5 Tips for choosing an apartment in Panama

Actualizado: abr 26

Ciudad de Panamá

1. Choose the correct zone:

Before starting the search for an ideal area that has all the conditions you want in your home, you must first determine your ability to pay. I recommend you visit your trusted bank to indicate, based on your personal or family income, your debt capacity, the amount that said banking institution can finance you and the terms that the bank will impose on you to give you financing. Now when you know what your budget is, you can start the search for your next home, when choosing a residential area it is like choosing a partner, you are going to marry the community, the neighbors, the infrastructure, access and everything that characterizes area. You must determine what is acceptable for you and what you definitely cannot tolerate, with this first filter I am sure you will reduce drastic

La ciudad de Panamá se caracteriza por sus rascacielos a lado del Mar.

Then analyze the benefits: proximity to your job or your children's school; places you like to frequent such as restaurants, parks, gym, beauty salon, green areas, etc., the rates of public services is also a benefit or disadvantage depending on the area you choose, if you have children or pets it is very important that in the area you find places of recreation where you can take them, the idea of looking for a home is to receive quality of life. Last but not least, compare the prices of your final options and the option that offers you the best cost-benefit should be your ideal option, however, not in all cases it is so, sometimes everything is combined: the area, the benefits and the price, but the property does not transmit the heat of home. In that case I would not recommend that you choose that property because it is very possible that you want to sell it in a short time since you will not feel comfortable. The most important thing is that the property you choose transmits the warmth of home and you feel like a king or queen in his reign.

2. Use a real estate consultant:

This point is reinforced by what I explained in the previous point, the usefulness of a real estate consultant is that he will share his knowledge about areas, prices, financing conditions and most importantly, he knows the problems that a specific building may have, such as Example: problems with gas lines, bad neighbors, or poor management.

It is not essential to use a real estate consultant, but believe me it can save you time and money.

3. Set priorities:

The priorities vary according to the client, if they are a couple, the man has priorities such as: size of the parking lot, size of the bathroom or the balcony and the woman has others such as: size of the closet, size of the bedrooms and size of the kitchen. Now, this is not a rule written in stone, but in my experience they are recurring aspects, the social area is an interesting phenomenon because customers always aspire to have a social area with a pool, gym, party room, etc. Actually, I would say that 90% do not use the social area, in my opinion the social area is more a matter of social etiquette than a real need, however, it is always relaxing to see the pool from your balcony. The important thing is that you determine after the benefits of the area, which characteristics of the property are essential and which are not, so that your purchase decision is based on your real needs and not on social aspirations.

4. New apartment or used apartment ?:

Una ventaja de los bienes raíces de segunda mano en Panamá, es que puedes conseguir opciones con mejoras de diseño.

At this point there are mixed currents depending on who you ask, if you ask a developer, they will tell you that the best is a new apartment, or if you ask a third party, some will tell you that it is new, others will say that it is used. My opinion in this debate is that the right thing is what best suits your needs, having said that I will tell you the advantages and disadvantages of both.

· Apartamento Nuevo:

1. You will be the first owner. 2. New buildings are always damaged, you may have to deal with one. 3. Prices per square meter at least in the current market in Panama are higher than a used apartment. 4. Based on their value, they have fewer square meters than a used one. 5. Banks offer you a better rate and the initial payment is lower. 6. Maintenance fees are sometimes higher. 7. If it's a presale, you'll have to deal with construction times. 8. Finally and I think that most importantly, new apartments at the time of delivery always present increases in price; for construction expenses or differences in the delivered vs. the offered footage.

· Used Apartment:

1. You will be the second or third, maybe even the fourth owner. 2. In many cases you buy it with improvements in design or furniture. 3. The price per square meter is lower than a new apartment. 4. Bank interest and initial payment are higher. 5. Usually they have more square meters than a new apartment in the same area. 6. The maintenance fee may be lower. 7. The possible damage to the construction of the building was already faced by the previous owner. In summary, analyze what is best for you based on your budget, benefits and features you are looking for for your next home.

Un departamento de segunda mano, puede ser un tesoro por descubrir.

5. Investigate the legal status of the property:

It is not common, but it happens that you visit an apartment and everything appears to be fine in terms of price, conditions of the property, benefits of the area, etc .; but not even the owner knows that the property has been seized or has any legal process in which the property was seized or there is even an error in the property's registry data in the Public Registry and they must be corrected in order to carry out the sale. In these cases it is the job of a real estate consultant, be it an agent, a lawyer or both, to verify the property and verify that everything is in order with the property. My recommendation is that you always use the services of a suitable advisor with a real estate brokerage license or if you only require a diagnosis you can hire the services of a real estate attorney who verifies the property and the contracts you will sign for the purchase.

I hope my recommendations are useful to you and if you are in the process of buying an apartment in Panama. Do you need advice? fill out the following form: