I’ve just arrived at my home in Guadalajara, Mexico.
It’s great to be back in this booming city. And I have so much planned now that I’ve moved from my bases in Europe to sunnier climes back across the Atlantic.
On Sunday, I’ll hop over to the Pacific coast of Mexico around Ensenada…and after that I have a packed scouting schedule that will take in southwestern Nicaragua…Paraguay’s capital Asunción…the Atlantic coast of Uruguay near the glamorous city of Punta del Este…Costa Rica…and, of course, I’ll be enjoying time in Cabo between my research trips.
And right now, I’m putting the finishing touches on my index of the best places in the world to buy real estate in 2026—a huge annual project untaken by me and my entire Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) team to identify the most opportunity-filled destinations on the planet and give RETA members all our intelligence so they can pinpoint their perfect location for lifestyle and investment.
More on the index and all of my scouting very soon.
First, though, a little about Guadalajara, why I own here, and what this city teaches us about finding the next wave of world-class cities…
Over the past two decades, Guadalajara has seen huge investment from some of the world’s biggest tech companies. This is an increasingly prosperous city that draws an internationalized workforce.
Every time I return to Guadalajara I’m amazed by how much it’s changed…
I have family connections through my wife that bring me back here. Her parents grew up in the city and they’ve returned in retirement. So in recent years, my wife designed and built a home for us here.
Owning in Guadalajara is a lifestyle play for us. And we really love the lifestyle here.
Guadalajara is a heartland of Mexican traditions, a center of tequila and mariachi.
It’s a city of culture and the arts as well. A long list of artists, poets and musicians have called the city home. You can enjoy shady parks, colonial plazas, and museums. And it’s an excellent base to visit the nearby forests and agave fields.
Guadalajara is also a place of innovation, commerce and learning. I’ve heard it referred to as “the Silicon Valley of Mexico.”
Amazon, HP, Dell, Intel, Oracle, Toshiba, Microsoft, and countless other household names have opened facilities in the city.
You have internationalized workers here and they’re working on world-class projects for some of the world’s leading industrial and tech corporations.
That’s transformed Guadalajara…
You’ll find a delightful mix of architectural styles in Guadalajara. This city is a lively hub of commerce, innovation and the arts.
As the corporate giants have moved in, Guadalajara has become increasingly prosperous.
The younger, more affluent workforce is changing the character of the city, giving it a modern, cosmopolitan vibe. This, in turn, is attracting more expats and more tourists…creating even more wealth.
It’s what economists call a “virtuous circle.” The city is growing at a dizzying pace.
Soaring high-rise buildings have replaced small farms and low residences. Fancy coffee and ice-cream shops have popped up, along with boutique shops. There’s more high-end shopping in one mall in Guadalajara than there is in the whole of Ireland…and Ireland is one of the world’s richest countries. That says a lot.
Amid this boom, property prices are rising rapidly.
The pace at which my neighborhood has changed is a perfect example of what’s happening here…
My neighborhood is a lovely place to be—walkable and convenient. All around there are tree-lined streets…great restaurants…shopping malls…gyms…
Since buying here, this neighborhood has undergone an amazing transformation. I can see new construction everywhere. New hotels…offices…condo communities…upscale malls…
Every time a home comes up for sale, it’s either leveled and turned into a modern mansion or a new condo building.
A selfie I snapped yesterday while strolling around my leafy neighborhood of Guadalajara. You can see the high-rise towers in the background. Every year, more are built.
So is there an opportunity in Guadalajara…
There’s a powerful lifestyle proposition for owning here. There’s great weather for much of the year. The city is vibrant and inexpensive in relative terms. There’s incredible dining and entertainment options. The right neighborhoods are very walkable.
And the holding costs are incredibly low. I have no HOA fees on my home. Property tax is about $40 per month. Even when the air-conditioning is humming when I spent time here in April, the solar panels on our home cover all our electric bills.
It ticks a lot of boxes.
For something to qualify as a lifestyle play for me, I want to see at least an 8% annual return on my capital. That can come from income, capital appreciation or a mix. In Guadalajara, I’m seeing this through capital appreciation on my home. So even though the market here is relatively mature there’s still upside from the right real estate in the right location…
Buy the right home in a neighborhood like mine and you could enjoy it when the weather is perfect, rent it short-term when you’re not using it, and see a good return on your investment.
Is Guadalajara a place for a RETA-grade investment…one where we can double our money invested in five years or less?
I run the rule over each and every new condo building that comes up in my neighborhood. But I’ve never written about any of them for my RETA members because this city is growing so fast—and prices are moving so quickly—that the opportunities for a RETA-grade investment in Guadalajara have mostly passed.
But don’t feel like you missed out…
Guadalajara perfectly points to the opportunities that are constantly emerging around the world.
Large transformations like this are happening all the time.
Twenty years ago, few would have imagined that Guadalajara would have emerged as an economic powerhouse and a center of innovation.
We can take the lessons of Guadalajara and use them to find the next wave of world-class cities, whether they’re in other places in Mexico…Central or South America…parts of Asia…
This is why I’m going to Paraguay’s capital, Asunción…a place that I’m hearing a lot about from people in the know, and where right now you can still get brand-new condos in the most desirable areas of the city for under $100,000.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. As I write, I’m also compiling all my notes from my final set of scouting trips in Europe before I moved back across the Atlantic. And over the next two days, I’ll be sharing my best insights and discoveries.
Tomorrow I’ll have notes and opportunities from my scouting of the Galicia region of Spain. Stay tuned for that…
