15
Rights of Possession and Other Ownership Concerns
“Do you think he'd take $10,000?”
“Yes, I'm pretty sure he'd jump at that.”
“Would he take $8,500? At $8,500, I'd cash him out on the spot.”
“Well, that'd be $1 a meter. He might go for it. Then you'd have money left to use to title the property if you decide you want to.”
“Right, but maybe I won't worry about it. I'll fix the house up, and it'll be a great place to stay when we want to go fishing. If you really think I could get the place for $8,500, that'd be tremendous. Other places I've looked at that could work as a fishing getaway have been $200,000 and more.”
“Yes, well, you need to understand. You can have problems with rights of possession property. You need to be careful. Still, $1 a meter...You can't beat that, there's not a lot of downside.”
This conversation took place between two American guys sitting across a wood table from each other. They were whiling away another sunny afternoon in paradise, sipping local $1 beers beneath the shade of a thatched roof. I was a few feet away, swinging in a hammock. If they knew I was there, they didn't seem to mind, so I swung back and forth slowly, eavesdropping in silence.
In Panama, rights of possession (ROP) property can cost a fraction of what titled property would cost, but there's a reason for that. To say that you “can have problems with rights of possession” is understating the reality, because, although you can purchase rights of possession property, you don't own ...
