Thursday, November 18, 2021

Dear Your Overseas Dream Home Reader,

Amid the majesty of the Baja desert—less than an hour from Cabo San Lucas—Todos Santos is truly stunning. It’s in a fertile pocket of the Baja, a veritable Garden of Eden, and thanks to a classic Path of Progress it’s a place I’m looking closely for opportunity…

It’s also a place I love to hang out at weekends. I’m head here for lunch at the Green Room followed by a long leisurely walk on the beach.

It’s a very different kind of place to Cabo…you won’t find big luxury resorts here, instead it’s boutique.

Todos Santos is an oasis attracting well-heeled visitors with its farm-to-table dining, galleries, and stunning beaches close by.

The town is just back from the coast, picture 10 miles or so of beaches studded with hills and look out points. Whales come so close to shore you can easily see them from the bluffs. Some beaches are best for swimming, others for surfing, and still more for simply having the ocean to yourself for a while.

With 10 miles of beaches close by, Todos Santos attract surfers and beach lovers.

In the last decade major improvements to the highway have put Todos Santos within reach of a much bigger number of the wealthy West Coast set who love its artsy atmosphere and the natural beauty all around. The town is making the pages of Vogue, Conde Nast, and Jetsetter.

Celebrities get married here. They take beach vacations here. Take a stroll down the town’s cobbled lanes and you’ll find art galleries, boutique stores, and farm-to-table restaurants. You can go on a yoga retreat, buy a kaftan or a dreamcatcher, or go surfing. That last one’s important, the beaches here are among the best surfing spots in Baja.

The beach at Todos Santos—is this the Tulum of Baja?

The expats are a mixture of wealthy hippy types and folks with a gypsy soul. The town’s location between the beaches and the soaring Sierra de la Laguna mountains is perfect for outdoor activities and the climate is ideal year round.

There is much in Todos Santos to remind you of Tulum, the Riviera Maya beach town where RETA members have had some of our best deals. It’s got a similar hippy chic vibe, a focus on wellness. It’s boutique, small-scale versus big all-inclusives.

In 2006 the Mexican Government named Todos Santos a Pueblo Mágico. There are only 100 or so such towns in the whole country and it’s a way of saying the place is special…culturally rich…beautiful. In February 2019, I brought RETA members a deal in another Pueblo Mágico, the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende. I find Todo Santos just as charming, albeit smaller.

A designated Pueblo Mágico, Todos Santos is a place I’ll be looking closely at for opportunity.

Todos Santos looks more like the movie set of an old Western with its red-brick buildings. Along with the major road improvements, the town itself has undergone a major facelift. Streets were dug up and re-laid in brick. Sidewalks were widened to make room for strolling. Façades of old buildings were restored.

Less than an hour away, Cabo San Lucas is booming. But not everyone wants a luxury resort. With the road improvements, Todos Santos is now less than an hour-and-a-half from the airport.

I’ll keep looking for opportunities here…

Wishing you good real estate investing,

Ronan McMahon, Real Estate Trend Alert

P.S. If you want to be the first to hear about any opportunity I do find in Todos Santos, you’ll need to be a member of my Real Estate Trend Alert group. More details about what membership can offer, as well as the chance to take RETA for a 3-month test drive are here.

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Your Comments and Questions Alan says: Hola, Ronan! I read your articles every day! I am super intrigued about retiring outside of the USA and am learning a lot from you. I was in Samara, Costa Rica back in April and on the drive there from San Juan there seemed to be a large road-construction project. Is this perhaps another Path of Progress? Just curious if you knew about it. Also, although Costa Rica, Panama, and Portugal seem to be a little less costly than the USA, are you planning on adventuring more into Southeast Asia? The US dollar goes far in Thailand and even farther in Vietnam! Ronan says: Hi Alan. Yes, I know the project you’re talking about. I drove it two weeks ago. Yet another exciting Path of Progress event. As for Asia, I love to travel in Vietnam. What a rich and amazing experience. And the food is amazing. As you say, the US dollar goes a long way over there…everything is so cheap. But ownership of real estate is heavily restricted for foreigners, as is the case in much of Asia. And that’s our beat here—special real estate…great value or stellar investment opportunities. That’s not to say that I ignore Southeast Asia. If I uncover an opportunity in that part of the world, I will consider it, but those laws on real estate ownership mean that I would need to be very impressed—or something big would need to change—before I would bring it to my readers and RETA members. Connect with us on Instagram or Facebook