too222muchcoffee

Thanks Mr Woohoo. I will try your suggestions. I just wonder if anyone in this forum has used a good appraiser in the David area. I really like to rely on "sold comps" vs "listing prices"; so, i am just hoping there is an appraiser out there that keeps up with "sales".


I know there is no MLS service and I used to face this when looking for comps in very rural communities in Texas years ago -- its just gonna take more digging.

GordonS

Interesting comments from the Motley Fool about the wisdom of offshore real estate investment right now. I've always found Motley Fool to be pretty close to the mark about future financial trends.

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/property-...oofolrf0010002

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Gordon and Randy,
Canada

too222muchcoffee

Thanks Gordon and Randy -- I just made a small currency play today. I am shorting Euro vs dollar. I guess it is to stop the bleeding on the gold i still hold. What does this have to do with Panama real estate? Hmmm not sure... i just find it interesting the relationship of different currencies and how the panama real estate market will react. I have a LOT to learn. Hey FXTRADER ... you should be able to weigh in here.

MRWOOHOO

I know fx has been real busy lately. I appreciate the link as well Gordon. Good to see I am not the only one advising people to think about what they are doing when it comes to buying real estate. Panama is truly a unique country with many unique qualities that make it enticing. Just be cautious of speculation.

kevfra

Just beginning my research into retirement in Panama. We live a boating life in the US, a forty foot power boat, and would like to continue this in retirement. Are there areas where we can have a house with a dock? Maybe even with a little land? Or marina developments where we can walk to our boat? Do we give up quiet and privacy for such? What do boating people like us do around Panama to enjoy the boating lifestyle and have a nice place to live?

And...which coast makes sense? Seems Atlantic, but maybe there are reasons to consider the pacific too? many thanks!

zog

The prices in panama still seem to be stubbornly high. The property owners that seem to me to be lowering prices are the ones that own apartments without tax exoneration. So the properties are 20 years old or more.

I have money in dollars, and the decline in the pound, means I could make about £7000, just for it sitting for 2 months. But then the dollar is supposed to strengthen further as the UK economy continues to struggle. But then again, things could change again with this Freddie Mac business in the US. I have given up trying to work out what will happen in the global economy. I read an article just the other day about investing in Tata in India. But today in bengal they are closing their factory because people in the area want their land back!

Harry Browne was right. Now where is his book on how to make money from a financial crisis?

zog

Here is an interesting article on the dollar as it relates to the chinese economy.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/20080...hinese-dollars

I guess for american investors in panama it wont mean much but for anyone from the UK or Europe and elsewhere it could mean quite a bit.

fxtrader

How the real estate market is going to react to anything but the USD in Panama is beyond me. Being a USD denominated economy, I'd say it'd fluctuate with the value of the USD. All that said, news, fundamentals and all of that do not play into my trades at all! I'm a 100% technical trader. I trade what I see on the charts and don't bother with all of the other confusing mess.

But about your poisition... I've been short Euro and Cable since late July. It's been good thus far and I really don't have an exit signal / scenario yet. I did hop out of my Euro position for about a week in late August. Actually just put it back on 2 days ago. I'd say good call shorting it. If you're speculating in currency for pure profits there are much better pairs to trade IMO. If you're doing it to hedge risk on other USD correlated positions, I'd say Euro would be your best bet.

OK, sorry about that. I do like to talk about trading Anywho... back to Real Estate!

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I put the 'fun' in dysfunctional

too222muchcoffee

Hi Sunman--

New member here ...enjoyed your post... i may want to come and take a look at your development in early December.

MRWOOHOO

Very good point. This is obviously going to effect the value of income gained on your unit if it is a rental. Now if you feel that the US currency is about to start increasing in value then a rental purchase maybe good? If the value of the currency continues to drop and possibly gets worse then how much of a profit are you making?

zog

I have been informed that the self-solvency investor visa minimum has been increased to $300000.

fxtrader

A LOT of new immigration laws went into effect last month. I believe the amount is now $350K though. Here's a complete list:

http://www.panamalaw.org/panama_immi...ges_May08.html

__________________
I put the 'fun' in dysfunctional

zog

Hi Fx,

is that not the draft of the law? I was told the final agreed amount was $300000 rather than $350000 - although was from a newspaper so I am not sure how accurate that is :-)

fxtrader

True, it was the draft of the law. I'm not certain of just what the final amounts were. I've actualy heard quite a few #'s, but $350K was what I've heard the most. It's Panama rumor though, so I'M not sure how accurate that is!

__________________
I put the 'fun' in dysfunctional

MRWOOHOO

Now let's see if Panama is going to change the visa requirements in the next six months or keep them the way they are. This is one of the things that can change the value of real estate real quick. The real estate market is really up in the air right now. I meet people that are saying "BUY BUY" and that rental units are great money makers. I also hear the opposite, "SELL SELL", and that rental income is not increasing.

too222muchcoffee

I hope you can keep us updated on this... thanks, woohoo.

MRWOOHOO

Will do. I personally feel that if you avoid speculation buying you will be fine. After watching what happened in Florida I advise caution. The entire Florida market went down the toilet REAL QUICK because of speculation. There are some similar and some different dynamics at work here. Everything comes and goes in cycles.

GordonS

This speculation thing really wreaks havoc with the ordinary guy who is just looking for a place to settle down. Not sure if you heard the results of a study released yesterday afternoon regarding Oil future prices. This independant study showed that the oil futures shot up when huge sums of money ( $80 Billion) were invested in oil back about 2 months ago - after which the oil prices shot up to $140+ /barrel. Then a few weeks ago around $60 billion was taken out of that market and the prices went down. OPEC claimed throughout the last few months that it wasn't manipulating the prices and good sense in looking at the market did not show any significant reason for the oil prices shooting up. Bottom line is that the speculators appear to have been the culprits who cause the oil price spike. As a result of their greed, 1,000's of people lost their jobs and there has been nearly irreparable damage to many businesses.

Since it followed the sub prime crash, a lot of ordinary people have suffered greatly.

I wonder if governments will move to build in safeguards to prevent this type of stupid greed from punishing the masses again?

Guess time will tell.

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Gordon and Randy,
Canada

MRWOOHOO

Unfortunately it is the same business such as banks, oil companies, pharmaceuticals, that have bought and paid for many governments. Greed has no limits and my experience with people tells me that money is usually worshiped much more than any god in any religion. You can still live very cheap in this country if you want to. It is a matter of exploring and seeing what you like. Make sure you investigate further than the developer's seminar.

MRWOOHOO

So it looks like the US economy is not about to bounce back anytime soon, BIG SURPRISE (not)