Hola future neighbors, and welcome to the latest edition of The Ocean Ridge Report. After the lightest rainy season that anybody around here can remember, we’re all settling into the nice dry verano (summer).
The river is down, the watermelons are planted, and a couple trillion stars are out at night. As usual, great things are happening in the area, so let’s jump right in:
1) Let’s build another house. Even though Tom and Stephanie (lot 7) are probably 5 – 7 years away from a full time move to Panama, they’ve made the wise decision to build now while prices are still low. The foundation is coming right along , and the house should be more or less finished by next June. It’s going to be a beautiful two story beast – I just hope it’s big enough for two people!
By the way, they need to come up with a name for their place, if anybody has any ideas. I suggested “Tom’s House of Pleasure”, but I think Stephanie vetoed that one.
2) Santiago happenings. Santiago is steadily becoming one of the “in” cities in Panama, largely because of its central location in the country. The population has gone over 70,000, with new amenities coming in all the time. The new six story hospital is nearing completion, and will be the most modern medical facility in the whole interior of the country. It will have entire floors dedicated to cardiology and oncology, with state of the art diagnostic equipment throughout. The new supermall has been started, and should open within two years. The hotel Mykonos has just opened, and is one of the few four star hotels outside of Panama City. Not sure how much business they’ll get at $130/night, but it’s a nice option for you players out there. Supposedly Mel Gibson owns half the place, but we haven’t seen him hanging around.
3) Insurance matters. After our usual thorough and painstaking research, we’ve purchased insurance for the house. The cost is $378/year for $200,000 in coverage, less than one fourth the cost of a similar policy I have on one of my properties in Florida. We already submitted a claim for some roof damage, and they paid the full amount promptly, with none of the hassles that you have to go through in the states. I think I like Panama.
We also shopped extensively for car insurance, which is a little more expensive; about half as much as I pay for similar coverage in the states. When you make the move to Panama, I think we’ll have you covered for any insurance needs that you might have. We’re still researching health insurance; seems to be more complicated, so I’ll get back to you on that one.
Once again, we are the proud winners of the coveted “Best Decorated House in the Neighborhood” award. You guys are making it easy on us – maybe next year Tom and Stephanie will provide some competition.
Have a great Christmas, Hanukah, Ramadan, or whatever your persuasion is.
Jay and Patricia
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Jay Stafford
www.thepanamacollection.com
954-309-2837 cell in Florida
507-6679-7540 cell in Panama