Forgive us for our lack of frequent posts over the past few months. Our back story is well known by our Facebook friends, however we recognize that our blog followers may not know what has happened since returning to the States in April. Let us fill in some of the blanks…
Immediately upon our return to Michigan we began to interview Realtors for the marketing of our home there. We selected an agent and put our home on the market. In less than a week we had it under contract so we began the tedious process of selling nearly everything we owned to prepare for our move. It is amazing how much stuff one collects over the years. Mitzi Casey, our Panama agent, found us a rental that met all our needs and we signed a lease. With all these things in motion we learned after 6 weeks that our buyers financing failed. We were at the point of no return, so we moved forward with plans for our move. Our big fear was maintaining our home in Michigan from Panama. We contracted for lawn care, housekeeping, and security and moved to Panama at the end of June.
A move overseas has many moving parts. We elected to bring only what we could carry ourselves by air. Many people who we’ve met here, have moved using shipping containers, which is very expensive. We found it liberating to get rid of everything and start fresh. That being said, we did lease a place that was furnished. We also sold both cars and bought a car in Panama. We have possession of the vehicle, however the final transfer of title is not yet complete. We will post later about the vehicle purchase process. It is difficult, but doesn’t have to be. We bought a nice, used vehicle from an individual.
Once we arrived in Panama, we had to complete our Visa process. This required about a half day with our attorney at Immigration. We had to surrender our temporary Visa cards, and have new cards issued. This is our permanent residency card which is issued for an indefinite time. The process is now complete. We have applied for our Cedula which is the ID carried by all people in Panama. The Cedula is recognized for doing business. It is easier to conduct bank business, make large purchases, and other things. Our drivers licenses will have to be renewed before the end of next month, because upon their original issue they were only good as long as our temporary Visas. We can do that right near where we live.
A lot of our research indicates that we can live on a very low budget in Panama. What we are finding is that with our Pensionado Visa we get great discounts and our costs for healthcare, insurances, and taxes are significantly less than in the States. We will be living on the Pacific Ocean in a great condo for around the same price as our home in Michigan.The difference is our home insurance is more than 1/3 the price, and we will not pay taxes for the next 10 years. After that the taxes are very low. In future posts we hope to start laying out direct comparisons for cost of living in Panama compared to the States.
We have spent the last several days getting settled into our condo in San Carlos. Our view of the ocean and marina over the golf course is incredible and our new place checked off all of our needs. It is a rental so we will have to settle for some things that we would do differently. We still stand by our decision to rent for a year until we are sure that we have chosen the right neighborhood. Inquiring minds want to see our place, so we are sharing some pictures.
That will bring most of you up to speed. We are still waiting on a buyer for our home in Michigan. We are amazed by the interest, and know that God has a plan for everything. We will be making frequent trips back until it sells. We know so many people who maintain two residences, and we have a new respect for all they do.
As we get settled here in Panama, keep following while we continue to develop new relationships, and learn Spanish. We know that some of you follow to see what we are up to and some follow to learn about the Immigration process. We want to continue to mix everything into this and illustrate our experience and best practices. We love to have you all viewing. As always we hope that you will like, share, and comment. If you are a subscriber, please start adding content. We know that there are multiple perspectives to what we are experiencing.
For now Buenos,
Greg and Jen
