Somewhere in the world more than 8,000 vessels are flying the Panamanian flag. To put this into perspective consider that the second largest merchant fleet in the world (Liberia) claims roughly 2,000 vessels.
There are a lot of reasons why so many yacht and ship owners would come so far to register their boats. For starters, offshore income derived by a vessel registered in Panama is exempt from taxes. There is no minimum tonnage requirement for registration here and Panama’s corporate secrecy laws can provide absolute privacy for a vessel’s owners.
There is another big plus for yacht owners when they purchase a boat in Panama for $200,000 or more. Transactions of this kind may qualify the buyer for a “Person of Means” visa. This can make coming and going from Panama easier while opening the door to dual citizenship.
If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of registering a vessel in Panama, you should begin your research by developing a strong relationship with a local attorney. You will find that there are many third party resources to help you select the best one for your needs. These groups provide unbiased reviews of providers in Panama’s professional community speeding you to a successful pairing.
For more information on banking and tax strategies, estate management, employment, forming a Panamanian foundation or corporation, real estate, trade policy, local economics, vessel registration, obtaining legal counsel, or any other topic related to doing business in Panama… click here
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
The Tucan Golf course in Panama is just outside Panama City. This 6,618 yard, par 72 championship course is bordered by tropical rain forest and has views of the skyscrapers of Panama City as well as the Bridge of the Americas crossing the Panama Canal.
Tucan was designed by American golf course architect Jeffrey Meyers and built by Gregori International and is one of the most challenging golf courses in Panama.
The front nine on Tucan is the part bordered by rainforest and frequented by birds you thought only existed in magazine photos while the back nine opens up to vistas of the city and the Panama Canal.
True its reputation as a championship course Tucan has its share of water hazards in the line of play as well as to the side of play. This course is playable and impeccably maintained year round, including during Panama’s rainy season.
As a country club Tucan has villas and apartment for living on site where you can play a championship level golf course every day of the year. Homes at Tucan range from 2,300 to 5,000 square feet and feature elegant designs for luxurious living.
Playing golf in Panama means two seasons, wet and dry. The summer in Panama runs from December to May and means Tucan needs to water its fairways and greens. Winter in Panama is the rainy season from May to December when Tucan turns off the tap. Despite the fact that rainfall in Panama is measured in feet instead of inches Tucan is designed so that the course is playable year round although you will probably want to sit out the hour-long afternoon shower in the clubhouse.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Although Panamanians are generally smart, loyal and kind people, the seriously high stress levels are disabling city residents! The noise level averages in Panama City will red line a decibel meter. Are the frazzle meters red-lining in Panama City too? And remember the frazzle theory is: while frazzled we cannot concentrate or think clearly.
Panama City’s transportation issues make many people feel unsafe and anxious. Perhaps partially because the “red devil” buses providing mass transit throughout the country are historically extremely hazardous as they careen through the streets, honking.
These city streets make people feel anxious, because the operating system for the Panama City taxi cabs allows anything on four tires to be a cab and to charge whatever they want. Traffic lights are at a minimum and auto inspection standards to take the wrecks off the roads are nonexistent. With the majority of crossroads having no traffic management, drivers all honk their way through most all the intersections and pedestrians are always in danger.
Panama City streets are full of racing, brightly painted buses and smelly, 1970’s Toyota’s with no seat belts, doors that spring open on a whim and windows that don’t work; spouting smelly smoke out of their unsecured tailpipes, and honking endlessly, while the driver debates his inflated fee with you at the top of his voice. Is that good? It doesn’t look, smell or sound like paradise to me.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Ok…now we’re going to talk about what defines quality of life in Panama City, Panama. You know, it’s one of those topics well-educated people keep trying to tell the rest of us about, like sun spots, global warming…and human interaction engineering. Hmmm, I may have to re-educate myself to ride on this train of thought. Want to come along…?
My quality of life today is based on how well I’m living my life – today – in the company of the humans I have interactions with. Whomever I spend time with affects my state of mind…my personal infrastructure. If I’m around people who are happy and healthy, I will feel more happy and healthy because of interacting with them. So it is to my advantage to improve the state of mind of the people I interact with… if I want to be good.
A city is socially defined by the combination of services, supplies and amenities it offers. Yet even more important is the mode in which the people deliver the services. Is the person at the cash register happy or miserable? Is the taxi driver a bundle of nerves or relaxed and at ease? Those experiences we share with others make up our social infrastructure. All of us who share this intersection of latitude and longitude share the stresses of our environment, here and now. Not because it’s our choice…but because there is no other choice, no matter what income disparities may exist.
Progress in improving the quality of life in Panama City is learning how to make things better and doing it…because it’s a good thing to do. In Panama City, there is room to do some good.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
According to a well-written opinion in Oct. 2007 edition of ‘The Economist’:
“Panama’s real-estate market is in the midst of an unprecedented explosion. A combination of easy credit, foreign demographic trends and, most importantly, quite a bit of speculative momentum appears to be behind the surge in investments in the luxury residential market. The intense level of enthusiasm is raising questions about the sustainability of demand, the likely strain on infrastructure, and the potential risks to some investors and end users should the market suddenly burst.”
What I find interesting is the relatively small number of fixes it would take to make your project in Panama City, Panama the tropical home in paradise your eventual residential investors are dreaming about. If the luxury demand is supported and sustained by Panamanians providing world class services, everyone wins.
Surely there is a way to help prep Panama City, Panama to be the new leader in Central America, in updating infrastructure and learning what it takes to become world class in delivering services and supplies. If in helping to lead more peaceful management of its infrastructure’s unprecedented growth; as a sidebar, it makes Panama a happier and healthier place to live –wouldn’t that be an added benefit? Let’s talk about it, and how doing it…is being good.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
The term infrastructure – came to prominence in the U.S., following publication of America in Ruins, which initiated a public-policy discussion of the America’s ‘infrastructure’ crisis, purported to be caused by decades of inadequate investment and poor maintenance of public works.
Public works infrastructure refers to: urban highways, streets, roads, and bridges; mass transit; airports and airways; water supply and resources; wastewater management; solid-waste treatment and disposal; electric power generation and transmission; telecommunications; and hazardous waste management – according to Wikipedia.
Public works policy discussions are in order in Panama. There are significant issues with the infrastructure in Panama City. It is not fun to live with these issues in this city.
Before all the new residents move into the new buildings and then have to wait six months for phone service, developers can make a new plan with the utility companies now. Mass transportation alternatives can be considered and revenue can be earmarked for solutions to stop gridlock of all the streets and honking of all the horns. Initiate noise abatement planning now and by the time your buyers settle into their new homes, maybe the new residents of Panama City won’t have to wear earplugs every night to be able to sleep well in this high decibel town.
Would Panama City just look good then, or would it really be good? Can you help with the foresight, the relationship management and the operating of the levers of power so that these issues are given the attention they need NOW…?
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
A study by Prima Panama identified some 107 building projects under construction in 15 neighborhoods in Panama City as of July, 2007 with a total of 10,980 apartments. The total value of these projects is estimated at US $3.17 billion. These projects will be completed and come to market into 2010. Furthermore, since the Prima study was completed 25 more projects have been announced.
Even if all of the projects don’t come to fruition, this constitutes an enormous increase in population in Panama City very quickly. Calculating with the units selling well, will equal roughly 40,000 new residents in Panama City within the next five years or so, based on current predictions.
Although the city’s infrastructure is administrating services for the current population with limited success, the serious issue is that the Panama City’s infrastructure simply isn’t going to be able to manage all the projected additional residents, when the current populace is straining the systems beyond their abilities. What are you planning to do to help prepare the Panama City infrastructure for your investors? Mmm…is that silence I hear? But on paper the projections look so good…
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Have you noticed the street that your investment property is being built on at the Punta Pacifica shoreline in Panama City? It’s a dead end street lined on both sides with huge multi-story residential properties…most of them under construction now. Tremendous investments in Panama City’s Pacific Oceanfront real estate are represented on that street. They look good.
Please put on your virtual reality helmet and take a look at the future of that little street…in oh, let’s say – five years. In that moment of vision into the future: it is a two lane blacktop road, lined with lots of very valuable automobiles all sitting in rows, one going each direction with their motors running, unable to move more than about five inches at a time, as all the elegantly dressed people in the back seats seethe. Did you happen to think about ease of access to your multi million dollar property, when you noted that street being represented as a dead end on the initial site plans? Or did you just think it looked good?
Hmm…what else was excluded from your overview? Did your considerations include utility set up for your investors? How about deals to keep the investor residents from standing in lines at the immigration office for a couple of hours a month to keep their visa viable? Do you plan to make introductions to Panamanian bankers, who aren’t willing to talk with just anyone; or reliable attorneys to help them to get settled in Panama legally, tax accountants that know how to answer their foreign resident questions? Is your plan good or does it just look good?
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
The cautious optimist in each of us – is delighted with special treatment coming from excellent staff members at whatever hospitality location we chose as our destination. Being met at the airport is nice; having your questions clearly answered as they occur is delightful. However the most advantageous information may be provided with your complimentary welcome cocktails; such as setting up drivers who speak your language, and free local phone use during your visit.
If the really important options you’re seeking are introductions to the Panamanian professionals who can help get what you need done efficiently, you may need to search a little harder. Connections such as helping to make your banking relationships easier to start up, providing introductions to realtors who will have your best interests at heart and tour planning professional who graciously and honorably fill your needs , then some of the innkeepers in Panama are doing a more wonderful job of welcoming you to Panama, than others.
The most ancient form of marketing for any business is word of mouth. One individual who has an excellent business exchange, shares that news with his neighbor, who chooses to do business with that company also. In the hospitality industry now…most organizations have become so large, their employees are no longer in touch with their clients needs and don’t have the connections in their own circle to provide contacts for potential business connections, so that ball is dropped. That isn’t the case with innkeepers who manage one special niche market…as owners and operators for bed and breakfast lodging in Panama City, Panama. Let’s introduce you to a few of the bed and breakfast entrepreneurs located in and around the city.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Four Points by Sheraton
Marbela & 53rd Street, At the World Trade Center
Four Points Sheraton Panama has European décor and is located conveniently in Marbella, one of the trendier spots in Panama City. The rooms are comfortable, the facilities for business trips supportive. It is within walking distance of restaurants and the MultiPlaza Shopping Center.
“Wireless internet access is available in the lobby and bar area. Kind of a pain to have to run downstairs every time you want to warm up your laptop, but it beats paying $14 per day for access,” said one travel commentator. Some of the amenities offered: 24-hour room service; business center/services, including a conference room, concierge desk; fitness facility; outdoor pool; whirlpool/hot tub laundry service, tennis court; wheelchair accessibility and free parking.
Some find the location, in the new high-rise part of town, a bit stark and there are some traveler reviews that focus on lack of cleanliness, but it is relatively convenient to the Tocumen (PTY) Airport and Casco Viejo for a mid level cost of $190 a night, with a breakfast buffet included in some plans.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
