By Ronan McMahon
Nestling in an Ecuadorian valley just 20 minutes north-east of downtown Quito is the upscale neighborhood of Cumbaya. At 2,400 meters (7,874 feet) it’s a bit lower than Quito’s downtown. That makes it sunnier and warmer. Here, you will find high-end gated communities, restaurants, malls and car dealerships.
You will also find the Hospital de los Valles…a private hospital of 100 beds and 250 doctors.
This hospital plans to target Americans for medical tourism.
Finally, a true five-star resort community is coming to the Fortaleza area of Northeast Brazil. It’s been years in the making. In fact, when I visited this part of Brazil over three years ago roads had already been constructed and earth moved for the golf course.
Today, the golf course is open…as is the five-star Dom Pedro Hotel. We can now get in on the first luxury condo pre-release with special member-only pricing and terms.
Jama Campay is an opportunity to buy a home of more than 1,700 square feet, perched above…yet only steps from…a white-sand beach. From your lap pool you have views past the beach and breaking waves to the Pacific Ocean. Here, you can watch giant whales drift by or gaze south along the coast where luminous green jungle rises steeply from the Pacific Ocean
The evening of the first day of our recent “Path of Progress” private members retreat, developer Greg Schnurr invited us to his Los Arboles Tulum project. To remind you, Los Arboles Tulum is a development of 221 five-acre residential lots, and 10 commercial lots, set in 1,200 acres of pristine jungle. Your back yard is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Members of our little group bought these five-acre lots last year with a small down payment and interest-free monthly payments.
A few weeks ago I was joined by a group of our fellow members for our inaugural “Path of Progress” private members-only retreat in the Tulum area of Mexico’s Riviera Maya.
I chose Tulum as the venue for this gathering because it’s the focal point for one of the major Path of Progress stories on my beat. Driving from Cancun airport the new system of flyovers at Playa del Carmen looks 98% complete. I hear it will open in the coming months. Playa will no longer be a bottle neck in times of heavy traffic.
Thirty minutes west of Fortaleza’s glimmering boardwalk is the pretty beach town of Cumbuco. In fact, you can see Fortaleza’s skyline from the beach at Cumbuco. Each time I visit Cumbuco, I am greeted by new parks, squares, trendy beachfront bars, kite surfing shops and posadas. But Cumbuco is still a charming little town with a laid-back feel. I expect it will keep this feel even as development comes.
There is one opportunity in Costa Rica’s Arenal that particularly grabbed my attention. I’m talking about the $19,000 lake- and jungle-view lot that could be financed over three years, interest-free.
That means you could lock down this lot with $1,900 down and $475 per month over three years.
As a reader of these dispatches you will know that I spend as much as two weeks a month on the road scouting the globe’s best Real Estate opportunities….and then negotiating special member-only pricing and terms. I introduce you to special places, member-only opportunities and trusted contacts in these alerts. This June 9-11 in downtown Toronto I’m going to make those introductions in person. I’ve invited the crème de la crème into one room. You are invited to join us.
Costa Rica’s Southern Zone is a text book Path of Progress play. This is a beautiful place where price stayed low because it was difficult to get to. Now it’s easily accessible by road. And President Laura Chinchilla was in the area last November, lending her support to the new airport.
The week before last a small group of our fellow Members assembled on a stunning ocean-view lot here surrounded by jungle-clad hills. Price lists fluttered in the breeze. There were two. One was the price list for all the inventory at the project. The other was a list of special pricing for our little group on more than 20 handpicked lots.
If there’s a better lake buy in Central America than Lake Arenal, I haven’t seen it.
The final part of the Costa Rica leg of my recent scouting trip brought me to Lake Arenal en route to crossing the border into Nicaragua near Liberia.
This was my first visit to Lake Arenal. I left scratching my head as to how this place stayed under the radar. It’s beautiful and there are some amazing real estate values.