Wednesday 26th March 2014
Normally when buying or selling property you need your own lawyer to talk to the other party’s lawyer (at a cost of $100 a letter) and one or both of you end up paying all kinds of fees: surveyor fees, escrow fees, bank fees etc. But what if you didn’t really need those things? What if, instead of seeing it as a property transaction, you saw it as a business deal? What if instead of two lawyers, you both used the same one? What if you were both happy to draw up your own contract and list of obligations together then just have one lawyer check over the written agreement and a notary rubber stamp
it all?
Is that even possible?
Yes indeed it seems it is, because that’s how I purchased my share of Jinja Island. Ian and I split the legal fees 50/50 and it came to less than a “standard” train fare from Liverpool to London.
BOOM.
We sealed the deal at the El Pirata restaurant in Bocas Del Toro, our lawyer Larissa took the paperwork with her to Panama City to get notarised. Before I knew it we were all hurtling back to Dolphin Bay to meet our new neighbours, Bill and Janis.
And their parrot, Captain Jack…
Bill and Janis live on Isla Cristobal, the big island to the north of Jinja. Although when the tide is high, their property becomes an island in its own right. In other news, I’m pretty sure Jinja Island needs a parrot.
