CASA ALLISON, CASA CUARENTA

In September, our lot was cleared.

 I am going to keep our house hunting and experiences brief in this blog (when have I ever been known to be brief, I know!), because time has passed from the time Ray and I decided to buy a house to today.  I have been keeping most everyone updated via email about our house and the building of it, but I didn't want to put it all out there on this blog until we had made our final decision and had made our landlord aware of an impending move.  Now that everyone is on the same page, and by the way, we have a fantastic landlord along with us being great renters (!), I will post pictures throughout this blog of how our house looks today!

Toasting with Marla and Champagne once we sign papers!

The short version is that Ray and I drove around with our realtor, Marla Diaz (with United Country) marla@panama1925.com looking at rental properties last September.  We wanted to see what was on the market then, at what cost, and get a feel for where we might want to live after six months of being in Chame.  We were contemplating even moving to the mountains of El Valle.  We pondered Coronado.  We thought about the house next door to our rental now that is up for sale.

We then saw the Azura Panama Development in Rodeo Viejo being built by Kevin Painter.  azurapanama.com  If you go to this link, the Anton model is the model Ray and I chose based on two bedrooms with a garage.  Prices now start at $199,000, but they were lower when we jumped in both feet first and signed the papers!

Anyone we would speak to about this development and Kevin had nothing but amazing things to say about the quality of construction and Kevin's kindness to all those that he met along the way.  Many expats had been to the open house that he had thrown a few months prior showing off the three model homes.

We did discuss things with our attorney, we had him review the contract, we went to a model home in a development nearby that he suggested we buy into (no way ever!), and for six months we have been extremely happy watching the process of our house being built and getting to know Kevin, his son, Carl, along with associates and all of the employees we run into along the way.

Slab before rainy season really gets going!  I hope to see the mountains even with rows of houses behind me.

Walls go up.

Back yard.

And there's a house taking shape!

When I have blogged in the past two or three months about running errands or going into the city, Ray and I were most likely picking out granite, tile, faucets and sinks at the large El Mec in the city, or looking at furniture, selecting light fixtures, and even choosing appliances at Tech and House.  We now have a painted house with granite installed in the kitchen, cabinets are being installed, the tile in the bathroom showers is placed, the outdoor shower looks good to go, the floor is tiled, the patio is done, the grass is placed, windows are in (we will have screens), and in a few short weeks we will have a place to call our home here in Panama.  Our daughter's visit is about a week too soon, but we will be excited to show her the place and encourage her to return to Panama quickly to put a stamp on her bedroom!  So for now, I will end this with a few more pictures.  We will be the third homeowner to move in, and the pool will be waiting for me to dive right in and swim up to that bar!  Ray will have to be the pool boy for a while in my dream world, and this thing called retirement!

Today the grass was placed.

This is the pool being cut away.

And this is the pool today.