Beach front property

[Arif]

Another interesting day of looking at beachfront property in Panama. I found a new development within a hour of PC and emailed the realtor about more info. After she called the developer for more details we set up a dat to come look at it. We drive out there and pul into the development for a tour of the home lots that are available. As we have been accustomed to seeing the beach is not visible from the lot. We proceed to give our now canned response..."if we wanted a lot with no beach view we would have bought property in the U.S.
So our search continues to find the perfect lot.

BTW- For those of you who love to know what things cost, here is a breakdown.

Punta Chime $52/ sq meter
Gorgona $75-100/sq meter
Coronado $250/ sq meter

In Punta Chime the road is terrible and make DC and Detroit roads feel as smooth as a baby's bottom.
In Gorgona the roads are better and their is a lot of construction but no resort.
Coronado is the largest beach resort where everyone goes to the beach because of all the amenities such as the largest grocery store, health clinic, etc.
All these beach communities are within 15 minutes of each other.

As we were talking with the realtor she mentioned that they are planning to pave the roads in Punta Chime during the next dry season. Instinctively, I start calculating the profit a la land speculation. If they pave the roads to Punta Chime the lots could at a minimum increase to the prices in Gorgona. So if I bought a 2500 sq mtr lot for 130k it would be worth between 57k-120k more than I paid for it. At the worst, I would be "stuck" owning beachfront property with bad roads. Lot's more research to do though. I think I need to get to know some influential people.
If only I could get real estate out of my blood

CAUTION: For those planning on buying property in other countries BEWARE. In Panama it is typical to see the same property listed by different agents with prices differing as much as 250k.
Also don't think that because you see a familiar company name that they adhere to the same rules as the US because the listing that is 250k higher is on Century 21 and they charge $200 to take you to see properties if you don't buy. That 250k goes to the agent IF the property sells.

Bottom line: Don't come down here with your life savings and a dumb look on your face without doing your homework. What's that saying about a fool and his money...