Sometimes we ask ourselves… What’s really driving this international real estate boom? The low home prices are now relatively missing from Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico, so why do new homes and condos continue to sell at such a rapid pace?

If you speak with some of the top anti-money laundering bankers (and we have), many will agree that there appears to be a substantial amount of money laundering occurring in places like Panama City and Cancun. Just last week, police in Panama seized an estimated US$135,000,000 in drugs on route to the United States. Keep in mind that only a fraction of the drugs sent each year are seized and that the cash gained from the sale of these commodities must be laundered somewhere.

So, the next time you pay a little extra for that dream home in paradise, keep in mind that prices may be inflated a little more than they should be and you might want to re-think the correct value of that beautiful home. Think about the road conditions, water and power supply, think about how convenient shopping is (relative to your hometown or city) and what the resale value will be in twelve or twenty-four months. Make sure you have an educated and honest Real Estate Broker working on your side and that you negotiate a fair price.

Of course we at MovetoLatinAmerica, Corp. love all aspects of Latin America and know that if you enjoy the charm and ambiance of Central America and Mexico as much as we do, then there is always a beautiful home to be found in “Paradise.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 6:21 am and is filed under MTLA Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.