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Altos del María -
Page Two
Live In A Garden In The Mountains
Of Panama
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| Altos offers financing
on the purchasing of lots [rare in Panama], it also offers title insurance
through First American Title [also rare in Panama]. The terms on financing
with ten percent down, are 9% interest on five years, and 10% interest
on ten and fifteen year loans. Pure mineral rich mountain spring water
is piped to each property. The cost? Only $8 for the first 5,000 gallons,
and $1 for each 1,000 gallons thereafter. The property management
fee is $15 per month for lot owners for each lot owned, and $20 per month
for house owners. This includes trash pick up, maintenance of all
common areas, creeks, rivers, hiking trails, landscaping, road maintenance,
security and more.
Five free hours of professionally
operated heavy equipment is available for lot leveling and landscaping,
with a fee of $50 per hour thereafter. It is clear that the developers
have thought of every possible requirement that a new resident would require
and fulfilled the requirement before the fact. It is really refreshing
to see this type of forethought. This is a carefully planned project
with a great deal of intelligent design having gone into it.
All infrastructure is installed,
telephone, electricity, and water. Natural gas (propane) in Panama is delivered
to your house in tanks, a four or five month supply at a time. There
are no gas lines in Panama. Direct TV allows you to get almost every
channel you would want to see, you can watch almost any major network that
is currently available in the USA. Internet is available via dial up.
I have suggested to the developer that they install DSL so that the internet
speeds would be supersonic. |
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Live Here For Less Than Half
The Price Of The USA
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Live Like Royality In A Perfect
Crime Free Environment
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Altos has many virtues; among them
proximity to Panama City. Living in Panama City is swell, but it
is a city with everything that such a definition entails; traffic jams,
noise, and crowds of people. Living in Altos is like having your
cake and eating it too, because you can take advantage of all the positive
aspects of Panama City and still live in a garden paradise. The cool
mountain air is the biggest plus to me. Before leaving the USA I lived
in Seattle and then Portland, Oregon. The change to tropical living
required an adjustment. While I'm now accustomed to living in the tropics
I still prefer the beaches and mountains of Panama to the static sameness
of the Panama City weather. Temperatures in Panama City don't seem
to change from day to day, nor from season to season. Mornings and evenings
are pleasant, mid-day is always in the mid eighties. (365 days a year)
While it is not intolerable like Guyana, Miami or New Orelans, it isn't
mountain air and I'm never confused that it is. Yet there is so much to
do in Panama City and there is access to so many things that even those
who live in Bocas or Boquete end up coming to Panama City once or twice
a month. The designers of Altos del Maria were well aware of what
they were doing when they picked the location of this project. Access to
Panama City is a very important factor, being able to live in such invigorating
temperatures and climate so close to a major city is an excellent combination
of values.
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| Modern? Modern isn't even the
word. The word is astounding! No American who sees Panama City for
the first time fails to be astounded. It is simply amazing! That
is why EscapeArtist.com chose to have our offices here...
we owe our success to Panama. |
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Reaching Panama is easy
from either US coast. There are direct flights from Los Angeles and
from Miami. It is a quick flight from Miami; only 2 1/2 hours from
Miami to Panama. Panama City has every convenience and facility you can
imagine! It is the most modern city in Central America and is the
largest offshore international investment haven in the world. In
many ways Panama City is more modern than a mulitiude of cities in the
USA.
There are new multi-million dollar
ports going in, a new internet cable connection directly into the backbone,
a new transcontinental railroad, a new facility for cruise ships, and more
new projects than one can talk about. Panama has excellent highways, access
to two oceans on both coasts with two totally different ambiances never
more than an hour away in either direction.
In short, Panama has its act together.
Yet, very few foreigners, particularly Americans, consider Panama as a
travel destination, and even fewer think of it as a "retirement haven."
Look at the numbers:
In 1998, the last year for which
the World Tourism Organization has tourist figures, the country's total
overnight visitor count was 431,000 - 100,000 of whom came from the
United States. To put this in perspective: Panama gets about as many American
tourists in a year as Disneyland sees in three days! As the famous
Lonely Planet travel guide put it, "[it is] difficult to leave [Panama]
without feeling that you're in on a secret that the rest of the traveling
world will one day uncover." |
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| Law 54 Protects
Every Panamanian Investment
Before I moved my offices to Panama
five years ago I took an exploratory trip to see what Panama was like.
I expected to find a typical Latin American country with pot-holed roads,
ramshackle buildings and disarray. What I found was the exact opposite.
Panama City is one of the most modern cities I've ever seen, with over
150 international banks, not counting the local banks, highways that are
the most modern in Latin America, fine restaurants, modern shopping centers,
and an infrastructure that allows me to operate a high tech business under
advantageous conditions along with state of the art high speed internet
access. I couldn't duplicate what I have here in Panama up in the
USA for five times the price, (...and one hundred times the hassle.) |
| It's easier
to get a mortgage in Panama than anywhere else in Latin America.
Other than Puerto Rico, Panama is the only Latin American country where
private lenders are willing to make 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. Why?
Because the economy is stable, there is little chance of default, and the
banks know they will get their money back even if someone can't pay back
a loan. This isn't the case anywhere else in this part of the world. Plus,
Panama uses the U.S. dollar as its legal tender, which insulates its economy
from global shocks. During the Asian monetary crisis of 1998, Panama became
one of the healthiest economies in Latin America. |
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Since I've moved here the Panamanian
government has been working hard to encourage foreigners to invest in their
country's economy. This was done by passing over 40 new laws protecting
foreigners' investment rights, including the Investments Stability Law
(Law No. 54), which guarantees foreign and national investors equal rights.
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| The City Of Knowledge
& The Local Investment Climate
For EscapeArtist.com and EmbassyWorld.com
we have our offices located in the prestigious City of Knowledge. The City
of Knowledge is a place with academic institutions, scientific research
centers, cultural institutions, located inside a very modern technology
park. The City of Knowledge is open to students, professors, intellectuals,
scientists, and businessmen from around the globe to gather and exchange
knowledge and ideas on topics as diverse as philosophy, tropical medicine
or telecommunications.
We have access to a brand new state-of-the
art neutral Internet data center co-location network, and support services
that provide reliable and secure 24-hour access for mission critical equipment.
Access to the major fiber optic network including; Fiber Optic, Pan American,
Global Crossing, Maya1, Arcos.
Had I attempted to run my business
from the United States I would have gone broke. In Panama we have managed
to survive and to prosper. We now have a network that goes out to almost
30,000 viewers per day and we have received press coverage and accolades
from around the world for running a website that is a business as well
as a service to the global community. We now publish two magazines,
we are beginning a third, plus we are currently starting several new services
for those living an international lifestyle. At EmbassyWorld.com we have
the largest Embassy database in the world - which is a free to all access
website. Thanks to Panama and its 'open for business' attitude we
are prospering. |
| Panama's unique, very high tech
'City of Knowledge' The home of our website, EscapeArtist.com - For
information on moving your business into the City of Knowledge contact:
J. J. Fabrega - - - |
jjfabrega@ciudaddelsaber.org.pa
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Panama has the most modern and successful
international banking center in Latin America (and the second largest in
the world, after Switzerland), with more than 150 banks from 35 countries,
including Citibank, HSBC, Dresdner, Bank of Tokyo, Bank of Boston, and
the International Commercial Bank of China. Panama is also one of the world's
top offshore investment centers, Panama places no exchange controls or
restrictions on the movement of money into or out of the country. It is
legal and quite simple to form truly anonymous corporations here. In fact,
given recent changes in the world of offshore banking and privacy, many
believe that Panama is now the best (and perhaps the only true) remaining
tax haven in the world, with the most solid banking and corporate book
secrecy laws anywhere, engraved in the country's constitution. Non-resident
Panamanian corporations and foundations do not pay tax on any of their
income--interest income and capital gains income included. Nor do they
have any reporting requirements to the Panamanian government.
Retirement Incentives - The Pensionado
Program - Senior Citizen Discounts
The government is offering Important
incentives for foreigners to spend time here, invest here, and more important
to the point of this article, to take up residence here. Panama offers
one of the most attractive pensionado programs in the world. As a pensionado
[retiree] in Panama, you receive: - 50% discount at most recreational,
movie, and sporting events - 30% discount off public transportation (including
buses and ships) - 25% discount off Copa airline flights - 50% discount
off hotel stays on weekdays [30% on weekends] - 25% discount at selected
restaurants - 15% discount at fast food restaurants - 10% discount off
prescription drugs - 20% discount on doctor's visits - 15% discount on
dental work - 25% discount on your electric bill (if less than $50) - 25%
discount on your telephone and water bills
All that is required to qualify for
the program is that you must be sixty years of age, in good health, AIDS-free,
have an up-to-date passport from your country of citizenship and a verifiable
monthly income of at least $500 per month. Furthermore, if you buy
or build a new house, you won't pay property taxes for 20 years. As for
income taxes, you will be amazed to know that in Panama you pay no taxes
on foreign-earned income. And because Panama uses the U.S. dollar as its
legal tender, the local economy is insulated from global shocks. During
the Asian monetary crisis of 1998, Panama became one of the healthiest
economies in Latin America. The use of the U.S. dollar makes your life
here less hectic, more predictable and continually stable. You can
depend on good value in the property you buy, the business that you may
move here and the lifestyle that you live. There is never a fear
of a collapsing economy as the result of a 'funny money' Latin American
currency.
| The Caribbean and the Bocas Del
Toro Archipelago! Only 60 minutes by air from Panama City. Swim,
dive, surf, beachcomb, wind-surf, fish, sail, and live the life you've
dreamed of living. When you live in Altos Del Maria, Panama - - you
are in the center of one of the worlds most pristine natural environments
and the best expatriate investment & retirement haven in the
entire world. |
< Contact
Altos Del Maria >
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Expatriates, investors
and retirees are welcome in Panama. If you choose Panama as an investment
/ retirement haven, or as a location for your business you will be moving
to a country with a very welcoming attitude. I have been in Panama over
five years and I've never witnessed an incidence of violence, nor of animosity.
Americans are made to feel welcome everywhere they go here in Panama and
there is none of the 'outsider' feeling that exists in many Latin American
countries. The police in Panama are the most helpful, friendliest police
in the world.
In Altos Del Maria you will have
the best of all possible worlds. A perfect investment / retirement haven
with plenty to do, no taxes, no crime, peaceful people, a wonderful environment,
an entire nation to explore, twenty minute access to the Pacific Ocean,
or if you prefer the huge Bocas del Toro Archipelago to play in, plus river
rafting, fishing, golf, tennis, sailing, wind-surfing, hiking, horseback
riding, bike riding, playing bridge or poker with a flock of new friends,
just laying in a hammock, or perhaps starting a new business in a country
that knows how to treat you like an equal. |
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Click
Here to learn about areas close to Alto del Maria - - including photos
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