In this week’s Your Overseas Dream Home Digest…
- Phenomenal Response to Bosco Deal in Panama
- A Cabo Developer in Ireland
- A Travel Note from La Paz
- Your Questions Answered on Buying in Golf Communities
On Wednesday, I brought members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group an incredible deal at Bosco di Santa Maria in Panama City.
And the response has been through the roof!
RETA members instantly recognized just how rare and compelling this opportunity is—the crown jewel of Panama City’s most prestigious address, with more than 45 planned luxury amenities, exclusive RETA-only pricing, an extended payment plan and developer financing.
If you got in on the deal, congratulations. You are on track to lock in what I expect will be gains of $293,000 five years after delivery.
And if you rent, once established I figure you’ll see 10.8% gross yields. That’s $42,000 a year.
If you want to get in on incredible deals like this, you need to be a RETA member. Learn how to join here.
My team made a short one-minute, 33-second video taking you on a tour of Bosco di Santa Maria using the developer’s renders. Although not to be considered final they give us a great idea what to expect:
This week RETA members were able to lock down condos at Bosco di Santa Maria in Panama City at off-market prices. I expect gains of $293,000 five years after delivery and an annual gross yield of 10.8%.
You never know who you’ll meet in this line of work. This week, it was a developer from Mexico, vacationing in Ireland—and our chat gave me a powerful reminder of how global real estate trends ripple outward…
A Cabo Developer in Ireland
This week, I was in Killarney, Ireland to meet a Mexican developer. His projects are far away from here. But the fact you have a developer from Cabo taking his vacation amid the lakes of Killarney tells you a lot…
Last statistic I saw, a quarter of foreign visitors to Ireland visit the country’s southwest each year. Killarney gets over a million visitors. Among them this well-established Mexican developer…as a jumping off point for the Ring of Kerry, it’s the perfect base…
Back in the mid-1800s, Killarney was a quiet, scenic backwater. Locals knew it was beautiful, but the wider world didn’t pay it much mind. That changed dramatically in 1861, when the British Queen Victoria came to town.
Her royal visit wasn’t just a passing curiosity—it was a catalyst, a game-changer. She spent four days exploring the lakes, meeting local dignitaries, and staying at Muckross House.
Queen Victoria stayed in Muckross House in Killarney National Park, during her 1861 visit to Ireland. That visit helped spark a tourism boom in the area.
The Queen’s visit put Killarney firmly on the map as a destination for the wealthy, the cultured, and the curious. It gave the town celebrity caché—the first spark in what would become a tourism boom.
But caché alone isn’t enough. You need infrastructure. And that came in the form of the railway, which arrived in 1853, just a few years before the Queen.
Killarney was no longer a remote retreat. It was accessible. A place that had once taken days to reach by coach or carriage could now be reached in hours. Visitors poured in—first the aristocracy, then the middle class.
Of course, all of this was built on a foundation of inherent natural value. Without the lakes, the mountains, the lush green beauty of the national park, the royal visit would have been a footnote. But combine the raw materials of beauty with connectivity and celebrity endorsement, and you have the makings of something powerful.
I look for these patterns all over the world. And while Killarney’s boom happened 150 years ago, the mechanics haven’t changed. Today it’s a thriving tourism hotspot. And it began with a train line…
When my team and I scout, we’re not just looking at what a place is today. We’re looking at what it might become tomorrow…
That means spotting the connections and catalysts before they become obvious…
The Next Cabo?
Looking for the places of tomorrow is at the core of what we do at RETA, but this summer my team and I have been particularly busy…
I mentioned Cabo above, a place I spend a lot of time. I like it in the winter months, the weather suits me best then. I tend to spend summers in Ireland or northern Portugal…when I’m not scouting.
One of the biggest advantages to investing in international real estate has been the unintended benefits of multiple bases. In the case of Cabo I’m renting my condo for $3,000 a month right now. I bought it in a RETA-only deal in 2015 when the RETA price was $336,156. I’ve since seen similar condos in my building listing for $700,000.
I get to go there and enjoy my ideal climate, no air-con, no heating…and great dining, golf, ocean-views, beaches…you get the idea.
Another major benefit of spending time in Cabo, beyond the weather, are the adventures…the road trips around the Baja peninsula…
And the Baja is a place where there are serious opportunities…
My scout Ciaran Madden has just ended a deep-dive scouting trip to La Paz. Here’s a note he sent:
“As the clock pushed toward 6 p.m., I tossed my bag in the Airbnb and rushed down to the malecon. The previous evening, I’d been busy meeting with brokers and developers, and caught only the tail end of the striking sunset.
Today, I’d determined, would be different.
Taking up station on the north end of La Paz’s recently renovated three-mile-long seafront promenade, I grabbed an ice-cream from one of the local vendors and sat with my feet dangling over the sand. From there, I watched as the sun faded behind the El Mogote peninsula opposite the city and the sky exploded in a fireball of burnt orange.
I’ve never seen a sunset like it anywhere.
RETA photographer Noah Duethman snapped this photo at the weekend as the sun set in La Paz, the capital city of Baja California Sur in Mexico. The sunsets in Laz Paz out over the Sea of Cortez are famously striking.
I’d come two hours north from Los Cabos to dig deep on the opportunities in this city. Ronan has identified La Paz as a “next place.” And everywhere I looked, I found a destination on the cusp of breaking out.
La Paz almost had its moment in 2008. Then the global financial crisis hit. Flights from the U.S. stopped coming into the local airport. Development stalled.
But in recent years, La Paz has been roaring back. U.S. flights returned this year. Once abandoned projects are being renewed.
The recent influx of people to La Paz is being driven in part by the phenomenal growth of Cabo. As Cabo has boomed, growing numbers of people are seeking a quieter, more affordable alternative in Baja California. La Paz is well positioned to benefit.
The capital city of Baja California Sur (the state that’s home to Los Cabos), this is a stunningly beautiful place…
Cactus-studded hills roll down to glorious white-sand beaches and the turquoise waters of the Sea of Cortez. You can swim with sea lions at the Espíritu Santo Island National Park just offshore…snorkel and scuba among whale sharks and sea turtles…or fish for tuna, dorado, or marlin. There’s also surfing, kayaking, kite surfing…
The pace of gentrification I saw here is electrifying.
Homes in the downtown, once overlooked and abandoned, are being snapped up almost as soon as they appear on the market so they can be turned into chic new restaurants and cafés.
A rental manager said demand this year is so striking that for this first time, she hasn’t had to reduce her short-term rental rates in summer…what was traditionally off-season.
This chimes with the packed beaches and bustling malecon I saw during my time in La Paz.
Crowds lined the stunning beaches just north of La Paz this weekend. This is a place of outstanding natural beauty…and it’s fast being discovered.
Outside a restaurant on that evening I watched the sunset, I bumped into Dave, a U.S.-based British expat who’d come down for the weekend with some friends on the newly opened Alaska Airlines flight between La Paz and L.A.
“Can you believe this place?” he said to me, with that particular wide-eyed gaze someone has when they’ve made a brilliant discovery.
“I can’ t believe I never heard of it before.”
Word is getting out about La Paz.”
Ronan Says: It is indeed! But we’re still ahead…
My scout, Ciaran Madden, has just concluded an epic scouting trip that took in Panama and Mexico’s Baja peninsula. He sent these photos from San Jose del Cabo where he took in the Art Walk. He wrote in our internal WhatsApp scouting group: “Very cool experience. Lovely relaxed vibe in San Jose. Amazing restaurants. Lots of tourists about. But also a great sense of local community. Saw a graduation ceremony in the main square on Wednesday, with all the local kids and parents out in their Sunday best.” San Jose del Cabo is a place we’re watching closely…
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…
Erich S. asks: I am interested in international golf properties such as Santa Maria in Panama, Costa Rica etc and Europe, particularly Portugal. If one joins RETA, is it possible to just focus on those types of properties? Are there more communities that you can recommend looking at as a member? Thanks for any information.
Ronan says: Hi Erich. That’s a great question—and you’re not alone in thinking this way. Some RETA members are laser-focused on one particular type of opportunity, whether that’s beachfront condos, short-term rentals, or—as in your case—golf and resort lifestyle properties.
As a RETA member, you’ll see a broad spectrum of opportunities. Every deal won’t suit your personal investment needs. That’s OK. RETA is designed to bring you a range of deals so that you can choose the ones that suit your needs and preferences best. If golf communities are your priority, you can focus your efforts on them.
As regular readers will know, golf is a big part of my life. I recently wrote about its importance to me here.
And it’s a feature of a number of the RETA deals I participated in, from Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic to Corasol on Mexico’s Riviera Maya…
Golfers are spoiled for choice in Cap Cana, in the Dominican Republic, where championship golf courses unfold against a backdrop of Caribbean breezes and breathtaking ocean views. I bought here alongside RETA members.
Golf is also a feature of our Bosco deal in Panama City. It’s in the exclusive Santa Maria community, which is home to an incredible golf course, an illustrious country club, and a 5-star luxury hotel…and within Bosco di Santa Maria there will be a stunning array of 5-star amenities including a golf simulator.
As a RETA member, you’ll be the first to know when new golf-and-lifestyle-oriented deals come along. And with our group buying power, you’ll be able to get in on off-market prices and early-stage deals that simply aren’t available to the public.
You might be interested in the new live, weekly online masterclass I’ve launched for members of my RETA group. It’s called Your RETA Blueprint to a Boundless Life and Real Estate Riches.
So far, we’ve discussed how to profile yourself so you can determine the right kind of overseas real estate for you. Then we set about matching our profiles to the right destination by doing a deep dive on the some of the top places on our RETA beat.
Join RETA now to access the live masterclass and recordings of the previous sessions. (Don’t worry, I will send you an alert each week to let you know when we’re about to go live.)
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.
