Hello future neighbors in five different countries, and welcome to the latest greatest issue of The Ocean Ridge Report. This newsletter is getting so popular that Donald Trump offered to buy me out, so he could start charging a heavy fee to all you readers out there. Don’t worry – I told The Donald to take a hike. Okay, seriously now – the project keeps growing, so let’s meet the new neighbors:
1) More Florida people. Say hola to Rob and Joan Spering, proud owners of lot 2 (photo). Originally from Pennsylvania, they now live in central Florida, just north of Orlando. Rob has a company that’s involved in the printing business, and Joan works in a seminary. The plan is to semi-retire in about three years, and split their time between Panama and Florida. With five kids and eight grandkids, I predict that they’ll have plenty of visitors.
2) Houses everywhere. Tom and Stephanie’s house of lot 7 is steadily nearing completion, Leo and Willy’s guesthouse on 14 is about finished, and Pieter and Joka’s guesthouse on 4 looks great after just three weeks (photos). Yvette on lot 15 is next in line; we should be starting her house before the end of March. Looks like we might actually have some neighbors within the next year or two – won’t that be fun?
3) Residency update. Like I’ve said in past newsletters, establishing residency in Panama doesn’t need to be a top priority at first, because you can live here as long as you want without ever becoming a resident.
However, I thought it might be a good idea for me to go ahead and establish residency here in Panama, if for no other reason than to be able to help our neighbors do the same thing if and when they want. After some research, I think I found the best attorney in Panama for getting this done – thanks to Bob and Annie (lot 10) for giving me the original lead. Her name is Rainelda Mata-Kelly in Panama City; she is primarily an immigration attorney who has done “hundreds and hundreds” of residency applications for foreigners around the world. Her fee is around $3300 – a little high, but my theory has always been that it’s worth paying a little more for the best. I started the process in February, and it should take 4-6 months.
That’s it for now in Paradise. Patricia sends out kisses to everybody, starting with Loco and Coco !
Be safe out there – it’s a crazy world
Jay and Patricia