Panama Investor Blog

See the "Donald" on CNN hyping Panama

You can click on the link below and view a 12 minute CNN interview with Donald Trump (Spanish) if you have Windows Media Player. It is amazing in that he spends so much time talking about Panama and why he believes it is such a great place to invest and live.

Few people now understand the value that this project brings to Panama and all of Central America for that matter. I believe the impact of the Trump Ocean Club is greater than that of the canal expansion, both for the economy and prestige it brings to the country.

Subject: Trump Ocean Club in Panama
Program: Economa y Finanzas
Airdate: April 24, 2006
Station: CNNE
Format: Windows Media

http://showroom.multivisioninc.com/share.do?id=28233&key=gOVHSsI8CdY8i76Omfn0sN2I0TCKW7lY&[email protected]

Panama coffees flourish despite land grab

This article on Rueters really focuses more on the coffee business rather than the hyperbole in the headline about a land grab uprooting coffee plantations. As a developer involved to some degree in many projects in the Boquete area I can tell you that I know of only a few small coffee farms that have been uprooted for residential developments. Valle Escondido was a coffee farm and a cattle farm for milk cows. The steep areas where the coffee was grown is still growing and we plant more coffee and maintain it to control erosion. The other large projects in the Boquete area are being built on cattle farms and not coffee farms, but "Land grab" makes for a great headline.

By Mike Power

BAMBITO, Panama (Reuters) - Connoisseurs have nothing but praise for Panama's tiny annual crop of gourmet coffee but they warn that farms where the best beans are grown could vanish as landowners sell to wealthy foreign retirees.

International tasters meeting in Panama's lush highland growing region this weekend to select its best coffees say that a real-estate boom has led growers to sell off farms just when the world is waking up to how good their beans can be.

Vegas land at $800k per acre. Sounds like Boquete!

This is an interesting article that gives you an idea of how the market demand has driven up land and home prices in certain retirement hot spots in the U.S., forcing developers to move further into rural areas. In this case out to the desert with the rattle snakes and cactus! Pulte homes is a perfect model for most master  planned projects as they have been doing it successfully with Del Webb for a long time.

Excerpt;
Home buyers may also be drawn to the idea of getting more "bang" for their buck. Homebuilders subsequently are giving rural communities outside the valley more serious consideration. The land is still cheap and plentiful. Local officials are welcoming. Permitting is faster. And there are fewer water restrictions.

It's official. The Donald says so!

Here is just one of the many press releases and stories coming out this week about the new Trump building in Panama. There are a lot more exciting projects going on that I will be reporting on in the next week so stay tuned.

Trump Ocean Club

Trump JV Plans $220M Mixed-Use Project in Panama

By Barbara Jarvie

Last updated: April 24, 2006  12:32pm

NEW YORK CITY-A 2.4-million-sf mixed-use development will rise in Panama City, according to its developers—a joint venture of the Trump Organization and K Group. The effort has a current price tag of approximately $220 million.

 

Fantastic TV Presentation on Panama!

The link below will take you to a streaming video all about living and investing in Panama. This is a first rate program Prima has developed for showing on U.S. TV starting in May. Many have viewed it and all come away with great enthusiasm. Take a look here;

Prima Panama Video presentation

Panama Canal expansion to create 240,000 jobs

With all that is going on in Panama right now I wonder where will the people come from to build the canal expansion. Something does not add up. 240k needed and only 150k unemployed. Coupled with the boom in construction of residential tourism we have a real challenge ahead.

Panama City.– The planned expansion of the Panama Canal will be self-financed via higher tolls, and the construction project is expected to create some 240,000 jobs, a canal official said.

The waterway's No. 2 administrator, Manuel Benitez, told reporters that if the project was approved, users would pay for the expansion.

The Treasury will not have to pay for the project, Benitez said, adding that the proposal set forth by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) "does not call for the central government to take on any type of debt to cover the financing" of the construction.

Regarding employment, "we are talking about possibly more than 240,000 additional jobs," including direct and indirect positions, the ACP official said.

Some 150,000 Panamanians are currently unemployed.

Beachfront condo slump in PANAMA City FL

This is an important article that clearly shows what can happen if prices get out of control and there becomes a glut in the market. coincidentally it has the name Panama in it.

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL, United States (UPI) -- The old adage that whatever goes up must come down is proving true for the once-hot condo market in Panama City Beach, Fla.

Real estate agents in the town report a backlog of more than 2,200 units for sale -- with more than 250 of them listed for $700,000 or more -- the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Americans Fuel Yucatan Land Grab!

The competition heats up! From the Wall Street Journal.

As Boomers Snap Up Property
In Mexico's Riviera Maya,
Some Encounter Legal Woes

By MICHAEL ALLEN
April 18, 2006; Page D1

A big cadre of American baby boomers looking to retire someplace sunny and cheap is fueling a land rush in the Riviera Maya, a small idyllic slice of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. But many land-seekers are encountering a variety of obstacles, including skyrocketing real-estate prices, confusing laws and con artists.

The "Donald" comes to Panama

This just in from my friend/developer Roger Khafif. Rumors have been circulating for some time. Now it is semi official.

Hi Sam, the unofficial word is out so pls feel free to announce the project officially on your website

- Official announcement will be on the 24th April in NYC at the Trump tower, there will be a press conference, present will be Donald Trump sr. Ivanka and Donlad jr along  with a few dignitaries such as the Panamanian ambassador to Washington among others

- investment 220 million dollars, seems to be the largest of its kind in Latin America

- first Trump venture of this size in Latin America

- Construction scheduled for end of this year

- Web site www.trumpoceanclub.com <http://www.trumpoceanclub.com>

if you want you can include Panama information and sales office number (507) 223-0200.....Thanks, Roger

Roger Khafif
K GROUP
Galeria Balboa
Avenida Balboa
Panama City
Rep. of Panama
(507) 223-0200 (office)
(507) 223-0225 (fax)
(507)6612-2222 (cell)
1-866-978-1042 (USA Toll Free #)
E-mail: [email protected]

Content to Watch Bananas Grow, More Retirees Relocate to Panama

Another great article about retiring to Panama appearing in the New York Times. I would take issue with the "watching the bananas grow" thing.

MIGRATORY retirees have lent more than a touch of gray to Florida, Arizona and Southern California. Next stop on the aging boomer bandwagon: Panama.

With low housing and living costs, a stable political environment, relatively safe streets and that tropical climate, people in their 50's and early 60's are flocking to the Central American nation, rather than working for a few more years to scrape together enough money for a condo on the Florida coast.