Panama Penthouses

Panama Condo Penthouses – The newer condos in Panama City are built cheaper than the older existing condos and this of course carries over into the Panama penthouses as well. The new concrete used in Panama Condos and of course the penthouses is in question having too much salt in the concrete and there are rumors of this causing problems with the concrete deteriorating in the future. The newer Panama Condos (non-penthouse) are built four to a floor and small so as to make them affordable. The older condos, not including the penthouses are built one or two to a floor and are larger and much nicer in many ways.

Panama Condo Penthouses – A real penthouse is located on the top floor of the building. A building with a make believe penthouses calls the apartments occupying the top three or four floors penthouses. A real Panama Penthouse requires a special key to be inserted into the elevator to ring the penthouse top floor button in the elevator. In some parts of the world the elevator will stop at the penthouse and you will be facing a door and need to insert a key into the deadbolt to get into the unit. In Panama you would use a key to get the elevator to go to the penthouse (top floor) and then step out into a small hallway and there you would find a typical apartment entrance. The fire stairway entrance door going into the hallway for the penthouse should also require a key to enter the penthouse floor in a real penthouse but no key would be required to exit from the penthouse hallway to the steps for safety reasons. A real Panama penthouse has one unit only on the floor thus affording the penthouse a 360 degree view, not just a partial view. Most of the true Panama Penthouses come with some use of the roof just for the penthouse. Often one has a Jacuzzi, swimming pool, garden or little apartment built on the roof in a real penthouse. Most of the newer condo penthouses are penthouses in name only.

Panama Penthouse Bathrooms- The older more prestigious Panama Condo Penthouses will have a full bidet in the master bath. The less prestigious newer penthouses will have a bidet hose type attachment next to the toilet. This is what is commonly found in the newer units. With the newer Panama Condos only the most expensive Penthouses will have a full bidet.

Panama Penthouse Balconies – The true older Panama Penthouses will have multiple balconies that are large often eight feet deep. Sometimes they will have an awning. These apartments are set up for entertaining on the balcony as well. The master bedrooms will frequently also have balconies of their own. The newer units rarely offer these amenities.

Panama Penthouse Duplexes - It is common to encounter an older Panama Penthouse that is a duplex. It will have two floors. Usually the elevator only goes to the lower of the two floors and there is a staircase use to gain access to the upper level. These penthouses are often 6000 to 10000 sq feet in size and are dramatic to inspect. You will see things like ceiling murals, roman style pillars, circular staircases sometimes made of clear Lucite, skylights, too many bathrooms to count, large Jacuzzis next to sliding glass walls with a balcony outside so it is like taking a Jacuzzi outside and great kitchens. The walks in closets are about the size of the bedrooms in the newer condos.

Panama Penthouse Parking – Generally a real Penthouse will come with the best parking spaces in the building and there should be four spaces adjacent to each other to facilitate quick and easy parking if you only have two or three cars and the extra spots are helpful for some guests. The building will have some visitor parking available.

Panama Penthouse Maid Quarters – If you have a real Panama Penthouse of 6000 sq. feet you are going to need at least two maids, maybe three if the condo is over 8000 sq. feet. A real penthouse will have room to house two live-in maids. Generally one maid will work the kitchen in addition to operating the washer and dryer. The other maid will be doing the cleaning. You will have marble or tile floors and with your spacious balconies open all day you will need the floors mopped daily. Then comes cleaning six or more bathrooms, the balcony windows, mopping the balconies floors, and we could keep going. With two maids you could rotate their days off so as to always have at least one maid in the home.

Panama Penthouse Drivers Room- In the nicer older building where the real Panama Penthouses are found the building will often have a drivers room located somewhere off the lobby of the building. You will probably want to have your own driver. Panama has bad traffic, hard to find parking and you are not supposed to talk on the cell phone while driving. This all makes having a driver a sensible proposition. One can get things done on the cell phone while the driver navigates through the traffic. Driver’s wages are around $325 a month. The driver’s room is a place in the building where the drivers from the condos can sit and wait for the employer to call them. They then go and pull the car around to the front and wait for the employer to come down and get into the cooled off car ready to go. The driver’s room has a coffee pot, TV, bathroom, sofa, local telephone so you can call them and they can call you.

Panama Penthouse Staff – the real Panama Penthouse condos will have as a minimum a concierge, janitor and security person on duty 24 hours a day. They can receive package for you, screen visitors, deny people entry, etc. The security staff will watch the garage very closely. Strange cars not allowed in. They will not let taxi drivers in the building; they carry your luggage up for you. They have to know the food delivery person or they can not go in. Security is quite tight. I have never seen an elevator operator in any Panama Condo. Some condos do have valet parking for your car.

Panama Condos with Hotel and Casino – Some of the newer modern condos have a few floors on the bottom devoted to a hotel and casino. To have a casino in panama one must have 300 hotel rooms. Whether or not you would want to live in a hotel and casino is up to you. I expect that many who have bought into these as of yet to be built condos will be unhappy with the hotel since a hotel comes with strangers called guests that have access to many of the facilities where you live. The owners may enjoy being able to use room service and go down to the restaurants in the hotel but I think the other obvious disadvantages will outweigh any benefits.

Panama Condo Purchases or Rentals – Always have a competent law firm like us review any real estate documents before you sign them. For asset protection it is best to have the condo owned by a Panama Corporation, a Panama Foundation or a corporation in turn owned by a foundation.