Post by DorothyB on Feb 21, 2015 17:07:12 GMT -5
I can't remember how much I have shared here, so will try to do the condensed version.
I have friends who are with YWAM in Panama. The husband is the one who remodeled my kitchen before the left and my bathroom during one of their trips home.
I went to visit them in April 2013. I was nearly overwhelmed with the peace, sense of security, simple lifestyle, etc there. Part of that was probably due to the high stress going on in my life at the time. My friends were starting to look for a house or land to build a house there. I asked them to let me know when they found something. My original thinking was that I would give them a bit of money to help, but that gradually grew to me having a small house there for when I went to visit or even possibly move someday if I decided the US wasn't where I wanted to be.
Another friend and I visited them in February 2014. I still felt the strong sense that I wanted to have a place in Panama. Strange, but that was how I felt. We looked at a couple of plots that were supposed to be for sale soon, etc.
My friends have continued to look around. There are two lots on their street that were interesting, but didn't grab them. They had a lead on a good house in December which they had been told would be for sale when the owner returned to the country in mid-January. She returned, but moved into the house instead of putting it on the market.
I went for another visit earlier this month. Now that I'm retired, I could stay two weeks instead of one week or less. I thought that we would spend more time this trip looking at various pieces of property, etc so that I could better understand where they were talking about when they found land or a house.
I arrived on Monday evening. Tuesday evening some acquaintances of theirs said that they might be interested in selling part of their property. We drove by there in the dark and could see the lights of the neighboring town, so knew it had a mountain view. Wednesday morning we looked at it with the owners, then went home to see if we could make it work. Thursday morning we told them we wanted it.
Not sure how large it is. It is shaped like a skinny pie piece. The two long sides might be over 300'. The property has been cleared and there are various trees & plants on it - pineapple, blackberry, avocado, moringa, etc. It has views of two mountains. The survey done when the property was purchased shows a street that hasn't been built yet (and knowing Panama may never be built). The skinny corner of the property has a culvert for a driveway. Then the plat shows the real road splitting off, with the "imaginary" road going along the property line and the "real" road angling away with a triangle of "public land" in between. So from the property line, there is a 20' flat grassy area, then a drainage ditch, then more flat grassy area and then the real road. We anticipate never having anyone living on our side of the real road because it is "county" property. The neighbors on the long side of the property are: a couple that is affiliated with the YWAM base (he has the largest plot), then the couple that are directors of the base, then that man's parents (but their property might not quite touch ours. So all of the neighbors along that property line are friends. The third side - the ) of the pie shape - is owned by the friends that are selling. They aren't affiliated with the base, but are a nice friendly couple.
Other friends of ours purchased a home in need of major repair several months ago. To give you an idea, they tore off the roof and let the rain wash the inside before the work started. They hired a contractor to add about 12' along one side of the entire house and also had an additional slab poured and roof over it that is probably at least 20' x 25'. The addition to the building meant moving the kitchen, etc. Their contractor has done a great job and is willing to do our job. The week we found the property, he said he could start when he returns from a visit to the US that starts as soon as he finishes the last bits of the current job. Then he called the next day and said ticket prices had doubled so he was postponing his trip.
The rest of my time there was spent finalizing building plans and shopping. My casita is 21 x 22. There will be a patio on one side, then my carport then one carport for my friends, then their house. All will eventually be under one roof so that we can go from one to the other without getting wet. They will use my carport also at first, but later will build a "bodega" with a covered outside portion for their second vehicle.
Panama is quite different from the US. The house will be built with concrete blocks covered with rapello. My ceilings will probably be 10' high. We are going very "gringo" and I will have hot water in my kitchen and in my shower as well as air conditioning.
I've picked out my bathroom trim
I picked some blue tile to go below that. Still undecided about tiling above with white or painting it. Mildew is a huge issue there. I also picked out glass block for two of the shower walls which will only be 6' high. It looks like this www.homedepot.com/p/Pittsburgh-Corning-8-in-x-8-in-x-3-in-SeaScapes-Glass-Block-10-CA-110510/204734454?N=5yc1vZas84 In addition, I picked out the floor tile for the entire casita and we looked at what I liked as far as faucets, kitchen hardware, ceiling fans, etc, etc.
I'm not sure if my friends have signed the actual contract yet. It was supposed to happen last Thursday. The surveyor completed his work several days before I left Panama. The contractor is ready to break ground this coming week. He will start with building a shack. There has to be a building before we can get the first electricity service and it will also give him a place to store materials, etc.
I plan to make two more trips to Panama this year and will likely go for a couple of weeks at least twice a year - maybe longer and maybe more often. I don't plan to move there - I have horses and dogs and a church family and a home here.
I have friends who are with YWAM in Panama. The husband is the one who remodeled my kitchen before the left and my bathroom during one of their trips home.
I went to visit them in April 2013. I was nearly overwhelmed with the peace, sense of security, simple lifestyle, etc there. Part of that was probably due to the high stress going on in my life at the time. My friends were starting to look for a house or land to build a house there. I asked them to let me know when they found something. My original thinking was that I would give them a bit of money to help, but that gradually grew to me having a small house there for when I went to visit or even possibly move someday if I decided the US wasn't where I wanted to be.
Another friend and I visited them in February 2014. I still felt the strong sense that I wanted to have a place in Panama. Strange, but that was how I felt. We looked at a couple of plots that were supposed to be for sale soon, etc.
My friends have continued to look around. There are two lots on their street that were interesting, but didn't grab them. They had a lead on a good house in December which they had been told would be for sale when the owner returned to the country in mid-January. She returned, but moved into the house instead of putting it on the market.
I went for another visit earlier this month. Now that I'm retired, I could stay two weeks instead of one week or less. I thought that we would spend more time this trip looking at various pieces of property, etc so that I could better understand where they were talking about when they found land or a house.
I arrived on Monday evening. Tuesday evening some acquaintances of theirs said that they might be interested in selling part of their property. We drove by there in the dark and could see the lights of the neighboring town, so knew it had a mountain view. Wednesday morning we looked at it with the owners, then went home to see if we could make it work. Thursday morning we told them we wanted it.
Not sure how large it is. It is shaped like a skinny pie piece. The two long sides might be over 300'. The property has been cleared and there are various trees & plants on it - pineapple, blackberry, avocado, moringa, etc. It has views of two mountains. The survey done when the property was purchased shows a street that hasn't been built yet (and knowing Panama may never be built). The skinny corner of the property has a culvert for a driveway. Then the plat shows the real road splitting off, with the "imaginary" road going along the property line and the "real" road angling away with a triangle of "public land" in between. So from the property line, there is a 20' flat grassy area, then a drainage ditch, then more flat grassy area and then the real road. We anticipate never having anyone living on our side of the real road because it is "county" property. The neighbors on the long side of the property are: a couple that is affiliated with the YWAM base (he has the largest plot), then the couple that are directors of the base, then that man's parents (but their property might not quite touch ours. So all of the neighbors along that property line are friends. The third side - the ) of the pie shape - is owned by the friends that are selling. They aren't affiliated with the base, but are a nice friendly couple.
Other friends of ours purchased a home in need of major repair several months ago. To give you an idea, they tore off the roof and let the rain wash the inside before the work started. They hired a contractor to add about 12' along one side of the entire house and also had an additional slab poured and roof over it that is probably at least 20' x 25'. The addition to the building meant moving the kitchen, etc. Their contractor has done a great job and is willing to do our job. The week we found the property, he said he could start when he returns from a visit to the US that starts as soon as he finishes the last bits of the current job. Then he called the next day and said ticket prices had doubled so he was postponing his trip.
The rest of my time there was spent finalizing building plans and shopping. My casita is 21 x 22. There will be a patio on one side, then my carport then one carport for my friends, then their house. All will eventually be under one roof so that we can go from one to the other without getting wet. They will use my carport also at first, but later will build a "bodega" with a covered outside portion for their second vehicle.
Panama is quite different from the US. The house will be built with concrete blocks covered with rapello. My ceilings will probably be 10' high. We are going very "gringo" and I will have hot water in my kitchen and in my shower as well as air conditioning.
I've picked out my bathroom trim
I picked some blue tile to go below that. Still undecided about tiling above with white or painting it. Mildew is a huge issue there. I also picked out glass block for two of the shower walls which will only be 6' high. It looks like this www.homedepot.com/p/Pittsburgh-Corning-8-in-x-8-in-x-3-in-SeaScapes-Glass-Block-10-CA-110510/204734454?N=5yc1vZas84 In addition, I picked out the floor tile for the entire casita and we looked at what I liked as far as faucets, kitchen hardware, ceiling fans, etc, etc.I'm not sure if my friends have signed the actual contract yet. It was supposed to happen last Thursday. The surveyor completed his work several days before I left Panama. The contractor is ready to break ground this coming week. He will start with building a shack. There has to be a building before we can get the first electricity service and it will also give him a place to store materials, etc.
I plan to make two more trips to Panama this year and will likely go for a couple of weeks at least twice a year - maybe longer and maybe more often. I don't plan to move there - I have horses and dogs and a church family and a home here.
