Publishers-Roundtable Archives

The evening of the first day of our recent "Path of Progress" private members retreat, developer Greg Schnurr invited us to his Los Arboles Tulum project. To remind you, Los Arboles Tulum is a development of 221 five-acre residential lots, and 10 commercial lots, set in 1,200 acres of pristine jungle. Your back yard is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Members of our little group bought these five-acre lots last year with a small down payment and interest-free monthly payments.

A few weeks ago I was joined by a group of our fellow members for our inaugural “Path of Progress” private members-only retreat in the Tulum area of Mexico’s Riviera Maya. I chose Tulum as the venue for this gathering because it’s the focal point for one of the major Path of Progress stories on my beat. Driving from Cancun airport the new system of flyovers at Playa del Carmen looks 98% complete. I hear it will open in the coming months. Playa will no longer be a bottle neck in times of heavy traffic.

Thirty minutes west of Fortaleza’s glimmering boardwalk is the pretty beach town of Cumbuco. In fact, you can see Fortaleza’s skyline from the beach at Cumbuco. Each time I visit Cumbuco, I am greeted by new parks, squares, trendy beachfront bars, kite surfing shops and posadas. But Cumbuco is still a charming little town with a laid-back feel. I expect it will keep this feel even as development comes.

As a reader of these dispatches you will know that I spend as much as two weeks a month on the road scouting the globe’s best Real Estate opportunities....and then negotiating special member-only pricing and terms. I introduce you to special places, member-only opportunities and trusted contacts in these alerts. This June 9-11 in downtown Toronto I’m going to make those introductions in person. I’ve invited the crème de la crème into one room. You are invited to join us.

Costa Rica's Southern Zone is a text book Path of Progress play. This is a beautiful place where price stayed low because it was difficult to get to. Now it's easily accessible by road. And President Laura Chinchilla was in the area last November, lending her support to the new airport. The week before last a small group of our fellow Members assembled on a stunning ocean-view lot here surrounded by jungle-clad hills. Price lists fluttered in the breeze. There were two. One was the price list for all the inventory at the project. The other was a list of special pricing for our little group on more than 20 handpicked lots.

If there's a better lake buy in Central America than Lake Arenal, I haven't seen it. The final part of the Costa Rica leg of my recent scouting trip brought me to Lake Arenal en route to crossing the border into Nicaragua near Liberia. This was my first visit to Lake Arenal. I left scratching my head as to how this place stayed under the radar. It's beautiful and there are some amazing real estate values.

Our next scouting trip to Fortaleza takes place this March 23-25. If you are going you’ll be impressed with the opportunity and this stunning stretch of coast. This city is buzzing with enterprise, activity and excitement. If you missed out on signing up in time for this trip, don’t worry. I have added another trip. The dates are May 5th-7th. Same drill.

As a reader of these dispatches, you know that my beat includes research and trips to find the next Cancun, Northern Costa Rica or Bay Islands of Honduras. These are places where prices went through the roof as new airports, roads and major resort developments rolled though. We call this profiting from the Path of Progress. A batch of new members recently joined our little group. I sent them a special report to bring them up to speed on the Path of Progress opportunities that are on my radar right now. In this report (Four Places to Grab Early-in Deals in 2011) I show you what to look for when following the Path of Progress, four places where you could profit...and how best to take advantage of the opportunity. In this report you'll find my best Path of Progress recommendations in one place.

Iracema Beach is immediately to the west of Fortaleza's bustling boardwalk—the tourism, social, entertainment, and high-end real estate center of Fortaleza. Real estate prices have doubled here in the past three years. Ocean view condos sell for up to $4,500 per square meter. (That's approximately $450,000 for a 1,000-square-foot condo.) Rentals stay full and charge top dollar. This is where Brazilian millionaires and billionaires own condos; some as big as 5,000 square feet. Today the boardwalk is fully built out. Don't worry. There's a way we can get in on Fortaleza's boardwalk at the ground floor.