Real Estate: Helps You Live the Life You Want

I’m often asked the question…Why invest in real estate overseas?

Here are the 3 main reasons I give:

1. The potential profits. When you look overseas you open yourself to bigger opportunities…and much bigger potential gains.
2. Protect your wealth. When you invest in real estate you diversify your assets. When you invest in overseas real estate you go a step further and reduce your exposure to your home market. If things hit a speed bump in the U.S. both real estate and the stock market will fall.
3. You can travel. There’s nothing sweeter than traveling the world for fun and profit. I’ve been doing it for decades and I’ll never tire of exploring and scouting. These days I spend six months or so of each year traveling and the rest of the time I stay in what I call “my bases.””

I generally spend time in Ireland in the summer when the days are long and balmy. I enjoy average temperatures of 80 F during the winter in Cabo, Mexico. In between I’m often on the Riviera Maya or in Portugal (which is where I’m writing to you from today). I love golf, the beach, nice food…and perfect weather.

Investing in overseas real estate means I can have the life I want and live in and own homes that make money. For instance, I bought my home in Cabo as part of a Real Estate Trend Alert members-only launch. Our price: $336,516. The most recent price list shows that same condo type in the most recent building lists for $630,088.

Investing overseas not only allows me to travel for fun and adventure, it also allows me to make a lot of money and be financially free. (A large part of that involves getting in on the deals that I bring to my RETA members…it’s a massive, and profitable, part of membership. Learn about more of the benefits here.)

But it’s not just all bouncing around the world. There’s a logistical element to living an international life…and one of the biggest ones is visas and residence.

I’m lucky enough to have 2 passports…one by birth, one through my parent’s country of birth and I’ve taken residency in three additional countries. But it took years to get to this point. It’s taken luck, a lot of form filling, and hundreds of hours of just figuring it all out.

As a real estate investor, I look for the visa and residency options that can be gotten through buying real estate. Yesterday, I shared with you some of the best programs in Europe that will give you residency with real estate that also stacks up as a great investment.

If you missed it, you can read the full article here.

We’ve Got Boots on the Ground in Italy

Staying in Europe…as you read this, “Mission Italy” is underway. Yesterday, two of my team boarded planes bound for the Italian capital of Rome. Weeks of research is now being put into action as they hit up Florence, Venice, Pisa…and the historic hill towns and villages in between in search of the best real estate opportunities Italy has to offer.

One of their tasks is to find overlooked properties in blue-chip cities (Rome, Florence, Venice) that can throw off double-digit rental yields when tourism bounces back…and also act a personal base for the owner.

I’ve laid out this opportunity in more detail in a report, Own a Profit-Making Home in Historic Italy…and you’ll find a free copy of it here.

I recently asked some readers for their own thoughts on Italy…what to look for…as well as recommendations for where my scouts should visit.

Here’s a selection of what I got:

Edie says: Yes, Italy is glorious. The food, the wine, the people… There are always great bargains there…throughout that beautiful country. How about sending some scouts to the Amalfi Coast? Of course Positano, Capri are still flourishing and with limited capacity there really are no “bargains” to be had. That said, there are other towns nearby…Praiano, Massa, Lubrense, etc. Now THAT would be a great find.

Lynne says: Hi Ronan, I lived in Italy for several years and would like to suggest Liguria, specifically the San Remo area as worth investigating. San Remo is well served with music festivals, beautiful clean beaches, their own symphony orchestra and excellent transport options with fast trains to Milan, Rome, and Venice. It’s close to the French border with fast trains to Nice and connections to its airport. Nearby are some lovely medieval walled villages such as Taggia and its seaside sister Arma di Taggia, and some mountain villages in the Valle Argentina where you should find some bargain buys. Triora is known as the witch’s village just 30mins from the sea. Check out also Apricale and Dolceacqua.
Happy hunting!

Marie says: Hey Ronan. My husband and I are planning to live there when our second finishes college in three years. In the meantime, we want to spend two to three months a year there while she’s in school.

I speak Italian and have citizenship. We’ve traveled in Italy extensively and have a good idea of where we want to be (Le Marche) but I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with. We are still open to hearing about new places etc.

Bargain Homes on Caribbean Islands

As I mentioned above, I’ve organized my life so that I never have to endure freezing weather. I spend the winter in my condo on Mexico’s Pacific Coast where the weather is perfect for me—I don’t need heating or air-conditioning while I’m here; golf is close by and accessible, with affordable public courses and I’m right by the sea.

In fact, I’ll be heading back there soon as the temperatures here in Europe start to fall.

Finding somewhere warm and sunny to escape harsh winters isn’t a new phenomenon. During the Victorian Age, affluent Europeans would escape the cold winters of their northern homes by traveling to a milder Mediterranean climate in Italy or the South of France.

North Americans have done the same, first by moving to warmer parts of the U.S. (Henry Ford and Thomas Edison both maintained winter homes in Fort Myers, Florida) and, more recently, by heading further south to warm-weather locales like Costa Rica or Panama.

The Caribbean is also a highly popular, and coveted, spot to spend the winter. But many people assume that they can only afford to vacation there…that properties prices on the Caribbean islands are only for the likes of the Richard Bransons of this world and bargain Caribbean island homes don’t exist.

Not true. You just need to know where to look.

The Caribbean is a vast sea…with many attractive islands that offer the same dream-inducing qualities of the more famous (and expensive) locations…and my team have uncovered three properties on islands in the Caribbean that won’t break the bank.

Check them out here.

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