In this week’s digest:
- VIDEO: The Perfect Caribbean Island Destination
- IN PHOTOS: Your Private Tour of the Ultra-Luxe City-State of Cap Cana
- Insane Luxury Beach Homes for the Super-Rich
- Your Questions Answered on Getting Financing Overseas
Yesterday, I sent you my full briefing on the incredible opportunity I’ve uncovered in the Caribbean… It’s your chance to own stunning, luxurious condos by a breathtaking stretch of white-sand beach at a crazy low price.
All the detail are in my briefing. Click here to access it now.
I’ll share a few more insights on this destination in a moment, but first the “old money” secret to building generational wealth…
You could own an incredible luxury condo literally minutes from this Caribbean beach…and the price is crazy low. Get all the details here.
In America, the Astor family are practically the definition of “old money”…
John Jacob Astor I was the country’s first multimillionaire. He made his fortune in the fur and opium trades in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Then he did something really smart…he invested his wealth in real estate.
Astor foresaw that New York would become one of the world’s great cities and used his money to buy up and develop large tracts of Manhattan. By the time of his death, he was the wealthiest man in the country, worth at least $20 million (almost $800 million in today’s dollars).
Real estate is almost always the key to building generational wealth. This is the “old money” secret. To get wealthy, you earn money. To stay wealthy, you own real estate. Because of Astor’s large investments in New York property, his family became one of the city’s most powerful and storied dynasties. They remain wealthy to this day…centuries later.
He and his descendants also helped forge the modern luxury hotel industry…
In 1836 in New York, Astor built what is considered one of the world’s first modern hotels, Astor House, which used gas for lighting and pumped water to the bathrooms on each floor by steam engine. At the time, it was the finest hotel in America.
In 1890s, the original Waldorf-Astoria in New York emerged out of a feud between two Astor family members that ultimately saw two buildings combined to create the iconic luxury hotel. (The “Astoria” in the title is a derivation of the Astor family name; Waldorf comes from the German town of Walldorf where John Jacob Astor I was born.)
But it’s another hotel created by the Astors that’s arguably had the biggest global impact…
In 1899, John Jacob Astor I’s great-grandson, John Jacob Astor IV, announced a new hotel project on a corner of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It opened five years later as one of the most luxurious establishments in the world, featuring incredible innovations such as in-room telephones and air conditioning. At the suggestion of his niece, he named it after Upper St. Regis Lake in New York.
This was the first St. Regis hotel…
The St. Regis in New York remains one of the city’s most iconic and luxurious hotels.
The St. Regis was a place of immense opulence. A bed in one of the suites reportedly cost the hotel $10,000 to buy (over $350,000 in today’s dollars). Room rates ran up to $125 per night (around $4,500 today). The prices for everything from rooms to drinks were so exorbitant, newspapers delighted in reporting them. The St. Regis set a new standard for luxury.
John Jacob Astor IV didn’t live to see the full impact of his creation. He was on the Titanic when it sank in 1912, perishing in the disaster. At the time, he was considered the world’s richest man, worth roughly $87 million (the equivalent of about $2.7 billion today).
But the St. Regis name lives on…
Today, the brand is owned by Marriott. It has expanded to more than 60 locations around the world and remains synonymous with extraordinary luxury.
The key thing to understand about the expansion of the brand is that you don’t open a St. Regis just anywhere. There’s 120 years of history and heritage to protect. New locations are chosen carefully. The process is painstaking and costly.
Aspen, Colorado… Venice, Italy… Bora Bora, French Polynesia… Dhaalu Atoll, Maldives…
These are places deemed worthy of a St. Regis by the experts at Mariott.
Now you can add Cap Cana, Dominican Republic to that list…
The vast St. Regis project under development in Cap Cana. Condos and penthouses here list for millions and even tens of millions of dollars.
This week, in Your Overseas Dream Home, I’ve been telling you all about the stunning master-planned beach community of Cap Cana and the incredible luxury and lifestyle you’ll find there.
The insights I’ve been sharing are the end-result of a multi-year process…
Several years back, I set my team a mission—find the “next places.” Scout the world and identify the desirable destinations where people will go next…the places that are poised to explode in popularity and where real estate prices will soar.
Cap Cana is one of our great finds.
This community is vast…nearly 50 square miles (that’s twice the size of Manhattan). Set along three miles of glistening white-sand beach, and miles more of stunning Caribbean coastline, it’s home to the largest inland marina in the Caribbean. You’ll find incredible 5-star resorts, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, a university campus, fitness centers, one of the Caribbean’s finest equestrian facilities, a fire station, and medical and veterinary clinics…
The Caribbean’s largest water park just opened, its amphitheatre was inaugurated by Elton John. And just 10 minutes’ away is an international airport with connections to destinations across North America.
To date, billons have been spent on infrastructure and facilities there. And more investment is coming. Calling this destination a “master-planned community” doesn’t capture the size and scale of what’s happening here. This is a self-sufficient and secure bastion of wealth and luxury that functions with a high degree of autonomy.
A virtual city-state for the affluent.
Juanillo beach in Cap Cana is one of the most postcard-perfect I’ve ever seen in two decades of scouting the world for real estate opportunities.
This place is special…and clearly the experts at Marriott agree.
They’re spending around $220 million to build a St. Regis here. It boasts the insane luxury you’d expect. A penthouse listed for sale there for $25 million!
Yet, you don’t need to spend anything like that to own in Cap Cana…well, not if you’re a member of my Real Estate Trend Alert group…
Thanks to years of boots-on-the-ground scouting, patient negotiation, and the collective-buying power of my RETA group, I’ve zeroed in on the perfect project here and gotten my group an incredible off-market deal on luxurious condos.
At this private link exclusively for Your Overseas Dream Home readers, you’ll find a video overview of the ultra-luxe haven of Cap Cana. Footage in this video was shot by my team when we had boots on the ground there.
This opportunity is to own stunning two-bed condos in a perfectly located, best-in-class community in the heart of Cap Cana…just a stroll from its best beach, Juanillo. Plus, we’ll have incredible ocean-view amenities like an infinity pool, bar, restaurant, and gym.
I expect gains of $275,000 five years after delivery.
I also expect big income from this deal. Rent short term and I conservatively figure on a gross yield of nearly 12%. And I’d expect $3,000 a month renting my condo long term, for a gross yield of over 9%.
I’ll be buying right alongside RETA members…
Yesterday, I shared my full report on this destination and this deal with you. Click here to access it now.
This deal is no brainer. And it could be the last such deal here…truly. So much investment is pouring in, from St. Regis and so many others, and the plans for Cap Cana are so spectacular, this destination is on the cusp of an astonishing transformation.
That’s why I encourage you to read the full report on this opportunity.
“Old money” brands like the St. Regis don’t gamble. They only back sure-things…like Cap Cana.
After you finish reading the full report, here’s a few other resources on Cap Cana…
VIDEO: The Perfect Caribbean Island Destination
Recently, I sat down with Margaret Summerfield to record a video for Real Estate Trend Alert members explaining why I’m so excited by this destination.
Margaret is my longest-standing colleague. In fact, she’s scouted a lot of the Caribbean for my RETA group, so she knows this region very well, including the Dominican Republic. And she’s seen firsthand how it’s evolved in a destination for the ultra-rich. We discuss it in our conversation below. Click to view…
In this video recorded for RETA members, I discuss the Cap Cana deal with Margaret, who knows the Dominican Republic and this region well.
IN PHOTOS: Your Private Tour of Cap Cana
Also this week, I shared a photo essay, explaining the origins of Cap Cana and providing a guide to what you’ll find there today.
As I say, my team and I have scouted Cap Cana numerous times. I visited twice in 2022. My team were back several times last year and again this year, digging into every corner of this city-state. We’ve put together photos we took when we had boots on the ground there to create a private tour for you of Cap Cana.
Our RETA photographer Alan Kennedy snapped this shot of Juanillo Beach, the best in Cap Cana, during a scouting trip last year. Check out my photo tour of Cap Cana to see our other boots-on-the-ground shots like this.
Insane Luxury Beach Homes for the Super-Rich
As I say, Cap Cana is a bastion of the ultra-rich, a place where villas and penthouse sell for millions or even tens of millions of dollars.
This week, my team and I dug into some of the homes currently on the market in Cap Cana.
From an $18.5 million, 16,800-square-foot, five-bed condo that comes with butler-service to a $13 million, nine-bed beachfront villa with its own wine cellar, the homes you’ll see here are insane! Check them out in the full article here.
It just goes to show the level of wealth pouring into this community. Read more about that in my full report on this opportunity here.
This incredible villa is one of those currently on the market in Cap Cana. It’s listed at $5.9 million. Read about this home, and others like it, in my full article here.
Your Questions Answered
Have a question or comment for me or my team? A question about life in Cap Cana or the Dominican Republic? Share it here. I’d love to hear from you. Here’s a question I got from a reader…
John B. asks: How hard is it to get bank financing in Latin America as a non-resident foreign buyer…and which countries offer the easiest access?
Ronan says: The rules on whether non-resident foreign buyers can get bank financing vary significantly across Latin America.
In many countries, you’ll find that non-resident foreign buyers are technically allowed to access bank financing. But the reality is that mortgages are very difficult or even impossible to get. And the rates can be much higher than in the U.S.
Walk into a bank in Mexico, for example, and if you’re very lucky, they might lend you 60% of the value of the property and charge you exorbitant interest rates on your mortgage for the privilege. That’s after they’re done weighing you down with excruciating bureaucratic requirements. Then, and only then, will they decide whether to let you borrow money—they might still refuse…
That said, there are a few incredible destinations in Latin America where mortgages are easier to obtain. The Dominican Republic is one of them…
Bank finance is available in the Dominican Republic for non-resident foreign buyers. The term can be up to 20 years, loan-to-value is typically 60% to 70%.
|
|
Ronan McMahon, Founder, Overseas Dream Home & Real Estate Trend Alert
