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Expats Lessons After Moving Overseas: The Challenges You Will Face
Kat Kalashian
Why were Lief and I drawn to Panama in the first place… more than 25 years ago… and how have we come to be more invested, personally and professionally, in this isthmus than we are anywhere else in the world?
All Panama but especially Panama City has been one of the greatest economic success stories of the past two decades. The massive growth has been due largely to foreign investment.
When the United States handed over ownership of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999, the country fell immediately into recession. It needed to find a way to replace the disposable income that all those U.S. GIs had been spreading around and quick.
Panama looked next-door to Costa Rica, whose economy is based almost entirely on income from foreign tourists and resident retirees. We could do that, too, Panamanians figured, and began working in earnest to attract the attention of North Americans.
Panama targeted eco-tourists and budget-conscious Baby Boomers looking for places where they could stretch their retirement nest eggs. It introduced a pensionado residency program, improving on the model Costa Rica made famous, offering resident retirees discounts on everything from restaurant tabs and movie tickets to plane fares and prescription medications.
Coupled with its developed international banking and financial services industries, the canal economy has helped to position Panama as a regional safe haven.
We first recommended Panama as a buy in 1998, and we are more bullish on this country’s prospects today than ever.
Its undervalued property markets put Panama on our radar back in 1998, and, in the nearly two-and-a-half decades since, we have made a series of real estate investments here, from a pre-construction rental, a Casco Viejo renovation, and a commercial building (that houses our Panama-based staff) in the capital city to teak, timber, and fruit plantations in the interior and Los Islotes on the country’s Pacific coast, the biggest and longest-term property undertaking of our careers.
In 2008, we doubled down, choosing Panama as the place to base our Live And Invest Overseas business.
That meant moving to the country full-time… which meant enrolling our son in school and committing in the most personal ways.
The government is pro-business and foreigner-friendly, meaning outsized incentives for foreign retirees and investors, and the country offers more than a dozen visa options (including the Friendly Nations visa that grants work permits), making it easy to become a full-time resident if that’s something you’d like to do.
In the current context, Panama stands out perhaps more than ever as a top choice for property investment. Key local developers here have long track records spanning decades, meaning you can feel confident when buying, and, right now they’re more open to flexible and creative financing rates and plans than they have been in a long time.
That, dear reader, is why Lief and I targeted Panama all those years ago…
And why we continue to invest our time and money here today all these years later.
Until next time,
Sign up here now to join us in September.
Kat Kalashian
Editor, Live and Invest Overseas Confidential
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter
