IL Postcard

Panama City Real Estate Conference Call-- Reserver Your Spot Today

Date: 06/16/2006

Dear Panama First Alert Reader,

Construction in Panama City is booming. The capitol's skyline already is a tall-growth forest of dramatic skyscrapers. Building permits jumped 91 percent last year and new projects have been announced almost daily.

According to www.Emporis.com, a website that tracks international construction data, Panama City has 121 completed high-rises - defined as buildings of 12 or more stories - and more than 100 are currently under construction, 21 have been approved and at least 12 are in the proposal stage.

What does this mean for the city and the real estate market there?

It depends…on plans for the expansion of the canal, which may bring as many as 10,000 foreign workers to the city…and on the strength of the local Panamanian market…and on the continued growth of the foreign retiree market.

These are the issues and questions we'll address in a call you don't want to miss if you have an interest in Panama City real estate - as a retiree, an expat, or an investor.

We're calling in the big guns for this one.

We're hosting a special live conference call, moderated by Lief Simon, International Living's global real estate editor. Joining Lief will be Panama Attorney Rainelda Mata-Kelly. She'll be fielding questions about legal and governmental issues - specifically those that pertain to foreigners buying real estate in Panama. We'll also have Jose Bern on the panel. He's an executive from Empresas Bern, one of the largest and most prestigious development groups in Panama. He'll talk about his own projects, of course, as well as offer perspective about the local market in general. Jose Talor, vice president of sales and distribution for Banistmo Bank, will join us to talk about banking, mortgage financing and more.

And we're very honored and pleased that Julio Fabrega will join us. He's Panama's Minister of Trade and he will specifically address investment opportunities in the country. Julio's presence ensures that we'll be getting information directly from the country's most reliable source.

Some of the topics to be covered include:

• The hottest areas to buy in Panama right now
• What are the going prices?
• The rental markets in specific areas
• Rights and responsibilities of foreign investors
• How to qualify for mortgage financing
• Property tax exemptions: how have they affected prices and what is the future status of the law?
• What are the issues to look out for?
• And…we'll certainly talk at length about all those high-rise buildings. Who is building these projects and why? Who is buying them? Will supply outstrip demand? And what's the government's position on this? Will they continue to dish out permits or could there be a moratorium on permits until demand catches up with supply like we've seen in some other markets?

If you have questions like these about Panama, this is your chance to get them answered. But don't delay. If you are interested in listening in, please sign up today. We can only accommodate a limited number of people for this live event.

And since we know you want your questions answered as quickly as possible, we've scheduled this conference call to take place as soon as possible.

Mark Your Calendar: the Live Panama Conference Call will take place on June 29 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

This event will be free for International Living Roundtable and Lifetime Members. For International Living print subscribers there will be a minimal charge of just $9.95, for all other others $14.95.

Follow the link to reserve your spot for our first-ever Live Panama Conference Call.

Best Regards,

Brandon Clogston
International Living / Panama

P.S. If you participate in the Live Panama Conference Call, we think you'll be packing your bags for Panama very soon. So we want to remind you that we are hosting a Live and Prosper in Panama Seminar July 20-22. If you wait to register until after the conference call, though, you may be out of luck as this event is already nearly sold out. Find out more about the Live and Invest in Panama Seminar event here.