The International Investor: Why the Future of Real Estate Is Abroad! with Ronan McMahon

The world is changing and what people.

Are willing to put up with has changed and what people value has changed as well. And also then Joe, there's just all.

These push factors like how friggin expensive, prohibitively expensive for many people, just life.

In the US has got or just.

How damn just bad value. And when you can just see where you know as a mobile person, what.

You can get for X in other places, you know, it very quickly becomes a no brainer.

Do you ever feel stuck in one place? Like life is stuck. Maybe you're stuck in your business, your work, your job, whatever it might be. Could be even a mindset thing. So do you feel stuck in one place? What if I told you that investing internationally into real estate internationally can actually help fund your next adventure so life.

Doesn'T feel stuck anymore.

You can now feel life as adventure and have it fuel actually, you know, actually fund your adventures. That's what international real estate can do. This is exactly what I've been learning and also why I invited the founder of Real Estate Trend Alert. His name is Ronan McMahon and, and why this guy, he's living the life and he literally is boots on the ground showing you here on this episode, but also a whole bunch of people how these international real estate properties, these investments can turn into unforgettable experiences for yourself, but they actually help fund this and more. He breaks it all down in this.

Episode you're gonna enjoy.

Let's go.

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Now onto the episode Ronin.

We're already, we're already going here.

We're doing this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, it's awesome to have you here. Finally pin you down in one spot, right? You're the globe trotter of all Globetrotters, it seems like.

Yeah. Thanks Joe. Fabulous to, to to be here and I think, you know, probably since we've been trying to get a window for, for this chat, I've been in parts of Mexico, where I have a base, Portugal. And now I'm in Ireland.

So I kind of, I organize my year around four different bases that suit my lifestyle and suit my, my investments.

I like that. So that's already, that's a concept I want to, I want to, I'm curious of more like this whole mindset of having bases around your lifestyle, times of the year, investments. I know a handful of others doing.

It and relationship with one's tax man.

Also because it can be very favorable.

So for example, for me, the Portugal.

Component was integral to my tax planning. So by moving my tax residence to Portugal, I was able to pay taxes depending the type of income, you know, at rates between 0 and 20%. Now it's not nearly as easy for an American to do that because of Americans global obligations. But certainly the tax component can be very meaningful as well.

That's interesting. And yeah, and that's where I'm sure the tax game gets complicated. Everybody do your own research with, wherever you live and, and you know what your goals are. I'm assuming you would know a lot more about that, but dive more into.

The like, I guess these bases.

Cause you have, so you have the tax base and we'll just lightly touch here just to prime the conversation. What are some of these other components of your lifestyle and like how do you navigate the world throughout the year? How do you plan this out? Yeah.

So Joe, spring, like weather is just, you know, I just feel so much.

Better when you've got that warm sunshine, low humidity, you know, that type of San Diego weather that you know, you guys have for most of the year.

You know, my energy, my ability to.

Think clearly, my ability to function is just so much better.

So you know, my winter base is.

Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Spring and fall, I'm in Portugal, on Portugal's Atlantic coast where again, kind of mid-70s sunshine, fresh breezes, wild ocean. And then summer time of year I'm in Ireland, which is home. And then that's really important for, you know, staying connected to friends and family. And I like to golf a lot.

So, you know, so I'm, I'm really.

You know, I'm really being in the place that's the best place for me in any given month.

So, you know, Ireland in winter is my idea of hell.

But you know, this time of year.

High summer, it's absolutely fabulous.

You know, Cabo in January and February is just incredible.

I just love it. I wouldn't want to be there in September and October when it's hot and humid.

And, and then, you know, being based in part of the year, for example, in, in Mexico with easy travel, you know, within the region, within the resort.

Cities of Mexico, easy travel to Costa Rica, to Panama.

That's a time of, of, of business intensity and energy.

That's real. Go, go, go, go, go. And then at other times of the year, I like to be able to kind of step back and have more time to.

So it's actually a formula that's been.

Pretty much 20 years in the making for me. Because when I started out on this journey of being an international real estate investor, which necessitates a lot of travel, the first base I chose was actually in the Caribbean because I loved to go on vacation in the Caribbean.

But I found very quickly I do.

Not function well in that level of humidity in a normal work routine.

So it's been a juggling act and it's been quite the puzzle to put together.

But finally I feel with this combination, I'm in the right place for me.

What led you to this point? Because like you said, 20 years in the making, and I'm sure many people are listening, watching, thinking, like, wow, okay, you have this dialed in and I don't even know where to start and I want to touch on that later on. But how did you get to this point maybe 20 years ago, you know, to like, was it always like this? Did you have this pre. Planned?

No, no, absolutely not. So like straight out of college, I got into kind of into the corporate world and. Corporate world for day job. And then I was just started buying rentals here in Cork in my hometown of. And a couple of things happened at the same time.

First of all, like, I just became.

So disillusioned with the corporate world.

Working in Dublin in a, you know, for. On a global scale.

It isn't a big city, but still a pretty big city with all the.

Costs and the headaches and the traffic and the parking, all that stuff. You know, life was feeling like a traffic jam, not a daily kind of adventure. Meantime, my property investments were doing incredibly well. By pure chance, Joe, because I was.

In the right place at the right time. I was in Ireland in the early.

Days of the Celtic Tiger, and values were just rising and rising and rising.

And I started getting these unsolicited offers from brokers for prices for homes that.

Were just more than I figured that they were worth. And so this kind of created, this.

Bit of an existential moment is a number of things.

First of all, I don't see a.

Long career for myself in the corporate world. I'm making all this money on paper.

On these kind of real estate deals, which I guess was my side hustle.

But what do you do with that?

Because I started getting very concerned that the market was going to get into difficult territory. So I started looking around for opportunity.

And I came across a company called International Living.

And I sat down with them and.

I met them and I said, you know, I'm in this situation where I.

Want to explore international real estate opportunities. And they said, well, we're looking for.

Someone to get on the road and start exploring these.

These. These international real estate opportunities.

So, you know, within a few weeks.

Of that conversation, I was on a plane to. To Panama and to. To Nicaragua.

And, you know, since that was the start of it and since then, you know, I found initially I was, you.

Know, traveling back and forth across the Atlantic and around the world, and that started to become a drag. So that was when I introduced the idea of bases. So I don't travel transatlantic except for migrating between bases.

And then I do all my travel.

That I need to do on this side of the world in the block of time when I'm.

When I'm here, travel in the Americas.

Than is done from. From the other side of the world.

That's smart with the bases. It's almost like time blocking. I'm equating it to that and the way we work and switching costs. You know, you're not bouncing all around the globe. You're methodically going to a region at a time.

It's exactly like that. I mean, there was a time when I was probably in Brazil. There was a. There were a couple of years that.

I was probably in Brazil.

Fixed time going every two months. You know, that is a big drag.

You know, it's.

It's very, very difficult to keep everything.

You need to keep going to being a, you know, a functioning human being. If you're, you know, you're.

You're missing weekends, you're.

You're missing life.

And this way, you know, allows. Kind of allows focus, you know, it. It allows me to. To really get the most out of that place that I'm in and enjoy it. And then as soon as, you know.

In the case of Ireland, as soon as that weather starts getting dreary, I'm.

On a plane and I'm.

You're out. I'm out of here.

But then the.

The.

The other thing too, you know, is.

I've also started to really kind of savor slow travel. So, for example, when I come from Portugal, To Ireland.

Take a ferry.

There's a fabulous ferry that runs from.

The north of Spain to Ireland. It's a 29 hour ferry.

You know, that might sound awful, but it's just wonderful. It's like a day spa. The food is amazing. You know, you drive onto the ferry.

You don't have to get out of your car. There's no TSA equivalent, there's no pat downs.

It's all unbelievably civilized. Get out of your car, walk into.

A lounge and great food, sit there for the day, reading, working, doing whatever you do, great night's sleep, and drive.

Out in Ireland in my own car.

So these things, I think travel has become so much more open, but it's.

Also become quite difficult between how busy some of the world's top tourist destinations have become, how busy difficult air travel.

Can be, but there are, there are ways around it.

A big thing I like to do as well is to, to be in places off peak times, you know, like for example. Yeah. I mean, I don't like to be.

In Portugal where my home is on, on the beaches north of Lisbon this time of year, because it's just too busy. You know, it's full of, full of tourists. So I like to be back there in September when they're all gone, but the weather is still perfect.

Yeah, that's where. My wife and I have done that really well throughout our relationship. Now that we have kids, it slowed down a little bit, but always off peak, you know, being entrepreneurs, well, we don't need to go in the height of summer or these holiday periods where everyone else is out of school or off of work. We have that freedom to pick and choose.

And I think, yeah, and looking and.

Looking for the hack.

And then, you know, the other component.

Of that too is, you know, I rent my place on the beach in Portugal in July and August and, you know, it rents phenomenally well. When I had a mortgage on the property just by renting in those two months, covered the mortgage for the entire year, my golf club dues on the two courses there, my insurance is, my.

Hoa, literally everything, you know, plus great.

Property manager who takes care of everything. I leave hand the keys, I come back and take the keys out of the lockbox and everything is as I left it, except all the costs for the entire year are covered.

And is that a pretty common scenario, what you just described, that others can take advantage of? Maybe not all in Portugal, but wherever else they might find as a great getaway?

So it's a scenario that if you buy rice and buy in the right place that, that's achievable.

Certain places, Joe, have extremely hot peak season rental markets, you know, in particular.

Parts of Europe that are very heavily dependent on school holidays for the, for the vacation rental market. And there are quite a few places where just by renting in those summer.

Months, you can cover all your costs.

Including mortgage, and have a great vacation.

Home that you get to use when you know when you want to use.

It, not when it's, when it's crazy busy.

So again, you know, kids complicate all.

Of, all of this. But for folks who are before kids.

Are in retirement, are empty nesters, this.

Opens up so much opportunity.

And then of course, there's the pure investment kind of portion of my portfolio where I'm buying condos and homes in.

Destinations like this purely for capital appreciation and rental income. So this is, this is a full spectrum. You know, you could, you could invest in real estate in one of these places purely for personal use or as a place that you might never or almost never visit.

Got it. That's okay. Thanks for putting us in like kind of two different buckets, which I do want to go down a little deeper in a moment here, but I want to go back to. You said this one line, I wrote it down. Is this, this lack of daily adventure that you did not feel when you're in that corporate world, you know, in Dublin. And I think a lot of people can relate to that if they're still in corporate, you know, listening, watching here, or if they're in their job or sorry, their business themselves, you know, maybe they're feeling a little stuck or doing the same thing. And you said it kind of felt like missing life, you know, and that when you change it up, you can actually allow more focus, time. You're, you're maybe changing. Like you said, the slow travel, it allows you to experience life more. Like, do you see that's a, Is that a pretty common thing with people who you work with? Because you mentor a lot of these folks and you obviously communicate all the time with investors. Is that like a pretty common thing that people.

It is, it is.

So, you know, there is a huge desire for adventure, to embark on a journey of, you know, an adventure of positioning ourselves and our money ahead of.

Where the world is going in these beautiful places.

Like, I mean, you know, imagine positioning yourself in La Jolla 80 years ago.

Before anyone discovered, and being, you know, the first group of people out there.

To stand on the cliff and say.

Wow, this is, this is Beautiful. People are going to like this. They're, they're going to come. So we're going to put ourselves and.

Our money there ahead of, ahead of.

Where, where the people are coming from.

You know, in terms of, I guess.

Subscribers to my, my Real Estate Trend.

Alert publication, they, they come in, you.

Know, there's a very broad spread. A lot of them are still very.

Very busy professionals who are, you know.

Who are surgeons and who are lawyers.

Or who are executives who, you know, who are looking, who are looking to the future.

You know, they want to have exposure to international markets. They want to see the type of rental yields we can get.

And so they're, they're, they're following this.

Kind of macro adventure and setting themselves up for, for when their, their lifestyle is different. But a lot of them are still, you know, really working full on jobs. And again, this is something that they do with some of their time and money. Got you.

Yeah. And they're thinking either maybe that's a personal back to the investment buckets, you have that personal, maybe more lifestyle approach or potentially they're doing this for rental income, you know, so that's supplementing whatever they're doing currently.

Exactly. I'd add, you know, a lot of these are our real estate folks who've.

Done extremely well and done extremely well from real estate in their, you know, their, their hometown, their home state, their home country.

But they just see, you know, just.

The dirt, just the lack of opportunities.

In so many places now. I mean, I, in my opinion, across.

So many investment categories, you know, everything seems to be expensive, but there are places in the world that you can.

Go and I'm not talking about complete.

Backwaters, I'm talking about places that are seeing huge surges in population.

Places that are open and welcoming and are attracting, you know, mobile folks, whether.

They'Re, whether they're entrepreneurs, whether they're retirees, whether they're digital nomads, whether it's people who can do a job remotely.

There are places right across the globe.

That are stunningly beautiful and are attracting people in and they're just creating demand for the type of real estate that we can front run and own.

Well, well, I want to talk about some of those places just to call them out because I know you mentioned them briefly, the three locations you're looking at at least in this time. And, and you know, if you follow Real Estate Trend Alert, which I do and I highly recommend, so I'm going to shout that out for you, Ronan. There is so what you're Sending are it feels like daily. I don't think they're daily but they're pretty often these little reports essentially in your email and it's like it's either you or someone on your team it seems like that treks around and gives a report of the status of some location or multiple locations and it just keeps you in the know. And I've learned so much by following those emails. I haven't yet invested in a property but I know I will. I'm already chatting about with my wife and you're the, you're the place I'm going to go to the source of truth. So I want to talk about these places and also want to hit on what you think obviously trend alert. I mean you're all about the market trends and future. I'm curious of. Yeah, the global trends, some maybe key things that us as business owners, entrepreneurs should be aware of, you know, when dipping into this. So I don't know where you want to start if it's location, these three or the. Or the trends.

Yeah, I mean I think location is.

A great place to start because that kind of segues into the trends that are, that are driving. Driving those, those loc.

So you know, just in terms of. Just to kind of maybe chronologically work back from the three most recent big.

Deals we've had in retail. So these are members only opportunities where I make a deal with a developer.

On behalf of our group for special members only pricing and terms on a home or a condo in a new.

Best in class project.

And that's basically the benefits of that membership. Right. Like that's what you just framed.

Exactly.

On top of course of of all the research and the scouting trip reports which you know is, is, is all.

You know applicable whether you know whether.

You want to go there and find your own deal or whether you want to be part of a refa deal or whether you want to use it for whatever purposes you want to to use it.

But working backwards, we've had Montenegro, Panama.

City, Panama and Guanacaste in, in. In northern Costa Rica.

So Montenegro is a very interesting one. So Montenegro is this tiny, tiny little country that just borders Croatia and the.

Area of Montenegro, the Bay of Kotor that I'm focused on. It's just an hour from Dubrovnik, which is just you know, a tourism mecca in, in southern Croatia.

But this whole region, you know, has, has only really been normalized in the.

Past couple of decades of the former Yugoslavia, you know, quasi communists then break up and civil war and chaos. Yada yada yada.

But once things stabilized in, in Croatia, first development started coming down the Adriatic following the Croatian coastline and values went through the roof. So put put simply, this is a stunningly beautiful Adriatic coastline, as picture perfect as anywhere in Italy. Stunning. But it was off the radar because.

It was the former Yugoslavia and then.

A war zone and then, you know.

Had to, to, to, to, to normalize. But as soon as it normalized, development.

Came and values absolutely exploded.

And now Croatia and that coast is completely maxed out.

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You know, to give you an example, last summer I was in both Split and Dubrovnik and you just couldn't move in those cities. It was like Venice, just overrun. But development largely stopped at the border.

Between Croatia and Montenegro.

And Montenegro in its current state is.

A, is a country that's less than.

20 years old and it's joined NATO, it's an EU accession country.

It's pretty much met all the criteria.

For joining the eu. It's kind of strategically positioned at the heart of Central Europe.

I mean, it's two hours to get pretty much anywhere in Western Europe.

But it's also really close to Dubai, to Israel, to Turkey. And it's attracting this jet set of mega yacht owners. It's also created a whole raft of tax incentives. So it's just mind blowingly beautiful with, you know, with these giant fjords, beautiful.

Adriatic coastline, high mountains, picture perfect old towns.

So basically folks are coming and folks are coming primarily at the highest end.

Of, of the market. So mega yacht owners.

You know, there's a lot of parallels.

Happening today with what happened in, in Monaco. As you know, Monaco took, took off a century ago.

And so what we're doing as members.

Of Real Estate Trend Alert is we're positioning ourselves ahead of.

That's what I believe will be an explosion. We're buying in a community.

That's a very, very rare thing.

Because Joe, what's happened with Montenegro is.

All the development is coming in at the top, super high end of the market. 4 million, 4 or 5 million dollar condos, hotels that are 1500 bucks per night and up.

But there's this overlooked segment which I.

Call the ordinary rich, which is I would say a lot of your audience.

Mobile entrepreneurs who are doing well but.

Know the value of a book, but.

Are still looking for that infinity edge pool overlooking the bay, who are looking.

For the spa facilities and the high end finishes.

So we've been able to get in.

And buy condos, buy two bedroom condos from €350,000 with incredible views to the bay that's got those full hotel amenities.

That'S, you know, five minutes from the.

Airport, 11 minutes from the highest end.

Marina, eight minutes from, from, from the old town. And all in a kind of a.

Tuscan villa design feeling.

It's beautiful.

Incredible.

I'm looking at pictures as you're talking.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's, you know, that and Montenegro is a place that's attracting like mobile people. It's this thing, Joe, there's internationalized places now that are just sucking people in from, from, from right across the globe, like Panama City. Another example and another example of a recent deal. Panama is somewhat different in that Panama is, it's attracting and sucking in individuals. But Mostly it's drawing big corporates. Panama is open arms, welcoming, safe, secure.

All aspects for big multinational corporations. And again, it's an internationalized place that does well in times good and times bad.

And why I say times bad, this.

Is really, really important because for example with Panama has done extremely well from the implosion of Venezuela.

So what happens when one of the neighboring countries gets into difficulty? The business community ups and leaves and the, the multinationals that had bases there up and leave.

The next wave of multinationals that were considering where they go go to Panama.

So Panama has just emerged as the.

Regional multinational hub again coming on top of its kind of historic banking and trade industry. And there we've been able to buy in the past number of months luxury.

Condos in an absolutely standout community that's right on the water, that's got these incredible views to both the ocean and.

Also.

To the city.

High rise and with full resort amenities. So the idea is the whole place.

Feels like, like a resort. But you're in the heart of Panama City. You know, you're minutes from amazing restaurants, amazing nightlife. It's all on, on your doorstep.

And the type of, of rental yields you can see from, you know, even just, even just renting. Renting long term.

Yeah, in these places.

So you know, in many of the.

Resort destinations the preferred play is a.

Short term rental play. But even renting long term, you know.

You can see gross rental yields of 12 to 14% just on a standard long term rental lease.

And Joe, your holding costs in these.

Places are just a fraction of what your viewers and listeners will be accustomed to because you know, property taxes are.

They'Re, they're close to nothing.

It's just not a thing. I think my biggest property tax bill.

Anywhere is, anywhere is about 500 bucks a, a year. You know, it's, it's, it's just not a, not a thing.

Your holding costs are a tiny, tiny fraction.

You know, even, even with that Portugal condo I mentioned.

I looked at this at the time when I had a mortgage. My mortgage plus my taxes, plus my HOA fees was less than what I.

Figured the property tax alone in California would be.

This is in a place where the California tax parallels are all about, you.

Know, that stretch of coast north of Lisbon is, is, is considered to be, to be Europe's California. So there, there's a lot to be said for it.

Plus the whole, I mean, you know, you could, you could construct a lifestyle that's like a self funding almost vacation just by owning a few of These.

A few of these properties.

So, you know, for example, right now. And again, these are, let's call it the vacation home that, the vacation homes.

I have, as opposed to the portfolio that, that's pure investment.

You know, the, my condo in Cabo.

That'S, that's my winter base.

I rent that long term for the.

Months I'm not there. You know, that, that generates $3,500 per month.

You know, this time of year the.

Beach home in Portugal is generating whatever maybe six or seven grand per month.

And you know, plus all the maintenance.

Is taken care of.

So you could easily, by owning a small number of these properties, just move.

Between your properties at the time of year you want to be there and you know, just have them rented out when you're not there. Again, with very high quality tenants, very.

Professional management.

You know, you get the.

Property back.

The way you handed it over.

This is great because, and I love the fact that you just said self funding, basically your lifestyle or vacations. If you have a handful of these and go back to the beginning when you talked about your home base concept, I mean, all of us can relate and think of, all right, what would our future home base? What can it look like? You know, what have I dreamed of? Well, you know, it's possible and there's so many locations like you're mentioning here that I was unaware of. And of course that's, that's what your, your job is and your teams is to locate those. But then there's like this bigger map that if you put them together and do start doing the math, which you do really well of lining out in those alerts as well as right here. Now it becomes more of a reality. Like it seems like it's, you know, we can, like you said, what's about $300,000 to get into one of these Montenegro, you said.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So Montenegro for a two bed was about €350,000. So closer to $400,000. But, but $300,000 is a pretty, pretty good number. Three to $400,000 for a, a quality.

You know, condo in a, in a great location, you know, including.

Including right.

On the beach, you know that we have a true beachfront opportunity. And in Playa del Carmen in Mexico coming up in the next couple of months, that will come in at under 300,000 or under 400,000.

But it's true beachfront.

And in the heart of Playa del Carmen, which is, you know, one of the most dynamic rental markets that, that, that, that you'll find Find anywhere.

And then you know, Cabo, which is.

Just south of, of where, where I'm.

Talking to where, where you are, you know, that's a place with an incred.

Rental market as well. So I mean condos like that condo I mentioned that rents for 3500 bucks.

Per month long term, that condo, we.

Were able to buy it with my group from three for $328,000.

So you know that, that's a few years back, but again, you know, time and time again, you know, buy in the right location at the right time in the right deal and you can be set up for really, really strong.

Capital appreciation and these, these types of, of rental yields.

And again, you know, Guanacaste in, in.

Northern Costa Rica, that's another destination that's just seeing a huge influx of folks at the moment.

It's got this little airport in Liberia which you know that that airport opened.

Up in the early 90s and that was the catalyst for the first wave of development to come to that part of Costa Rica. Now that airport is in the middle.

Of dramatically expanding its routes.

You know, where it's taking flights from.

And I just flew through it a.

Few months back and on that day it had 17 flights to different destinations in, in North America.

So folks are coming for, folks are coming for vacation. But Joe, the vacation of today might be nothing like the vacation of 40 years ago. A vacation of today could be six weeks with the family and the laptop and you know, maybe a trip back.

To the office for a few days in the middle.

Or maybe not just the whole. Everything has moved around in a way that, you know, won't, won't surprise any.

Entrepreneurs or any of your listeners because this is how we work and this is how we're wired.

But this is spreading now into the.

Into the corporate world where you know, folks are just upping and leaving and working from, from Costa Rica are wherever.

Indefinitely are for a period with or.

Without their bosses even knowledge.

You know, this is the reality. You know, it's like if I need to be in the office, I'll get on a plane and fly to San Francisco and show my face and you know, try, try and hide the suntan.

So the.

World is changing and what.

People are willing to put up with has changed and what people.

Has changed as well. And also then Joe, there's just all.

These push factors like how friggin expensive, prohibitively expensive for many people.

Just life in the US has got.

Or just how damn just just bad value. And when you can just see where, you know, as a mobile person, what.

You can get for X in other places, you know, it very quickly becomes a no brainer.

I mean, so this is, I love that you bring this up because I, so I own a home here in San Diego. Just being up front here and there's things that we've been looking to do and I think we're looking to rent out this home because it's high demand, it's great area, it's, it's good, good space. But then we're thinking where do we go? And that's the big question. And I'm imagining, because I want to get to before we can wrap this up because you have a wealth of information I want to make sure people get into as well with Rita or any of the free, you know, the, the books and guides that you have is, is getting started, you know, and like let's say someone does own a home right now or they have and let's just say in the US And I love your perspective, the fact that you're not from the US or in it. So I'm curious of like your raw, honest thoughts about the trends of the US or what you can capitalize here potentially to make a move or at least start adding in that international real estate angle, leveraging maybe something you already own here in the U.S. yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I, you know, I think fundamentally the trends in the US aren't any particularly different. You know, there would be a different, different take in terms of political rhetoric and all that type, but it's fundamentally the same.

Whether it's Ireland or the UK or Australia or Canada or are that the.

US you know, everywhere is becoming more.

And more bureaucratic, more and more prohibitively.

Expensive, more and more just crowded and scarcity of, of just basic things, whether.

That'S housing or whether it's access to.

A family doctor or all, all, all these things are, you know.

It'S consistent.

And just the housing shortages and scarcity and the societal pressures that that's creating, you know, it's just very, very difficult for people right across, right across the developed world.

And then you have, you know, you mentioned about having kids. You know, then you could hop on a flight and go to Guanacaste in.

Northern Costa Rica and you could pick.

From your choice of, you know, multiple.

International schools that will specialize in the US system or the French system or the German system or the British system.

Or an international system and you can just live a different type of life.

Where you're surfing in the morning before Work. Are you surfing after work where you're.

You know, where you're eating fresh food.

That comes from a tree in your yard or the street vendor next door.

Rather than like a bunch of grapes, you know, to mortgage your house, you know, and like this is a recurring team even, even among folks who have no issue, who have no financial constraints, you know, it's just, this is just a bad deal, you know, and I.

Think I can, can do better by, by putting myself elsewhere and Yo, Joe.

In terms of how to, how to get started, you know, if, if your.

Listeners drop by my website, ronanmacmahon.com and if they pop in their email address.

We'Ll, we'll send them a free chapter.

A couple of chapters of my most recent book. If you like what you're reading. A good place to get started is just to pay the 10 bucks or however much we're charging now for that.

Book and to get on our free.

E letter which is called Overseas Dream Home. But plug in the email address there and.

We'Ll start sending emails. But the book is a great place to start because what I've done with.

This most recent book is to pretty much condense.

My lifetimes of experience in scouting destinations and figuring stuff out.

And.

It was effectively created to be.

The answer to the question, you know, where do I start? How do I get started? You know, read this book and we'll get you up to speed.

Yeah. And that book, I'm on the page right now and I'll make sure I link it or Jacob will probably put the link visibly and then in the show notes and description. But yeah, the big book of profitable Real Estate investing. Looks like you can get the free chapter of that.

And, and it's quite a mouthful. That's why I call it my most recent book.

I didn't practice how saying it would.

Go on podcasts when we named.

I'm just slowly say it just to get it correct. The fact that it's all about profitable real estate investing. Yeah. And it's a great place to start. So actually I'm going to pick that up myself because I've been learning from your real estate trend alerts.

Yeah, you, you can, you, you can, you, you can get that in the members area.

It's oh the of the, the region website. So beautiful and yeah, yeah.

Well Ronan, this is, it's opened my eyes to a lot what's just what's possible out there and I know new things are just going to keep popping up. That's how the trends work and you know, in one, it's all cyclical. Right. And it just seems like you're getting ahead of it.

Yeah, I mean, it's like, I mean, none of what we're doing is new. I, I.

Was the pioneer real estate investors.

Basically the idea was just figure out where the people are going and buy.

The land ahead of where they get there. That's what we're doing. We're figuring out where people are moving.

To and where this overlaps with stunningly beautiful places.

Because I love the idea of being able to be in the short term rent, resort rentals type business as well as, as well as long term and buying the, the best real estate ahead of that. You know, just like what happened in California, just like what happened in, in Florida. And now there are other parts of.

The world where that same, those same.

Trends are, are playing out. And, and that'll, that'll just continue for, for.

As long as planes are flying.

Yeah, seriously.

And our worms is spinning.

Yeah.

Well, what's, you know, just to wrap it up, like, if you were to.

Provide, let's say, some kind of mind mindset shift, like something that, you know, now we have this information, we have what's available to all of us, literally everyone watching, listening. What do you think is like, is there a shift or something you can leave us with here that allows someone to feel that freedom to start succeeding or at least make the first step into this space?

Yeah, I mean, I'd embrace a bit.

Of travel and a bit of a trip. You know, pick one of these destinations that I'm writing about, see if it's.

A place, you know, just go visit, rent an Airbnb for a month. You know, run, run the numbers yourself on what, what owning a rental like that would look like. You know, assess what the lifestyle would be and then ask yourself the question, you know, would, would owning a place here make my life better or less? Would I get use? Would it be purely motivated by, by investment? But that's the real key thing. You don't want to spend years academically.

Assessing this from a distance.

Get on a plane, pick a location based.

On research. Get on a plane, see how it works for you.

And also see how the investment opportunity looks when you're on the ground. And. Yeah, and then see if this can be part of your life.

I like it. So feel it.

Get yourself in there.

Start actually putting yourself in the mood. And I like the fact of, do some homework while you're there sitting in it. Be like, what if this were mine? You know, and what if I had this?

Yeah, exactly. But I mean, we're all entrepreneurs here. We test products, we consume products, you know, and you'd know. I mean, how do you really understand.

What a product is if you haven't taken it for a test drive?

So that's why if you're going to.

Be in the business of offering short term rentals in Cabo San Lucas, maybe.

You should go and check it out and maybe even spend different weeks in.

Different parts of town to see what the experience is like being downtown versus being in a resort, being on the Pacific side versus being on the, on the Sea of Cortez side.

And, you know, that's, that's where you really learn, you know, that in my.

World, in my beat, it's a true boots on the ground thing, you know.

That'S, that's the true value of, of what we do.

And anyone considering going down this route, you know, I'd strongly urge them to follow suit.

Awesome, man. Well, hey, thank you for the invitation because I think that's what you're giving everyone here. Ronan, appreciate your time and your boots on the ground for all of our doing, you know.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Joe. And hopefully I'll see you in one.

Of my bases in the not too distant future.

I think maybe Cabo would be the.

Easiest one to get you down.

Cabo's a couple hours from here. That's no problem at all. It's so close and a lot of this is to all of us. So I'll meet you there, man. Thank you.

Great.

Thanks, Joe.

Thank you.