Buying Real Estate in Panama From Finding the Property to Sealing the Deal
Until recently, Panama was known to the rest of the world as a great vacation destination. However, today Panama is a great place to live and work for the foreign nationals. And this explains the boom in the real estate in the country. To make your Panama real estate investment a success, you must keep in mind two important guidelines.
Find an Honest and Bona-Fide Broker
All the real estate markets have their unique character and Panama is no exception. An interesting point about Panama real estate market is: it does not have multiple listing services or any exclusive listing service. So how does the market operate?
Panama’s real estate market is dominated by real estate brokers---and not all of them are honest.
It is the sellers who contact the brokers informing them about his expected price. It is now up to the brokers to sell off the property with as much profit as his salesman’s acumen allows him to do.
For example, a seller approaches the broker with a piece of property and he says he will let it go for $200,000. Now the broker can add any amount to this pricing and takes home the extra amount.
Now there are two problems of dealing with a dishonest broker---first of all, unprofessional brokers often tie with unreliable sellers.
Second, dishonest brokers often show you the same property listed with other brokers and that leads you to nothing but a great wastage of time in search of a suitable property.
Dealing with a reputed broker on the other hand ensures that you come to find the suitable property in minimum time and get a fair deal, as a professional broker has more power over the seller.
Consult a Lawyer
While buying real estate in Panama, make sure you never proceed without the advice of a reputed lawyer. Even during phase of price negotiation, you will need the guidance of your lawyer. The practice of bargaining is very much there and it is your lawyer who can best advice how to lower the price and ask for more favorable terms from the seller.
However, once the price is finalized, now is the time to sign the agreement, which you must do in the presence of your lawyer.
Make sure, you have three copies of agreements: one for the you, another for the seller and one for the housing ministry.
The signed agreement must have the seal of housing ministry and the sealed copy will be permanently kept in the housing ministry files. Housing ministry however holds one month deposit.
Make sure you have clear title to your investment real estate and never enter into any ‘use’ rights contracts that may lead to unending legal complexities.
