Later today, The Gathering begins here in Panama City.
This is the annual meetup for Lifetime members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group. It’s also a highlight of my year—and with good reason.
This small, exclusive event brings together RETA Lifetime members, my entire scouting team, and key contacts from my network for three days of great fun and conversation…
We also run the rule over the best intelligence and deals from across my global beat.
In the coming days, I’ll be sharing insights from the ground.
Today, I wanted to introduce you to one of my contacts who’s speaking this year.
Jean Marc de Villiers is a RETA member, real estate investor, and longtime resident of Venezuela. Just a few weeks ago, he traveled to the Venezuelan island of Margarita—once one of the Caribbean’s biggest tourism destinations, drawing millions of visitors a year—to investigate the opportunities there today.
If Venezuela emerges from its long crisis, this spectacular island could stage one of the biggest tourism and real estate comebacks anywhere in the world.
Jean Marc will be bringing his best discoveries and intelligence from Isla Margarita to The Gathering. Before he hopped on a plane, I sat down with him to hear what he found on the ground. Click below to watch our conversation, which I shared with RETA members earlier this week…
In this video, Jean Marc de Villiers and I discuss what he discovered while touring Isla Margarita—and why this forgotten Caribbean destination could become one of the world’s most dramatic tourism and real estate comeback stories.
I’ve been tracking events and building contacts in Venezuela for more than a decade now for one simple reason: a system shift in this country would unlock immense opportunity.
For years, that seemed unlikely.
But the recent U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro has triggered sudden and dramatic change. U.S. flights are returning. Diplomatic ties are being restored. There’s growing talk of renewed energy investment and cooperation.
The long-term outcome is still unclear.
But there’s a chance this could prove to be a turning point for Venezuela—something akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall for Eastern Europe.
Which means now is the moment to pay attention.
In our conversation, Jean Marc and I discussed all this. Then we dug into the specific opportunities on Isla Margarita, including…
- Three areas on the island investors should watch closely, including a world-class kite-surfing destination just minutes from the airport.
- Why one beach area feels like “Tulum before the boom”—with chic new beach clubs.
- Why unfinished condo and hotel projects could represent the biggest opportunity if tourism returns.
- The brand-new “Crypto City” development on the island—a 40-hectare project with plans for homes, a marina, golf course, and more.
- What real estate actually costs today—including plots of land near the beach from as little as $15,000 to $40,000.
It’s all in our conversation here.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. Jean Marc will unveil deals he’s discovered on Isla Margarita live at The Gathering XII, which starts later today. And he’ll be on hand to chat to anyone attending who wishes to dig deeper into these opportunities. That kind of access to insiders in my Rolodex is a key benefit of coming to The Gathering in person. I’ll have more from Panama in the coming days. Stay tuned.
