Thread: Thinking about relocating

Hello,

My wife and I have been considering relocating to a nice little place in Panama.
We are not sure which part of panama to pick.
We are looking to members of this forum for advice.
We plan to vacation in Panama city next year.
We will be taking Spanish lessons starting next week.
We are looking forward to our trip.
We are open to your suggestions.

Regards

Jack

only you can decide where you want to live , come for a month holiday and explore the country , it has everything from cool mountains temp to hotter ocean temps , the city , mid size towns to small towns , , nobody can pick for you ,

Thanks ngdb,

We want to know where members live and why did they choose their spot.
Is there place cheaper than others is the crime rate higher or lower.?
These are the things that will help up decide.
We want to know why you chose Panama and why you chose your spot.

Regards

Jack

You can rank these (and reassess after you visit) in importance 1 to 5 (1 - very unimportant; 5 - very important)

- beach/ocean living
- mountain living
- cost of housing
- proximity to urban amenities (shopping, banks, malls, offices, medical/hospitals, airport)
- single-family house (verses condo/apartment)
- checking out (i.e., no one can find you)

Thanks BB,

Great start for us.

5 beach/ocean living
4 mountain living
5 cost of housing
5 proximity to urban amenities (shopping, banks, malls, offices, medical/hospitals, airport)
3 single-family house (verses condo/apartment)
1 checking out (i.e., no one can find you)

Based on these rankings where should we start.
Are there e-books available etc.

Regards

Jack

Originally Posted by jackblack

Based on these rankings where should we start.

The other folks on this board are better qualified to answer, but you're definitely ruling out Panama City! (no beach and no mountains) Nakedguydb knows how to live inexpensively out on the Azuero Peninsula and finds a good balance of amenities for him (everything is 15 - 20 minutes away more or less), although it's four to five hours driving from P.C. If you find you're not quite wanting to be that far from P.C., you'll find lots of Pacific beach communities in and around Coronado and ponts west of there. Mountain living away from the beaches a bit has gotten a lot of discussion of this board and you might look at those comments on Altos del Maria, El Valle, etc. I'm not knowledgeable about these areas, but they are not as far west. Finally, a lot of expats like developments in Boquete (north of David). It has mountain valley houses, villas, golf, etc. but is a not near beaches. David has decent air travel from P.C. -- I don't think you'd want to regularly drive to it from P.C., IMO.

Easy answer: Coronado and the surrounding areas

Coronado is a booming beach town with plenty of shopping, amenities, hospital, 1 hour to Panama City, 30 mins to the mountains, 40 mins to new airport in Rio Hato and has an established expat community.

My suggestion is to not live inside Coronado (behind the gates) which is very expensive and not worth it. Explore neighboring towns. Your best value is hopping across the PanAmerican toward the mountains where you can own a nice house on a large lot at half the price than inside Coronado and still be 5-10 mins away from all the action.

Originally Posted by jackblack

Thanks BB,

Great start for us.

5 beach/ocean living
4 mountain living
5 cost of housing
5 proximity to urban amenities (shopping, banks, malls, offices, medical/hospitals, airport)
3 single-family house (verses condo/apartment)
1 checking out (i.e., no one can find you)

Based on these rankings where should we start.
Are there e-books available etc.

Regards

Jack

Thanks JS,

Great! this is the kind of feedback we need.
We appreciate it very much.
We will check out Coronado.
We are not that interested in a gated development.

Regards

Jack

Thanks BB,

Your comments are very helpful.
We want as many opinions as we can get.
So keep them coming, we appreciate your interest in helping us decide.

Regards

Jack

Hi Jack,
We like Altos del Maria in the mountains. We do not like Coronado, for the roosters and the terrible roads-and no views. It's also too hot near the beach.
Santiva

Originally Posted by jackblack

Hello,

My wife and I have been considering relocating to a nice little place in Panama.
We are not sure which part of panama to pick.
We are looking to members of this forum for advice.
We plan to vacation in Panama city next year.
We will be taking Spanish lessons starting next week.
We are looking forward to our trip.
We are open to your suggestions.

Regards

Jack

Originally Posted by jackblack

Thanks BB,

Great start for us.

5 beach/ocean living
4 mountain living
5 cost of housing
5 proximity to urban amenities (shopping, banks, malls, offices, medical/hospitals, airport)
3 single-family house (verses condo/apartment)
1 checking out (i.e., no one can find you)

Based on these rankings where should we start.
Are there e-books available etc.

Regards

Jack

Jack, send me your email and I will send you some ebooks on Panama.

We spent the month of July in Chiriqui split beteen Boca Chica and Guadalupe one word to describe those areas FANTASTIC.

David has all the medical, shops, movies, affordable housing, great resturants, fishing, howler monkeys and no people.
Travel time between the two areas is less than one hour. In Guadalupe the elevation was 7200 feet the high was 65 and the low was 50. Boca Chica was warm but, very comfortable. I have MS and the temps were perfect for me. I hope this will also help in your decision to check out. We are planning to retire somewhere in the middle of Boca and Guad - the best of both worlds. I also forgot to mention that my wife felt very safe in both areas.

Thanks Santiva,

We appreciate the feedback. We will consider the Altos del Maria.
We will Google your tips.

Regards

Jack

Thanks cloudboy,

If you can give me the website for your suggestions, that would be great.

Regards

Jack

Thanks grumpa,

Your tips are exactly what we are looking for.
You information is very important to us.
We will certainly follow up on you're suggestions.

Regards

Jack

Originally Posted by jackblack

Thanks grumpa,

Your tips are exactly what we are looking for.
You information is very important to us.
We will certainly follow up on you're suggestions.

Regards

Jack

If your looking for pristine water and beaches/dolphins etc. You might want to check out Bocas.

Thanks Captain,

Can you be a little more specific about Bocas.

Regards

Jack

Originally Posted by jackblack

Thanks Captain,

Can you be a little more specific about Bocas.

Regards

Jack

Bocas is group of islands with the largest being Isla Colon. Bocas being the Capital also. Lots of boat taxi's to take you everywhere, bars, restaurants, night life, pristine beaches (some very private) and water. Snorkeling, fishing, dolphins, sailing, ocean breezes, cheap beer, What else can I say??
Capt

Thanks Captain,

We appreciate the detailed information.
Is this a place where you live or have visited.?
We will use Google Earth to visit Bocas.

Regards

Jack

Hello, my name is Prisciall, im located here in Panama, i have aresturante here and im a translator and tourguide here in Panama. We havea few houses to rent in the Las tablas area, if you decide to visit thispart of the country, considered the cheapest and safest place to live,please let me know. I have several contacts here and can help you at nocost. i can find you anice house for $200 unfurnished and $500 furnished, youcan see photos on our we site.www.PanamaPty.comOur Resturante has free WIFI internet as well, its Called Ponchalos,Follow the K.-- Panama Pty.com It's our pleasure to attend you!!!Phily Liztell(507)69823716Phily@PanamaPty.comwww.PanamaPty.com

Thank you philypty,

We want to thank Prisciall for her informative comments.
We will certainly consider these recommendations.

Regards

Jack

Hi Jack,

My employer and I have actually put together summaries and videos of each region in Panama for people like you. Hopefully the info and video will help you figure out a bit more of each area and make a decision.

Panama Community Profiles

The Azuero Peninsula still isn't on there, but I've lived there for a while now and know especially Pedasi and Playa Venao well. Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck with your search!

just remember that if information is posted by someone selling something you must take that into account .they will all tell you about the peaches and cream , but not about the warts . do as much reasearch as you can before you come and narrow it down to the areas that interest you . then spend as much time as possible exploring those areas , make as many trips as you can to make sure panama is right for you , and then rent until you can shop around for the right deal for you . not much is selling fast now with what is happening in the world market . so dont be in a rush and remember you are in the drivers seat if you have the money , not the seller .

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

just remember that if information is posted by someone selling something you must take that into account .they will all tell you about the peaches and cream , but not about the warts . do as much reasearch as you can before you come and narrow it down to the areas that interest you . then spend as much time as possible exploring those areas , make as many trips as you can to make sure panama is right for you , and then rent until you can shop around for the right deal for you . not much is selling fast now with what is happening in the world market . so dont be in a rush and remember you are in the drivers seat if you have the money , not the seller .

I agree. I am pretty transparent in that we're trying to get people to move down to Panama. BUT, my whole reason for answering questions like Jack's is to provide as much information as I can. Not everyone can afford the time to visit over and over again, so we want to help out in the meantime.

The videos are, of course, promotional and informative. Nobody's going to make a video about how dirty some areas are. These community pages are supposed to help ease the barrier of entry.

Originally Posted by wolfeflow

I agree. I am pretty transparent in that we're trying to get people to move down to Panama. BUT, my whole reason for answering questions like Jack's is to provide as much information as I can. Not everyone can afford the time to visit over and over again, so we want to help out in the meantime.

The videos are, of course, promotional and informative. Nobody's going to make a video about how dirty some areas are. These community pages are supposed to help ease the barrier of entry.

i only linked to your site for a few minutes , you might have some good stuff , but people need to hear both sides . companies that are selling will never tell that , so go ahead a push your product but dont get made at people like myself that tell the other side , and saying that people can not afford to visit over and over again is just stupid , they are making a very big decission in life , its not like there just buying a new car . how many people have been suckered into the whole gated community thing ? every salesmen knows that fear sells . and they work that to sell people over priced , poorly built gringo ghettos . so tell your side and i will tell mine and those that listen will come here with both eyes open . trust me it is nothing personal , i do this with everyone flipping dirt .

Panama works if you can isolate yourself mentally and work wise as much as possible.

- Beers are 2 for 1, but if you ordered 6 in a bucket it does not apply and they tell you after.
- They miss and cancel 4 meetings and then try to shift blame on you by some absurd logic.
- Many ask for $600 for a service when a reasonable cost with automated tools in a developed country is $60. Air they like to sell.
- Refunds without at least 6 meetings, repeated threats and screaming is not possible.

Things like this happens almost every day. If you tell them you won't be back, they just get mad, don't really care if their service was bad, they just get offended.

I can make a video from around my area. The roads are completely destroyed by the buses and the sewer has been coming up for a few years. You have to close it out or you will go mad.

The Indians in Panama seem to protest quite frequently, but the normal Panamanians wouldn't even leave the house for a protest after 2 years without water. They just carry buckets up and assume that noone will do anything.

Originally Posted by wolfeflow

I agree. I am pretty transparent in that we're trying to get people to move down to Panama. BUT, my whole reason for answering questions like Jack's is to provide as much information as I can. Not everyone can afford the time to visit over and over again, so we want to help out in the meantime.

The videos are, of course, promotional and informative. Nobody's going to make a video about how dirty some areas are. These community pages are supposed to help ease the barrier of entry.

No worries, nakedguydb, I'm not mad or frustrated or peeved or whatever. I was just defending myself a bit. Personally I am not in the business of selling real estate - I'm making a marketing campaign for my employer based on providing information for travelers. The hope of course is that people fall in love with Panama and remember us when they want to buy, but I'd rather provide people with honest information.

So I guess what I want to be made clear is that we'll happily answer any questions about the negatives of Panama. For instance, it's taken us over a month just to get a damn sign printed.

Hi wolfeflow,

Thanks for the heads up, I have stumbled onto some of your companies videos.
We find them useful and informative. We get excited about these new developments.
We then start to think about the technology infrastructure. When they say high speed internet, is it really and how reliable is it. We buy and sell over the internet and require a reliable high speed high bandwidth data feed.

Regards

Jack

Thanks ngdb,

We understand your point and we will plan more than one trip down.
We appreciate everyone's interest and will do our home work before making our first trip.
We want candid feedback from everyone because it will help us narrow down our picks.

Regards

Jack

Thanks pingun,

We want to know where the warts are in Panama.
The more details we get the better
We look to you and the others in this forum for the secrets of living in Panama.
We want to thank everyone for participating in informing the uninformed (us).

Regards

Jack