1) There is a lot of it. So there are many opportunities of buying the location you want at a price you can afford.
2) Vacant lots cost less. Somewhat surprisingly, even a lot with a structure that looks like it should be torn down, is priced higher than a similar lot with no structure. Check it out for yourself. There must be some psychological reason for this.
3) Investing in a vacant lot carries very low overhead costs---and there is usually very little maintenance required.
4) You get complete freedom to build & landscape the way you want. You decide where on the lot the house will be built, and what it will look like. You decide the look and feel of your property. If you have never gardened before, this is the place to get started. To cultivate many species, you simply get a cutting, stick it in the ground, and water. If you plant in the rainy season, you can skip the watering part. The term tropical paradise fits gardening perfectly here.
In Panama, you can buy a lot in the jungle with no infrastructure around --- not even a road --- or you might choose a lot in a sub-division, a place that has everything you need in place, ready and waiting for you to build your home.
More Remote = More Hidden Costs
Obviously, a lot that has everything ready to build your house will have no additional development costs. While a remote jungle lot could have very high development costs. Development costs are all the expenses necessary to get a site ready to start construction of a home.
Before you jump to the conclusion that an undeveloped lot is a screaming deal, you must factor in all the hidden costs. That is, how much will it really cost to get the property into “ready to build” condition.
The True Cost = Sales Price + 4 Hidden Cost Factors (described below)
You should calculate the true cost of a lot before you decide to buy. This is true even if you only plan to hold the property and sell it when it goes up in value. Most likely the person you eventually sell the property to will want to build on it. You need to make sure you are buying a lot that will be attractive and affordable to your future buyer.
Cost of the road or driveway will depend upon the lot’s
If you fall in love with a lot that is far from an access road, it will obviously cost a lot more to develop than if your lot is near, or on, an already established access road.
If the property is on a steep slope, that will open up whole new realm of hidden costs. Not only will the road cost a lot more and take more time, but you will have to deal with erosion and drainage issues. In a hilly area, you must take care to consider what to do with the water runoff so your new road won't be come a mud disaster. One key to a successful road is to put it in the dry season, not the wet season. After all the work of creating the road, you want it to stay usable for years to come not be washed out in the next big rain.
If you want to keep your road development costs down, or at zero, you should pick a lot that is
Google Earth - A Real Estate Tool
With Google Earth you can discover topographically challenging lots from the comfort of your computer. And you can use it to get a feel for the property before you visit it. Google Earth is free and can be used with both Apple and PC computers. To use it, you need to download the software and then search for your property by using its address or coordinates.
Now comes the fun part. You can zoom in using your mouse/curser and the command (control for PCs) and shift keys on your keyboard. Using the same controls, you can tilt the earth so you can see precisely where all the hills and valleys are on the lot and in the surrounding area. If you don’t know the lot's coordinates or address, you can usually find them using Google Maps (if you can locate the lot by sight), or by asking the seller for them.
Now that you can access the lot, you need to get it ready for constructing a house.
Ideally, your site is already level. Or it could simply mean removing some trees (just make sure to get a permit to do that) or adding a moderate amount of fill to level out the site.
If you are building on a slope, it will be more complicated. You may need a major earth building project including retaining walls and or drainage system.
Make sure you get a good ideas of the cost of these steps or it may come as an unwelcome surprise.
If you want to keep your site development costs down, or at zero, you should pick a lot that is
We have many affordable and beautiful lots. Almost all of our lots are ready to be built upon. No site or road development is needed. Many already have full utilities, or we offer to do that work at no extra charge. All are in the Puerto Armuelles area.
You can explore our properties by clicking here or using the property search tool at the top of the page.
Now on to getting utilities to your building site.
Generally, there is electricity available along all of the main roadways and neighborhood streets in Panama.
In Remote Areas
If you are buying a farm, or other remote property, you will be responsible for bringing in electrical power from the nearest road, where you will access it via overhead power lines. You will need to install your own power poles, or underground conduit, to access this power. And of course, you will need a licensed electrician to obtain an electrical permit, even if you are going to do your own electrical installation.
Alternatively, you can always decide to be completely off-grid. Just be sure to factor in the full cost of setting up and maintaining your own electrical system. Of course, if your lot is extremely remote you will have to go off-grid.
In Developed Areas (e.g., Puerto Armuelles)
In Puerto Armuelles, we generally have good access to power lines by our electrical utility provider (Union Fenosa). This makes electrical installation simple.
Once you start to build your house, you can connect the meter to the house in 2 ways. You can either hang an overhead line, which enters through the roof of your home, or you can install underground conduit, with the supply wires running inside. These wires connect the breaker panel to the electrical meter at the property line. From the breaker panel, you can do your own rough in wiring, or hire an electrician.
You can live without electricity, but not water. How will you get water to your lot and future house.
In Remote Areas
Before you buy a property in a remote area, make sure you know how you will get water to the site. It is likely that you are going to have to dig a well. If it is a well, check with an engineer to verify that you can actually build a well. Find out how deep a well you will need to dig. Then calculate the cost. If you are told there is a well there already, I suggest you check this out and test the water.
About Digging Wells
The good news about well digging in the rural areas around and as well as in Puerto Armuelles, is that it is very cheap. In most cases, wells are dug by hand, using a shovel. Our soil is silty/sandy, and it has no aggregates. (This is why it is not the most stable building substrate, and building footings should be deep and use plenty of steel reinforcement).
In short, a laborer digs your well, and then you line it with concrete pipe sections which are available in 4 foot lengths, and in many diameters from 10" to 2 or 3 meters.
Please be aware, hand digging is dangerous for the laborer. You should check with the municipal engineer to find out the details for doing this safely and if the person doing the work is covered by insurance. You can make it safer by having the hole supported, or "cribbed" during the excavation.
The pipe sections used to line the well are very heavy. You will need to schedule a back hoe to have them installed. You might just opt to use a back hoe for the entire well digging process, however the result will be quite sloppy. Back hoes cut a very wide hole. All that dirt will need to be stored on site until it is back filled. The dirt excavated for the actual well hole will need to be stored or used permanently either on site, or off site.
And, of course, you can also employ a well drilling company. There are some located in David. Just look them up on the Internet. I have not used a well drilling company yet. Obviously, this is the most expensive well digging option.
In Developed Areas (e.g., Puerto Armuelles)
In Puerto Armuelles (and other developed areas), most locations have access to the municipal water supply.
Hooking Up Water
To gain access to the municipal water supply, you simply cut in a connecting hub, or collar, into the ABS water line that runs alongside the street nearest your lot. In Puerto Armuelles, this ABS pipe is likely to be 3" in diameter.
You can buy a connection collar at most of the local building supply stores in Puerto Armuelles. You will need a permit both for the water supply line hook up and for any necessary street cut for the new pipe. You will only need a street cut permit if the city water line happens to be located on the opposite side of the street from your property. This street cut is performed by MOP (Ministry of Public Works).
I am fairly certain that you can apply for your own permit. However, for the $20 that my plumber charges to do all the legwork of obtaining permits, I never get my own permits. At all costs, I try to avoid waiting in lines at all of the various municipal offices. I don't have the patience.
Service & Expense
Generally our water service is good. The water is abundant and cheap. Our bill is under $5.00/month for unlimited use.
Interruptions in Supply
Many locations in Panama, including Puerto Armuelles, still experience occasional water shortages. In our area, these are not actual shortages, but rather interruptions to service. Water service is temporally shutoff due to a highway building project, or occasionally, storm related damage to a water supply pipe during heavy rains. Such interruptions are becoming less and less frequent. This is certainly not a chronic problem anymore, not the way it was 10 years ago. In addition, the water to our neighborhood is shut off in the afternoon everyday. I have never been clear about exactly why this is done. But it is the reason almost every house in our neighborhood has its own water tank.
Install A Water Tank
It is never convenient to be without fresh water, even for a few hours. The easiest way to overcome this is to have your own water storage tank located on your property. That way, you won't even notice when the municipal water supply is shut down for an hour, or even an entire day. You will have your own backup supply on your property.
At our house in the Las Palmas neighborhood we have a 140 gallon emergency tank. It is raised up on a platform about 12 feet above ground. It fills whenever there is city water pressure. When the municipal water fails due to road work, which has been pretty common with the new highway construction, or due to the new water and sewer system being installed in Puerto, we are covered. We also use it everyday as the source of our water after the city water is mysteriously turned off for the day. We have a gravity feed from this elevated tank directly to the house---we don’t use a pump. It has been years, since we were absolutely “out of water”.
Water Drinkability
Generally, water is drinkable in Panama. Bocas del Toro is the only blanket exception to this rule. In addition, at times, Panama City has issues with its water quality.
But again, overall, Panama's water is perfectly drinkable. Much more so than some areas of the US (not even including Flint, Michigan). My daughter still reminds me of how truly horrible the water is in the elegant neighborhood of Washington D.C. where her grandparents live. My parents happily drink that water. They are used to it. My children considered it to be unfit for human consumption.
Although the water in our town is drinkable, most expats and many Panamanians filter or buy bottled water. Many people (like us) get bottled water delivered to their home. Some people are concerned about water quality, but many people do it for aesthetic reasons. In the rainiest times of the rainy season, the water from the tap can look cloudy. That is what prompted us to start drinking bottled water. We always use tap water for cooking, but for drinking we use bottled water. At least we do at home, when we go out we happily drink the tap water.
You must include the cost of taking care of all the outflow from your home as well. How you take care of this depends upon where your lot is located.
Out of Town & Remote Areas
Sewer service is only available right in town, or along the main roads. If you are not in town, or on a main road, you will need to invest in a septic tank.
You are supposed to get a permit for most plumbing projects, including a septic tank. This application must be submitted by a licensed plumber, even if this plumber is not going to do the work. Talk to your neighbors to learn more about how this septic tank permit & installation process is usually done in your area.
Installation of Septic Tanks
There are a variety of methods for installing a septic system. The very poorest people in Puerto Armuelles simply dig a deep well, line it with old car tires, and run their pvc waste line into it (or put an outhouse on top).
Most locals who can afford it, build 2 separate septic tanks out of concrete block.
The 1st one, in line from the house, captures the solids and lets the liquid flow off the top toward a secondary tank. This 2nd tank is filled with large round drainage rock. (This rock is available from local rivers. It can be delivered to your building site by local truck operators.)
This 2nd tank provides a drainage “field” which leaches out into the surrounding soil, and hopefully, filters out all dangerous bacteria, before flowing to a nearby stream, or the ocean.
You can also purchase black plastic (ABS) molded tanks from local building materials suppliers, or from suppliers in David. Most suppliers in David offer delivery services to Puerto.
In Town - Sewer Connection
If your lot is in town, or off a major road, you can hook up to the municipal sewer system. To connect to the municipal sewer pipe on your street, again, you must apply for a permit. Again, this application must be filed for by a licensed plumber, even if this plumber is not going to do the work.
The connection is a simple matter of cutting in a connecting hub to the municipal sewer line, usually 6” pvc pipe. Generally, homeowners connect their own 4” pvc pipe to this 6” pvc pipe. It is a simple procedure. Pipes are not buried very deeply. Generally not over 3 or 4 feet. Given that our soil is silty/sandy, this kind of work can usually done with a couple of laborers with hand shovels in half a day.
The entire connection process, including plumbing and backfill, shouldn’t take more than a day. That is, after you have the permit in hand.
Before you buy a lot, you should estimate the cost of permits, materials, and labor to get utilities to your building site.
Obviously, if all your utilities are already delivered to your lot, you will be saving both money and headaches. If your lot is in a remote area, your "get your site ready" development costs will be a significant part of the true cost of your lot. Also, don't forget to factor in the amount of time it will take to get all that infrastructure into place.
The bottom line: Is the lot worth the price?
To know that, you first need to know the true cost of the lot. True price = Sales Price + 4 Hidden Cost Factors
Which Is The Better Buy?
Calculating the true price eliminates many unexpected expenses. It also allows you to knowledgeably compare seemingly diverse properties. For example, knowing the true cost of properties allows you to know which of these similarly sized and located lots is a better buy:
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what it means to buy an empty lot. As we explained, depending upon the lots location, getting an empty lot ready to build upon can be very easy or very challenging process.
