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First impression are well cataloged in my wife's blog that she started before we moved to Pedasi, seven years ago.  ourthirdlifepedasi.com

We moved to Panama in 2012 with our 2 young children from the west coast of Canada after many years of research and visits.
Our first impression was 'Wow, as prepared as we thought we were we were not even close'.
In hindsight I don't think we could have been any better prepared, some things you must experience to fully appreciate and understand.
Things are done differently in Panama and for the first few years our mantra was 'we moved here for change, so embrace the change'.
Everything from finding a good private school for the kids, to getting them enrolled, to opening our first bank account was an adventure, lol.
All that being said we are so happy with our life in Panama and it is truly our home now and forever.

I was going to retire in Costa Rica, went there a number of times then someone said why don't hop over to Panama and take a look. As soon as I got here I knew this was the place, it has everything I was looking for and the people are great and friendly. I made a few trips and was looking in the San Carlos area. Then I saw a add for Coco Beach, up by the Costa Rica border on the Pacific. There website was really good and the place looked fantastic, Long story short I bought a real nice lot, flew in to look over everything and noticed there were no houses build, out of 81 lots they said half was sold and a number of property owners were ready to build so I said lets go. They said it would take 0ne year to build, I said ok lets start. Well it took three and a half years and still not done. Only one other house was built here at the same time as mine, a couple from Canada. I have been living in my house for 16 months and its falling apart. The roof has been leaking for a year along with the windows and doors. I have mold outside my house and inside my house from the roof leak. They did not build it as the plans and did not build it with what i paid for on the spec sheet, used real cheap materials. They wont fix there mistakes. The other house is having the same problems. I still after all this time only have temporary power to my house, haven't had hot water to my kitchen for 16 months. The project right now does not look like the website anymore, not even close, looks like a abandon project. They took my money and and took away my dream. Panama is a great place and I love it just beware of Coco Beach and the developer from the Netherlands.  P.S. Does anyone want to buy a Beach Villa. LOL.

Wow, what a nightmare.
We see this all the time unfortunately.
There are some really great builders here and those are the ones we stick with.
We did bid work out at Coco Beach and the builder told us straight out that our price was too high because they make their money on procurement!
So basically low bid get the job regardless of quality and timing and they (the builder) can step on the price.
Sorry you have had such a bad experience.

Thats awful! How would you advise someone looking to buy in Panama?

Buy something already built. Live in your intended area for at least 6-12 months, and make friends and local contacts to help you determine fair prices and the history of a property you are considering. Be sure there is a clear title and have your lawyer check the contract. It's a lot harder to sell than to buy so be really sure it's going to work for you long term.