waters and indulge in the many extraordinary island activities found thoughout the entire archipelago. For more information…Click Here

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