Travel to Central America

Living and Investing in Panama

Format: Paperback
Author: Christopher Howard
ReleaseDate: 04 October, 2004
Publisher: Costa Rica Books
Rating:

Sadly, You Have to Buy It
Equally unfortunately, if you are serious about moving to Panama Mr. Unfortunately, this is only one of two (the other / better being "Choose Panama by William Hutchings") books about retiring to Panama. Howard's book has a lot of useful information and you are left with no choice but to buy it.

That said, the book loses one star (and I'm being kind) for being so poorly edited. The author is a native english speaker, there is no excuse and it is simply disrespectful to your audience to have such a mountain of typographical errors. [. . . ]

That said, all [. . . ] absurd editing aside, this book is a must buy if you are serious about moving to Panama. [. . . ].

Good Information
In fact I found many passages that appeared to be the same. This book was very much like his other books about living in Nicaragua & Costa Rica. However, it was very informative and has useful information about living & relocating to Panama. .

Worth reading, but...
It looks like no one proof read it, they just published the rough draft. I've never seen a book with more typographical errors. . . Usually a few typos doesn't bother me but there are so many here, it is annoying and makes you feel like the author didn't put much effort into the work.

Okay, aside from that, it does have some good info, and since it is basically the ONLY book on living in Panama, you will have to buy it. (There is another one but it has no reviews here, and I took a trip to 2 book stores and did not find it in either store. )

He only gives you the lowdown on a couple of the most well-known areas to live in Panama, doesn't give any info on any "off the beaten path" places where one might (?) find cheaper real estate.

Actually, he does not go very much into buying real estate at all. How about some names of attorneys to use, that people have used and recommended? How about some realtors (other than himself and a couple others)? How about more info on buying real estate which one would assume one would need to know if one is planning to "live and invest in Panama". How about the procedures for surveying and checking the land you are going to buy? How about other tips for checking and buying real estate? There are a lot of things that could have made this book better but it seems the author was just into making a fast buck, rushing out a book on Panama before someone else beat him to it.

I found this book very disappointing. I think anyone could have written as good a book with just a few months of research. [. . . ] Everyone says that Howard's book on neighboring Costa Rica is great. I haven't read it. But this one is far from "great".

It should have been much better. Buy it only if another one isn't available by the time you read this. And really, if anyone is interested in writing one, this one won't be hard to beat, at all.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Central America travel books.

	Choose Panama...the Perfect Retirement Haven
	Waterproof Panama Map by ITMB
	Lonely Planet Panama
	Moon Handbooks Panama