• Expat Retirement
• Overseas Retirement Information

      by Matt & Mary

We always tell people that contact us the best place to live depends on the person looking. We have friends in the jungle, beach, city, mountains and places in between. The country is so diverse that there is a place for everyone.

The best way to find a house or apartment is to start networking with people in Panama. People have to narrow down their search as to where they want to live first before going to the second step. When we first started out looking we met with 7 different realtors--these were the only ones on the internet at the time. We did not know what we wanted, but I would know when I saw it.

Of the 7 original realtors/developers we dealt with we found only 2 that we considered honest .. Pedro from Panama Realty Corp .. and George Smith of Coronado. Both men were punctual on our appointments and were not pushy. There are a lot of "unethical" realtors out there and we ran into a couple of them. People should use people by word of mouth and then always be cautious when dealing with them.

Land prices and housing prices can vary greatly, once again it all depends on where you are looking. To build a house is also all over the board, it just depends on where you are building.

Food can be very reasonable, at the same time it can be expensive. I have found that the brand names in Panama are just as good if not better than the U.S. brands we were used to in the US. You will pay premium for the US brands, plus it will also depend on where you shop for groceries. You can hit restaurants all across the board. You will pay more for restaurants if they are "trendy" and want to serve only tourists. There are a lot of great "mom and pop" restaurants out there.

The weather can vary depending on where you are in Panama. The mountains/jungles tend to get a lot more rain then other parts.

The internet is widely available and so is Direct TV or cable. It just depends on where you settle. I have the internet for $45/month and Direct TV for $46/month. I have not had any real problems with either. I have a dish on our roof for the internet.

If you are living in the city you probably won't need a car, even the outlaying areas if you want to take the public buses. There always seems to be buses going by our house and from what we understand it is very inexpensive to ride.

The locals are VERY friendly, that is part of the reason we decided to retire in Panama. Matt had a tire blow out the other night and by the time he pulled off the road there were 3 cars behind him helping him. They wouldn't even let him change his tire or accept any money from him!!

From what I understand you have to have a very specialized background to get work down here. Unemployment is very high in PC. Also it depends on what type of visa you have.

Matt & Mary operate http://www.whypanama.com