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First of all, when buying a house or other real estate in Portugal, you need to know what sort of property you’re looking for. Is it low maintenance? High maintenance? Do you want a garden? Do you want a bit more land? So it depends on the size of the property. If you’re looking to live in the city center or close to the city center, the properties tend to be smaller because there’s no space. There are a lot of people who want to live in the city or close to the city, so the properties there tend to be smaller.
If you move out of the city center like I am, in Cascais, about 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) away from Lisbon, it used to be an old fishing village, so the houses have gardens and pools. If you go inland to the Alentejo area, there are a lot of farms and agricultural land. Do you want a small property in the city center in the middle of the buzz and museums and theaters and shopping centers or you want a taste of the rural life? So we have a bit of everything in Portugal.
Real estate has been booming in Portugal. We came with a new law a couple of years ago called the Golden Visa Law. Under this law, if you purchase a property over €500,000 (US $558,300) in Portugal, you get the right to have a Golden Visa so you can enter in and out of Europe as many times as you like. For instance, Asians, Indians, and Russians are dying for these visas, which has created a lot of interest in the real estate market in Portugal. So when there’s a lot of interest in the real estate market, there’s a lot of competition between real estate companies, and real estate companies have to improve their service.
There is a study survey for every single region of Portugal which will tell you how much is the selling price per square meter of construction and how much it costs the price of square meter of land. With this information, you know exactly how much a particular property is worth in the market. And then you just have to compare it with the purchase price or the price that the person is asking for, so there’s not this difference and potentially overpaying. A seller can try to price their property above market, but if a buyer is interested, he or she can just Google the area and search for price per square meter of that region and it tells you exactly not to pay between this amount and that amount, not over, not under; this is the right price to pay. And then you just have to confront the seller and try to get the right deal.
Opening a bank account in Panama is a huge headache if you are a foreigner, non-resident, but especially if you are American. Some banks won't accept Americans at all while others will have a very long list of bank requirements, some of which may be impossible to produce. Most documents need to be original and dated within 30 days. 
s sudden, unexpected illnesses, accidents, and injuries. It doesn´t cover any medical conditions for which individuals are taking medication or any pre-existing diagnosis (prior illnesses, accidents, or surgeries). For example, an individual diagnosed with hypertension and on heart medication would not be covered by Traveler´s Insurance for a heart attack. It is always better to have full health insurance coverage. Individuals who are outside of their country of origin 6 months or more a year qualify for Expat Health Insurance. Several affordable plans are available. 
No, you don’t have to hire an attorney when you buy a house in Belize. You can use paralegals or a real estate agent that you're dealing with. The real estate agent will use a paralegal or an attorney.
In Nicaragua, you can get by with just English because a lot of people here do speak English but it is not our main language. Our main language is Spanish. If you speak even just mediocre Spanish, you’ll certainly get by so at least try to learn mediocre Spanish. You want to be able to order in a restaurant even if you do it with little hand gestures because nobody will go out of their way to speak English for you.
Most people think that the most important Spanish phrase you could learn is “Dónde está el baño?” (Where’s the bathroom?), “Cuánto cuesta este?” (How much is this?) or even, “Camarero, dos margaritas más, por favor (Bartender, two more margaritas, please). While all these are very good to know in appropriate circumstances, my view is that the most important phrase to learn while driving south from San Felipe through Baja on Highway 5 (pretty much the only road you...
Our first day in Panama City we walked and enjoyed meeting people. From the staff at the Hilton Garden Inn to people in cafes and stores, we were pleasantly treated and had no problems. 