ASOCIACION DE PROPIETARIOS DEL RESIDENCIAL DE MONTAÑA LOS ALTOS DE CERRO AZUL (APREMACA)

When I bought the property in December, 2004, I was informed that while I didn't build a home on my land, the Home Owner's Association (HOA) fee was going to remain substantially less than someone with a house already built. To my surprise this hasn't been the case.

When I bought my land (Alcazar C-4) I was paying below $5.00 for HOA. Now it's going to be $35.00 and since I live in the U.S. it will be more - $37.50. This is a 600% increase since 2004. I agree, everything must go up due to the cost of living increases, but if we compare the manual labor salaries in Panama compared to the U.S. it's substantially lower.

I live in a mayor metropolitan area (Maryland/Washington DC/Virginia) and my HOA is $38.00/month and I have a house. They take care of everything, including snow removal which Panama doesn't have.

Right now, Panama is booming with real estate, and that's because manual labor - plumbers, electricians, maids, chofers, gardeners ets...are very inexpensive. We (US) were also booming, but due to greed, this country is in the shape it is. Be careful, what goes up must go down and if you continue to increase the HOA, you may end up like the U.S.

I feel since I don't have a house built on my land, my HOA should be substantially less than a person who has a house already built. I don't even live in Panama and I haven't been there in almost 3 years. The reason why I bought the land was so when I retire in10 years I could build a house there. Now I'm having 2nd thoughts and I don't think I will refer anyone to buy property there.

Well, my mom bought our property a while back--approx. 15 years ago--and I took over this about a year ago. I've been through the pain of using roads that are definitely not city roads, but hey! this isn't the city, right? As long as the roads are hole free, I'm ok. My biggest concern is waste management, specially the pine leaves. For the amount of money I'm paying $37.45 or something like that, I would expect a truck to come by and collect the bags that the gardener puts together in a weekly or montly basis. If they give me this added value, I wouldn't mind paying that amount, and I'm already paying it.

My understanding is the TSM for a lot WITHOUT a house is $25.

Marco, when Vistamares raised the price to $25 per month, they eliminated the lower price for undeveloped lots. Even if you own two lots next to each other with one house, you still owe $50. Some of the association bylaws require a differential in price for the unimproved lots but Vistamares unilaterally raised to rate to $25 for every lot, improved or not. The increase to $35 was unilaterally announced as an increase that applies to all lots, improved or not.

Thanks, Steve, that is news to me. But, not sure I understand the concept. Don't owners of unimproved lots come up here less, use the roads less, use the recreation areas less, use the club less? I must be missing something. Maybe I should shut-up before the improved lot TSM to goes up!