My scout Ciaran Madden just spent 10 days with boots on the ground in Panama…
He toured the stunning manmade islands of Ocean Reef…explored Panama’s trendiest new district, Costa del Este…and stayed in the stunning master-planned community of Santa Maria, a lush, verdant oasis on the edge of Panama’s downtown core. (Check out his report on these destinations here.)
At the conclusion of his trip, he ventured out of the city…to a brand-new beach town emerging on the nicest closest stretch of coast to booming Panama City.
He sent this report…
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. I’m about to bring members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group a new, exclusive deal in Panama City. This deal puts us in one of the most exclusive communities in the entire region with what I expect will be gains of $293,000 five years after delivery. And if you rent I figure on a gross yield of 10.8%. Full details coming to RETA members in a deal briefing this Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m. ET. (Not a RETA member? Learn how you can join here.)
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Scouting Panama’s Fastest-Growing Beach Town
By Ciaran Madden
There’s something special about waking to the sound of waves crashing on sand.
To arise from your bed, draw back your curtains, and see the vast and endless expanse of the Pacific stretching out before you, filling your frame of vision.
It produces a sense of peace and serenity that’s difficult to describe…
Scientists call this effect the “blue mind”—the lower cortisol, slower heart rate, sharper focus, and better sleep that come with living on the ocean.
In my scouting and personal travels, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this in stunning destinations across countries and continents. But nowhere did I feel its effect more profoundly than during the three days I spent recently at Playa Caracol.
Playa Caracol is a stunning beach community emerging on the closest nicest beach to Panama City.
At the close of my 10-day trip to Panama, I ventured 80 minutes west of the country’s booming capital to scout the rapidly emerging beach community of Playa Caracol.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I reached it.
Northern Hemisphere summer months are typically off-season in Panama. The Panamanian summer runs from December to April. It’s during this period when kids get their school summer holidays and when families take their main vacations.
And yet when I arrived at Playa Caracol last weekend, I found a community vibrant and bustling.
Its many swimming pools were packed…the restaurants loud with the sounds of laughing families and karaoke singers (of varying degrees of ability).
Out on the beach, it was the same energy. Scores of surfers skirting along the waves. Kids celebrating goals on the beach soccer pitch. Teenagers diving into the warm waters. Elderly couples strolling on the sand, stopping curiously over the protective nets set up to safeguard turtles nesting in the sand.
It was a place of life, energy and motion. Which made it all the more remarkable to consider that virtually none of it existed a decade or so ago.
Caracol is a surfer’s paradise with all sorts of breaks for all levels.
Playa Caracol is the vision of Panama’s top developer, Alfredo Aleman…the same man behind the incredible man-made islands of Ocean Reef in the Bay of Panama, and the stunning verdant oasis of Santa Maria on the edge of Panama City’s trendy new business and commercial district, Costa del Este.
In Playa Caracol, he dreamed of creating a new beach town to rival the world’s best, with everything frontline to the sand.
That vision is now being realized. Playa Caracol feels like a place on the cusp of something incredible.
In a mere decade, hundreds of condos and homes have been delivered here. Hundreds more are on the way. The Radisson hotel is already welcoming guests…Panama’s first Margaritaville hotel and residences is under construction, due to open in 2027.
In Playa Caracol, I got chatting to a U.S.-born broker who’s moving to Panama to manage the Margaritaville development. He says more than 80% of the Margaritaville has been sold, with only 18 units remaining.
Such has been its success that talk among the developer’s agents in Playa Caracol was of Margaritaville launching a second community here, a mirror image of the first.
There are also plans for an oceanfront amphitheater, sports academy, wedding pavilion, boardwalk and a village square with a commercial center and supermarkets. I even heard whispers of a potential 9-hole golf course.
The scale of what’s happening here is breathtaking.
As I took it all in, rarely has the power and potential of our scouting and our Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group been more clear to me.
The Radisson hotel in Playa Caracol. Major international brands like Radisson and Margaritaville are moving in here.
Because of Ronan’s scouting, RETA members have been getting in here since virtually the beginning of Playa Caracol…and seeing the incredible benefits.
I stayed in Surfside Residences. My view was out across the Radisson’s swimming pool and swim-up bar, past the pristine beach cabanas, and across Caracol’s glistening sands to the Pacific Ocean.
Frontline to the beach. Steps from the sea. Sixty seconds from living room to the waves. Magical.
RETA members got an exclusive deal in Surfside Residences in March 2020. The RETA-only pricing was from $214,300 for a two-bed condo. Today, two-bed condos are listing for $330,000. That’s $115,700 more.
Some more examples of RETA deals in Playa Caracol…
- In January 2023 RETA members were able to buy ocean-view condos in Las Olas at Caracol starting from $254,600. Now similar condos are listed with the developer for $355,580—that’s an uplift of $100,980.
- Last October, RETA members could own homes in Seashore at Caracol from an exclusive price of $519,800. By January the developer was listing similar homes for $605,000—a boost of $85,200 already.
Now that the branded residences have come to Caracol, the RETA pricing on past deals looks all the more incredible.
Of the 18 units left in the Margaritaville, I heard the sole remaining one-bed unit of around 800 square feet is listing for more than $350,000. Two-beds of around 900 square feet start from around $330,000 and rise sharply from there in the mid-$400,000s or more, depending on their views.
It highlights the power of RETA’s scouting…of being ahead…and of knowing through due diligence and insider connections when someone has not simply a vision of something incredible, but the acumen, resources and organization to achieve it.
Ciaran’s view from Surfside Residences…frontline to the beach, steps from the sand. RETA members could own here from $214,300 for a two-bed condo. Today, two-bed condos are listing for $330,000. That’s $115,700 more.
After three nights at Playa Caracol…toes in the sand…the sea air filling my lungs…I made my way back to Panama City.
Back to the airport…more scouting ahead.
Normally, in cases like this, my thoughts immediately turn to the next destination. But I’ll admit to a melancholy at leaving Panama.
I can’t wait to come back…to see what Playa Caracol and Panama City look like in another year or two or five. The transformation happening here is exhilarating to behold.
On the way to the airport, I passed the vast, lush master-planned community of Santa Maria…
The place where my trip began…
And where Ronan’s unlocked an incredible new RETA-only deal by the same developer behind Playa Caracol and the manmade islands of Ocean Reef.
Santa Maria…an oasis of verdant luxury on the edge of downtown Panama City. RETA members have previously had exclusive, off-market deals here too. For instance, in October 2020, they could own two-bed, two-and-a-half bath condos in Ocean House in Santa Maria from $238,200. A similar condo recently listed for $375,000. That’s $136,800 more.
Of all the communities I’ve seen in Panama, Santa Maria is where I’d choose to be.
The lush surroundings…the world-class amenities…the immediate access to the airport and downtown Panama (both less than 15 minutes by car)…Playa Caracol 90 minutes away on weekends…
It offers a lifestyle that’s hard to beat anywhere.
I plan to have a conversation with my wife. She needs to see Panama. This could be home.
Next up Los Cabos. More scouting reports to come…
RONAN SAYS: Playa Caracol…Ocean Reef islands…Alfredo Aleman is a man who builds incredible communities. His next is in Santa Maria and RETA members are getting in first…at a RETA-only, off-market price.
With this deal, members are getting a chance to lock in luxury condos in a new and exclusive part of the Santa Maria community where I expect gains of $293,000 five years after delivery. And if you rent I figure on a gross yield of 10.8%.
Full details coming to RETA members in their deal briefing this Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m. ET. (Not a RETA member? Learn how you can join here.)
In the meantime, check out this video the developer’s team put out recently explaining Santa Maria…
The developer’s guide to Santa Maria gives you a taste of the lifestyle and location. The developer is Alfredo Aleman and his GLP group and they specialize in the most premium and innovative communities in Panama.
