Are there English-speaking doctors in Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico?
Anne Dyer - Casita Montana
Almost all the doctors in Chapala and Ajijic are English-speaking and almost everybody in town speaks English. I don’t have a strong Spanish vocabulary even though I have been here for 29 years because everybody speaks English to me.
I have been in the medical field all these years and everyone speaks English. All my staff, doctors, and patients are usually English-speaking. I understand Spanish but it is easier to speak English. If my helpers do not...
Almost all the doctors in Chapala and Ajijic are English-speaking and almost everybody in town speaks English. I don’t have a strong Spanish vocabulary even though I have been here for 29 years because everybody speaks English to me.
I have been in the medical field all these years and everyone speaks English. All my staff, doctors, and patients are usually English-speaking. I understand Spanish but it is easier to speak English. If my helpers do not know how to speak English, I send them to school so they can learn. We try to make it easy for everybody.
(English- speaking staff member at Casita Montana, Lake Chapala, Mexico, pictured.)
As a foreigner or expat, can I buy or own land or other real estate property in Portugal?
Luis Rodrigues - Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associates, Law Firm, RL
Yes, as a foreigner, you can buy or own land or other real estate in Portugal. There are no restrictions for owning any land or other real estate asset in Portugal based on nationality. Moreover, care to note that Portugal allows individuals and/or companies (regardless of the nationality) to own the freehold of land or other real estate assets for perpetuity.
(The long sandy beach at Nazaré on the Atlantic coast, Portugal, pictured.)
Yes, as a foreigner, you can buy or own land or other real estate in Portugal. There are no restrictions for owning any land or other real estate asset in Portugal based on nationality. Moreover, care to note that Portugal allows individuals and/or companies (regardless of the nationality) to own the freehold of land or other real estate assets for perpetuity.
(The long sandy beach at Nazaré on the Atlantic coast, Portugal, pictured.)
How's the golf in and around the Panama City, Panama area of San Francisco?
Lourdes Townshend
Panamá used to have a major and beautiful golf course in San Francisco, but years ago was converted into an attractive state recreational park, which serves the community.
In addition to the two golf courses, Brisas del Golf and Summit (mentioned by the previous contributor and both of which are both very good), there is also an older golf course, and very important-- the Coronado golf course, located one hour from the city of...
Panamá used to have a major and beautiful golf course in San Francisco, but years ago was converted into an attractive state recreational park, which serves the community.
In addition to the two golf courses, Brisas del Golf and Summit (mentioned by the previous contributor and both of which are both very good), there is also an older golf course, and very important-- the Coronado golf course, located one hour from the city of Panamá, hosting international and local tournaments for years. (You can read about it in the section on Coronado on this site.) Traditionally all major golf tournaments are played here. But golf clubs are very attractive to expats and visitors, which makes it a new tourist point at resorts and hotels across the country, and more centers have been planned or opened recently in the countryside (or the "interior"), as well as on the Atlantic coast. As a matter of fact, very recently there was the second local Bijao golf club tournament, ruled by the R & A Limited, the US Golf Association and the Bijao Beach Club & Residences, sponsored by Provivienda, with over 40 participants.
How hard is it to remodel in Nicaragua? What do I need to know before I remodel in Nicaragua?
Russell Newman - RusSELL Realty
We own a huge colonial home in Granada Nicaragua and I will never forget the week that I employed 5 Nicaraguan hard laborers to do some 'gruntwork'. All 5 total cost US $35/day i.e., each one was happy to work for $7/per day. So to remodel, labor is very inexpensive. The issue is to find someone who knows proper construction and be the foreman.
And also, take note that there are very serious codes of standards in the colonial cities in Nicaragua such as...
We own a huge colonial home in Granada Nicaragua and I will never forget the week that I employed 5 Nicaraguan hard laborers to do some 'gruntwork'. All 5 total cost US $35/day i.e., each one was happy to work for $7/per day. So to remodel, labor is very inexpensive. The issue is to find someone who knows proper construction and be the foreman.
And also, take note that there are very serious codes of standards in the colonial cities in Nicaragua such as Granada. You would want to consult the historical department of the city prior to altering any major colonial areas in your home. Once you have changed the standard colonial look and design of your home, you will find that the value of the home has decreased considerably...check with the local building department before altering a typical colonial home.
Do I lower my US income tax liabilities if I retire or work abroad?
Tabitha Paddock - Greenback Expat Tax Services
Yes, you can. Even after you move abroad, US citizens must still file a Federal Return if they are receiving income. Fortunately there are some big exclusions and credits in place to limit (or even eliminate) this tax liability. These include the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit.
Together, these credits will make your US liability much lower than when you were living in the States. In fact, with the Foreign Tax Credit, you could...
Yes, you can. Even after you move abroad, US citizens must still file a Federal Return if they are receiving income. Fortunately there are some big exclusions and credits in place to limit (or even eliminate) this tax liability. These include the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit.
Together, these credits will make your US liability much lower than when you were living in the States. In fact, with the Foreign Tax Credit, you could even get a credit on your US taxes to carry forward on next year’s taxes (this would happen if you are paying more in tax to Panama than you would have been to the US).
In order to open a bank account in Belize, you need a financial reference letter, a professional reference letter, and a recent copy of a utility bill. With that, and after completing the application, you can open a bank account.
A professional reference letter is a letter written by a friend, colleague, or associate who is in business; a professional person such as a realtor, an attorney, your broker, a doctor, or a friend who owns a company. The letter should be written...
In order to open a bank account in Belize, you need a financial reference letter, a professional reference letter, and a recent copy of a utility bill. With that, and after completing the application, you can open a bank account.
A professional reference letter is a letter written by a friend, colleague, or associate who is in business; a professional person such as a realtor, an attorney, your broker, a doctor, or a friend who owns a company. The letter should be written on letterhead, state that the person writing the letter has known you for more that two years, and that they know you to be of good character, etc. The letter must be the original and contain the contact information of the one writing it. The person writing the reference letter will usually be from your own jurisdiction.
A lot of people in Belize would like to establish an International Bank Account. Here at Caye Bank you can hold an International account in five different currencies. Being a compliant bank, with an International Bank account from Caye Bank, you could move money from the US and keep it on an international platform, from which you could filter your money into the domestic / Belize banking system as you need it, for example, to pay bills in Belize dollars. When you open an International Bank Account, you are keeping your money very separate from the general Belize dollar banking system. This can be preferable for lots of reasons.
In contrast to an International Bank Account, with a domestic Belize dollar account I believe there are certain restrictions in getting the money out of your account. For example, for anything over US $10,000, you have to get an approval, and wire transferring large amounts out of your account to a different country for an investment can sometimes take up to 90 days after getting approval to send it out. This is in contrast to if your account were on an international platform (of which there are five International Banks here in Belize), you would send a wire request to send money where you want it to go, and it would go that day.
As an example, and to put it in real terms, here’s what I did. When I made the decision I was going to move to Belize four and a half years ago, I rented out my property back at home and decided “I'm going to do this, but I don't know whether it's going work out for me,” so I needed to make sure I ”covered my bets,” or "hedged my bets," as we say in England.
So I rented out my properties in the UK, and had everything running through my UK accounts. I had my UK ATM card that I could use over here in Belize as Visa debit card, which meant that I was still using my usual accounts over in England. Doing it that way, however, was not cost effective, because the exchange rate and fees on the card were pretty high. So, after I established myself here, I went about finding a way to more cost effectively get money here to Belize that I could use to pay bills, make local payments, those sorts of things. To do that, I moved a large amount of money into an International Bank Account whilst I established myself, found a place to live, etc., enabling me to get the utility bill I needed in order to set up a local domestic Belize dollar account in my personal name. So, for the first few months (before I could open a domestic Belize dollar account), I just filtered money from my international account and then, with my Belize dollar account to pay all my local bills was established, I moved chunks of money as I needed it to live into that account.
By opening up an International Bank Account first before opening a domestic Belize dollar account, if I would have changed my mind when I just had the domestic Belize dollar account, and said, "You know what, Belize isn't for me, I don't like running around on golf carts here on the island of Ambergris Caye, I don't like looking out to that awful, awful Caribbean Sea (which is absolutely divine),” if I decided it wasn't for me, I could just pack a bag, get on a plane, send a request for my International Bank Account to send the money back to England. If I had opened up a Belize bank account, and put all my money in Belizean dollars and then decided to leave Belize, it would take a while to get my money back. I've never had large amounts of money in a Belize dollar account for that very reason. Belize is one of the safest financial jurisdiction in the world, so it's absolutely not the financial climate that I am worried about; it just the laws sometimes locally are a little different.
Editor's note: Denis Larsen has consistently been kind, generous and helpful answering questions from our readers, so it was with great interest that we sat down with Denis April 5, 2017, to find out exactly what path he took to live in Mexico, and how it was working out. The result was unexpected, almost at every turn...]
Chuck Bolotin: Denis, you’ve led a very, very interesting life in a lot of locations. From what I know, in the US,...
Be patient, be real patient. Everything will take longer than you are accustomed to. You will have to make many phone calls. You will need a Spanish speaking intermediary. You will be frustrated at times. There will be many times when you need to get a beer and go for a walk, and breathe. But, then all of a sudden, action!
I purchased my first rental property in the ski resort village of Whistler, BC, Canada, when I was 23-years-old with a very small down payment.
At the time, I was working as reservations manager for a property management company so I had first-hand knowledge of the strong returns that could be achieved through rentals. Over the following eight years, I proceeded to buy, renovate, rent short-term and ultimately sell nine Whistler properties.
Almost all the doctors in Chapala and Ajijic are English-speaking and almost everybody in town speaks English. I don’t have a strong Spanish vocabulary even though I have been here for 29 years because everybody speaks English to me. 
Yes, as a foreigner, you can buy or own land or other real estate in Portugal. There are no restrictions for owning any land or other real estate asset in Portugal based on nationality. Moreover, care to note that Portugal allows individuals and/or companies (regardless of the nationality) to own the freehold of land or other real estate assets for perpetuity. .JPG)
Editor's note: Denis Larsen has consistently been kind, generous and helpful answering questions from our readers, so it was with great interest that we sat down with Denis April 5, 2017, to find out exactly what path he took to live in Mexico, and how it was working out. The result was unexpected, almost at every turn...] 
So, you want to build a house in Panama?