In this week’s Your Overseas Dream Home Digest…
- VIDEO: The Best Place in Europe to Buy Real Estate in 2026
- A French Manor for Less Than the Average Home in California
- How I Built a Life With No Winters
- Your Questions Answered on Buying in Puerto Morelos
This week’s digest comes to you from trendy Todos Santos.
This small coastal town sits on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, roughly an hour north of Cabo San Lucas. In the last 15 years, it’s drawn an increasingly affluent crowd. And real estate prices have risen sharply in response. Houses quickly rise into the millions here.
For years I’ve been visiting Todos Santos whenever I’m spending time in nearby Cabo. It’s a very different kind of place…you won’t find big luxury resorts here, instead it’s boutique.
As I mentioned in Thursday’s dispatch, I’ve got boots on the ground in Todos Santos this weekend to continue my ongoing scouting.
I’m here to look at land with a developer who has plans for a community of boutique homes in Todos Santos.
And on my way back to Cabo, I’ll be stopping in the beachfront area of Los Cerritos—in the small town of El Pescadero just 15 minutes’ drive south of Todos Santos—where another developer is working on a potential condo community.
Both developers are eager to work with my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group.
Of course, these projects would need to meet the RETA criteria. By that I mean best-in-class real estate in prime locations, at member-only pricing that creates a clear path to doubling members’ money invested in five years or less.
Of course, there’s plenty still to be figured out and lots of due diligence to be done. But I’m excited to see the land and hear their visions firsthand.
I’ll let you know what I find.
Todos Santos is an oasis attracting well-heeled visitors with its farm-to-table dining, galleries and stunning beaches close by. Read more about it here.
VIDEO: The Best Place in Europe to Buy Real Estate in 2026
Speaking of boots on the ground, let’s talk about one of my top scouting finds…
Portugal is one of the world’s most popular destinations among vacationers, expats, and real estate investors.
But there is an amazing region of this country that remains overlooked and undervalued.
The stunning towns and cities north of Portugal’s second city of Porto boast incredible soft-sand beaches…rich history and culture…and stunning food and architecture. But they are virtually unknown to foreign tourists, expats, and second-home owners. And because of this, prices in these towns and cities are astonishingly affordable.
This is Portugal’s “undiscovered north.”
This stunning region has flown under the radar for generations, but now this region is starting to be discovered. And I anticipate prices will soar.
That’s why I bought a home here in a town called Caminha. My team and I recently named Caminha the best place in Europe to buy real estate in 2026.
Earlier this week, I posted a clip about Caminha to my YouTube channel. It’s taken from a private briefing I prepared for members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group. Click below to view the video.
The town of Caminha sits on Portugal’s northern border with Spain. Although prices are rising here, Caminha still offers incredible value compared to popular coastal destinations to the south.
A French Manor for Less Than the Average Home in California
Sticking with Europe, let’s switch from Portugal to France…
Stunning stately homes dot the French countryside. According to various counts, there are more than 40,000 châteaux in the country. And they can be more affordable than most people understand…even less than the average cookie-cutter house in the U.S.
A property we recently shared on our Your Overseas Dream Home Instagram account is a prime example…
A country manor house that’s on the market for €524,000 (about $619,200).
That buys you a substantial house, extensive grounds, a swimming pool, and a guest house. That’s a lot of property for your money, especially when you consider that in many parts of the U.S., that sum might not even get you a three-bedroom suburban home.
This manor house costs substantially less than the median price of a single-family home in California (which is $906,500 according to Forbes).
Read my full take on this manor house in yesterday’s Your Overseas Dream Home .
This French manor house shows the bang for your buck you can find when you look at overseas real estate.
How I Built a Life With No Winters
Earlier I mentioned that I’m currently scouting Todos Santos from Cabo, where I spend my winters every year.
And there’s a good reason I do that.
Cabo is one of those places where winter simply doesn’t exist. Here, you can enjoy warm mornings followed by long, bright days. The kind of weather that keeps you active and energized.
This is a place that draws you outdoors. Sunrise walks on Pacific beaches. Long lunches on sun-soaked terraces. Golf in short sleeves with the ocean as your backdrop. Evenings just cool enough for you to sleep deeply and wake up refreshed.
This perfect climate is a key reason why Cabo’s transformed into a world-class luxury destination—one that today draws people from all over the world. Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Latin Americans. Year after year, more people come. Many return…turning a visit into a habit, and a habit into a base.
I first bought in Cabo a little more than a decade ago ahead of the huge surge in demand here. That investment was transformative for me, in several ways. Financially, it’s been a home run. I’ve seen values double, and I consistently earn $3,000 per month in gross rental income—a double-digit annualized yield.
But the lifestyle I’ve gained access to has been just as valuable to me, if not more so.
This investment gave me access to a world-class luxury lifestyle whenever I wanted it—paid for in rental income and capital appreciation by the renters and the wave of buyers who came after me.
Read more on my boundless life here.
A photo I snapped after arriving in Cabo. Owning in Cabo has not just been a home run financially. It’s transformed my lifestyle. Learn more 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’s a question I got from a reader recently…
Amy and Kenny S. ask: Hello Ronan!
We’ve been following your property investment advice for many years now. We are also IL members but not RETA members quite yet!
My husband and I are ready to invest in an oversees property and I am a bit locked up as to what is the smartest decision. We have about $350k to work with and would definitely need to generate rental income when not using it.
We have narrowed our focus to Riviera Maya and specifically Puerto Morelos. We will be visiting and looking at properties 22Feb-08Mar. There are some gated communities there with amenities where you can get a new build, 3bd/2ba for around $350k USD.
We have also been curious about Costa Rica and Panama as our first investment.
Eventually we would like to also invest somewhere in Europe. Likely Spain or Portugal.
I would really like to hear your advice on Puerto Morelos from an investment perspective. I am also interested in learning about becoming a RETA member and conversing with you more about this first RE investment for us.
Thank you for your time.
Ronan says: Hi Amy and Kenny! Thanks for your message. And congratulations. It’s exciting to hear that you’re about to make your first real estate investment.
Puerto Morelos, which sits south of Playa del carmen and north of Tulum on the Riviera Maya, was formerly a quaint fishing village. In recent decades, as nearby Cancun developed, Puerto Morelos has attracted an expat community looking for a quieter alternative.
Today, this town has a stunning beach…a quaint, rustic charm…and it’s beginning to see some more development, including some new upscale condo communities. But it retains a small-town feel with a town square lined with little shops, restaurants, and cafés. The square is next to the seaside malecon (promenade) where you can still pick up fish, fresh off the boats.
Puerto Morelos has a rustic charm and some stunning beaches. But there are limitations on its development.
Ultimately, though, Puerto Morelos has limitations in how and where it can grow. This is why development leapfrogged it to booming, cosmopolitan Playa del Carmen. It’s also why, though I’ve been looking for years, I haven’t been able to find a RETA-grade deal here (that’s one where we can double our money invested in five years or less).
You mentioned that you want to learn more about joining RETA. You can click here to do that. Then you will have full access to all my best research and insight on buying overseas.
You can access an extensive library of resources, such as the new RETA Academy Masterclass which started this week. Whatever your goals, this live and interactive online masterclass exclusively for RETA members will give a complete blueprint to making them a reality in 2026.
You may also benefit from access to the RETA concierge service.
Modelled on the best luxury concierge services in the world, the RETA concierge team has a single-minded mission: To help members get the most out of their membership. The concierge team are on hand to help with anything. RETA members only need to ask. Whatever their needs, questions or concerns, they will be carefully listened to and taken care of.
Best wishes with your first real estate investment!
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.
