By Ronan McMahon
On the Dominican Republic’s Samana peninsula, Las Terrenas is a little piece of paradise. Nineteen miles of walkable public beach, palm trees, warm breezes and stars so bright it feels like you could pluck them from the sky… I can’t think of a nicer place to have a beach home. You’ll find your dollars stretch here, too.
The drive from La Romana to Las Terrenas brought me back toward Santo Domingo before joining the main highway from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas. Studying the opportunity at Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic is the primary purpose of this scouting trip.
Joao Pessoa, in Brazil’s northeast, is surrounded by miles of beautiful beaches. The weather’s warm and sunny year-round. Roughly 75 miles from Recife and 110 miles from Natal, the city is the third oldest in Brazil.
This is where many Brazilians retire (young), vacation and buy second homes. In particular, the city is popular as a retirement destination for senior civil servants. They retire early from their government jobs. Active and healthy, they relocate here to start the next phase of their life.
That’s good news for the businesses of Joao Pessoa. As more of these wealthy young retirees move here, the city’s businesses have more customers. There’s more demand for services—like dentists and cardiologists and financial planners.
Times are good if you own quality office space here.
Following my recent scouting trip to Colombia with Lee Harrison (International Living’s roving Latin America editor) and Eoin Bassett (International Living magazine’s editor), we all got together by phone to debrief on what we learned. Everything was taped – you can listen to it now.
As a member of our little group, you will know that we look for Path of Progress opportunities. I’m talking about infrastructure projects like a new road…or a new bridge that will make an area more accessible and desirable. When this happens, prices rise. Like we’ve recently seen in Costa Rica’s Southern Zone…and in Tulum, on the southern edge of Mexico’s Riviera Maya.
My colleague at Pathfinder, Margaret Summerfield recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica, where she investigated the impact of a newly upgraded road that stretches out from the capital, San Jose. She returned to her base in Panama excited about a project she had seen in the area.
Long-time readers of these dispatches will know that I have been recommending opportunities in Fortaleza for the past three years.
We have been able to buy pre-release at special member-only pricing and terms. I have bought multiple units here. I’m happy with my investments. I recently sold a condo I bought on my first trip for $43,500 more than I paid.
And it’s not just me. RETA members have seen strong price appreciation.
It gets better though…
Brazil is bursting with millionaires…and billionaires seem to be created by the month, as are thousands of new or expanded businesses.
No surprise to you. We’ve been discussing Brazil’s new middle-class status for a long time in RETA.
Today I’m going to share a way we can profit from this trend…and it’s probably not something you’re expecting.
I strongly urge you to read this alert carefully.
The Tao project near Tulum is a strong opportunity I have told you about in these alerts. The developer finance offer makes it stronger. You can buy here with $15,000 down and monthly payments of $800. Plus, as a RETA member you get additional benefits (more below).
The finance offer will likely close in a matter of weeks. Only 100 units can be sold with this developer finance package…and 81 have been sold—with signed contracts. There are additional reservations which are closing by the day.
You need to act now to avail of this this offer. In the future some finance may be available…or it might not be. BUT—a finance offer this good will never be made again.
On June 17th I told you about the opportunity at La Serena Golf in the province of Rocha, Uruguay. This is a great deal from a strong developer.
Not far away (but closer to Punta del Este) lot prices range from $40-$135 per square meter. That’s $162,000 to over $500,000 for an acre lot. And, these prices include projects without golf or tennis. Projects with hardly any amenities, in fact.
At La Serena Golf you have both. Half-acre lot prices start at $31,900. As a RETA member you can avail of our member-only pricing and get a 10% discount. That gives you an entry point of $28,710.
I’m watching developments in Ireland closely. In 2008 Ireland’s banks and real estate industry spectacularly imploded. Since then we have been waiting. Not much happened until a couple of months ago.
The real estate market never found a floor. There were almost no transactions. The nationalized banking system and the bad bank (NAMA: National Assets Management Agency, established to wind down failed developers and get land speculation loans off the banks’ books) stayed silent. They have been sitting on all the Irish inventory on their books.
That’s set to change. Get ready.
