When I stumbled on Boquete, a quaint coffee farming community, back in the spring of the year 2000 alarm bells started ringing in my head.

Several indicators told me that real estate prices in this part of Panama were going to explode.

The only trouble was, I really didn’t have any capital back in those days. The best I could do was to start building a web site as a tool to tell others about this place and panamaatyourservice.com was born.

At that time Boquete was my main focal point and as Panama’s international exposure evolved I eventually started covering other areas of the country.

As anyone who purchased property in Boquete back in 2000-2001 will tell you, prices have since gone through the roof. Most Boquete investors would have made five to ten times their money (at least) over a three to five year period.

In fact, Bocas Del Toro went through a period of dramatic price increases even before Boquete did. A few years later, Panama City had its wave of big price increases in 2005 – 2006. Any investor who was even one year ahead of the curve by investing in any of these places before the boom could have easily doubled or tripled his or her money.

Of course, real estate worldwide went through a giant leap of gains and there is no guarantee that process will continue at such an alarming pace.

However, the fact that real estate in some parts of the world today is priced too high,  makes it even more important to look for investments in places that offer real value… places that hardly budged through the whole global real estate mania that occurred over the last three to four years.

Above: No highrise towers or snazzy resorts yet on this undiscovered beach hideaway!

That’s right, there are places in Panama today, where real estate prices have barely budged. These are spots where the speculators didn’t bother to look because the area was not blasted all over the Internet or it wasn’t mentioned by any of the big media players.

There are places in Panama today that still hold real value… places that are not over-built, over-leveraged or over-hyped. In the full version of the Panama 101 E-Book we identify six spots completely overlooked by real estate speculators and international investors.

But where are these places and how would I know for sure that they are THE next places to boom? Well, nothing in life is certain, especially when it comes to investing.

However, one advantage your author has is that I know what things were selling for in some of the hot areas before they became “hot”. I know the baseline values established by the local Panamanian markets. There are places today that still share those original baseline values.

The other advantage I have is I have been to all of these places and seen what has happened over the years. I’ve watched areas boom, one after the other, not only in Panama, but all over the world.

There is a common occurrence in the world whereby warm, tropical and beautiful locations slowly but surely become “discovered”. Yet, by the time most of us discover it, it is already too late to find a bargain.

Back in the year 2000, almost nobody believed me when I said certain places in Panama had boom potential, least of all the Panamanians themselves. I wrote an article back in 2001 announcing my views and you can read it here.

Above: The Panamanian wealthy class own massive estate homes in this highland paradise, yet prices are still reasonably low due to lack of international media and Internet coverage.

The reality is most people, Panamanians included, had NO IDEA that people from all over the world would invest millions of dollars into one of their humble fishing villages.

NOBODY EVER expected that a struggling coffee community would be considered the world’s number one retirement haven. No one had a clue that a tiny village that just happens to have a SURF BREAK, would also make a prime location for million dollar beachfront estates.

The point is, there are places TODAY that have practically the same attributes, the same potential, and the same benefits as those high-priced areas had before they became high-priced.

These are places where ten acres of land with ocean view only minutes to the beach sells for $75,000.

In one safe, comfortable community, a two bedroom house will set you back $50,000.

If you want more land, check this highland community and scoop up 200+ acres of beautiful, lush farmland with a cool highland climate and year round stream for under $200,000. Home sites one of these prime areas, 20 minutes to all the new golf and beach resorts sell for just $25,000.

If you are looking for bargains like these though, you won’t find them by searching the Internet. Why not? Because no one BELIEVES that any foreigner would want to buy property in one of these overlooked areas. There is no point advertising a property on the Internet if the only potential buyers you can expect are local farmers and fishermen.

Above: This is how real deals get discovered in Panama (no english signage, no web address, and no global real estate brokers to market this stunning ocean view lot).

If you want to find deals like these, you have to know where to start your search. In Panama 101, we’ve identified six areas that are poised to “pop”.

As amazing as it sounds, most people believe a place needs to have something special for tourists to take note and real estate prices to really take off. Actually, one of these “special” characteristics is the fact that there are no tourists or overbuilt resort complexes to be found!

Yessiree, it a lack of hotel and resort development and a lack of tourism that is one of the most important “special traits” a place needs for prices to really go sky high. Apart from a lack of tourism development, an area only needs sheer tropical beauty and friendly easy-going locals to become the world’s-next-great-but-undiscovered retirement haven!

Eight years ago, there was nothing overly special about Boquete. It had the natural beauty and the easy-going locals, but there were no tourist facilities, no golf courses, no coffee shops, no gated communities, no international cuisine, and no tourism services of any kind apart from one river rafting
adventure company that closed down for half the year.

A few smart investors at the time said, “perfect, just what I am looking for”.

Above: Panama is blessed with a lot of nicely paved roads leading to nowhere in particular. But is this the road to nowhere, or the future road to riches?

Local property owners in undiscovered areas are not real estate speculators. They are selling their property because they don’t want it anymore, and they would prefer cash instead. They don’t want to wait or “speculate” that a new resort or golf course “might” happen at some unknown moment in the future, they want their money today.

But wait, you might say, isn’t it wrong to buy up all the property from the locals and later turn around and sell it for a fortune? Isn’t there something wrong about these foreign invaders? Isn’t it bad for the environment, the culture, and the social fabric of these communities?

These are good questions for those of you who want to do the right thing and who care about more than just money. I respect people who think outside of their own self interests. In Panama 101 we address some of these issues head on.

In our view, it is not wrong to purchase land from someone who wants to sell it, what matters is what you do with the land after you buy it (and that part is up to you). Now go ahead and order our E-Book and find out for yourself where these six spots are that are overlooked by the speculators. Our E-Book is paper-free and no trees were cut down to print it!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this preview of Chapter 8 – Six Spots Overlooked by the Speculators. Chapter 8 reveals six spots still overlooked by the majority of international investors. Invest before these spots are discovered by the masses and watch your investment multiply.

Michael Manville – Copyright 2008

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