In this week’s Your Overseas Dream Home Digest…
- VIDEO: What a Genuine Opportunity Looks Like
- How a $100 Billion Mega-City Turned Into a Ghost Town
- A $33,000 Home in a Swedish Lake Town
- Own a Private Island in Northern Europe
- Your Questions Answered on Language Barriers in Sweden
Greetings from Caminha…
I’m back at my historic villa in Portugal’s far north, close to where the Minho River meets the Atlantic and forms the border with Spain.
Fall is rolling into Ireland. The light is dulling, and the wind and rain are returning. Here, I’m right in my sweet spot: bright, warm sunshine during the day and cool evenings.
It was lovely to get back, although my wife Sayuri and I opened the doors a little nervously. We were returning after our first period of vacation rentals.
You see, this is much more a home than a rental machine for us. We bought it for the lifestyle. That makes it very different from buying a condo in Asunción, Paraguay, which for me is a pure investment.
Still, the villa was fully booked throughout August at $3,000 a week—and our first Booking.com reviews gave it 10 out of 10 in every category.
That income gives us a useful kitty for the next round of improvements. I’ve eyed up the sheds at the back for conversion into a small gym, sauna, and golf simulator. We also want to create a covered alfresco dining area beside the grill.
Here’s the thing, though: the more we make this a home, the less we want to rent it. And the more my innate frugality starts looking for permission to keep it for ourselves.
We paid €410,000 for this place in 2024. Now, a home I consider a step below ours, on the same hillside, is listed for just under €1 million.
And the villa is creating opportunities I hadn’t counted on. I’m close to arranging a month-long swap for a waterfront home on Vancouver Island in September 2027, with another possible swap on Sweden’s coast next spring.
That’s what the right lifestyle property can do. It can enrich your life, pay some of its way and open doors far beyond its four walls.
But whether you’re buying for lifestyle or profit, a low asking price alone doesn’t make a property valuable.
In today’s digest, we’ll look at both sides of that equation: a $100 billion “city of the future” that became a ghost town…a $33,000 home in a Swedish lake town…and three surprisingly affordable private islands in northern Europe.
But we begin with how I found a genuine opportunity on Mexico’s Yucatán coast in 2021—and why I’m using that same playbook again today…
Let’s dig in…
VIDEO: What a Genuine Opportunity Looks Like
I’m closing in on a new off-market deal in Panama City for members of Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA), the group I founded in 2008 for folks who understand the incredible power of international real estate.
I’m still finalizing terms with the developer, so I can’t share the full details just yet. But we’re getting close.
What I can tell you is that this is a landmark building with an incredible suite of resort-level amenities, on one of the last prime pieces of waterfront land anywhere near the city’s core.
I expect to have much more for you very soon.
This week, I shared a video…one that spotlights what an off-market RETA deal looks like.
In 2021, I brought RETA members a deal in Yucalpetén, a beach-and-marina community close to the colonial city of Mérida.
In July 2021, members could get in at exclusive pricing from just $209,800 for a two-bed condo. By December 2025, similar condos were listing for $560,000. That’s $350,200 more.
In my new YouTube video, I tell the story behind how I found and negotiated this deal.
It’s a case study in exactly what I look for when putting a RETA deal together…and of what happens when all the pieces fall into place.
Click below to watch. And when you’re done, share your thoughts or questions in the comments. My team and I read them all.
In my new video, I reveal how my RETA group got ahead of the Path of Progress rolling toward Mexico’s Yucatán coast—and secured prices in a landmark community the wider market never saw.
How a $100 Billion Mega-City Turned Into a Ghost Town
Forest City demonstrates the other side of the equation.
This Malaysian mega-project was pitched as a “city of the future,” with intelligent traffic management, emergency drones, and space for 700,000 residents—all within commuting distance of Singapore.
I scouted it in 2019, at the height of the buying frenzy.
The sheer scale was astonishing. There were dozens of giant towers going up…man-made beaches…hotels…shopping areas…and a sales center that looked more like a sports arena.
But the buildings were rising before the underlying demand had been proven and I had my doubts about its viability.
Today, estimates put Forest City’s population at around 9,000. Condos can reportedly trade for less than $100 per square foot, down from around $250 when I visited.
On paper, that sounds cheap.
But I still wouldn’t invest any capital there.
In this video, my scout Ciaran Madden and I unpack what went wrong—and the warning signs every overseas property buyer should understand.
I visited Forest City at the height of the buying frenzy around this mega-city project. This video explores why this futuristic city failed so spectacularly.
A $33,000 Home in a Swedish Lake Town
Forest City is a reminder that cheap real estate is not necessarily good value.
But elsewhere, low prices can be driven by very different forces—and the lifestyle on offer can make them well worth investigating.
That brings me to Sweden…
My scout Ciaran Madden recently returned from a journey of more than 600 miles across the south of the country.
He found well-kept homes in attractive towns and countryside settings for $150,000…$100,000…even less than $60,000.
But the place that made the strongest impression on him was Vadstena.
This is a lived-in town of 8,000 people on the shores of Lake Vättern, Sweden’s second-largest lake. It has a medieval center, cafés and restaurants, a Renaissance castle and paths winding along the waterfront.
And right now, you can find some striking real estate value there.
One studio apartment within walking distance of the historic center recently listed for just 315,000 Swedish kronor—about $33,000.
Read the full story of Ciaran’s discovery in Vadstena here.
Own a Private Island in Northern Europe
From a home beside a Swedish lake, let’s move to something even more unusual…
Your own island.
Mention private islands and most people picture a Caribbean retreat with a sprawling villa, a yacht at the dock and a multimillion-dollar price tag.
But northern Europe offers a very different version of island ownership.
This week, my team found three private islands…
A substantial 10-acre retreat in Ireland’s Clew Bay, complete with a two-bed home and its own pier…a furnished island hideaway on a forest-fringed lake in Sweden, with boats, a canoe, a small beach and a wood-fired sauna…and a tiny Finnish island with a cabin, sauna and dock that’s on the market for just €38,000—or about $44,000.
Take a tour of all three private islands here.
Your Questions Answered
Have a comment for me or my team? A question about owning overseas? Share it here. I’d love to hear from you. Here are two questions I got from readers in response to our recent scouting of Sweden…
Roy H. asks: Hello, I love Sweden and have been there twice for two week stays in Stockholm. I was unable to look at the properties as effectively as I would like because there is no English translation. Is it possible to get the property information in English.
And beneath our recent Sweden video, @augusthallmann96 asks: Is English spoken in these villages?
Ronan says: These are really two sides of the same question, so I’ll answer them together.
Yes, it is possible to get the property information in English.
If a Swedish broker’s website does not offer an English-language version, the simplest option is to open the page in Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on it and select “Translate to English.”
That should give you a useful overview of the property.
And if a listing seriously interests you, I would contact the agent and ask whether someone in the office can provide an English summary or talk you through the details.
As for whether people speak English in the towns Ciaran visited, he didn’t find language to be a barrier at all during his journey. In fact, he joked that the Swedes he met spoke better English than he does.
So, I wouldn’t let the language put you off exploring the Swedish market. Use the browser tools to get a broad understanding, and contact the agent directly if something catches your eye.
And if you decide to move forward, that’s the point to slow down. Get advice from a local attorney and have every document properly translated before you sign.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. If you have a question about buying real estate overseas or have suggestions for destinations my team and I should put on our scouting list, drop me a line here.
