Oct. 25, 2009
Azuero Sunset Coast, Panama
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17 Ways To Profit From Real Assets Right Now
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Dear
Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
Don't worry; it's not something you have to keep secret from the kids.
Pleasure investing is making investments that provide not only a financial return, but a more personal one, as well. Pleasure investing is investing for both profit and fun. It's enjoying your efforts to make money.
In the current global climate, you want to be invested in real, productive assets. As friend from Argentina Steve Rosburg put it during our Global Real Estate Profits Summit in Panama City last week, "You want to be positioned in real assets, because that's where consumers are putting their money now. A fundamental shift has taken place in the marketplace. I think of it as a shift to value consumption. People want to pay less while believing they're getting more.
"This is why the price of Argentine wine is appreciating. This is why the occupancy at boutique hotels in Buenos Aires is increasing while that at commodity hotels in the city is lagging."
Steve and the dozen other speakers at the conference last week spent two-and-a-half days detailing particular value investments worth owning right now--timber, vineyards, hotels, rentals in key markets...
Value investments that also qualify as pleasure investments...opportunities to make money while reaping, as well, tremendous personal enjoyment.
One investment opportunity at the top of this value investment list right now is beachfront, specifically beachfront in Panama.
Panama is the new Florida. As retirees up north continue to take stock of their situations and to consider their options, increasingly, it's Panama that gets their attention. You, dear reader, already understand why. Panama is this region's land of bests and superlatives. It is easy to get to, Central America's travel hub. It offers the best package of special benefits for the foreign retiree, plus an affordable cost of living and the best infrastructure in the region; no other Central American city begins to compare with Panama City.
Panama is home to established and fast-growing expatriate communities. It's one of the world's last remaining banking, tax, and offshore havens. And it's perhaps the best place on earth right now to start and run an international business.
It's also a natural paradise. Panama is home to two long coasts and myriad sand-fringed islands, plus some of the best deep-sea fishing, surfing, snorkeling, and scuba diving anywhere. Around its Coiba island lies the largest coral reef on the Pacific side of the Americas, and, because of its unique geographical position, the country harbors a greater diversity of wildlife than any other in Central America. A natural land bridge connecting the two continents, Panama is home to both North and South American species of wildlife. About 29% of the country's land area is protected in 14 national parks, more than a dozen forest reserves, and 10 wildlife refuges. Panama is home to almost 1,000 species of birds, as well as 220 mammals and 354 reptiles and amphibians...from howler monkeys to caiman, from tiger cats to turtles, from ocelots to crocodiles, and from pelicans and toucans to king crabs and iguanas.
Over the years, we've seen every one of these creatures ourselves up close and in the wild--many of them, in fact, on the piece of land that Lief and his friends are developing on the country's Azuero Sunset Coast.
For us, this is the ultimate in pleasure investing.
You could say that Lief has spent more than 12 years looking for this piece of land on Panama's Pacific coast. In those dozen years, Lief has tromped beaches from Nicaragua to Honduras...from Belize to Mexico...from Ecuador to Brazil...from Argentina to Uruguay...
Over the past dozen-plus years, in fact, Lief has traveled not only the coasts of North, Central, and South America...he's also explored the sandy beaches of the islands of the Caribbean and the shores of the Med. He's seen coastlines from Thailand to the Philippines, from Vietnam to India, from Egypt to Australia, and from Turkey to New Zealand.
And here on this western-facing coast in Panama's Veraguas Province is where he's chosen to focus his attention. This is a region of Panama that is just beginning to attract attention but that sits smack dab in the path of this country's current progress.
Here, Lief and his partners, David Stubbs and Robert Kroesen, have purchased 750 acres with 1 kilometer of Pacific coastline and two separate beaches, one of which continues for 9 kilometers to the south, allowing for long, uninterrupted walks on the sand. The other is in a secluded cove where the waters of the Pacific are calmed and warmed...perfect for swimming.
Just offshore Los Islotes are three small islands, from which the property takes its name. Beyond them, each evening, is the sunset. This coast is the only place in Panama where you can watch the sun set over the water, for it's the only stretch of Panama's coast that faces west.
Nearby are Cerro Hoya National Park and Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where jaguars and ocelots roam free and the scarlet macaw is common.
On these 750 acres, Lief, David, and Robert have master planned a private, gated, residential community that will include a Spanish colonial-style town with shops, restaurants, apartments, and a central plaza for daily strolling and nightly entertainment.
Other areas of the property will be given over to individual homes, low-rise condos, casitas, and town homes, as well as a high-end boutique hotel.
Planned community amenities include a gatehouse, a beach club, three pools, an equestrian center, tennis courts that will double as basketball courts, a fitness center, parks, hiking trails, riding trails...even an area of petanque.
All utilities will be underground. The plan calls for central wastewater treatment, fiber-optic cable for Internet, and sidewalks. It's an ambitious project that will take 10 years to build out in full.
I'm well familiar with the details of the plan, as Lief Simon is my husband and this is something of a family project. I'll be involved in the designing, the landscaping, the finishing, and the furnishing...
But don't let our personal involvement in this project cloud your view.
"Buy what you see," I remind you often. This advice is no less important in the context of Los Islotes. What do you see at Los Islotes today?
Simply the most beautiful piece of land for development that Lief has found in more than a dozen years of concentrated searching. My description...even photos...don't do the setting justice. Its undulating hills, dramatic shore and surf, and expansive ocean, island, and mountain views are postcard-perfect.
That, then, is what you'd be buying today. A chance to participate in the development of a piece of land that boasts the best Mother Nature has to serve up anywhere.
Accessed via a paved highway.
Hidden about 75 minutes from the bustling, fast-growing town of Santiago (which will provide the labor and other resources required to carry out Lief, David, and Robert's vision for what Los Islotes will become).
In a part of this country where big names with deep pockets are right now making serious and long-term plans.
Furthermore, at Los Islotes, you're buying into a piece of property officially zoned for development and that has received, as of this week, the government approvals required for the launch of retail sales.
Land developing is a more organized and more regulated activity here in Panama than in other countries in this part of the world. Developers who push ahead without all the proper studies, filings, and approvals are dealt with seriously (especially under the current administration).
Lief, David, and Robert, therefore, until now, have been laying low and biding their time. They've been eager to push ahead aggressively with their development plans but knew better than to risk it without all the proper permits in place.
As of this week, this is no longer a concern. Los Islotes has been given the stamp of approval. Lief, David, and Robert are officially in business.
At our Global Real Estate Profits Summit here in Panama City last week, the trio made a special invitation to the assembled group, a last-chance early-in investor offer before the launch of retail sales, which they knew was imminent.
I have a bit of influence over this little group and have asked a favor.
"May I please share this last-chance opportunity with the rest of the readership?" I asked.
Lief, David, and Robert have agreed. The deadline is Nov. 1. As of that date, their early-in offer is off the table, and retail sales will commence.
Here's the deal:
You can purchase a two-lot Investor Package, consisting of two ocean-view lots, each about a half-acre in size, for US$125,000.
Lief and David have just finalized the launch retail price list. The lots that have been set aside for these Investor Packages are listed for a minimum of US$100,000 apiece. Some are priced at US$115,000, meaning your two-lot Investor Package comes close to being a two-for-one opportunity.
Lief traveled to the Azuero Peninsula to show the property to a small group of conference attendees last week. While there, he had the chance to check in with a friend who runs a little resort on the coast nearby. Rob confirms what Lief believed. This is the off-season and a down global climate...but activity out here on Panama's Sunset Coast continues. More developers are at work, more tourists are passing through, more expats are settling in, and more infrastructure is on the way. In fact, Panama's recently elected President Ricardo Martinelli is talking of building five new international airports in this country, including, perhaps, one in his hometown province of Veraguas. If this happens, the travel time from Panama City to Los Islotes would be reduced by two hours.
Meantime, you have now a last chance to take an early position in this emerging region.
Panama is one of the most appealing markets in the world right now, its economy successfully side-stepping the global near-depression, its future brighter than ever with new business-minded, investor-friendly President Martinelli in the driver's seat.
This western Sunset Coast of the Azuero Peninsula is Panama's next big thing, the market where everyone--investors, travelers, and retirees--is headed.
Los Islotes is gearing up to be the gold standard private residential community on this coast.
To make the decision to participate in this current offering a little easier for you, I've made another request of Lief, David, and Robert. What about short-term, no-interest financing, I asked. Could we make this available to Live and Invest Overseas readers?
"Yes, for this final, last-chance Investor Package offer, through Nov. 1, we'll go for it," Lief and David replied.
You can invest with 50% down, 25% paid three months from the contract date, and the remaining 25% paid six months from the contract date.
I've been covering this live and invest overseas beat for nearly 25 years. In that time, I've had lots of woulda', coulda', shoulda' experiences. The trouble is that, typically, it's not clear that you should have bought into such-and-such a market at such-and-such a time...until sometime maybe much later.
This is the time to buy into this west coast of the Azuero Peninsula market. This is the early-in chance. This is the opportunity you're going to regret missing out on if you don't go for it right now.
Out here on this stretch of the Pacific, the landscape is being transformed as I write. Better roads, new restaurants, bigger hotels, more people...every time we visit, we're struck by how quickly this market is moving.
As of Nov. 1, it will be moving even faster, because, starting next month, Lief, David, and Robert will be pushing ahead with their Los Islotes project, which already is attracting a great deal of attention, both among foreign investors and retirees and within Panama.
As I said, for us, this is what pleasure investing is all about. This is where we intend to build our own home on this country's beautiful Pacific coast. And this is where we're committed to creating a community of like-minded neighbors and friends.
Now that Lief, David, and Robert have all approvals and permits in place, the window for buying in early is closing.
When I first alerted the Live and Invest Overseas readership of this last-chance opportunity last week, seven of these Investor Lot Packages remained available. Since that writing, one has been sold and two others reserved, meaning that, as of right now, but four opportunities remain.
And the Nov. 1 deadline is only six days away.
Reach the Los Islotes team with your questions
here.
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. As I said, photos don't do this piece of Panama's coast justice but
take a look here to get an idea of what I'm talking about.
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