The Gathering 2026 Recordings

This opening keynote sets the tone for the entire Gathering—framing real estate not just as an investment, but as a tool to design a more abundant life.

Ronan McMahon introduces the core philosophy behind RETA: that opportunity is never gone—it simply moves. From the early days of scouting Northeast Brazil during the Global Financial Crisis to uncovering emerging markets across Latin America, Europe, and Asia, the mission has remained the same: go where others aren’t looking yet.

Ronan and Ciaran walk through several of the top-ranked destinations in the 2026 RETA Index and explain how investors should use the Index as a decision-making tool—not just a list of “best places,” but a framework for identifying the right market for your goals.

This session steps back from individual deals to answer a bigger question: why Panama at all? And more importantly—why it continues to attract both capital and long-term residents.

This session explores one of the most surprising value plays in Europe: deeply discounted real estate in Italy’s historic hill towns—and how to separate true opportunity from value traps.

Ciaran frames Italy as a place of contrasts. On one hand, you have world-class culture, food, architecture, and lifestyle. On the other, outside the major cities and tourist hubs, you’ll find entire towns where properties sell for astonishingly low prices—sometimes €20,000 to €100,000 for structurally sound homes. The reason is simple: depopulation. Younger generations have left many rural towns, creating excess supply and downward pressure on prices.

But the key insight—and the opportunity—is that not all towns are in decline.

Ronan and Joel Bowman explore Argentina as a classic turnaround story—one that has long been defined by economic mismanagement but may now be entering a very different phase.

Denise Cruz and Ricardo Pica explain why Lagos continues to stand out as one of the Algarve’s most attractive lifestyle and rental markets—and how to approach buying there with confidence. Denise focuses on the city itself: its beaches, walkability, marina, climate, and international appeal. She makes the case that Lagos attracts exactly the kind of visitor and buyer investors want—families, retirees, and higher-spending travelers looking for quality, convenience, and a strong year-round destination.

Zach Lunan and attorney Eduardo Cabrales present Nicaragua as one of the most affordable beachfront and ocean-view markets in the Americas—and make the case that a major infrastructure shift is now changing the opportunity set. Zach focuses on the Pacific coast, especially around San Juan del Sur, where he has worked for more than two decades, and explains how the new coastal highway dramatically improves access to beaches and development zones that were previously slow and difficult to reach.

Daniel shares the original roots of the RETA story in Northeast Brazil—and explains how he, as a deeply connected local insider, approaches real estate as a capital appreciation business first and a rental business second. Coming from a family that has worked in the market for decades, he describes how he and Ronan quickly connected back in 2008 around the same core idea: opportunity exists where infrastructure, demographics, and local knowledge come together before the wider market fully catches on.

Geoffrey Donahue and Alex Radford make the case for Spain’s Costa del Sol as one of Europe’s most compelling lifestyle-and-investment markets. Geoffrey focuses on the appeal of the region itself: exceptional weather, strong tourism, low day-to-day living costs, vibrant towns like Marbella and Estepona, and consistent demand for both short-term rentals and resale property. He also points to past RETA-style opportunities that have delivered substantial appreciation.