I’m sitting at a café by the sea in Italy, looking at the upcoming scouting itinerary for me and my team.
I approved all of it. So none of it is a surprise to me. But even then, the breath and scope of our upcoming scouting is astonishing…
Uruguay, Guadalajara, central Italy, Panama City, Oaxaca, the Greek islands, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel and Mahahual on Mexico’s Caribbean coast…
We’ll be putting boots on the ground in all these destinations and more. In just the next two months! All so we can find the “next places” and the best opportunities to share here and with members of my Real Estate Trend Alert group.
Looking at it all written down, it’s impossible not to reflect on how much RETA has grown over the past 16-plus years.
This also feels like the perfect moment to share with you everything we have planned in addition to this scouting.
You see, RETA and Your Overseas Dream Home are evolving…
I’m currently scouting the historic port city of Salerno, the gateway to the Amalfi Coast. This is just the start. My scouts and I have big plans over the next two months. We’ll be scouting Uruguay, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, central Italy, Panama City, Tulum…
As I write, I’m in the port city of Salerno, the gateway to Italy’s famed Amalfi Coast. I came to the Amalfi Coast to do some scouting and for a little R&R…
This coast is beautiful, culturally rich, and has amazing food and weather. And I found an interesting opportunity in Amalfi (you can read about that here). But my major takeaway is it’s critically over-touristed. In Salerno, as in every town I’ve stopped in here, there are big crowds…jostling lines…even during what is supposed to be shoulder season.
The infrastructure and bureaucracy are wholly inadequate to cope with the masses of tourists. Real estate prices are high, reflecting the massive demand.
It exemplifies to me why the RETA approach is so powerful…
At RETA, we get ahead of the crowds and the demand…and we buy with the insiders.
I first conceived of a club like Real Estate Trend Alert over two decades ago.
I won’t lie, I had a chip on my shoulder. I had been to condo “launch parties” in the Irish capital Dublin in the early 2000s only to discover that the best units were already sold long before I got there. They had been scooped up by insiders before anyone else had even heard about them.
By insiders, I mean the friends and family…the lawyers and advisors…the bankers and brokers… It felt like a cartel of the privileged. And I was an outsider to my expense.
This made me mad. I didn’t want to be on the outside. I wanted to be on the inside getting the best deals! I pondered ways to do this while at the same time broadening my horizons, traveling and investing in international real estate.
Things finally came together and I launched RETA in 2008 while I was on the beaches of Northeast Brazil.
It was at condo “launch parties” in Dublin, Ireland, that I first learned about “off-market” deals. Now I get access to them all time…as do my RETA club of insiders.
In 2008, while the rest of the world was reeling from the global financial crisis, I was finding huge opportunity in Brazil.
Northeast Brazil was undergoing a massive transformation back then. It had emerged as a logistics, tourism, and manufacturing center with a strong agricultural base. And its real estate market had decades of pent-up demand.
It amounted to a clear-cut opportunity.
In the U.S. and Europe, the markets were crashing…banks were collapsing…pensions were disappearing…
But in Northeast Brazil, the market was booming. A friend there got me access to a beach party for insiders. There, insiders were getting an “off-market” deal…the kind I’d previously seen in Ireland. I bought two condos with a 1% down-payment at launch—the equivalent of just $736.
A couple of weeks later, I got a call to ask if I would be willing to sell on a condo for about $20,000 more than I paid. My answer was no. I passed on realizing a 2,000% return on my money invested in a couple of weeks because I knew more profit would come. And I was right.
I sold my first condo for a gross profit of $43,500. And I later sold again, while construction was still in progress on my second condo, for an even bigger gain.
This experience cemented three lessons for me…
- When you look everywhere, there’s always opportunity somewhere.
- Great investments mean being ahead. And that means firsthand scouting…putting boots on the ground.
- The best deals are off-market, with “insider access.”
Based on everything I’d learned, I started Real Estate Trend Alert. I knew that by clubbing together with like-minded people, we could pool our buying power into an unrivaled block, while still owning and controlling our own real estate.
What we’ve achieved together has exceeded all my expectations…
I founded my Real Estate Trend Alert in 2008 on the beaches of northeast Brazil. Since then, RETA has grown stronger and stronger…
Today, I don’t wait for invites to private parties. Real estate developers in the world’s most desirable destinations court me and my group.
We’re the ones who get in ahead, getting the best choices at the best prices.
We’ve had off-market deals in beautiful places all over the world. Places like Los Cabos, the Costa del Sol in Spain, Portugal’s Algarve region, the Riviera Maya on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, the “Gold Coast” of Costa Rica…
In all these destinations, RETA members are sitting on serious gains…own stunning real estate…are renting for phenomenal income…
A few examples…
- Uplift of $388,844 in Los Cabos—The first RETA deal in Cabo was in 2015 in the 5-star Quivira resort. The RETA-only price on a two-bed, two-bath ocean-view condo in the best-in-class Copala community was $336,156. I bought alongside RETA members in this deal as well. An identical condo to mine two floors above listed in 2022 for $725,000. That’s $388,844 more.
- $309,018 More in Playa del Carmen—In 2021, RETA members had the chance to buy two-bed condos from $265,304 in a community called Singular Dream in the beach city of Playa del Carmen, along Mexico’s Caribbean coast. In early 2024, a two-bed condo in Singular Dream was listing for $574,322. That’s $309,018 more.
- A Gain of €223,000 in Spain: RETA members had an opportunity to own in a community called Casares Costa in Spain’s Costa del Sol in 2020. A condo a RETA member bought here for €327,000 was sold in late 2023 for €550,000—an incredible gain of €223,000.
- $602,885 More in Cabo—In 2017, a RETA member bought a luxury villa in Copala, in the Quivira master-planned community, for $385,115. Earlier this year, I saw the same Copala villa listed for $988,000—that’s an enormous uplift of $602,885.
Developers give us this “off-market” discount pricing because it’s a simple win-win for each side…
Often for developers, it can take considerable time to sell out a best-in-class community. But the group-buying power of my RETA club means we can buy up a large proportion of a community in a single day.
So, the developer gets quick and discreet sales from our group, allowing them to go to the local market with sales under his belt and the confidence to charge higher retail prices (i.e. the price everyone else pays).
And RETA members get an off-market price no one else can even dream of.
The amenity area on the rooftop of the Singular Dream community in Playa del Carmen offers spectacular views of the Caribbean. RETA members have seen huge uplifts from our deal here. (Click here to learn how you can get Lifetime access to all the RETA deals.)
RETA is now more than 16 years old. We’ve been around longer than Uber, Instagram, and Airbnb. And we’re stronger than ever.
- My team has grown. I started with just one team member, Margaret, and today I have handpicked scouts, editors, due diligence experts, accountants, engineers…
- My rolodex—the RETA rolodex—is thick with trusted contacts and we’re deeply connected in dozens of the most exciting real estate markets on the planet.
- We’re privileged to have an incredible membership of folks that give us the collective buying power to get our RETA-only deals.
We’re a tribe of explorers, dreamers, and doers.
And what’s become obvious to me…
RETA isn’t just a membership, nor is it just about great deals; it’s a gateway to a world of endless opportunities and the courage to live an international life full of meaning.
I guess what I’m trying to say…
I am so deeply grateful to be a part of RETA.
This club actively promotes and helps members seize global opportunities in real estate…it’s helped me. Without the space and time and travel opportunities RETA has afforded me I would have never been able to craft the multi-base life I enjoy today, where I divide my time between places like Los Cabos, Ireland, and Portugal’s Silver Coast…
This took trial and error and access to the world’s top advisors in fields of tax and residency.
Now, I’m focusing on sharing everything I’ve learned along the way with you. All my accumulated wisdom on how to build and live this international lifestyle.
RETA is evolving…
It’s not just a deal-focused investor’s group.
It’s a springboard into a life of adventure, a support network for finding overseas opportunities, and a group of people who know that life is richer when lived internationally…and who love real estate…who love travel.
A true club.
And with this new evolution, we have hugely exciting plans in the works…
- A big expansion of the RETA Rolodex to include experts in areas like accountancy, residency, visas, taxes, and more so you have all the insights you need to life a truly international lifestyle.
- A new way to access financing and mortgages when investing overseas.
- Expanded analysis and on-the-ground insights from destinations across our global beat spanning things like travel and adventure experiences, the best hotels and Airbnbs, nice restaurants, healthcare options…in other words, the accumulated wisdom of our club at your fingertips.
All this and more is the pipeline…
And as RETA grows, you’ll naturally see more of this in Your Overseas Dream Home too.
You know our scouting plans. From Uruguay to Mahahual, from central Italy to Panama City, you’ll be hearing about all those destinations and more over the next several months.
But we won’t just be showing you new destinations and sharing reports on the best deals…we’ll also be giving you all the information you need to live an incredible, rich international life, encompassing areas like visas, residency, taxes and so much more.
This is the next iteration of Your Overseas Dream Home and RETA.
And it’s coming soon…
To be on the inside of the club as it evolves, learn how you can join RETA here with the best value membership I’ve ever offered.
Link to RETA Lifetime promo
Ronan McMahon, Founder, Overseas Dream Home & Real Estate Trend Alert
P.S. The best way to see this new iteration of RETA in action is to come to the The Gathering XI.
The Gathering is our annual in-person RETA meetup where I bring my whole team, and all my real estate contacts, insiders and experts from across the world to meet our members. It’s not a conference, it’s an intimate and private get-together. It’s also relaxed and fun. We eat. We drink. We run the rule over off-market deals. We explore the latest real estate opportunities together.
The next edition, The Gathering XI, is in Playa del Carmen from February 20 – 22, 2025.
I’m sending invites to RETA Lifetime members today. (Fair warning: There are only 250 places for RETA Lifetime members. For the past few years places at The Gathering have been snapped up mere hours after the invitation is sent. If you missed your chance to join RETA lifetime and get your invitation last week, I wanted to give you a final opportunity here. Get your invitation by becoming a Lifetime member here.)
By becoming a Lifetime member, you’ll also ensure you get permanent access to all the exciting things we have planned as our club evolves…
