• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Future Expats

Create an Untethered Life Overseas

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • About
    • Big Fat Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
  • Portable Careers
    • Blogging
      • Blogging for Expats WordPress Tutorials
    • Life Coaching
    • Photography
    • Teaching
    • Websites
    • Writing
  • Prepping the Move
    • Countdown
    • Narrowing Your Country/City Search
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australia/New Zealand
      • Central America
      • Europe
      • North America
      • Region
      • South America
    • Visas and Residency
    • Quality of Life
    • Learning the Language
    • Health Care
    • Technology
  • Panama
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Hire Me!
    • Expat Resources: Prepping the Move
    • Expat Resources: Portable Careers
    • Expat Resources: Technology
    • Book and Movie Reviews
You are here: Home / Prepping the Move / Housing / 5 Ways to Find a Home (to Rent or Buy) in a New Country

5 Ways to Find a Home (to Rent or Buy) in a New Country

June 8, 2012 by FutureExpat

5 Ways to Find a Home (to Rent or Buy) in a New Country

Future Expat's rental casaIf you’re from the US, Canada or western Europe, you’re used to a highly organized real estate market. You have agencies to help with buying, selling and renting. In the US, multiple listing services are the norm where you can deal with any agent and have access to the full spectrum of available property for sale.

Not so much in Latin America.

So how do you find a place to live when you’ve landed in Panama, Uruguay, Mexico or another Latin American country?

Word of Mouth

Unless you want to pay inflated, gringo prices, word of mouth is your best option for finding a home.

Talk to everyone — taxi drivers, supermarket cashiers, hotel clerks, restaurant servers all come in contact with a lot of people every day. When I was looking for a rental house here in Las Tablas, Panama, I latched onto anyone I heard speaking English and introduced myself.

It was a bit more difficult with Spanish speakers, but I learned the basic phrases I needed: “I’m looking for a furnished house to rent in Las Tablas” was the one I used most often.

Once you’ve spoken with a few people, you’ll start to get a general sense of pricing for the area.
If you find a neighborhood you like, go door to door! I didn’t have to do it, fortunately, but I know people who have. And, in fact, one afternoon when I was out in front of the house a young woman stopped to ask me if I knew of any houses to rent in the neighborhood.

Be aware that the nice guy who takes you to his cousin’s house might be expecting payment for his helpfulness, or might have an arrangement with the cousin to collect a finder’s fee. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can add to the price you pay.

Posted Notices

Outside of grocery stores and other high-traffic areas you’ll often find bulletin boards with all sorts of notices. Check these for rental properties, or consider putting up a notice of your own.

Classified Advertising

Classified ads in local papers or Spanish-language websites are geared toward the local population, and you’ll find your best prospects there. If your Spanish isn’t up to it, find someone who can help you — even if you have to pay them, what you’ll save on your ongoing rental will be worth it.

Online Advertising

Again, try to stick to the Spanish-language sites. If you’re looking at English sites, you’ll pay gringo prices, guaranteed.

In Panama, Encuentra24 is very popular. So is Craigslist.

Other options include forums for the country or city, like Expat Blog classifieds or Panama Forum.

Or check out this website I just found. At Paradise Hunter they feature properties for sale and vacation homes (in other words, places that are completely furnished), for rent. If you’re in a part of the world they cover, they might have some leads for you.

Real Estate Professionals

Depending on where you’re looking, you may or may not find real estate agents or property managers.

Keep in mind that pretty much anybody can set him- or herself up as a real estate professional with no training, licensing or oversight. You’re more likely to find reputable agents in larger population areas or in places with a lot of expats. I have yet to find one in our little town, although down the road in Pedasi — a tourist destination — there are several.

If you do find an agent, don’t assume he’s working for you! Unlike in the US where an agent has a contractual obligation to a buyer or seller, agents in Latin America don’t.

Since there’s no MLS, if you want to see all the listed property in the area you’ll have to patronize several agents. Don’t be surprised if you are shown the same house three times, and the quoted price is different each time!

Think of the real estate market as an untamed frontier and keep your wits about you.

Regardless of whether you find your new home by word of mouth or through an agent, get your agreements in writing and have a competent professional who speaks the language check everything for you.

Filed Under: Housing, Prepping the Move

Primary Sidebar

Visit Panama

Panama Relocation Tours

VPN Services

Best VPN for TravelersBest VPN for Travelers

Sale on .COM Domains!

KINGCOM domain salepixel

More Posts

WordPress logo

Dress Up Your Blog with Pictures

Calendar

Why Your Expat Website Needs an Editorial Calendar

Change = Risk + Ambiguity

Survey Says. . .

Win a Free Month in Ecuador! What International Living’s Contest Teaches Us About Portable Careers

New Poll: How Important Is Health Care?

Top Expat Blogs – How Cool is That?

Here's a new award. . . We've just been named to the Top Expat Blogs list at Ranked Blogs! If you like us, click the link and vote us up! we're one of the top expat blogs at Ranked Blogs! Future Expats was recently awarded a spot in the Top 100 Expat Blogs.

Follow Me

  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 Future Expats Forum
Proudly running on a Genesis Theme by StudioPress