There’s a group of people I watch closely.
These are folks who earn well. Often they can often move around to some degree, too. Folks like small-business owners, entrepreneurs, lawyers, software specialists, management consultants…
These folks aren’t in the market for multi-million-dollar mansions or 5-star resort residences. But they want luxury and resort-style amenities…and they can pay for it.
I call them the “mobile affluent.”
Now they’re arriving on Europe’s New Riviera: Montenegro’s spectacular Bay of Kotor.
Their arrival is central to the urgent opportunity I’m opening to members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group on Wednesday, August 26.
If you’re unfamiliar with RETA, it’s a group I founded for folks like me who recognize the vast potential of overseas real estate. Using the group-buying power of all RETA members, I can negotiate first-in, off-market deals from developers with exclusive pricing that ordinary buyers never see.
Like our second-ever RETA deal on Europe’s New Riviera….
Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor combines extraordinary scenery, easy international access and the sophisticated lifestyle the mobile affluent seek.
Who Are the Mobile affluent?
The mobile affluent are not billionaires.
They are entrepreneurs, small-business owners, doctors, lawyers, bankers, computer scientists and other successful professionals.
Their most important advantage is choice.
They can earn in one country…invest in another…spend winter somewhere warmer…and divide their lives between several desirable places.
They look for natural beauty, safety, good restaurants and easy international access. They want pools, gyms, beach clubs and concierge-style services.
They want somewhere they can lock the door and leave for six months—and feel excited to return to.
When these people converge on a destination, they bring money earned elsewhere and compete for a limited supply of high-quality homes. That demand can transform a property market.
And there are clear signs that a more affluent, international audience is discovering Montenegro.
More than 52,000 Americans visited during the first 11 months of 2024—48% more than in 2019. The number of nights they spent in the country increased by 87% over the same period.
Germans, Turks and Britons are all among Montenegro’s seven largest markets by overnight stays.
Meanwhile, Tivat airport connects this small stretch of Adriatic coastline with cities including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Madrid, Istanbul and Dubai.
The mobile affluent have discovered Europe’s New Riviera—and they are coming.
But best-in-class communities catering to the mobile affluent are scarce around the bay.
Little Montenegro and the wealthy investors who have bankrolled development on Europe’s new Riviera have gone straight for the ultra-wealthy market.
Porto Montenegro has helped establish the bay as a playground for the ultra-wealthy—with one-bedroom apartments now listing for close to €1 million. There is still remarkably little supply of what the mobile affluent actually want.
A Riviera With a Missing Middle
Billions of euros have already poured into the Bay of Kotor.
Porto Montenegro has transformed a former naval base into a world-class superyacht marina lined with restaurants, shops, hotels and luxury residences.
Portonovi is home to Europe’s first One&Only resort. Luštica Bay is creating an entire marina town, complete with hotels, beaches and Montenegro’s first championship golf course.
The superyachts have arrived. The international hotel brands have arrived. Wealthy visitors and buyers from around the world have arrived.
But development has concentrated almost entirely on the ultra-wealthy.
A one-bedroom apartment recently listed at Porto Montenegro for €998,000—and the listing described that as an urgent sale below market price.
At Portonovi, move-in-ready one-bedroom apartments are advertised from €850,000.
That is €850,000 for one bedroom in Montenegro.
This focus on the ultra-wealthy has left a striking gap in the market.
The mobile affluent want a new, stylish home in a spectacular location. They want a pool, gym, restaurant, concierge-style services and easy access to the water.
They may be able to spend €850,000 or €1 million on a one-bedroom apartment. Most don’t want to.
Yet their alternative is often an older, dated apartment with no pool, no gym and little in the way of services.
What they want sits between those two extremes: Luxury resort living without the superyacht-marina price tag.
A developer’s render of the community I’ll bring to RETA members on Wednesday, August 26. This is sundown by the infinity pool. (Renders should not be considered final but give us a great idea what to expect.)
What This Market Needs
The new opportunity I’ll open to RETA members on Wednesday, August 26 sits directly in that gap.
The planned amenities include an infinity pool…spa…gym…yoga and Pilates studio…restaurant…kids club…entertainment room…fire pit…and a shuttle to a beach club.
The community will be private and tranquil, yet within easy reach of Kotor’s magnificent old town, Tivat airport, Porto Montenegro and the restaurants, beaches and boating around the bay.
Use it yourself for weeks or months at a time.
And when you’re not there, it’s just what the mobile affluent are looking for—a proper home where they can work and live, not another hotel room.
And the off-market RETA-only pricing is remarkable.
Studios from a RETA-only €168,925 that I expect will be worth €260,000 five years after delivery. Two-bed condos from €362,663 that I expect will be €560,000—a potential gain of close to €200,000.
And we have exclusive developer financing.
The mobile affluent are arriving. The supply of homes they want has not kept pace. That is what makes this opportunity so exciting.
My senior scout Eoin Bassett (left) scouting Luštica Bay.
We’ve Seen This Pattern Before
This is not the first time I have seen a luxury destination broaden its appeal beyond the super-rich.
The same thing happened in Cabo, on the Baja California Peninsula.
Cabo had long attracted celebrities and extremely wealthy visitors. Then billions of dollars poured into new resorts, golf courses, restaurants and infrastructure.
As the destination became easier to reach and more sophisticated, the mobile affluent followed.
I brought RETA members our first-ever Cabo deal in 2015 in Copala, in the luxurious Quivira master-planned gated golf community. I bought an ocean-view condo alongside RETA members in that deal.
The RETA-only price on a two-bed, two-bath ocean-view condo was $336,156 in 2015.
In 2023, an identical condo to mine two floors above me listed for $725,000—an uplift of $388,844.
I identified the market the mobile affluent wanted…bought the right amenity-rich real estate…and got in before their demand had fully transformed the market.
That’s why RETA members are sitting on six-figure uplifts there.
Now I see the same pattern developing on the Bay of Kotor…
In 2015, I bought a condo in Copala, in the 5-star Quivira resort in Cabo as part of a RETA members-only deal.
My team and I have been scouting Montenegro for more than a decade.
We’ve driven its roads…met its developers…watched the luxury marinas rise…tracked the buyers arriving…and rejected project after project.
In all that time, we’ve found just two deals good enough to bring to RETA members.
This is the second.
I’ll open it exclusively to RETA members on Wednesday, August 26.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
