I was forwarded an article about the original land dispute we were all aware of and how it has expanded to more land. The writer points out how the claim has to be bogus given certain facts surrounding the case.
One point was well made in that the company (6 Diamonds) claims to have paid $4M for property that Red Frog has the rights to (and has won 2 court cases regarding this property already). However, no taxes were paid to Panama's government on that sale... 10% or $400,000. If they did buy it, then they are guilty of tax evasion. If they didn't really buy it, then this would explain why the taxes have never been paid.
The fact that this claim has expanded from the original land that was in dispute concerns me, as our beach front lot is still ROP land and could conceivably be drawn into this or some other lawsuit. If the ROP situation is not resolved by this summer, we may have a decision to make.
Mick @ Lot 83
Friday, December 21, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Red Frog's December conference call fails to impress
In my opinion, there has never been any doubt as to the honesty and integrity of the "boys" of Red Frog. I have always gotten the feeling that they want this project to succeed, and that message was surely communicated in the latest conference call.
However, will combined problems of the strike, the mortgage "crisis" in the US and government corruption be too much to overcome? It certainly sounded like the timing of each affected the outcome of the others... that the financial partners were not coming to the table because of the strike delay... and the issue of ROP land turning out to be a bigger deal than originally thought.
Being an optimist about this project (and not really financially hurt by the strike delay, though our money is just sitting there earning nothing) I think perseverence will win out. But Joe's voice sounded tired and I am wondering how much more he can take.
The gist of the conference call was essentially what was said in the newsletter. The only really new thing was the fractional ownership option being introduced. It sounds like a good option for some of those people from whom I've heard that are having money problems and wonder if they should stay in. I don't think it will affect property values that much, if at all.
One thing I did notice was that Chris was not in attendance. At first I thought they were going to announce that he'd left the company. Happily, only his position has changed. I can only speculate that he was traveling, and this could have been the reason he did not participate in the call.
We will see if patience will win out!
However, will combined problems of the strike, the mortgage "crisis" in the US and government corruption be too much to overcome? It certainly sounded like the timing of each affected the outcome of the others... that the financial partners were not coming to the table because of the strike delay... and the issue of ROP land turning out to be a bigger deal than originally thought.
Being an optimist about this project (and not really financially hurt by the strike delay, though our money is just sitting there earning nothing) I think perseverence will win out. But Joe's voice sounded tired and I am wondering how much more he can take.
The gist of the conference call was essentially what was said in the newsletter. The only really new thing was the fractional ownership option being introduced. It sounds like a good option for some of those people from whom I've heard that are having money problems and wonder if they should stay in. I don't think it will affect property values that much, if at all.
One thing I did notice was that Chris was not in attendance. At first I thought they were going to announce that he'd left the company. Happily, only his position has changed. I can only speculate that he was traveling, and this could have been the reason he did not participate in the call.
We will see if patience will win out!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The new 30 day visa regulations
This month's Bocas Breeze has an excellent explanation of the latest visa regulations, how it got passed and why nobody, even in Panama, knew about it before it was law!
It also explains in great detail what is required of tourists with regard to paperwork... which seems cumbersome, to say the least.
Immigration began enforcing this new law with a bang by sending out undercover patrols stopping tourists and demanding proof of legal immigration status. Most tourists do not know that Panama requires everyone over 18 years of age to possess positive identification and all foreigners must carry a passport, tourist card, immigration visa, residency carnet, or cedula (national ID card). Immigration arrested some tourists while allowing others to retrieve their papers and gave others strict warnings to always carry their ìpapersî. Other tourists denied re-entry to Panama because immigration border guards felt they had left and returned too many times...
Another excerpt says:
...It is against the law to overstay your tourist visa in every country. You can be subject to arrest and deported back to your country of origin. (Oh yeah? Not in the US. We offer them amnesty!) If you do over stay your visa and are not caught all is forgiven if you go to Immigration before leaving Panama and pay a fine of $275 for overstaying by 12 months or $300 for more than 12 months. Immigration gives you a document to show Immigration officers at the airport or border so you are legally free to go and return after 72 hours...
Read the entire article here.
Mick @ Lot 83
It also explains in great detail what is required of tourists with regard to paperwork... which seems cumbersome, to say the least.
Immigration began enforcing this new law with a bang by sending out undercover patrols stopping tourists and demanding proof of legal immigration status. Most tourists do not know that Panama requires everyone over 18 years of age to possess positive identification and all foreigners must carry a passport, tourist card, immigration visa, residency carnet, or cedula (national ID card). Immigration arrested some tourists while allowing others to retrieve their papers and gave others strict warnings to always carry their ìpapersî. Other tourists denied re-entry to Panama because immigration border guards felt they had left and returned too many times...
Another excerpt says:
...It is against the law to overstay your tourist visa in every country. You can be subject to arrest and deported back to your country of origin. (Oh yeah? Not in the US. We offer them amnesty!) If you do over stay your visa and are not caught all is forgiven if you go to Immigration before leaving Panama and pay a fine of $275 for overstaying by 12 months or $300 for more than 12 months. Immigration gives you a document to show Immigration officers at the airport or border so you are legally free to go and return after 72 hours...
Read the entire article here.
Mick @ Lot 83
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Red Frog Blog now open to anyone!
Since we weren't getting much participation, I decided to open the blog back up to the public and see where it takes us.
As Red Frog gears up for a January 1, 2008 resuming of work, several of the Northern California Red Frog owners have scheduled a get together in Marin County early in December. I'll post an update of what we discuss, if appropriate.
In the meantime, we are off to Hawaii for Thanksgiving (an expensive alternative to our Caribbean paradise!) where we are meeting friends and family at our Waikoloa Beach Resort luxury condominium! Gotta brush up on my surfing so I am ready for Panama when our villa is completed.
Mick @ Lot 83
As Red Frog gears up for a January 1, 2008 resuming of work, several of the Northern California Red Frog owners have scheduled a get together in Marin County early in December. I'll post an update of what we discuss, if appropriate.
In the meantime, we are off to Hawaii for Thanksgiving (an expensive alternative to our Caribbean paradise!) where we are meeting friends and family at our Waikoloa Beach Resort luxury condominium! Gotta brush up on my surfing so I am ready for Panama when our villa is completed.
Mick @ Lot 83
Monday, October 29, 2007
Once again... misreporting gets owners anxious and upset!
You may have read the recent posts on Ron's blog about the family that was evicted from their property by Suntracs. While some of the facts are correct, the issue has been taken totally out of context. Here is the note I got from Scott this morning:
I just responded to this same question from Bob Chirone and you can read my response to him below (which he asked if he could post to some blog and I consented).
But regarding your questions, Lot 13 is only framed up, no one is even close to living there. They were using this as an observation post. It was lot 34 that caused the problem and the owner was not living there – just a friend of his that was supervising the construction efforts of their own hired hands. The owner of 34 has been renting lot 48 which is where his family has been staying so no family has been evicted contrary to Ron’s overstated comments. Now, my comments to Bob…
Thank you for asking for clarification. Last week on a routine Suntracs inspection tour with the regional labor minister, the union was extremely upset to find that construction work was being done on a unit –specifically lot 34 – that we had already closed on (the owner was previously warned this construction would likely cause problems). Our feeling is that a current owner should be allowed to work on their home (since they had closed and had been issued a certificate of occupancy), but the labor union has the opposite view and was claiming that our construction company – Pillar Construction – was doing the work and that no construction work should be done, period.
Needless to say, our team of lawyers have been working on this case to get the illegal Suntracs workers off the project. I personally spent over an hour meeting with the Minister of Labor in Panama City, Minister Edwin Salamin, yesterday to get his support. He and his team of lawyers have been helpful in getting Suntracs out of the residential area (they were camped at 13 for one day – this home is only framed) and now off the entire property. By the way, my understanding is that only a friend of the owners was at the property when they were forced to shut down construction efforts. A family was not living there as Ron has reported. The police were there to make sure that this didn’t escalate into any violence like what has happened at Isla Viveros in the Pearl Islands.
But you can rest assured that we are working together to get this issue resolved and the bigger issue of getting the labor strike resolved once and for all. But as you can see from this example, they are not very reasonable people…
Mick @ Lot 83
I just responded to this same question from Bob Chirone and you can read my response to him below (which he asked if he could post to some blog and I consented).
But regarding your questions, Lot 13 is only framed up, no one is even close to living there. They were using this as an observation post. It was lot 34 that caused the problem and the owner was not living there – just a friend of his that was supervising the construction efforts of their own hired hands. The owner of 34 has been renting lot 48 which is where his family has been staying so no family has been evicted contrary to Ron’s overstated comments. Now, my comments to Bob…
Thank you for asking for clarification. Last week on a routine Suntracs inspection tour with the regional labor minister, the union was extremely upset to find that construction work was being done on a unit –specifically lot 34 – that we had already closed on (the owner was previously warned this construction would likely cause problems). Our feeling is that a current owner should be allowed to work on their home (since they had closed and had been issued a certificate of occupancy), but the labor union has the opposite view and was claiming that our construction company – Pillar Construction – was doing the work and that no construction work should be done, period.
Needless to say, our team of lawyers have been working on this case to get the illegal Suntracs workers off the project. I personally spent over an hour meeting with the Minister of Labor in Panama City, Minister Edwin Salamin, yesterday to get his support. He and his team of lawyers have been helpful in getting Suntracs out of the residential area (they were camped at 13 for one day – this home is only framed) and now off the entire property. By the way, my understanding is that only a friend of the owners was at the property when they were forced to shut down construction efforts. A family was not living there as Ron has reported. The police were there to make sure that this didn’t escalate into any violence like what has happened at Isla Viveros in the Pearl Islands.
But you can rest assured that we are working together to get this issue resolved and the bigger issue of getting the labor strike resolved once and for all. But as you can see from this example, they are not very reasonable people…
Mick @ Lot 83
Sunday, October 21, 2007
October Newsletter
Well, it's out. Does anyone have any thoughts? For myself, I thought it was more of the same. "Thanks for hanging in there... the strike's almost over..." When?????
Mick
Mick
Monday, September 17, 2007
Red Frog Update
Did everyone see the latest update from Scott?
If you did and didn't report it here then help us out, will you?
If you did and didn't report it here then help us out, will you?
Red Frog makes Sam's Blog!
Yesterday Sam posted a short article and some pictures from his trip to Red Frog. As you will see from the photos, the jungle has not overtaken the homes that have been started as was reported elsewhere.
Here's a link to the article and also a link to the photos.
It was suggested by Scott Harris's source in Panama that we owners post comments to Sam's story on his blog. Let me be the first!
Mick@ Lot 83
Here's a link to the article and also a link to the photos.
It was suggested by Scott Harris's source in Panama that we owners post comments to Sam's story on his blog. Let me be the first!
Mick@ Lot 83
Thursday, September 13, 2007
ANAM and Red Frog make the front page of La Prensa
A friend of mine has a nephew who lives in Panama wrote me a brief note this morning which said:
...front page of the newspaper yesterday announces that ANAM (the environmental protection agency) has fined Red Frog Beach Project $130,000 for their behavior with regards to the environment and ANAM rules and regulations. They are also laying out some guidelines for the future development, calling for a section of the project to be used for
reforestation, and up to 25 hectares to be devoted to green or undeveloped areas.
This apparently is OLD news from last year and one can only imagine why this showed up in Wednesday's paper. Once again I went to the source and asked Scott to respond:
The report on the meeting held on September 29 of 2006 analyzes and features a chart containing the project’s mitigation and control measures in order to verify compliance and the submittal of evidence from the data obtained from the inspection and follow-up report presented by the company, and documents the following possible non-performances:
...front page of the newspaper yesterday announces that ANAM (the environmental protection agency) has fined Red Frog Beach Project $130,000 for their behavior with regards to the environment and ANAM rules and regulations. They are also laying out some guidelines for the future development, calling for a section of the project to be used for
reforestation, and up to 25 hectares to be devoted to green or undeveloped areas.
This apparently is OLD news from last year and one can only imagine why this showed up in Wednesday's paper. Once again I went to the source and asked Scott to respond:
The report on the meeting held on September 29 of 2006 analyzes and features a chart containing the project’s mitigation and control measures in order to verify compliance and the submittal of evidence from the data obtained from the inspection and follow-up report presented by the company, and documents the following possible non-performances:
- Verification of the 25-ha-conservation zone contemplated as a measure for compensating the felling that would result from the construction of the new infrastructure
- Domestic waste management: waste from workers’ food lied all over the soil of the project, and certain findings (animals’ tracks) lead to think that wild animals may be getting used to eating processed food
- The temporary solid waste dumping site was not adequate
- Collapsed sediment meshes
- The complex’s artificial lighting poses a risk to turtle nesting activities typical of the region
The Regional Environmental Administration of Bocas del Toro conducted another inspection on January 25 of 2007 at the request of the company through a proposal of evidence.
The Technical Report resulting from such inspection states that the non-performances are not generating findings and so there are no damages to the environment. Likewise, such report points out that the measures related to by-pass channels and temporary mounds of earth have been replaced by other more effective measures intended to contain sedimentation, as is the case of geotextile mesh barriers, which invalidate the deshredding force of rain impact on removed soil, covering them with plastics. The report also indicates that stake-supported barriers composed of hay bales and meshes were placed in construction areas, intended to control flow of sediments to the natural drain lines existing in the project area. The report concludes that the developer has been able to reduce sediment contamination of sea.
So clearly we are doing our best to protect the environment. While our guys aren’t perfect by any means, they really do a pretty good job. ANAM has just been trying to find other issues. In fact, instead of saying do this or do that to protect the environment, they basically are asking for Plans, reports, and monitoring programs, that’s it!
And I don't know if saw it but there was another article in the newspaper where Mr. Milciades Concepción, Chairman in the assembly for Environmental Matters, made some comments regarding ANAM being irresponsible and unprofessional in most of the cases. Obviously Ligia Castro (head of Catastro) came out to defend ANAM. Milciades is without a doubt referring to the Red Frog issue.
So there you have it, we will appeal the fine and keep on protecting the environment which is what we want to do.
- Scott Harris
Monday, September 10, 2007
Want rumors? Here are some GREAT ones!
Rumor 1: All the rumors about Red Frog being financially unsound are being started by several people who already own property on the island and have villas built. They want to be sure they have the island to themselves, so they are spreading rumors so the project will fail. I know of one person who has made contingency plans to become self sufficient for about $50K, so that's why I know this is what's going on. Once Red Frog files bankruptcy and moves out, the property can be picked up for a song and the current residents can have their own sprawling estates at our expense!
Rumor 2: Wait! No, that 's not the story. Red Frog is spreading the rumors themselves so we all bail out, and then when the strike is over, they will be able to sell the lots and villas back at much higher market rates thus making even more money!
Those are pretty good, but how about this? NONE OF THEM ARE TRUE!
Scott is getting tired (as am I) of going over the same issues again and again. Here are his responses below one last time. Questions are from Jake's Red Frog Beach Forum. His responses are in CAPS below:
"...reports that there were 3 investor-types on the grounds with some of the RFB principals the other day. So they're working on it!" TRUE BUT NO MYSTERY HERE, JUST AS EXPLAINED IN THE NEWSLETTER, WE HAVE MANY VERY INTERESTED PARTIES AND WE ARE WORKING WITH THEM ALL TO DECIDE WHO WE ULTIMATELY WANT TO USE...
"...one of the posters says they have significant debt, unlike what we've been told. He used the term "severe cash crisis." WE HAVE LESS THAN 10% DEBT TO EQUITY SO THIS INFORMATION IS FALSE...
"Scott says they're not out of money; maybe he's just answering the question literally. I've also heard stories that they're not maintaining the villas that are under construction and vines are growing all over them and the mold is a real problem and isn't being taken care of because of the cost cutting." NOT TRUE ONCE AGAIN, WE HAVE PEOPLE ON THE GROUND WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF MAINTAINING THE VILLAS. ANY MOLD ISSUES THAT COME UP WILL BE REPLACED AS EVERYONE HAS A WARRANTY...
So what does this tell you? Either Red Frog is lying... If so, then why even ask them what's going on? If Red Frog isn't lying, then others are. And if anyone wants to believe either of the other 2 rumors I posted above, feel free to use them as your own. As for me, I want them to get back to work and finish my villa so I can spend some quality time on the Caribbean!
Rumor 2: Wait! No, that 's not the story. Red Frog is spreading the rumors themselves so we all bail out, and then when the strike is over, they will be able to sell the lots and villas back at much higher market rates thus making even more money!
Those are pretty good, but how about this? NONE OF THEM ARE TRUE!
Scott is getting tired (as am I) of going over the same issues again and again. Here are his responses below one last time. Questions are from Jake's Red Frog Beach Forum. His responses are in CAPS below:
"...reports that there were 3 investor-types on the grounds with some of the RFB principals the other day. So they're working on it!" TRUE BUT NO MYSTERY HERE, JUST AS EXPLAINED IN THE NEWSLETTER, WE HAVE MANY VERY INTERESTED PARTIES AND WE ARE WORKING WITH THEM ALL TO DECIDE WHO WE ULTIMATELY WANT TO USE...
"...one of the posters says they have significant debt, unlike what we've been told. He used the term "severe cash crisis." WE HAVE LESS THAN 10% DEBT TO EQUITY SO THIS INFORMATION IS FALSE...
"Scott says they're not out of money; maybe he's just answering the question literally. I've also heard stories that they're not maintaining the villas that are under construction and vines are growing all over them and the mold is a real problem and isn't being taken care of because of the cost cutting." NOT TRUE ONCE AGAIN, WE HAVE PEOPLE ON THE GROUND WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF MAINTAINING THE VILLAS. ANY MOLD ISSUES THAT COME UP WILL BE REPLACED AS EVERYONE HAS A WARRANTY...
So what does this tell you? Either Red Frog is lying... If so, then why even ask them what's going on? If Red Frog isn't lying, then others are. And if anyone wants to believe either of the other 2 rumors I posted above, feel free to use them as your own. As for me, I want them to get back to work and finish my villa so I can spend some quality time on the Caribbean!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Closing down the blog
Everyone,
It's been a good ride, but it seems that Jake's Red Frog Beach Forum is the preferred place to speculate and spread rumors, so I am going back to my day job!
I only started this forum because there were so many stories going around after Ron closed his blog that I wanted to get the information out. But it seems people like to live in high drama around the Red Frog Project on the other blog; I'm just not one of them.
Either I am in or I am out. Right now I am in and supporting the project! We all have a lot to lose if the project fails, and I am not going to help it do so by spreading rumors, speculations or lies.
So for that reason, I'm closing up shop effective tomorrow evening. Thanks for all of you who participated.
Mick @ Lot 83
It's been a good ride, but it seems that Jake's Red Frog Beach Forum is the preferred place to speculate and spread rumors, so I am going back to my day job!
I only started this forum because there were so many stories going around after Ron closed his blog that I wanted to get the information out. But it seems people like to live in high drama around the Red Frog Project on the other blog; I'm just not one of them.
Either I am in or I am out. Right now I am in and supporting the project! We all have a lot to lose if the project fails, and I am not going to help it do so by spreading rumors, speculations or lies.
So for that reason, I'm closing up shop effective tomorrow evening. Thanks for all of you who participated.
Mick @ Lot 83
Saturday, September 8, 2007
September 2007 Newsletter
Well, folks, what do you think? My personal assessment was that it could have been more detailed and given an estimate of when the strike will be over, but it was more informative than the last conference call! Here are my thoughts:
Alliances:
GOOD! They need a construction partner, and I see the fact that a US based company wanting to get in the mix is a good sign. I am going to do more investigation on the Gates construction company, but I take this as a positive step.
Of course, if you read the blog regularly, you know how I feel about the alliance with Sam Taliaferro and Paul McBride of Prima Panama. I think this is a wise step and may have had something to do with the decision to bring in another construction parter.
After my last post about my Paul McBride call, but they were scheduled to have another conference call later in that week with Red Frog. I have not heard how that went, though I did get a voice mail from Sam. We have yet to connect.
I was told after their trip to Red Frog that something would be posted about it on their Prima Panama Blog. I have seen nothing yet.
Rumors:
Rumors... we have tried to dispel some of them here, but the latest ones on Red Frog Beach Forum are just malicious. Packing up hard drives and shipping them back to the US? They moved offices in Bocas, and Scott shipped home a hard drive with contracts on it to avoid shipping the whole computer!
I suggest anyone with concerns e-mail Scott Harris first. If you don't want to submit your question directly for some reason, send it to me and I will pose it as my own.
Bocas Notes:
I have a nephew of a good friend whose parents own a resort on the Pacific side of Panama called Mangofish Resort and is now for sale with a price tag of $10M. He visited Red Frog before construction began and was offered some of the land before Joe and the boys purchased. He has some strong ideas about what is going on and will be in Bocas for the festival. Perhaps I can get him to share his thoughts when he gets back.
Client Corner:
As hint at, only a certain amount of work can be done to maintain the structures before it is considered contruction. Paul McBride said they have a crew that is busy "beating back the rain forest" which, as you know if you have seen the sprouting fence posts, can be pervasive.
Legal and Financial:
Sounds like the strike is nearing an end, but they always try and make it sound like that. At least this time the ROP issue was addressed. What they said here is exactly what they reported to me in an e-mail, so I believe it is the government that is holding up this process.
The land dispute becomes clearer now. It was my belief from the beginning that Red Frog being sued in the US seemed odd. I'm glad they took the time to explain this incident a little better. Hopefully we will prevail, but with the current judicial system, who knows? And it means more money that can not be spent on construction.
I spoke in an earlier post about the Florida bank who has visited Red Frog to hopefully provide more traditional financing as we find here in the US. That would put some of the current home owners at ease as they go into the final phases of construction.
I am looking forward to my next trip to Panama and intend on making EJ show me the new "secret spot" next time I'm there. As soon as Janis gets her passport, I want to book a trip so we can see the project first hand and stay in a Tortuga... the model we "reserved" for our beach front lot.
Your comments?
Mick @ Lot 83
Alliances:
GOOD! They need a construction partner, and I see the fact that a US based company wanting to get in the mix is a good sign. I am going to do more investigation on the Gates construction company, but I take this as a positive step.
Of course, if you read the blog regularly, you know how I feel about the alliance with Sam Taliaferro and Paul McBride of Prima Panama. I think this is a wise step and may have had something to do with the decision to bring in another construction parter.
After my last post about my Paul McBride call, but they were scheduled to have another conference call later in that week with Red Frog. I have not heard how that went, though I did get a voice mail from Sam. We have yet to connect.
I was told after their trip to Red Frog that something would be posted about it on their Prima Panama Blog. I have seen nothing yet.
Rumors:
Rumors... we have tried to dispel some of them here, but the latest ones on Red Frog Beach Forum are just malicious. Packing up hard drives and shipping them back to the US? They moved offices in Bocas, and Scott shipped home a hard drive with contracts on it to avoid shipping the whole computer!
I suggest anyone with concerns e-mail Scott Harris first. If you don't want to submit your question directly for some reason, send it to me and I will pose it as my own.
Bocas Notes:
I have a nephew of a good friend whose parents own a resort on the Pacific side of Panama called Mangofish Resort and is now for sale with a price tag of $10M. He visited Red Frog before construction began and was offered some of the land before Joe and the boys purchased. He has some strong ideas about what is going on and will be in Bocas for the festival. Perhaps I can get him to share his thoughts when he gets back.
Client Corner:
As hint at, only a certain amount of work can be done to maintain the structures before it is considered contruction. Paul McBride said they have a crew that is busy "beating back the rain forest" which, as you know if you have seen the sprouting fence posts, can be pervasive.
Legal and Financial:
Sounds like the strike is nearing an end, but they always try and make it sound like that. At least this time the ROP issue was addressed. What they said here is exactly what they reported to me in an e-mail, so I believe it is the government that is holding up this process.
The land dispute becomes clearer now. It was my belief from the beginning that Red Frog being sued in the US seemed odd. I'm glad they took the time to explain this incident a little better. Hopefully we will prevail, but with the current judicial system, who knows? And it means more money that can not be spent on construction.
I spoke in an earlier post about the Florida bank who has visited Red Frog to hopefully provide more traditional financing as we find here in the US. That would put some of the current home owners at ease as they go into the final phases of construction.
I am looking forward to my next trip to Panama and intend on making EJ show me the new "secret spot" next time I'm there. As soon as Janis gets her passport, I want to book a trip so we can see the project first hand and stay in a Tortuga... the model we "reserved" for our beach front lot.
Your comments?
Mick @ Lot 83
Sunday, September 2, 2007
More rumors put to rest
I have been in contact with a Bocas Realtor whose name I will keep confidential for now. He made some assertions about the Red Frog project that seemed like they needed to be responded to. Charges were made that there would not be enough water for our project and that this lack of resource had caused problems during contruction. So again I went to Red Frog and asked them to respond to the assertions. Here's the gist of it:
I don't want to bad mouth your investment, but there were problems from the onset. I met the first manager in Bocas for the project named Neil Sanders, when he first arrived in Bocas and we had a casual conversation. I had already been working here on a smaller project of mine for over a year and have lived and worked in the tropics before. I knew what difficulties they were facing in developing in a rain forest area with little or no infrastructure. Scott's reply: Neil turned out NOT to be the expert that he sold himself as.
One of the first things that caught my attention was the true lack of understanding in the original groundwork. For example, he said that each of the houses would have a pool. I asked what type of rain catchment system they were going to use? The answer was none! To build several hundred homes with a typical water consumption of 50 gallons per person per day (not including the pool) and to depend on the ground water in that area to supply this was probably not reasonable. If we had cachment system – we would have needed over 400,000 gallons of storage which would have required a massive investment in tanks and still we would have had poor water quality vs. 30,000 gallon storage tank with high quality ground water that we have obtained through ground well systems.
You probably don't know this, but I had walked that property a year before there was a sale to Red Frog and I had a pretty good idea what water supplies were there. One of the major limited forces of the Mayan Empire was water. The major water source for the project is to be the large spring on the property. I don't know if a hydrologist had ever been called in to give a true capacity reading on that spring. Scott's reply: He is right when he says that spring wouldn’t be enough. Hydrologists have determined the number of wells we will need as the project grows. And most of that water is coming through aquafurs from the mainland and under the water out to these islands.
The ownership of the spring was also in a dispute with the adjoining land owner, Teddy Bendiberg (who had some documents, not conclusive ones, but enough to not make Red Frog the owner either). He also had previous use rights to the springs and those I have for my Red Frog lots as well. Those rights may be enough to give him continued use of the springs (like an easement). This means Red Frog does not control the primary water source for the project. Scott's reply: Teddy claimed he bought these rights from the former owner who has always contested this claim - [as I explained above] we have total control of the water sources.
I also heard a water shortage shut the project down or at least curtailed many water dependent activities (concrete production) for a while this year. Scott's reply: Totally false.
I'm a biologist by trade and worked for the government in the Federated States of Micronesia. There I conducted Environmental Impact Studies and I have a good understanding of what puts the breaks on a studies approval (it seems to be similar in Panama). I remember this project being started without the EIS being completed (I don't know if that has anything to do with the withdrawal of the promised golf course from the project at this time). Every promise not met erodes the buyers' confidence in the project as you are well aware. Scott's reply: His project and ours started at the same time, yet he does not have a good enough understanding to get his approval after 3 years! Our first phases we started with temporary approvals, and we haven’t done anything in the EIS phase II area except securtity roads.
Also, I was at a meeting with the ministers Economy and Finance for Panama (who were in control of the Rights of Possession lands) when Red Frog came to them. I was in the meeting scheduled just before Red Frog. We were asking for the same thing they should have asked for from the beginning (a year before)..."can we definitively Title this land or not and what will the cost be?" We got no real answer except to go for a concession to be prepared if and when Titling occurs. The Solarte Project got themselves into trouble because of many things, but one of the biggies was to promise what they could not deliver. Today, you are aware they [SOLARTE] are in a class action lawsuit with the owners [of Red Frog], who may eventually take over the project from the developer (who knows). I believe Red Frog promised so much in its marketing campaign that they were NOT sure they could deliver and that has come back to bite them in some areas. Scott's reply: We never promised this only have said that we will work hard at obtaining all of our amenities and we have already been successful in step one of the titling process which was to lobby for law 2 – which we now have - and now can get it titled, just takes time. We ACT not talk.
I was also in the Red Frog project with other local realtor's once and one of the marketing team. They showed us a new Villa being completed (the first one) and the marketing guy said, "we had a little problem with this one. It was over engineered...too much steel in it, but we now have that under control for the next one". A project with this much capital had its architects "over engineer" the first house? That doesn't instill much confidence in the overall project. Scott's reply: When you start first few houses of a massive project there are variations that you can’t plan for until you begin including supply chain issues, soil, transport, etc. that you have to learn your way into the right design protocol.
So when I say we use them as an example I don't mean on every point. But I told the project I'm now working with that I could only sell their project if they got all of their permits, EIS, concessions done first so we know we can deliver what we promise. They have taken two years to get to the point where they can start to sell by doing this, but everyone I talk to about the project is very happy to hear that this will be done before they buy. As I said earlier, the EIS may be approved this week and the master plan is only waiting for that to occur to also be approved, I understand from the developers.
Red Frog was a huge under taking and its progress is not to be over looked, but I feel an equal amount of pre-planning (by experienced developers in the tropics...you may have had some and I may be talking out of my hat here) and marketing would have been a better. It has a great marketing organization! Scott's reply: His only correct statement.
I don't want to bad mouth your investment, but there were problems from the onset. I met the first manager in Bocas for the project named Neil Sanders, when he first arrived in Bocas and we had a casual conversation. I had already been working here on a smaller project of mine for over a year and have lived and worked in the tropics before. I knew what difficulties they were facing in developing in a rain forest area with little or no infrastructure. Scott's reply: Neil turned out NOT to be the expert that he sold himself as.
One of the first things that caught my attention was the true lack of understanding in the original groundwork. For example, he said that each of the houses would have a pool. I asked what type of rain catchment system they were going to use? The answer was none! To build several hundred homes with a typical water consumption of 50 gallons per person per day (not including the pool) and to depend on the ground water in that area to supply this was probably not reasonable. If we had cachment system – we would have needed over 400,000 gallons of storage which would have required a massive investment in tanks and still we would have had poor water quality vs. 30,000 gallon storage tank with high quality ground water that we have obtained through ground well systems.
You probably don't know this, but I had walked that property a year before there was a sale to Red Frog and I had a pretty good idea what water supplies were there. One of the major limited forces of the Mayan Empire was water. The major water source for the project is to be the large spring on the property. I don't know if a hydrologist had ever been called in to give a true capacity reading on that spring. Scott's reply: He is right when he says that spring wouldn’t be enough. Hydrologists have determined the number of wells we will need as the project grows. And most of that water is coming through aquafurs from the mainland and under the water out to these islands.
The ownership of the spring was also in a dispute with the adjoining land owner, Teddy Bendiberg (who had some documents, not conclusive ones, but enough to not make Red Frog the owner either). He also had previous use rights to the springs and those I have for my Red Frog lots as well. Those rights may be enough to give him continued use of the springs (like an easement). This means Red Frog does not control the primary water source for the project. Scott's reply: Teddy claimed he bought these rights from the former owner who has always contested this claim - [as I explained above] we have total control of the water sources.
I also heard a water shortage shut the project down or at least curtailed many water dependent activities (concrete production) for a while this year. Scott's reply: Totally false.
I'm a biologist by trade and worked for the government in the Federated States of Micronesia. There I conducted Environmental Impact Studies and I have a good understanding of what puts the breaks on a studies approval (it seems to be similar in Panama). I remember this project being started without the EIS being completed (I don't know if that has anything to do with the withdrawal of the promised golf course from the project at this time). Every promise not met erodes the buyers' confidence in the project as you are well aware. Scott's reply: His project and ours started at the same time, yet he does not have a good enough understanding to get his approval after 3 years! Our first phases we started with temporary approvals, and we haven’t done anything in the EIS phase II area except securtity roads.
Also, I was at a meeting with the ministers Economy and Finance for Panama (who were in control of the Rights of Possession lands) when Red Frog came to them. I was in the meeting scheduled just before Red Frog. We were asking for the same thing they should have asked for from the beginning (a year before)..."can we definitively Title this land or not and what will the cost be?" We got no real answer except to go for a concession to be prepared if and when Titling occurs. The Solarte Project got themselves into trouble because of many things, but one of the biggies was to promise what they could not deliver. Today, you are aware they [SOLARTE] are in a class action lawsuit with the owners [of Red Frog], who may eventually take over the project from the developer (who knows). I believe Red Frog promised so much in its marketing campaign that they were NOT sure they could deliver and that has come back to bite them in some areas. Scott's reply: We never promised this only have said that we will work hard at obtaining all of our amenities and we have already been successful in step one of the titling process which was to lobby for law 2 – which we now have - and now can get it titled, just takes time. We ACT not talk.
I was also in the Red Frog project with other local realtor's once and one of the marketing team. They showed us a new Villa being completed (the first one) and the marketing guy said, "we had a little problem with this one. It was over engineered...too much steel in it, but we now have that under control for the next one". A project with this much capital had its architects "over engineer" the first house? That doesn't instill much confidence in the overall project. Scott's reply: When you start first few houses of a massive project there are variations that you can’t plan for until you begin including supply chain issues, soil, transport, etc. that you have to learn your way into the right design protocol.
So when I say we use them as an example I don't mean on every point. But I told the project I'm now working with that I could only sell their project if they got all of their permits, EIS, concessions done first so we know we can deliver what we promise. They have taken two years to get to the point where they can start to sell by doing this, but everyone I talk to about the project is very happy to hear that this will be done before they buy. As I said earlier, the EIS may be approved this week and the master plan is only waiting for that to occur to also be approved, I understand from the developers.
Red Frog was a huge under taking and its progress is not to be over looked, but I feel an equal amount of pre-planning (by experienced developers in the tropics...you may have had some and I may be talking out of my hat here) and marketing would have been a better. It has a great marketing organization! Scott's reply: His only correct statement.
Taking a vote to open up the blog
I wanted to put it to a vote as to whether or not we open up the blog to outsiders. I am still on the fence about this due the negative posts by "users" such as 507 and the idiot environmentalist I had a run in with early on. But I wanted to run it by the rest of you. As it stands, if people find us, the page just says you have to log on to view, but does not tell people who to contact or how to get an account. So I want to hear from you whether or not we open it back up. You can e-mail me at micko@sfresidence.com or just post a comment on the blog. Thanks.
Mick @ Lot 83
Mick @ Lot 83
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Trying to stay positive...
It's getting hard, the longer this goes on. I decided because some people weren't playing by the rules, they had to go. I will not tolerate anyone posting anything that is negative when it is unsubstantiated and rumor, and especially when they do so anonymously. It puts all of us at risk.
Recently there have been some posts by a person who has decided to identify themselves as 507. They were allowed in by Ron along with some other users, so I removed all of them from the contributors' list. If they wish to get back on, they should first e-mail me and identify themselves and their property (interest in Red Frog). It is for the good of the group.
Regarding the latest post, comment to "Lots for Sale", I have asked Scott to send a response that I can post regarding these (as far as we know) rumors. As I noted on Friday, I had a conversation with Paul McBride who told me some corporate changes were in the works, but it was to get past the strike, correct the errors RFB made due to their ignorance of the "Panama way" of doing business, and get back to work. NOT because they were out of money. So until I hear otherwise, I believe this is totally untrue. And people who post this type of gossip anonymously are probably out to hurt the project. Therefore, I removed them from being able to contribute any more.
This is a caution to everyone to please send all requests through me, even though you can add users yourselves. So far everyone has played by the rules except for Ron and the users he set up. Thanks for letting me vent, but it has been a long several months of real estate headaches, not just in Panama, but with some of our other investments!
Be of good cheer, and let's hope the next newsletter and/or conference call yield some great news!
Mick @ Lot 83
Recently there have been some posts by a person who has decided to identify themselves as 507. They were allowed in by Ron along with some other users, so I removed all of them from the contributors' list. If they wish to get back on, they should first e-mail me and identify themselves and their property (interest in Red Frog). It is for the good of the group.
Regarding the latest post, comment to "Lots for Sale", I have asked Scott to send a response that I can post regarding these (as far as we know) rumors. As I noted on Friday, I had a conversation with Paul McBride who told me some corporate changes were in the works, but it was to get past the strike, correct the errors RFB made due to their ignorance of the "Panama way" of doing business, and get back to work. NOT because they were out of money. So until I hear otherwise, I believe this is totally untrue. And people who post this type of gossip anonymously are probably out to hurt the project. Therefore, I removed them from being able to contribute any more.
This is a caution to everyone to please send all requests through me, even though you can add users yourselves. So far everyone has played by the rules except for Ron and the users he set up. Thanks for letting me vent, but it has been a long several months of real estate headaches, not just in Panama, but with some of our other investments!
Be of good cheer, and let's hope the next newsletter and/or conference call yield some great news!
Mick @ Lot 83
Friday, August 31, 2007
My converstation with Paul McBride this morning
I got a call from Paul McBride, the CEO of Prima Panama, this morning because I have been having problems downloading the 2 hour audio of their Panama real estate investing symposium from their website. During the call he mentioned that he and Sam Talliaferro visited Red Frog along with some banking officials from Florida (who have been providing financing for Panamanians buying real estate in Florida) who are considering offering mortgages for property in Panama. This would only apply to US citizens (at least at this time) and would be more traditional loans to what we have in this country.
There were other positive news items which might signal we are close to the end of the strike and some insight as to why it has lasted so long in the first place.
I don't think I am revealing anything that he wouldn't want me to in saying that our developers have been naïve in how that have approached doing business in Panama (like we didn't know this?!!) . Now that RFB has teamed up with this developers group, I think they are making some great progress and help them to not fall into mistakes they have made in the past; like taking the US construction model and trying to implement it in another country!
One of my main questions, "Why has the strike lasted 8 months?" was explained that, in Panama, the model is the general contractor hires sub-contractors (which Red Frog did not do) and then when the union causes problems, the general fires the sub and hires a new one.
All in all, the conversation was a positive one, and our patience will be rewarded shortly.
Mick @ Lot 83
There were other positive news items which might signal we are close to the end of the strike and some insight as to why it has lasted so long in the first place.
I don't think I am revealing anything that he wouldn't want me to in saying that our developers have been naïve in how that have approached doing business in Panama (like we didn't know this?!!) . Now that RFB has teamed up with this developers group, I think they are making some great progress and help them to not fall into mistakes they have made in the past; like taking the US construction model and trying to implement it in another country!
One of my main questions, "Why has the strike lasted 8 months?" was explained that, in Panama, the model is the general contractor hires sub-contractors (which Red Frog did not do) and then when the union causes problems, the general fires the sub and hires a new one.
All in all, the conversation was a positive one, and our patience will be rewarded shortly.
Mick @ Lot 83
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Lots for Sale
I noticed on the Red Frog website that in addition to Lot 13, Lots 35 46 and 69 are also for sale. Does anyone know anything about the compensation for the original owners?
I had offered Red Frog to sell my lot for what basically was a double commission with me getting my deposit back when a new deposit was put down and the rest at closing. I thought this was a win-win situation. If I closed, Red Frog would get no commission or at most a single commission if I chose to sell. I wouldn't have to go through the closing process and had a chance of getting my deposit back sooner. Red Frog's response was that we could give you back your deposit when we got a new deposit. Nothing more.
I had thought it would have been a great sales gimmick. If all of us knew we could sell our places at some profit, we would all feel safer about our investments. Selling lots does not seem to be one of Red Frog's weaknesses. The few of us that decided to sell would give Red Frog some extra money. New buyers would see how much money the original buyers were making, feeding new buyers greed that they could do it too.
My dream would be for the strike to end, villas to get completed and closed, and Red Frog decides to do something similar to my proposal. Perhaps if the strike ends, a group of us, a pre-home owners group, could convince Red Frog. It would be hard for there to be any unhappy campers. If so, they could just sell and make a good profit. Any comments?
I had offered Red Frog to sell my lot for what basically was a double commission with me getting my deposit back when a new deposit was put down and the rest at closing. I thought this was a win-win situation. If I closed, Red Frog would get no commission or at most a single commission if I chose to sell. I wouldn't have to go through the closing process and had a chance of getting my deposit back sooner. Red Frog's response was that we could give you back your deposit when we got a new deposit. Nothing more.
I had thought it would have been a great sales gimmick. If all of us knew we could sell our places at some profit, we would all feel safer about our investments. Selling lots does not seem to be one of Red Frog's weaknesses. The few of us that decided to sell would give Red Frog some extra money. New buyers would see how much money the original buyers were making, feeding new buyers greed that they could do it too.
My dream would be for the strike to end, villas to get completed and closed, and Red Frog decides to do something similar to my proposal. Perhaps if the strike ends, a group of us, a pre-home owners group, could convince Red Frog. It would be hard for there to be any unhappy campers. If so, they could just sell and make a good profit. Any comments?
Friday, August 24, 2007
An environmentalist raises the Red Frog issue!
This month's Bocas Breeze features a lead article about the disappearance of the red frogs. While not directly attacking the project itself for their demise, the author, an admitted enviromentalist, did make the assertion that man and nature can not live together.
"While at the time the cause of the declines was a mystery, we now know that many of these disappearances can be attributed to a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, which has been spreading eastward across Panama from Costa Rica since the late 1980s. While the disease has been directly responsible for the rapid die-offs of many species, new scientific studies have shown that the disease preys more intensely on frogs that are already undergoing some form of environmental stress. For example, frogs in poor-quality habitat or highly fragmented areas show signs of stress long before the disease takes hold. And when these stressed-out frogs do become infected, they seldom recover," says the author.
Not to let her assertions go unchallenged, I responded with a letter to the editor and stated, "It seems like there is always some nature lover or environmentalist who sees humans apart from nature and not a part of it. I think you will find that the red frogs will be on Bastimentos long after most of us are gone… for one reason… Nature finds a way.
"Let me tell you a story about the water fowl we have in our area of Northern California. Environmentalists were so concerned about over development of this area that they feared the water birds would be wiped out. So in order to have man and nature co-exist peacefully, they set aside thousands of acres of wetlands as “open space” that could never be touched. What happened? These birds can often be seen feeding in the tall grass and shrubs alongside our highways and over passes. Perhaps they never got the memo which said we had preserved the wetlands for them!
"Near our house in Mill Valley there are coyotes running wild down the street along with deer, raccoons and the occasional silver fox. Of course, when our house was built, it was feared it would wipe out all the wildlife. Apparently not."
I alerted Scott Harris to the article to which he responded, "Our PR person in Bocas, Michelle Slough, will be writing a retraction but my initial response is this:
"Our whole property only accounts for 9% of the island and when done, our build out will only be on 3% of the island – not 8% as they falsely claim. Our principal build out so far has been on CATTLE FARMS where Red Frogs weren’t living anyway.
"Of course, there will still be some small areas affected, [but] they will be moved before any construction takes place. And next build out area is in the teak areas, not the jungle. In our EIS, we have been required to have many “thoroughfares” or passages for ALL the fauna.
"I wish this person would really do her research on the EIS provisions before making bad assumptions about our intentions and the project. And the study of Red Frogs was made by senior scientists over the course of several months. No telling how long or how scientific her study was or what her credentials really are besides being a frog lover. We are frog lovers too."
So are we. I guess we're just stressing them out!
"While at the time the cause of the declines was a mystery, we now know that many of these disappearances can be attributed to a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, which has been spreading eastward across Panama from Costa Rica since the late 1980s. While the disease has been directly responsible for the rapid die-offs of many species, new scientific studies have shown that the disease preys more intensely on frogs that are already undergoing some form of environmental stress. For example, frogs in poor-quality habitat or highly fragmented areas show signs of stress long before the disease takes hold. And when these stressed-out frogs do become infected, they seldom recover," says the author.
Not to let her assertions go unchallenged, I responded with a letter to the editor and stated, "It seems like there is always some nature lover or environmentalist who sees humans apart from nature and not a part of it. I think you will find that the red frogs will be on Bastimentos long after most of us are gone… for one reason… Nature finds a way.
"Let me tell you a story about the water fowl we have in our area of Northern California. Environmentalists were so concerned about over development of this area that they feared the water birds would be wiped out. So in order to have man and nature co-exist peacefully, they set aside thousands of acres of wetlands as “open space” that could never be touched. What happened? These birds can often be seen feeding in the tall grass and shrubs alongside our highways and over passes. Perhaps they never got the memo which said we had preserved the wetlands for them!
"Near our house in Mill Valley there are coyotes running wild down the street along with deer, raccoons and the occasional silver fox. Of course, when our house was built, it was feared it would wipe out all the wildlife. Apparently not."
I alerted Scott Harris to the article to which he responded, "Our PR person in Bocas, Michelle Slough, will be writing a retraction but my initial response is this:
"Our whole property only accounts for 9% of the island and when done, our build out will only be on 3% of the island – not 8% as they falsely claim. Our principal build out so far has been on CATTLE FARMS where Red Frogs weren’t living anyway.
"Of course, there will still be some small areas affected, [but] they will be moved before any construction takes place. And next build out area is in the teak areas, not the jungle. In our EIS, we have been required to have many “thoroughfares” or passages for ALL the fauna.
"I wish this person would really do her research on the EIS provisions before making bad assumptions about our intentions and the project. And the study of Red Frogs was made by senior scientists over the course of several months. No telling how long or how scientific her study was or what her credentials really are besides being a frog lover. We are frog lovers too."
So are we. I guess we're just stressing them out!
Monday, August 20, 2007
More on the 30 day visa issue
I heard from Sam Taliaferro on Friday that September 3rd is the next time the 30 day visa issue will be on the table. Apparently he is working hard to get this law changed back. Here is what he said:
"I received a call this morning from a legislator who informed me that the 30 day visa issue will be on the agenda on September 3rd when they come back to session. He is head of the opposition party and is bringing it to the floor. We have the ruling party leader in the legislature stating they will not oppose returning it to the way it was. If they keep their word and we continue to apply pressure I believe we will achieve success." - Sam Taliaferro
"I received a call this morning from a legislator who informed me that the 30 day visa issue will be on the agenda on September 3rd when they come back to session. He is head of the opposition party and is bringing it to the floor. We have the ruling party leader in the legislature stating they will not oppose returning it to the way it was. If they keep their word and we continue to apply pressure I believe we will achieve success." - Sam Taliaferro
Blades gets it wrong... again!
This guy is dangerous to the tourism industry in Panama. Recently he published an article called, "The real estate business is not tourism by Rubén Blades" which proves he does not understand the phenomenon going on in his country.
To boost tourism in Panama, they are going to need resorts for people to stay. And who is going to build these resorts? People like us who have invested in contruction projects. So, in essence, real estate business and tourism are tied together.
For this reason, it is imperative that we make our voices heard. If you are so inclined, please drop by http://www.visitpanama.com/eng/page.php?page=contact_us and leave a note.
To boost tourism in Panama, they are going to need resorts for people to stay. And who is going to build these resorts? People like us who have invested in contruction projects. So, in essence, real estate business and tourism are tied together.
For this reason, it is imperative that we make our voices heard. If you are so inclined, please drop by http://www.visitpanama.com/eng/page.php?page=contact_us and leave a note.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Clarification on Downsizing Security at RFBC
For Your Information
I asked Scott about their property and our villa's having reduced or no security.
He responded: Our people on the ground determine the level of security needed at any given time and as the threat level from the labor union is all but gone, they have recently made a reduction in security force. Thanks… Scott Harris Executive Vice President
I followed up asking him to please amplify for better clarity having read lot 11's input.
He responded: Ron has already addressed his concerns with Ana regarding security. If he doesn’t trust our security people, he is more than welcomed to hire his own as he is paying nothing for it right now. You and the rest of our clients should recognize that we have always relied on the expertise of our security people and have really never had a security problem other than that first skirmish with Suntracs earlier this year. So there is no need to be alarmed as our security force has everything under control. No property has been destroyed and no one has had any personal harm come to them. We have never published any specific reports on security levels in the last four years and I don’t see that changing until the HOCA starts paying for some of it. Scott Harris Executive Vice President
I appreciate Scott answering my inquiry. And I hope his assessment "No property has been destroyed and no one has had any personal harm come to them." continues, for I doubt anybody would desire to rent a villa if such did happen.
I asked Scott about their property and our villa's having reduced or no security.
He responded: Our people on the ground determine the level of security needed at any given time and as the threat level from the labor union is all but gone, they have recently made a reduction in security force. Thanks… Scott Harris Executive Vice President
I followed up asking him to please amplify for better clarity having read lot 11's input.
He responded: Ron has already addressed his concerns with Ana regarding security. If he doesn’t trust our security people, he is more than welcomed to hire his own as he is paying nothing for it right now. You and the rest of our clients should recognize that we have always relied on the expertise of our security people and have really never had a security problem other than that first skirmish with Suntracs earlier this year. So there is no need to be alarmed as our security force has everything under control. No property has been destroyed and no one has had any personal harm come to them. We have never published any specific reports on security levels in the last four years and I don’t see that changing until the HOCA starts paying for some of it. Scott Harris Executive Vice President
I appreciate Scott answering my inquiry. And I hope his assessment "No property has been destroyed and no one has had any personal harm come to them." continues, for I doubt anybody would desire to rent a villa if such did happen.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Note to contributors
I need your help. Recently several people have placed posts and comments as users different than they are logging on with, thus making them "anonymous". While this is permitted by blogger, "lurking" is not in the spirit of this blog.
I am not trying to be heavy handed here, but in fairness to everyone, I am requesting that you use your ID to leave comments and posts. If not, they will be removed. And please keep them constructive. Snide comments, are not necessary nor welcome.
Should you be borrowing someone's account, please send an e-mail to micko@sfresidence.com and I will gladly add you to the user's list and send you an invititaion.
Thanks for your cooperation.
I am not trying to be heavy handed here, but in fairness to everyone, I am requesting that you use your ID to leave comments and posts. If not, they will be removed. And please keep them constructive. Snide comments, are not necessary nor welcome.
Should you be borrowing someone's account, please send an e-mail to micko@sfresidence.com and I will gladly add you to the user's list and send you an invititaion.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Construction questions answered
Julie at lot 29 was kind enough to send questions about construction issues. The responses from the construction team are below:
Q: I think in the last owners' conference call there was reference to new window company and new roofing company. Why is there a new window company?
A: Because we have found a new company that has the screens built in and because we believe they will be more responsive to our delivery and service needs.
Q: Is there anything wrong with the windows already installed on some of the villas?
A: No, they are a high quality insulated window with the exception of not being made to support a built in screen as well as some handle issues that have needed replacing. Again, the old vendor has not been very quick with the replacement parts.
Q: What if their villa is only in the framing stages - no roof or windows or drywall installed yet, but probably ordered?
A: If already ordered, the former window supplier will be used, if not ordered the new supplier. But all of Phase 2 and beyond (including all condos) will have the new windows.
Q: If there is a new roofing company, will ALL of the villas and condos get the benefit of the improvements to materials and installation methods?
A: The roofing material is still the same excellent product, we are just improving the company doing the installation, delivery and service. Everything is under warranty at this point and so all will be properly repaired.
Q: What about the coral stone upgrade that has currently been installed? We hear there is a tremendous problem with mold. The solution has been to spread bleach crystals periodically (weekly or every other week?) as a treatment to kill the mold by people who are already living there.
A: The mold problem with the Niwalla Yellow is being addressed and we are looking at an epoxy based grout sealant to fill the decking which will eliminate or minimize aggressive cleaning methods For now floors are being cleaned with bleach and depending on the weather they can stay clean between 1 1/2 - 2 months (according to RM) this all will be avoided once the sealant is applied.
Q: If the environmentalists get wind of this bleach treatment could this be a major problem? Will bleach run off into the coral rich coastline killing the coral?
A: Very unlikely from hundreds of meters away and natural cleaning of run off.
Q: Is there a chance that owners can replace their pool/patio material from coral stone?
A: If they want to do this instead of using the sealant, they can do it at a cost of the new material.
Q: Does RFB expect the HOA to be financially responsible for any of the 70% of the protected areas or only our directly adjacent common areas? I'm not sure how this works.
A: Each of the individual HOA’s will belong to a Master HOA and this issue has not been decided on yet.
Q: Is the HOA financially responsible for any potential future litigation for claims of title by outside parties against our common areas whether they be "rights of possession" or "titled" land?
A: No. (My understanding is that this is what the title insurance is for.)
Q: I think in the last owners' conference call there was reference to new window company and new roofing company. Why is there a new window company?
A: Because we have found a new company that has the screens built in and because we believe they will be more responsive to our delivery and service needs.
Q: Is there anything wrong with the windows already installed on some of the villas?
A: No, they are a high quality insulated window with the exception of not being made to support a built in screen as well as some handle issues that have needed replacing. Again, the old vendor has not been very quick with the replacement parts.
Q: What if their villa is only in the framing stages - no roof or windows or drywall installed yet, but probably ordered?
A: If already ordered, the former window supplier will be used, if not ordered the new supplier. But all of Phase 2 and beyond (including all condos) will have the new windows.
Q: If there is a new roofing company, will ALL of the villas and condos get the benefit of the improvements to materials and installation methods?
A: The roofing material is still the same excellent product, we are just improving the company doing the installation, delivery and service. Everything is under warranty at this point and so all will be properly repaired.
Q: What about the coral stone upgrade that has currently been installed? We hear there is a tremendous problem with mold. The solution has been to spread bleach crystals periodically (weekly or every other week?) as a treatment to kill the mold by people who are already living there.
A: The mold problem with the Niwalla Yellow is being addressed and we are looking at an epoxy based grout sealant to fill the decking which will eliminate or minimize aggressive cleaning methods For now floors are being cleaned with bleach and depending on the weather they can stay clean between 1 1/2 - 2 months (according to RM) this all will be avoided once the sealant is applied.
Q: If the environmentalists get wind of this bleach treatment could this be a major problem? Will bleach run off into the coral rich coastline killing the coral?
A: Very unlikely from hundreds of meters away and natural cleaning of run off.
Q: Is there a chance that owners can replace their pool/patio material from coral stone?
A: If they want to do this instead of using the sealant, they can do it at a cost of the new material.
Q: Does RFB expect the HOA to be financially responsible for any of the 70% of the protected areas or only our directly adjacent common areas? I'm not sure how this works.
A: Each of the individual HOA’s will belong to a Master HOA and this issue has not been decided on yet.
Q: Is the HOA financially responsible for any potential future litigation for claims of title by outside parties against our common areas whether they be "rights of possession" or "titled" land?
A: No. (My understanding is that this is what the title insurance is for.)
Friday, August 10, 2007
Good news update on rights of possession
Got a note from Scott Harris this morning regarding the rights of possession question I put to him yesterday. What he said was very encouraging:
===================================
I actually had a long conference call with both Paul and Sam yesterday as well and they did tell me that they had spoken to you. Yes, we are joining with them and we will be part of their steering committee.
They asked some questions to me about our ROP and they really weren’t up to speed on the Law 2 that passed in Jan. 2006. But the bottom line is that we have ALWAYS been well aware and talked very openly that banks will not lend on ROP property. That is why we clearly understand that we need to get the property titled BEFORE we complete any units in the ROP sections, Phase 2-3 mostly.
You may or may not know but we were working with Pardini and Associates on this action and we contributed to the lobbying for this bill to pass – to allow island property to be titled. The other developers in the Pearl Islands also lobbied for this as well. But if you remember, President Torrijos even came to Bocas to officially sign the bill as a show of support for Bocas. For the last year or so, this was the chief inititive we required of Pardini, to get the other roughly 20% our lands titled (the rest already are).
After very little action, we finally have taken this back... and given this job to some other attorneys, and they submitted our package in the middle of May. There has been some progress made but not much in the last couple of months. But our people are constantly there hounding them.
So our plan right now, is to not build any units on ROP until we are sure that we will get them titled in time. Our newest attorneys thought they could get it done this year and we hope that it happens. We are not quite ready to build in Phase 2 or 3 anyway so this hasn’t hurt us yet. We are optimistic that we will get our lands titled as this has already been done in the Pearl Islands since this bill has been passed.
===================================
That sounds very positive to me, especially that there is a precedent with the Pearl Islands.
Mick @ Lot 83
===================================
I actually had a long conference call with both Paul and Sam yesterday as well and they did tell me that they had spoken to you. Yes, we are joining with them and we will be part of their steering committee.
They asked some questions to me about our ROP and they really weren’t up to speed on the Law 2 that passed in Jan. 2006. But the bottom line is that we have ALWAYS been well aware and talked very openly that banks will not lend on ROP property. That is why we clearly understand that we need to get the property titled BEFORE we complete any units in the ROP sections, Phase 2-3 mostly.
You may or may not know but we were working with Pardini and Associates on this action and we contributed to the lobbying for this bill to pass – to allow island property to be titled. The other developers in the Pearl Islands also lobbied for this as well. But if you remember, President Torrijos even came to Bocas to officially sign the bill as a show of support for Bocas. For the last year or so, this was the chief inititive we required of Pardini, to get the other roughly 20% our lands titled (the rest already are).
After very little action, we finally have taken this back... and given this job to some other attorneys, and they submitted our package in the middle of May. There has been some progress made but not much in the last couple of months. But our people are constantly there hounding them.
So our plan right now, is to not build any units on ROP until we are sure that we will get them titled in time. Our newest attorneys thought they could get it done this year and we hope that it happens. We are not quite ready to build in Phase 2 or 3 anyway so this hasn’t hurt us yet. We are optimistic that we will get our lands titled as this has already been done in the Pearl Islands since this bill has been passed.
===================================
That sounds very positive to me, especially that there is a precedent with the Pearl Islands.
Mick @ Lot 83
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Contacting the government about the 20 year tax exemption
In an effort to head off the disasterous (to investors and the country of Panama) end of the 20 year tax exemption, I contacted Sam Taliaferro about it and asked to whom in the government we might plead our case.
He suggested e-mailing the vice minister of international trade, Carmen Gesela Vergara, who is sympathetic to our cause and understands it. She may be e-mailed at cgvergara@mici.gob.pa.
Mick @ Lot 83
===================================
Updated 8/9/07
My letter to Ms. Vergara:
Dear Vice Minister,
I am writing as an investor in the Red Frog Beach Club development on Bastimentos and want you to know that I support your efforts to change the government’s course regarding the end of the 20 year tax exemption. To those of us who chose to invest in Panama so as to eventually retire there, this is a huge issue and could affect many of us financially should the tax go back into effect. It could also affect other people’s decision to buy property in Panama at all.
As a student of economics, what many governments fail to realize (US is probably the worst with its onerous taxation) is that the harm which comes by taxation, meant to do good, is not seen for several years. By the time it is seen, it is too late to reverse. The favorable tax laws have a profound impact on the sudden growth and popularity of Panama. To make that go away at the end of the year will hurt the economy more than I can describe, maybe not immediately, but in the long term.
Please stress to your peers that by continuing the exemption, it will attract investors to Panama who will dump loads of money into the economy by way of purchasing homes, boats, cars, etc. which will result in higher standards of living in areas such as Bocas.
I am pleading with you to make our case, and I hope to be able to meet you one day as we sit on the beach at Red Frog. Thank you for your time.
===================================
Her reply:
Thanks so much for your mail. The Government of Panama is reviewing all of its policies to better attract foreign direct investment.
I am sure that with the help and encouragement of investors such as yourself, we will realize our goal to make Panama a preferred destination for tourist and for retirees alike.
When you come to Panama, please let me know, as I will be very happy to meet you personally and share with you some of our plans for the economic development of our country.
Best regards,
Carmen Gisela Vergara
Viceministra de Comercio Exterior
Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias
Tel: 560-0655 / 560-0656 (fax)
e-mail: cgvergara@mici.gob.pa
web: www.mici.gob.pa
He suggested e-mailing the vice minister of international trade, Carmen Gesela Vergara, who is sympathetic to our cause and understands it. She may be e-mailed at cgvergara@mici.gob.pa.
Mick @ Lot 83
===================================
Updated 8/9/07
My letter to Ms. Vergara:
Dear Vice Minister,
I am writing as an investor in the Red Frog Beach Club development on Bastimentos and want you to know that I support your efforts to change the government’s course regarding the end of the 20 year tax exemption. To those of us who chose to invest in Panama so as to eventually retire there, this is a huge issue and could affect many of us financially should the tax go back into effect. It could also affect other people’s decision to buy property in Panama at all.
As a student of economics, what many governments fail to realize (US is probably the worst with its onerous taxation) is that the harm which comes by taxation, meant to do good, is not seen for several years. By the time it is seen, it is too late to reverse. The favorable tax laws have a profound impact on the sudden growth and popularity of Panama. To make that go away at the end of the year will hurt the economy more than I can describe, maybe not immediately, but in the long term.
Please stress to your peers that by continuing the exemption, it will attract investors to Panama who will dump loads of money into the economy by way of purchasing homes, boats, cars, etc. which will result in higher standards of living in areas such as Bocas.
I am pleading with you to make our case, and I hope to be able to meet you one day as we sit on the beach at Red Frog. Thank you for your time.
===================================
Her reply:
Thanks so much for your mail. The Government of Panama is reviewing all of its policies to better attract foreign direct investment.
I am sure that with the help and encouragement of investors such as yourself, we will realize our goal to make Panama a preferred destination for tourist and for retirees alike.
When you come to Panama, please let me know, as I will be very happy to meet you personally and share with you some of our plans for the economic development of our country.
Best regards,
Carmen Gisela Vergara
Viceministra de Comercio Exterior
Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias
Tel: 560-0655 / 560-0656 (fax)
e-mail: cgvergara@mici.gob.pa
web: www.mici.gob.pa
Truth in advertising
Just noticed a new addition to the RF web site: "All the words, graphics, and numbers herein are for purposes of illustration only. Developer is describing its current intentions and not promising that any of the properties or amenities listed will be built"
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Getting financing in Panama
Sam's latest edition of Industry News has an article about securing a mortgage for an offshore home. In it is a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal's Real Estate Journal about this topic.
The short version is to either buy in a development that offers owner financing, or pay cash. Wish we'd known that when we got started. However, the link to IMI Group looks like they could work for owners who want to finance. I will check into it and report back.
Mick @ Lot 83
The short version is to either buy in a development that offers owner financing, or pay cash. Wish we'd known that when we got started. However, the link to IMI Group looks like they could work for owners who want to finance. I will check into it and report back.
Mick @ Lot 83
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Conference call with Paul McBride, CEO of Prima Panama, SA
The converstation with Paul lasted over an hour. He was very gracious with his time, considering he just got back to California from Panama and will only be here a week. So I thank him for that.
The first 15 minutes was spent with him giving us a run down (Janis was in on the conference call with me) of his accomplishments as a developer in Panama, establishing his credentials. Then he described some fo the problems that they have run into while doing their project; problems which foreign investors also had to deal with when doing business in the country.
Since he made it clear he really has no first hand knowledge of the day to day operations at the Red Frog project, we kept the discussion at a very high level. Though he did hint that he may be becoming more involved in some of our issues. To help solve them would be for the good of the Panama economy as well as for other developers. For this reason, I was not able to get answers to specific questions about material choices or other questions or complaints specific to the Red Frog Beach development.
However, what I did get was a promise that he would go back to Joe and discuss with him ways to go about giving the owners more information than we have been getting. He agreed that the Red Frog policy of not sharing openly about what's going on with the project only lets peoples' imaginations run wild.
As you may know, he and Sam Taliaferro (developers of Valle Escondido) have formed a lobbying group of foreign developers (of which Red Frog is one) who are all dealing with the same sorts of issues; everything from government (or sometimes lack of it), the courts, the unions and so on.
One of the things we asked was, what can we, as owners do to help get the government on track and he suggested we could contact our senators and congresspeople and get them to pass the Panama Free Trade Act. The state department had this article on file from 2005 so it makes ne wonder why it has not passed yet. Guess who's going to e-mail his representatives tonight about this?
He touched on the SUNTRACS problems and what the unions are trying to do basically is have the developers pay them so they can get their 2% off the top before they pay the union members (Sound like the IRS?). Of course, the union workers are completely against this, but it's the union that is holding up the process to get this concession (or so I'm told), even in some development projects where the workers have not even voted a union in! Isla Viveros is one of those developments.
As for the question of developer liability, it is different in Panama and limited to one year... however, as Paul said, no developer wants a project as big as Red Frog to start falling apart before they finish building the last of the units. And as we know, the developers don't make their money back until the end of the project anyway, so it is in their best interests to keep everyone happy and produce a quality product.
We asked about financing options and he said he would check with Joe and get back to us. I would suggest if you are in the situation where you need some financing now, you might check with Sam@PrimaPanama.com. He has been very responsive to my questions. I tried to ask my realtor contact in Bocas about tinancing, but he is out of the country for a family medical emergency.
Another topic that came up was the rights of possession land, and Paul said he thought that land without title could not be financed. For that reason we are extremely concerned since our beach front lot is rights of possession which we were told would eventually become titled land. (Perhaps the lawsuit concerning the Pelican Bay-Cayman Beach area will have some effect on that issue.) But as it stands now, we were expecting to finance a portion of our villa purchase. As the time draws closer to the beginning of construction, this will be a big problem that will need to be fixed.
By the time we got to this last topic we had talked for a little over an hour and didn't want to monopolize any more of Paul's time, so we signed off and promised to keep in touch. Sorry I couldn't get to more of the specifics about how Valle Escondido handles their business end and it didn't seem appropriate for the high level of the conversation. However, you might shoot an e-mail to PanamaTravel@mindspring.com and see if he can answer the questions for you.
Mick @ Lot 83
The first 15 minutes was spent with him giving us a run down (Janis was in on the conference call with me) of his accomplishments as a developer in Panama, establishing his credentials. Then he described some fo the problems that they have run into while doing their project; problems which foreign investors also had to deal with when doing business in the country.
Since he made it clear he really has no first hand knowledge of the day to day operations at the Red Frog project, we kept the discussion at a very high level. Though he did hint that he may be becoming more involved in some of our issues. To help solve them would be for the good of the Panama economy as well as for other developers. For this reason, I was not able to get answers to specific questions about material choices or other questions or complaints specific to the Red Frog Beach development.
However, what I did get was a promise that he would go back to Joe and discuss with him ways to go about giving the owners more information than we have been getting. He agreed that the Red Frog policy of not sharing openly about what's going on with the project only lets peoples' imaginations run wild.
As you may know, he and Sam Taliaferro (developers of Valle Escondido) have formed a lobbying group of foreign developers (of which Red Frog is one) who are all dealing with the same sorts of issues; everything from government (or sometimes lack of it), the courts, the unions and so on.
One of the things we asked was, what can we, as owners do to help get the government on track and he suggested we could contact our senators and congresspeople and get them to pass the Panama Free Trade Act. The state department had this article on file from 2005 so it makes ne wonder why it has not passed yet. Guess who's going to e-mail his representatives tonight about this?
He touched on the SUNTRACS problems and what the unions are trying to do basically is have the developers pay them so they can get their 2% off the top before they pay the union members (Sound like the IRS?). Of course, the union workers are completely against this, but it's the union that is holding up the process to get this concession (or so I'm told), even in some development projects where the workers have not even voted a union in! Isla Viveros is one of those developments.
As for the question of developer liability, it is different in Panama and limited to one year... however, as Paul said, no developer wants a project as big as Red Frog to start falling apart before they finish building the last of the units. And as we know, the developers don't make their money back until the end of the project anyway, so it is in their best interests to keep everyone happy and produce a quality product.
We asked about financing options and he said he would check with Joe and get back to us. I would suggest if you are in the situation where you need some financing now, you might check with Sam@PrimaPanama.com. He has been very responsive to my questions. I tried to ask my realtor contact in Bocas about tinancing, but he is out of the country for a family medical emergency.
Another topic that came up was the rights of possession land, and Paul said he thought that land without title could not be financed. For that reason we are extremely concerned since our beach front lot is rights of possession which we were told would eventually become titled land. (Perhaps the lawsuit concerning the Pelican Bay-Cayman Beach area will have some effect on that issue.) But as it stands now, we were expecting to finance a portion of our villa purchase. As the time draws closer to the beginning of construction, this will be a big problem that will need to be fixed.
By the time we got to this last topic we had talked for a little over an hour and didn't want to monopolize any more of Paul's time, so we signed off and promised to keep in touch. Sorry I couldn't get to more of the specifics about how Valle Escondido handles their business end and it didn't seem appropriate for the high level of the conversation. However, you might shoot an e-mail to PanamaTravel@mindspring.com and see if he can answer the questions for you.
Mick @ Lot 83
Monday, August 6, 2007
Topic: Red Frog Rentals - Updated 8/9/07!
Updated 8/9/07
Anna responded to my request to clarify: "To answer your questions. The exploration tours is now a 1 night stay here at Red Frog and we have it once a month so it is only a minimal of the rentals that we are currently getting. The commission for the resort management is %30."
Previous response:
===================================
Hello Mick, I hope you are doing well.
As you know it is very hard to give you any accurate numbers since the rental program started 1 month before the strike started so we have been affected by it.
We are preparing a strong marketing strategy which we will launch as soon as we have more villas and amenities. In the meanwhile we have a lot of returning owners, exploration tour clients, a lot of prospect buyers that want to experience Red Frog before buying and also some people that find us through the website.
In average you can put in your blog that the villas are renting an average of 8 days a month( at a daily rate of $380) but again, remember that this number are greatly influenced by our current situation…
We have steady reservations throughout the rest of the year and already many of them for Christmas and New Year.
Well, I hope this information helps you but for any additional questions please let me know.
===================================
Does anyone know owners who are in the rental program and how much the Resort is taking? I forgot to ask. Thanks.
Mick @ Lot 83
Anna responded to my request to clarify: "To answer your questions. The exploration tours is now a 1 night stay here at Red Frog and we have it once a month so it is only a minimal of the rentals that we are currently getting. The commission for the resort management is %30."
Previous response:
===================================
Hello Mick, I hope you are doing well.
As you know it is very hard to give you any accurate numbers since the rental program started 1 month before the strike started so we have been affected by it.
We are preparing a strong marketing strategy which we will launch as soon as we have more villas and amenities. In the meanwhile we have a lot of returning owners, exploration tour clients, a lot of prospect buyers that want to experience Red Frog before buying and also some people that find us through the website.
In average you can put in your blog that the villas are renting an average of 8 days a month( at a daily rate of $380) but again, remember that this number are greatly influenced by our current situation…
We have steady reservations throughout the rest of the year and already many of them for Christmas and New Year.
Well, I hope this information helps you but for any additional questions please let me know.
===================================
Does anyone know owners who are in the rental program and how much the Resort is taking? I forgot to ask. Thanks.
Mick @ Lot 83
New Topic
...continued by request from "More on the Construction Issues"
We know from this and prior blogs, which lots are closed unfinished and rentable. We also know that Lots 19, 48 and 65 have been rented in the past. There would not seem to be a case for you friend in this scenario? Can you add his number? There have been no tour groups using the Red Frog Boat to the island for a couple of months.
04 Red Frog Sales Office
48 Complete and Rentable
11 Not Rentable
12 Not Rentable
65 Complete and Rentable
34 Unfinished
27 Red Frog Property Management
19 Complete and Rentable
26 Unfinished
30 Unfinished
33 Unfinished
We know from this and prior blogs, which lots are closed unfinished and rentable. We also know that Lots 19, 48 and 65 have been rented in the past. There would not seem to be a case for you friend in this scenario? Can you add his number? There have been no tour groups using the Red Frog Boat to the island for a couple of months.
04 Red Frog Sales Office
48 Complete and Rentable
11 Not Rentable
12 Not Rentable
65 Complete and Rentable
34 Unfinished
27 Red Frog Property Management
19 Complete and Rentable
26 Unfinished
30 Unfinished
33 Unfinished
Red Frog Bloggers, I need your help!
In anticipation of my conference call tomorrow with Paul McBride, CEO of Prima Panama, I would like your help to put together a list of questions pertaining to the Red Frog Beach development. I will do what I can to address your questions and concerns. First on my list are:
- The strike - what caused it and when do they expect it will be resolved?
- Is there is any knowledge of financial difficulties with Pillar Panama?
- Are the choices of building materials used in the construction of villas (and eventually condos) appropriate?
- Should the quality of work (or lack of it) be a concern or will that get fixed?
- Is there a 10 year developer liability in Panama like there is in the US?
- Ask about tourist visa issues
- Ask about property tax exemptions
E-mail micko@sfresidence.com (or post here) any questions which are different than those I have on my list. I will do my best to get them asnwered.
Mick @ Lot 83
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Bocas del Toro makes the news July 19, 2007
And it's not good news, either, as it relates to the effect on the Bocas economy by the shut down of our Red Frog project. Here is the link from Panama Investor Blog.
Mick @ Lot 83
Mick @ Lot 83
More on the construction issues
I was encouraged by Solarte12 to contact some local builders and find out the real story about the problems at Red Frog. So I e-mailed two of the developers and got a nice note back from one of them, Sam Taliaferro whose project is www.valleescondido.biz. Here's what I wrote:
===================================
Sam,
I am an investor in the Red Frog Beach Club project on Bastimentos and was sent to you to get your opinion on the progress (or lack of it) of the project.
I would appreciate any insight you might give about what’s going on over there. Thanks in advance.
===================================
His reply is as follows:
===================================
HI Mick,
I have not been over to the project in a few months, but I am fully aware of some of the challenges they have faced. I have also been in touch with the developer and some of the people who are currently in Bocas and on the property itself.
I believe the issues they have been dealing with will be resolved in the next few months and they will be back on track. They have joined our group of foreign developers and we are earnestly lobbying the government on their behalf. I don’t believe there has been any intentional misdealing by those involved with the organization. They are dealing in a difficult area to do a project to say the least. Give them a few months and things should turn around.
Do you subscribe to my weblog? http://primapanama.blogs.com/
===================================
I do now.
Mick @ Lot 83
===================================
Sam,
I am an investor in the Red Frog Beach Club project on Bastimentos and was sent to you to get your opinion on the progress (or lack of it) of the project.
I would appreciate any insight you might give about what’s going on over there. Thanks in advance.
===================================
His reply is as follows:
===================================
HI Mick,
I have not been over to the project in a few months, but I am fully aware of some of the challenges they have faced. I have also been in touch with the developer and some of the people who are currently in Bocas and on the property itself.
I believe the issues they have been dealing with will be resolved in the next few months and they will be back on track. They have joined our group of foreign developers and we are earnestly lobbying the government on their behalf. I don’t believe there has been any intentional misdealing by those involved with the organization. They are dealing in a difficult area to do a project to say the least. Give them a few months and things should turn around.
Do you subscribe to my weblog? http://primapanama.blogs.com/
===================================
I do now.
Mick @ Lot 83
Changes to the blog
I added a new e-mail account for myself so that we can implement something new. You will need to identify yourself and your property location somewhere in your user name.
Most of you already have, but I was using our SFResidence account to post, which I will no longer do. So from here on out I can be identified as Mick @ Lot 83 and I encourage the rest of you to do the same. If you are in a condo, please specify your unit number (for example, 206 West).
Thanks for your cooperation.
Mick
Most of you already have, but I was using our SFResidence account to post, which I will no longer do. So from here on out I can be identified as Mick @ Lot 83 and I encourage the rest of you to do the same. If you are in a condo, please specify your unit number (for example, 206 West).
Thanks for your cooperation.
Mick
Friday, August 3, 2007
Letter to the Red Frog Construction Team
Folks,
There has been a lot of discussion about the contruction materials that are being used at the Red Frog site, so I thought I would go to the source and see if I can get some clarification. Here is the letter I wrote to Scott this morning.
Please note that another site offering luxury villas found by another one of our owners does not list construction materials either. I believe this is intentional as, "your results may vary!" Their site may be seen here.
===================================
Scott,
Is there a place on the Red Frog website that has a list of materials that are being used in the construction? If not, I think it would be helpful for owners and prospective buyers to know what kinds of products are being chosen to build the villas. Of course, I would expect to see a disclaimer saying that “materials may vary due to price and availability”, especially with some of the challenges you have with building on an island in Panama. And I expect there might be some sort of statement saying the Red Frog team would make substitutions with equal or better quality choices. What do you think of this idea?
One of the two biggest questions has been what material is being used on the underside of the eaves where the Densglass walls meet the overhang? In the construction photos it looks like different material. The other question is about the brand of roof we are getting. Can you clarify what roofing material is being used? A list of materials would be helpful so that these types of questions could be easily answered. Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Mick Orton
===================================
Bloggers are up and about today! It's still early here in California. As I look out over Mill Valley, I see the fog is heavy in San Francisco. On the whole, I'd rather be in Panama!
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 8/5/07
Scott responded to my e-mail yesterday, but it was hardly a satisfactory answer. Basically he pointed me to the following pages on the website:
Villas - http://www.redfrogbeach.com/villaspec.html
Condos - http://www.redfrogbeach.com/condospec.html
These are hardly informational! He further explained, "More specifics are in each contract..." but I have no list of building materials in my villa contract. Does anyone else?
To his credit, he said he would pass along my question to the team and would get back to me. More to come.
Mick @ Lot 83
There has been a lot of discussion about the contruction materials that are being used at the Red Frog site, so I thought I would go to the source and see if I can get some clarification. Here is the letter I wrote to Scott this morning.
Please note that another site offering luxury villas found by another one of our owners does not list construction materials either. I believe this is intentional as, "your results may vary!" Their site may be seen here.
===================================
Scott,
Is there a place on the Red Frog website that has a list of materials that are being used in the construction? If not, I think it would be helpful for owners and prospective buyers to know what kinds of products are being chosen to build the villas. Of course, I would expect to see a disclaimer saying that “materials may vary due to price and availability”, especially with some of the challenges you have with building on an island in Panama. And I expect there might be some sort of statement saying the Red Frog team would make substitutions with equal or better quality choices. What do you think of this idea?
One of the two biggest questions has been what material is being used on the underside of the eaves where the Densglass walls meet the overhang? In the construction photos it looks like different material. The other question is about the brand of roof we are getting. Can you clarify what roofing material is being used? A list of materials would be helpful so that these types of questions could be easily answered. Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Mick Orton
===================================
Bloggers are up and about today! It's still early here in California. As I look out over Mill Valley, I see the fog is heavy in San Francisco. On the whole, I'd rather be in Panama!Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 8/5/07
Scott responded to my e-mail yesterday, but it was hardly a satisfactory answer. Basically he pointed me to the following pages on the website:
Villas - http://www.redfrogbeach.com/villaspec.html
Condos - http://www.redfrogbeach.com/condospec.html
These are hardly informational! He further explained, "More specifics are in each contract..." but I have no list of building materials in my villa contract. Does anyone else?
To his credit, he said he would pass along my question to the team and would get back to me. More to come.
Mick @ Lot 83
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Building materials used for Red Frog construction
In a previous post about the finished units at Red Frog, the discussion turned to drywall materials and whether or not it was appropriate to use drywall in a tropical climate. Here's the quote from Tasboy's earlier post on the blog:
"...Along the theme of construction, I pointed out to Scott Harris, that after viewing photo's of our villa dated from Feb.07, that drywall material was defective on over hang areas of our Tortuga model. I have checked with several builders here in the US, and drywall is not a product that should be installed in a humid/wet climate, such as RFB..."
On this topic I posed the question to Scott in an e-mail on August 1 about the drywall material. My concern was if the above statement is true, were they any plans to change the choice of material when construction resumed? Here is a portion of his reply:
"...have been using Densglass Gold which is a super high quality mold resistant drywall..."
After the exchange I went to the Internet to find more information about this material and found it was made by Georgia-Pacific. So I shot off the following e-mail:
"I have a project we are considering building in Panama. It is an island locale, and someone suggested we use Densglass Gold drywall under the stucco. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? Thanks in advance. - Mick Orton"
To which I received the following reply:
"Yes for the exterior wall application (see attached brochure). For the interior surfaces I would suggest the use of Denser Plus Paperless Drywall (see attached brochure & product bulletins)."
Here are the 4 document attachments, Technical Product Guide, 2007 DAP Sweets, DAP Finishing Tips and AT Multi-purpose Primer, all very interesting reading... if you want to take a nap!
Bottom line is, I can see no reason why they would not tell me the truth. If another product would have been better for this purpose, I think they would have offered it. Questions?
Mick @ Lot 83
"...Along the theme of construction, I pointed out to Scott Harris, that after viewing photo's of our villa dated from Feb.07, that drywall material was defective on over hang areas of our Tortuga model. I have checked with several builders here in the US, and drywall is not a product that should be installed in a humid/wet climate, such as RFB..."
On this topic I posed the question to Scott in an e-mail on August 1 about the drywall material. My concern was if the above statement is true, were they any plans to change the choice of material when construction resumed? Here is a portion of his reply:
"...have been using Densglass Gold which is a super high quality mold resistant drywall..."
After the exchange I went to the Internet to find more information about this material and found it was made by Georgia-Pacific. So I shot off the following e-mail:
"I have a project we are considering building in Panama. It is an island locale, and someone suggested we use Densglass Gold drywall under the stucco. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? Thanks in advance. - Mick Orton"
To which I received the following reply:
"Yes for the exterior wall application (see attached brochure). For the interior surfaces I would suggest the use of Denser Plus Paperless Drywall (see attached brochure & product bulletins)."
Here are the 4 document attachments, Technical Product Guide, 2007 DAP Sweets, DAP Finishing Tips and AT Multi-purpose Primer, all very interesting reading... if you want to take a nap!
Bottom line is, I can see no reason why they would not tell me the truth. If another product would have been better for this purpose, I think they would have offered it. Questions?
Mick @ Lot 83
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Finished units at Red Frog
Does anyone know how many villas are finished at Red Frog? And where are they putting the guests who go down on the exploration tours?
Mick O.
Mick O.
Utility charges at Red Frog
Does anyone know how much we should expect to pay monthly for electiricty, cable and Internet. I know how much it is here in the US, but no idea what the charge would be in Panama. Also, when do the HOA dues become effective?
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/29/07
===================================
Utility charges and MUCH more! Reposted from Red Frog Beach Forum (Thanks, Jake and Bob). Having owned vacation rentals, I would expect such charges. However, what surprised me is that they are about same as we pay in California or Hawaii! (Have to pay for all that brand new infrastructure?)
One of the contributors alludes to costs in Costa Rica being better, but does anyone have hard facts? I know that beach front properties are going for much more than we paid for a villa on the Caribbean. There are also considerable building restrictions. Without doing any research at all, I know Trump is investing in building a high rise in Panama City as he is doing in Honolulu. Though that doesn't help us at Red Frog, it does show that the investment climate may be better in Panama than Costa Rica.
===================================
PROJECTED COST AT RED FROG
Monthly Yearly Property Management Cost:
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/29/07
===================================
Utility charges and MUCH more! Reposted from Red Frog Beach Forum (Thanks, Jake and Bob). Having owned vacation rentals, I would expect such charges. However, what surprised me is that they are about same as we pay in California or Hawaii! (Have to pay for all that brand new infrastructure?)
One of the contributors alludes to costs in Costa Rica being better, but does anyone have hard facts? I know that beach front properties are going for much more than we paid for a villa on the Caribbean. There are also considerable building restrictions. Without doing any research at all, I know Trump is investing in building a high rise in Panama City as he is doing in Honolulu. Though that doesn't help us at Red Frog, it does show that the investment climate may be better in Panama than Costa Rica.
===================================
PROJECTED COST AT RED FROG
Monthly Yearly Property Management Cost:
- Trash (monthly) 30.00 360.00
- Water(est/monthly) 35.00 420.00
- Sewer (monthly) 26.00 312.00
- Power (est) 225.00 2700.00
- Direct TV (monthly) 49.00 588.00
- Internet (monthly) 60.00 720.00
- Lawn Care (twice month) 80.00 960.00
- Pool Cleaning (Non Rental/Large Pool) 35.00 420.00
- HOA fee: 350.00 4200.00
- Property Tax: Land ($498,205.00) (1% assess) 4982.05
- Improvements ($265,875.25) None
- Insurance Cost: Homeowners (monthly) 195.00 2330.00
- Liability (monthly) 66.00 792.00
- Contents (monthly) 55.00 670.00
TOTAL $19,994.05
Other Costs:
- Mortgage ????
- Yearly Corporation Fee 650
- Boat & Marina Fees ????
- One Time, Up Front Cost ????
- Elect Cart Insurance ????
- Red Frog Fee Inflation ????
- Supporting Amenities on Site ????
*** References all found at "Living At Red Frog Beach Club" (http://redfrogians.blogspot.com/)
Friday, July 27, 2007
The Strike
The strike has been going on for 6 months now (just a few days short of). I have a few questions for the members: Is 6 months an unusual length of time for a strike in Panama? Are unionized workers in Panama allowed to find temporary jobs while on strike? My guess is that they are technically not allowed to do so, but that they do it anyway because it must be hard to support a family on just the union benefits during a strike. And yet the Red Frog Beach Club management is NOT allowed to hire any temporary workers - right?
Does Suntracs do more harm than good? Is it a relevant organization?
Nice blog, Mick!
Does Suntracs do more harm than good? Is it a relevant organization?
Nice blog, Mick!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Welcome to all our new members!
Everyday we are building our list of owners by website and blog referrals as well as other owners getting the word out. Thanks to everyone... now we just need some information.
As far as I know, the only person who actually lives at Red Frog has left the building. Ron @ 11 took his name off the registry. I hope he comes back.
In the meantime, I will continue to solicit information and post topics that might be of interest to the rest of you in the hopes that eventually people will feel confortable enough to post. Certainly some of you have a lot to say, considering the many e-mails I've received in the last several days.
But it is not my place to post things that other people say to me unless they give me permission. So while I appreciate hearing about others' experiences, I am hoping that eventually some of you may contribute your experiences to the blog.
Currently Janis and I are in the process of putting IRA money into our boat slip at the Marina. It has been a learning experience since I am new to the concept. After many mistakes, I think I am closing in on how to invest retirement funds into a Panama corporation. I've added to my earlier post which I will continue to update until I have successfully transferred the money!
Wish me luck!
Mick O.
As far as I know, the only person who actually lives at Red Frog has left the building. Ron @ 11 took his name off the registry. I hope he comes back.
In the meantime, I will continue to solicit information and post topics that might be of interest to the rest of you in the hopes that eventually people will feel confortable enough to post. Certainly some of you have a lot to say, considering the many e-mails I've received in the last several days.
But it is not my place to post things that other people say to me unless they give me permission. So while I appreciate hearing about others' experiences, I am hoping that eventually some of you may contribute your experiences to the blog.
Currently Janis and I are in the process of putting IRA money into our boat slip at the Marina. It has been a learning experience since I am new to the concept. After many mistakes, I think I am closing in on how to invest retirement funds into a Panama corporation. I've added to my earlier post which I will continue to update until I have successfully transferred the money!
Wish me luck!
Mick O.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Using retirement funds to purchase property at Red Frog
Has anyone out there used retirement funds to purchase all or part of your property? We have, but at the time, Legacy Benefits was the buffer between us and Pillar Panama so I have no idea how they handled the documents.
To date, I am still trying to get IRA money out of our Entrust account to pay for a percentage ownership of the slip we bought. My problem is trying to fill out the Buy Direction letter, particularly with regard to the percentage of ownership. I think I know, but I want to be sure!
If anyone else has gone through a similar experience I would love to get some feedback. A small percentage of personal funds were put up for the reservation fee, and now the balance is coming from the IRA. Sure could use some help!
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/25/07
===================================
When we purchased the boat slip, we put up cash from our personal funds for the reservation fee.
To date, I am still trying to get IRA money out of our Entrust account to pay for a percentage ownership of the slip we bought. My problem is trying to fill out the Buy Direction letter, particularly with regard to the percentage of ownership. I think I know, but I want to be sure!
If anyone else has gone through a similar experience I would love to get some feedback. A small percentage of personal funds were put up for the reservation fee, and now the balance is coming from the IRA. Sure could use some help!
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/25/07
===================================
When we purchased the boat slip, we put up cash from our personal funds for the reservation fee.
- Total slip price 100% - Introductory price of $79,900 (of which 50% due for down payment)
- Initial cash for down payment was about 15% of total slip price - $12,550
- Balance due 35% of total slip price - $39,950 which will come from the IRA
- Initial cash down is about 15% of the total slip price, but over 30% of the down payment!
See my confusion? I am working with JJ at Pardini to get the new subscription documents. I'll let you know what we find out.
Mick O.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Tranquilo Bay has a new website
On a lighter note, you may have seen the latest e-mail notice from Renee at Tranquilo Bay. If you didn't see it, here's what she says:
We have been listening to the suggestions regarding our website. It has taken a bit of time, but now we have a new look and feel. Please take a look at the revised website and let us know what you think. We continue to look for ways to improve so we will listen to anything you have to say.
We appreciate your business and hope you will come stay with us again!
I like it. We are currently looking at a redesign of our website too.
Mick @ Lot 83
We have been listening to the suggestions regarding our website. It has taken a bit of time, but now we have a new look and feel. Please take a look at the revised website and let us know what you think. We continue to look for ways to improve so we will listen to anything you have to say.
We appreciate your business and hope you will come stay with us again!
I like it. We are currently looking at a redesign of our website too.
Mick @ Lot 83
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Panama on the Rush Limbaugh Show
Roger Hedgecock was filling in for Rush on Friday, and, at the end of the first hour he was pointing out how we have spread democracy all over the world, and went on and on about Panama. He certainly did not talk about Red Frog or the union thugs, but he did say that because of the small government and low taxes it has become a haven for foreign investors.
Mick @Lot 83
Mick @Lot 83
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Rights of Possession and Titled Property transfers
Today I sent a note to Scott Harris regarding an issue that was not discussed in the conference call; that is the conversion of rights of possession property to titled and wondered if the lawsuit they alluded to involved that issue.
His brief reply came in an e-mail he wrote as he was waiting in the airport for a flight home. (I wonder how much of the budget involves the principals traveling to the states and back - oh, that's mean!) He said the following:
Regarding the conversion to Title, I guess I didn’t think to include it [in our conference call] as our application is still pending in the offices of the Land Use Ministry and though our attorneys keep putting pressure on the authorities to get it resolved, it is a slow process and so I really don’t have any new news. But rest assured that it is a very key initiative for us and so we are doing all we can including calling in favors to get this done.
In closing he did say that the lawsuit was with regard to a small piece of land was in an ROP territory between Pelican Bay and Cayman Beach.
Mick O.
His brief reply came in an e-mail he wrote as he was waiting in the airport for a flight home. (I wonder how much of the budget involves the principals traveling to the states and back - oh, that's mean!) He said the following:
Regarding the conversion to Title, I guess I didn’t think to include it [in our conference call] as our application is still pending in the offices of the Land Use Ministry and though our attorneys keep putting pressure on the authorities to get it resolved, it is a slow process and so I really don’t have any new news. But rest assured that it is a very key initiative for us and so we are doing all we can including calling in favors to get this done.
In closing he did say that the lawsuit was with regard to a small piece of land was in an ROP territory between Pelican Bay and Cayman Beach.
Mick O.
Getting to know each other - Mick @ Lot 83
I thought it would be nice to find out a little bit about my neighbors, so I am asking if anyone else is interested in doing a short autobiography. I'll start and see where it goes from there.
I was born in December, 1949 and raised in Davenport, IA, and graduated from West High School in 1968. Shortly after that I left for Colorado with my first real rock and roll band (I play electric bass) where I spent about 5 years around the Boulder/Denver area in places like Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville and finally owning a little place in Pinewood Springs (near Estes Park) with my first wife, 2 dogs and a cat.
I was finally lured back to the road by one of my high school friends and was asked to join his group to tour the midwest and Canada. This ended my first marriage. The band cut 2 albums before we broke finally up. I moved west with one another band member and a woman I had met in the Quad Cities. All 3 of us settled in Marin County, CA (north of San Francisco).
When she got pregnant with our only child, Angela, in 1981, we married and began moving around Marin practically every year (renting) until we eventually split up about 3 years later. I wandered around from place to place and job to job until I got into computers in 1989.
By 1996 I had survived another marriage (and divorce) and finally pulled enough money together in 1998 to buy a little 2 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath condo near the Marin County Civic Center. About a year later, I met Janis and my life changed forever! I can't begin to tell you how great it's been since then, but I'll try.
We decided to wait a year before moving in together. Almost a year to the day we went looking for a place (both of our places were too small), and by that evening we'd made our first offer on the place we are living now. We had 3 chances to buy it, and finally got it on the third try! We've never been happier.
Since then, we've bought and sold several places in Hawaii on the Big Island, still have condo at Kolea (if anyone's interested!) in a beach front community, a condo in Honolulu where my daughter lives and goes to school, and have owned other rental properties. So far, our biggest adventure has been buying in Panama.
At the time I heard about the project, I had been to Central America only once, visiting Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. I loved the warm Caribbean waters, so when I saw the Red Frog presentation at a Wright Thurston seminar in South San Francisco, I jumped at the chance to invest there. My experience of what I had seen in Costa Rica several years earlier led me to believe this would be something special if we got in on the ground floor. I still believe that today.
I know I wrote about my trip to Bastimentos in my first blog post, so I won't bore you with telling the story again, but after several trips and lots of phone conversations with the Red Frog Team, I am still bullish on the project. I am certain their intentions are honorable, though I'm sure they never expected many of the challenges they've (we've) come up against.
Others may see it differently, and in the end, they may be proven right. But in my mind, there is no up side to being negative. I'm in (for better or for worse) and will wait to see what happens. I hope to continue posting to this blog and sharing information on the project. Hopefully the strike will end soon and work will begin again. Let's make the best of it and get to know each other.
Thanks for listening.
Mick @ Lot 83
Friday, July 20, 2007
Comments on the conference call today?
We recorded the call, though the quality is not great.
I would love to hear anyone's thoughts about the conference call we had today. It was unfortunate that they could not announce the strike over; that is why I thought the call had been postponed, and may have been.
Overall, it was pretty much what I expected, other than the announcement that the deposits would be put into escrow in order to enable Red Frog to secure construction loans. I think this makes sense from a business perspective.
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/23/07
===================================
Since everyone is posting comments I thought it might be appropriate to post the outline/highlights as they appear on the Red Frog website here so as to give readers one place to look and evaluate comments.
===================================
Here is the outline/highlights of the Conference Call where we shared a progress update on Red Frog Beach and a few issues we thought we should bring everyone up-to-speed on.
We included a few topics that clients have asked us to address and also included some additional information that you should find useful. As always, it is best to send questions about Red Frog Resort Management/HOA to Chris and any other questions to Scott.
ANAM
I would love to hear anyone's thoughts about the conference call we had today. It was unfortunate that they could not announce the strike over; that is why I thought the call had been postponed, and may have been.
Overall, it was pretty much what I expected, other than the announcement that the deposits would be put into escrow in order to enable Red Frog to secure construction loans. I think this makes sense from a business perspective.
Mick @ Lot 83
Updated 7/23/07
===================================
Since everyone is posting comments I thought it might be appropriate to post the outline/highlights as they appear on the Red Frog website here so as to give readers one place to look and evaluate comments.
===================================
July 20th 2007 Conference Call
Here is the outline/highlights of the Conference Call where we shared a progress update on Red Frog Beach and a few issues we thought we should bring everyone up-to-speed on.
We included a few topics that clients have asked us to address and also included some additional information that you should find useful. As always, it is best to send questions about Red Frog Resort Management/HOA to Chris and any other questions to Scott.
ANAM
- After over two years of working on the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) required by the government of Panama, building phases 4-12 are approved to proceed. The Red Frog team is now ready to move forward with what the Panamanian government will allow. This is great news and we will be focused on moving these portions forward.
- Another important milestone that resulted from the ANAM approval was the approval last week of the Anti-Proyecto/Master Plan for building phases 4-12. This also entailed over two years of planning, engineering, and designing to be in full compliance with legal development requirements. This is a major milestone for the project because it secures the density plans for the additional units including a boutique hotel, grand marine village, grand marina, activity center, the canopy tour, walking trails, a 2nd logistics center, and total supporting infrastructure. Now with this approval and our environmental approval, we are nearly set to begin pre-construction activities in this area.
- Unfortunately, the Panamanian government did not approve plans for the golf course and the aquarium. This is disappointing to some of you and we understand that, but given the cards we have been dealt, we’re currently working on developing partnerships with other area developers to find a solution for our golf enthusiasts. This will take some time and we will keep you updated on these endeavors.
- We are considering other amenities in the original golf site that will add value and reflect our commitment to the environment, such as botanical gardens and nature trails.
- In this effort, we have narrowed our bids to 3 groups, all internationally recognized. The new vision is to be able to integrate the environment into the development, creating both a destination for tranquility and health, as well as education as we hope to integrate many of Panama’s indigenous flora into the garden plan. As soon as we have reached a decision, we will be sure to announce the chosen group to you all.
- Just as we have always planned, we are preserving more than 70 percent of the natural areas at Red Frog Beach. Looking at the island as a whole, the Red Frog footprint will remain relatively small (only 3%) in comparison with the island. This 70 percent natural area footprint (about 6%) meets both the government’s vision and the Red Frog Beach vision of what this special place should be.
FINANCES
- We have taken the opportunity during the last few months to bring in financial architects to look for ways to improve our financial structure. As the project continues to grow and mature and as our property appreciates, we need to meet the needs of our new buyers and the major recommendation was to start taking future deposits into escrow and use large institution financing to fund the project. So we have been perusing that initiative and we are down the road several months on this 6-12 month process with many interested financial institutions. We are pleased with the interest the financial community has in our project, especially since we do have completed homes and an impressive infrastructure as well as all of the important ANAM and Master Plan approvals,
- Along with that we have developed a relationship with a new international bank and just yesterday signed papers to close on a new deal with them to finance our construction. They bring us a higher line of credit and fewer restrictions than our previous Panamanian bank which will allow us to work faster.
- While the labor issues are important, keeping Red Frog’s finances stable and flexible is the most important.
- We, of course, want to return to regular construction schedule as quickly as possible and this financial restructing will help this to occur.
STRIKE
- As of now, we have not been able to reach a final agreement with the union. This continued delay is disappointing as we had hoped to announce the end of the strike on this call but rest assured that we are forging ahead as best we can with what we can do, and are still hard at work in these final moments at the bargaining table.
- Obviously, this strike has an impact on progress. We’d all like to see this development done, and we’re all impatient for our full workforce to be back on the job. But we want to protect your investment and the quality of work you expect. Our local legal and labor counsel is doing a great job protecting the interests of Red Frog Beach as a whole.
- Also, our teams of engineers and architects continue to remain hard at work preparing for Startup. We have recently completed many designs including the Beach Club.
RESORT MANAGEMENT
- We have had several hospitality companies approach us to express interest in providing resort management services to Red Frog Beach. One major hotel group has even gone so far as to deliver a Letter of Intent which we are presently considering. We understand the power of a brand but also want to make the rental process as profitable to you as possible. Suffice it to say, although we can’t tell you the names of the groups interested in managing the property, they are strong brands you would recognize and they have great track records. They are enthusiastic about what we have done so far and about our recent approvals and are interested in moving forward. We will let you know more about our findings as they happen.
- We have also been in talks with an International Marina management company who would manage our both of our marinas. They are excited about working with Red Frog because of the location, the deep water, the protected cove, minimal tidal change, the countless islands to explore and most of all -- no hurricanes.
- We have set in place an efficient reservation system to follow up and help prospect renters through the reservation process.
- We have improved communication with villa owners through monthly recaps with details on reservations, income and services performed on their villa.
- We keep implementing new services available for full time residents. Grocery delivery, maid service etc. We are also developing a wide range of services and activities for renters staying at the villas.
- The team keeps growing to attend the different needs such as maid services, client concierge, maintenance, boat drivers, pool cleaning, gardening, beach cleaning.
- We have invested in land and water transportation to improve service for both returning owners and villa renters.
- We have worked to protect unfinished villas and pools from the environment.
- We have started and are moving ahead with the condo selection process. We also continue to move strong with the villa options as well. Finalizing this information will help us move ahead faster once construction starts and client cooperation during this stage is greatly appreciated.
- The common areas for the condos are being developed; areas will include Bohio, Pools, Jacuzzi, Seating / Sun bathing Area, bathrooms, landscaping etc.
- We continue our quest of improving and focusing on the quality of our products: new window manufacturer for upcoming villas /condos, new materials for pool areas etc.
We are also keenly focused on the quality of construction. We have hired new inspectors and new villa managers that will make sure the designs are being built in accordance to what was determined with you during the options process.
LAND DISPUTE AND LAWSUIT
- As you have probably heard by now, we filed suit in the U.S. District Court system in Houston to protect the legal rights of a small piece of land at Red Frog Beach. This legal action is in addition to the legal proceedings on file in Panama.
- We believe this course of action is prudent and necessary. As these cases wind their way through the legal channels we will keep you appraised of them as best we can.
- We feel confident that we will prevail and we will win this in the high courts.
PROPERTY TAXES
- We have had many, many questions about the laws of Panama and the property tax situation. First and foremost, our best advice is for you to have your own Panamanian legal counsel provide this information. Since we are not attorneys, we are not in a position to give legal advice.
- But we can explain the current process at Red Frog. As a large developer with a large project that is well known to government officials, we are essentially required to bring in a qualified appraiser (we are using the highly esteemed Panamericana de Avalous) who assigns a value to the land based on a simple formula of square meters times a specified rate. This is then given to Catastro (land use ministry) for their approval and then that becomes the assessed value of the land.
- To think that the government would overlook our project and the value that putting in all of the utilities as well as the forthcoming amenities is not reality based thinking. So while we do know the process, it is ultimately up to the government officials to assign the value. And at this point, we are told that we have been getting some of the lowest evaluations for beach property with our infrastructure and amenities in the entire country. But that can always change and that is why we ask you to seek your legal advice from qualified professionals.
CONCLUSION
- We are excited to see all of our plans coming together and it was exciting for me to recently see one of the newest amenity that is coming to Red Frog Beach. We have acquired in trade a beautiful and practically brand new 35 foot Silverton Motor Yacht that is on its way from Costa Rica as we make this announcement. This yacht will be available for paid charters so for those of you who have always dreamed of island hopping in a yacht, here is a great opportunity for you to do that.
- Once it is renamed and registered in Panama, we will be bringing it up to Bocas and it will be the first of many fine vessels to grace the marina at Red Frog which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
- As we have continuing news regarding the project, we will be sure to keep you updated by email and on the website. Thank you to all of you great clients and as always, please feel free to contact us with any questions.
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
Quiet converstation with Joe's mom!
Hello Red Frogians,
Janis got got a call today from Janice Bartone made some headway in talks that could increase our choices of furniture. Joe's mom is really nice. I think she got sucked into the business of when she asked Mr. Haley what he planned for furniture and he said, "Furniture?"
It really makes sense with what I know about the Red Frog Team. They have been very kind and considerate when dealing with us right from the beginning. I'm sure there are a lot of things they never considered about building on an island in a foreign country.
And trying to get all the owners to decide on furniture choices seems arduous at best. I think if we are patient, things will open up. For those of us who have to make our selections sooner rather than later, that may be a little harder.
But at this point, not having any furniture is not an option. We want to put our villa in the rental pool as soon as possible, and getting furniture to Bastimentos seems like it could turn into a project we are just not willing to take on.
I know there is a lot of talent in our group; a lot of designers and others in the trades. For that we are grateful.
Mick @ Lot 83
Janis got got a call today from Janice Bartone made some headway in talks that could increase our choices of furniture. Joe's mom is really nice. I think she got sucked into the business of when she asked Mr. Haley what he planned for furniture and he said, "Furniture?"
It really makes sense with what I know about the Red Frog Team. They have been very kind and considerate when dealing with us right from the beginning. I'm sure there are a lot of things they never considered about building on an island in a foreign country.
And trying to get all the owners to decide on furniture choices seems arduous at best. I think if we are patient, things will open up. For those of us who have to make our selections sooner rather than later, that may be a little harder.
But at this point, not having any furniture is not an option. We want to put our villa in the rental pool as soon as possible, and getting furniture to Bastimentos seems like it could turn into a project we are just not willing to take on.
I know there is a lot of talent in our group; a lot of designers and others in the trades. For that we are grateful.
Mick @ Lot 83
Internet Access at Red Frog Beach Club
Owner Ivan Ho, one of our neighbors on Turtle Beach, wrote the following to the blog:
I agree we did not have enough time to make our choices. My question is: why are they charging me $1,000 for internet allowance. In the original contract it says we would have internet access. Ryan can not tell me the difference between the two. All he says is that RFB had to pay for all the equipment for the internet. I understand that but the villa is to have internet access at no additional charge. Does anyone know anything about this?
Mick @ Lot 83 had this response:
As for the Internet, we don't remember this agreement specifically. I do know that Ryan said the cloud was over the whole project and of course, we would need a router in each villa (which we bought in our villa selections). I would expect there to be a monthly access charge since RFB is paying for Internet access through their ISP. We will check and see if we can get this clarified for you. We may also hire an attorney to look over the contact again and give us his interpretation of what we should and should not get.
Ryan Bullock's response to my e-mail request to clarify the Internet Allowance was this:
Yes, you purchased the internet allowance for your villa, and that allowance includes a router that will distribute the wireless signal throughout your Villa. I will try to clarify what exactly is meant by the “Internet Allowance”.
Basically, we have invested in the infrastructure in order to make internet access available to all of the villas on the project. There was no internet access on this part of Bastimentos island before Red Frog Beach, but we “created” that access for our clients when we made the necessary arrangements with Cable and Wireless and when we invested in the installation of a communications tower that would distribute the signal throughout the Property and to all of the villas, condos, etc. In order to take advantage of that access clients must have an antenna and a router installed for their unit, and this is what is included in the Internet Allowance.
There will be a monthly access fee for internet service, but I do not know exactly what that fee will be. We may ultimately be able to offer different connection speeds at different rates. I anticipate that the fee will probably be something around $60 per month.
I hope that I have been able to answer your questions. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can explain.
I still find the definition of Internet Allowance a little confusing since he does not specify if this charge includes any monthy service and, if not, when will the monthly service charge start? (Maybe Ron @ 11 knows since he is living there.) I have asked for a clarification and will post it when I hear back.
It was not my understanding that all Internet service would be free and would expect to pay for monthy access as with any of our vacation properties, but I can't speak to what RFB agreed to with Ivan's family.
Mick @ lot 83
I agree we did not have enough time to make our choices. My question is: why are they charging me $1,000 for internet allowance. In the original contract it says we would have internet access. Ryan can not tell me the difference between the two. All he says is that RFB had to pay for all the equipment for the internet. I understand that but the villa is to have internet access at no additional charge. Does anyone know anything about this?
Mick @ Lot 83 had this response:
As for the Internet, we don't remember this agreement specifically. I do know that Ryan said the cloud was over the whole project and of course, we would need a router in each villa (which we bought in our villa selections). I would expect there to be a monthly access charge since RFB is paying for Internet access through their ISP. We will check and see if we can get this clarified for you. We may also hire an attorney to look over the contact again and give us his interpretation of what we should and should not get.
Ryan Bullock's response to my e-mail request to clarify the Internet Allowance was this:
Yes, you purchased the internet allowance for your villa, and that allowance includes a router that will distribute the wireless signal throughout your Villa. I will try to clarify what exactly is meant by the “Internet Allowance”.
Basically, we have invested in the infrastructure in order to make internet access available to all of the villas on the project. There was no internet access on this part of Bastimentos island before Red Frog Beach, but we “created” that access for our clients when we made the necessary arrangements with Cable and Wireless and when we invested in the installation of a communications tower that would distribute the signal throughout the Property and to all of the villas, condos, etc. In order to take advantage of that access clients must have an antenna and a router installed for their unit, and this is what is included in the Internet Allowance.
There will be a monthly access fee for internet service, but I do not know exactly what that fee will be. We may ultimately be able to offer different connection speeds at different rates. I anticipate that the fee will probably be something around $60 per month.
I hope that I have been able to answer your questions. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can explain.
I still find the definition of Internet Allowance a little confusing since he does not specify if this charge includes any monthy service and, if not, when will the monthly service charge start? (Maybe Ron @ 11 knows since he is living there.) I have asked for a clarification and will post it when I hear back.
It was not my understanding that all Internet service would be free and would expect to pay for monthy access as with any of our vacation properties, but I can't speak to what RFB agreed to with Ivan's family.
Mick @ lot 83
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I know, I know...
I decided to limit the use of this site for registered authors only. Please pass my e-mail mick@sfresidence.com to the other owners and let them know they are invited to participate. In this way we can keep our exposure to a minimum; to only people who WANT to participate, not those who are spying or whatever...
I would love to hear any feedback or suggestions on whether or not this is a good way to go. I can always change it back.
The exchange of ideas and information is critical, and I resent that anyone would attempt to shut down free speech. A blog is the place for this type of exchange.
Mick @Lot 83
I would love to hear any feedback or suggestions on whether or not this is a good way to go. I can always change it back.
The exchange of ideas and information is critical, and I resent that anyone would attempt to shut down free speech. A blog is the place for this type of exchange.
Mick @Lot 83
Incredible opportunity for a beach front lot on Red Frog Beach!
Not sure if anyone knows about this yet, but in my research for information about our project in the Bocas Breeze, I saw the following ad:
Now the disclaimer: If I have any of this information wrong, I apologize. I have not been there or seen it, but it looks lovely.
My first thought was, which one of our neighbors is selling? But then I saw "non-club" which got me curious. So I shot off an e-mail and got a pretty quick response from Don at Bocas del Toro Realty who is originally from Florida and lives in Bocas; very nice gentleman. We traded several e-mails around 11:00 out time so he was up really late! And again early this morning.
I don't want to get into too much detail, but if you know someone who is looking for property right on the beach and are balking at the prices for a Red Frog beach front lot, this 3-lot parcel is available for $395,000 unimproved (no water, sewer, electricity, etc.) and is on the west end of Bastimentos Island near the Red Frog Beach Club with only one lot (non-RFB) in between.
I don't want to get into too much detail, but if you know someone who is looking for property right on the beach and are balking at the prices for a Red Frog beach front lot, this 3-lot parcel is available for $395,000 unimproved (no water, sewer, electricity, etc.) and is on the west end of Bastimentos Island near the Red Frog Beach Club with only one lot (non-RFB) in between.
Now the disclaimer: If I have any of this information wrong, I apologize. I have not been there or seen it, but it looks lovely.This picture is a peek-a-boo out to the Caribbean which hasn't been cleared better (I'm told) because it might encourage campers to pitch a tent!
I felt it was something I should share in case one of our friends or relatives might be interested in it. If so, please contact Don at Bocas del Toro Realty Services, Inc. E-mail him liveyourdream@bocasparadise.com. office 011-507-757-9401, cell 011-507-6-633-8050, fax 011-507-757-9397. Tell him Mick sent you...
This is not a paid commercial!
Mick @ Lot 83
Furniture continues to be the topic today
Hello again. After numerous e-mails between interested owners, there has begun a discussion about the selections from Interior Jam and that being the only choice offered to us.
Ron @ Lot 11 says there is a fine distributor in Bocas who has imports from Indonesia, but getting them to Bastimentos is the hardest part. So close, yet so far away... unless you pay thousands of dollars for Red Frog to accept the container at their facility. This may not be a big issue, particularly if the quantity is there from owners who wish to enlarge their world of choices. Our combined purchasing power could fill up a container pretty fast!
My experience with the Red Frog has been their openness to making changes for the better. Perhaps this will be the same. But I think we need to make our objections known. Unfortunately for us, we are so close to having to make the decision that we may decide to have the villa delivered to us unfurnished.
Mick & Janis @ Lot 83
Ron @ Lot 11 says there is a fine distributor in Bocas who has imports from Indonesia, but getting them to Bastimentos is the hardest part. So close, yet so far away... unless you pay thousands of dollars for Red Frog to accept the container at their facility. This may not be a big issue, particularly if the quantity is there from owners who wish to enlarge their world of choices. Our combined purchasing power could fill up a container pretty fast!
My experience with the Red Frog has been their openness to making changes for the better. Perhaps this will be the same. But I think we need to make our objections known. Unfortunately for us, we are so close to having to make the decision that we may decide to have the villa delivered to us unfurnished.
Mick & Janis @ Lot 83
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Anonymous posts will not be posted
Because of the positive nature of what we're doing, only comments from people who can be identified as either owners, or by e-mail address will be published.
Mick @ Lot 83
Mick @ Lot 83
Open letter to Scott Doggett - Article in Oct. 2006 issue of The Bocas Breeze
Today I stumbled across a publication I had picked up at the airport on my way home from my visit to Red Frog Beach. I noticed on the back a website for the magazine's online version at www.TheBocasBreeze.com.
Of course, I didn't have to look very hard for something negative about our project. It was written by Scott Doggett in the Oct. 2006 issue entitled, "Don’t let it happen here". Like most of the people who write negatively about the project, they know NOTHING about the environmental hurdles our guys are going through to make sure that what they do is in line with the environmental agency.
As I've stated, I have a few criticisms about the project and some of its organization, but their committment to environmental friendly solutions is NOT one of them! Mr. Doggett claims to know the RFB team though he admits he's never met them. Well then, I know Mr. Doggett, though I have never met him.
And in my opinion, he is another bleeding heart who seems to think that if we went away, Panama would be a lot better off. Well, let me tell you what's going on at the other end of the country.
On the San Blas Islands at the other end of Panama, the lifestyle is very rustic. I stayed there in a bed and breakfast which should really have been called a "bug in breakfast". The bottom floors were sand and sleeping in a hammock was recommended because sleeping bags attacted critters in the night.
And my experience with the bathrooms went like this. Every morning the maintenance people would fill up the water barrel in our second floor room to use for our shower and toilet. Once you were done going to the bathroom, you'd flush and the waste would drop through a pipe right into the reef below. NO SEWAGE SYSTEM! It has been this way for years!
One of my biggest beefs with environmentalists is that they seem to think nature can't survive without us. Tell that to the coyotes now hunting humans in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco! True, man has created some messes and caused some animal species to go extinct, but nature has been doing that for years without our help! Remember dinosaurs and sabre tooth tigers?
Anyway, more to the point is this. Only 9% of Bastimentos is actually scheduled for construction, and of that the home sites are mostly land. As we've seen in Panama, the land is fertile and with the amount of rain they get, even the fence posts sprout leaves! Included in the development is one of the most sophisticated water and sewer treatment plants you will see anywhere. Dennis Stears has proudly seen to that.
And what of those houses on the beach? Does Mr. Doggett think we are going to be out there hunting for turtles or their eggs? If someone is stealing eggs, it won't be us! I guarantee it! And we are not capturing dolphins or monkeys or birds or red frogs (though we might grab an orchid or two!) or any of the other creatures among which we want to live.
Bastimentos is an enchanting place; a thing of beauty and wonderment. We will keep it that way!
Mick @ Lot 83
Of course, I didn't have to look very hard for something negative about our project. It was written by Scott Doggett in the Oct. 2006 issue entitled, "Don’t let it happen here". Like most of the people who write negatively about the project, they know NOTHING about the environmental hurdles our guys are going through to make sure that what they do is in line with the environmental agency.
As I've stated, I have a few criticisms about the project and some of its organization, but their committment to environmental friendly solutions is NOT one of them! Mr. Doggett claims to know the RFB team though he admits he's never met them. Well then, I know Mr. Doggett, though I have never met him.
And in my opinion, he is another bleeding heart who seems to think that if we went away, Panama would be a lot better off. Well, let me tell you what's going on at the other end of the country.
On the San Blas Islands at the other end of Panama, the lifestyle is very rustic. I stayed there in a bed and breakfast which should really have been called a "bug in breakfast". The bottom floors were sand and sleeping in a hammock was recommended because sleeping bags attacted critters in the night.
And my experience with the bathrooms went like this. Every morning the maintenance people would fill up the water barrel in our second floor room to use for our shower and toilet. Once you were done going to the bathroom, you'd flush and the waste would drop through a pipe right into the reef below. NO SEWAGE SYSTEM! It has been this way for years!
One of my biggest beefs with environmentalists is that they seem to think nature can't survive without us. Tell that to the coyotes now hunting humans in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco! True, man has created some messes and caused some animal species to go extinct, but nature has been doing that for years without our help! Remember dinosaurs and sabre tooth tigers?
Anyway, more to the point is this. Only 9% of Bastimentos is actually scheduled for construction, and of that the home sites are mostly land. As we've seen in Panama, the land is fertile and with the amount of rain they get, even the fence posts sprout leaves! Included in the development is one of the most sophisticated water and sewer treatment plants you will see anywhere. Dennis Stears has proudly seen to that.
And what of those houses on the beach? Does Mr. Doggett think we are going to be out there hunting for turtles or their eggs? If someone is stealing eggs, it won't be us! I guarantee it! And we are not capturing dolphins or monkeys or birds or red frogs (though we might grab an orchid or two!) or any of the other creatures among which we want to live.
Bastimentos is an enchanting place; a thing of beauty and wonderment. We will keep it that way!
Mick @ Lot 83
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