All Forum Posts by: Jackie Lange

Jared

I have lived in Panama since 2010.  I still own rentals in the USA and do wholesale flips there plus creative real estate education. And I do creative real estate and investing in Panama too. 

Many of the same techniques and strategies in the US work just as well, if not better, in Panama.

I also own a tour company in Panama.  

@Jolu Talampas  I have a lot of creative real estate training I have at my site.  

You will do very well with real estate in Minot.  

OMG!  I lived in Minot for 3 l-o-n-g winters when my hubby was stationed there.  

You are also sitting on an opportunity to buy houses subject-to the mortgage then keeping them as rentals.  Because the oil business slowed down there, many people will want to move to find work elsewhere.  These are subject-to opportunities. You don't have to get a loan to buy rental properties.  Take over existing financing. 

Don't overlook the opportunity to just lease a house then sublease it (called a master lease).  This can provide really great cash flow without buying houses.  You don't have to buy houses to produce cash flow.

It depends on what your objectives are with real estate investing.

If you want to build cash flow super fast - without buying houses - then I recommend David Tilney's Master Leasing and Hassle Free Management seminar in April www.DavidTilney.com

If you want to learn creative ways to buy, finance, sell, exchange and do joint ventures, then Peter Fortunato's class is May is the best. www.PeterFortunato.com

These are both affordable seminars, full of lots of content.  There are no sales pitches or upsells.  David has 35+ years of successful experience and Peter has 50+ years of successful experience. These are the kind of people you should be learning from! 

Too bad you just missed the annual CashFlowDepot Panama Retreat - it had training on all the above plus much more.

I thought about building shipping container houses on some property I own in Panama but it would actually cost me more to build with shipping containers than concrete block - which is common construction in Panama. 

Shipping containers delivered to your property and set in place are super cheap in Panama. But finding construction people who know how to turn them in to a house or office is expensive.

Here's an amazing shipping container house in Panama.  There are a lot of details about the entire project.

http://www.panamashippingcontainerhouse.com/

Also, in Panama, there are expats (non-Pamanians) who only live in Panama a few months out of the year so they can try to sell real estate to foreigners.  They are not full time and really don't have a good handle on the market or the latest laws.   An expat cannot be a real estate agent in Panama.  For an expat to legally sell real estate in Panama, they can act as a "real estate consultant" working under a Panamanian real estate broker.  Even then the expat will need a work permit to legally sell anything in Panama.  If an expat wants to sell you anything ask to see their work permit.  If they don't have a work permit, don't work with them. 

In Panama you need to be especially careful to AVOID buying any ROP (right of possession) properties.  ROP property is not titled. 

Never sign a contract or put any money up until YOUR Panama attorney has done a complete title search and YOUR Panama attorney creates the purchase contract.    The title search may reveal that the person trying to sell you property in Panama is not even the owner yet represents themselves as the owner.  

I know several people who bought ROP ocean front land in Panama - only to find out later that they could not build on it or that Panamanian family members claim the land so the buyer lost all their money.  

I've talked to several people who have bought in to the speciality coffee parcels. They explained that part of the ROI is based on being able to resell your parcels quickly for a profit and not exclusively from the sale of the coffee.

Note that there is a 5% capital gains tax in Panama and you'd also have to pay capital gains taxes in the United States. This needs to be calculated in to the evaluation.

I need to replace the roof on a few of my rentals.  Any recommendations for a roofer in North Dallas?

PASS on this one.  If the market tanks in Houston, you'll be way under water fast.  There are better deals out there.