João Pessoa is surrounded by miles of beautiful beaches, like Coqueirinho beach, pictured.
Imagine your ideal retirement getaway… Maybe you see the surf of a turquoise sea gently lapping a beautiful sandy beach. Or perhaps you imagine a plush pad in a colonial capital.
You may want simply to escape the winter cold up north…or perhaps you’re in the market for a new full-time home. Maybe you imagine a life where you travel for six months and spend the other six at your overseas retreat…
Whatever you dream of, that life really can be yours—for much less than you’d imagine. In fact, your retirement escape could actually make you money.
To give you some ideas of how you could make your jet-set life come true—and even pay for itself—here are three very different locations where you can embrace this lifestyle without hurting your bank balance.
1. João Pessoa, Brazil
The new middle class in Brazil is spending, the country is booming and Brazil’s northeast is growing at a faster rate than the rest of the country.
Drawn by hundreds of miles of beaches, it’s here that the new, up-and-coming class comes to vacation and retire. This is good news for the rentals business here. And this is a great beach-base for you if you’re a globetrotter.
João Pessoa is the capital of the state of Paraíba. Surrounded by miles of beautiful beaches, this is where many Brazilians from southern cities come to retire, vacation and buy second homes. In particular, the city is popular as a retirement destination for senior civil servants.
The city has 1,730 acres of forest, providing a green backdrop to almost 25 miles of beach. João Pessoa has some of the nicest city beaches you’ll find anywhere. Moreover, beachfront properties are still affordable and there’s a line forming to rent them when you don’t want to be there.
While popular with tourists, João Pessoa doesn’t have much choice when it comes to hotels. The four-star Verde Green is the city’s newest and nicest hotel. Not that it has a lot of competition…the other hotels are two- or three-star, and “tired.”
Yet according to my sources on the ground, estimated occupancy rates average 86% year-round. Rack rates in the Verde Green are in the range of $113 to $226 a night. Quality short-term rentals are difficult to find and command $468 per week for a small one- or two-bed unit.
The best place to buy for rental is the prime residential area of Cabo Branco. Development is limited here by the city’s 1,730 acres of protected forest. Cabo Branco sits between the ocean and the forest on a thin triangle of land.
You’ll find uncrowded stretches of beach, the city’s nicest restaurants and boardwalk kiosks here. It’s a favorite with holiday-makers, younger retirees and second-home owners.
Riacho Verde is a small project of 55 units located a block from the beach in Cabo Branco. Unit sizes here range from 592 square feet to 1,431 square feet. Prices start at $140,207. The rental demand for this type of condo is strong. The building is to be constructed as a condo building but with hotel-type amenities. The owners will then decide how the building is to be operated.
Projects like this sell fast and rarely come on the market. They are in hot demand. For short-term rentals, the average daily rate could be $73. Based on a 70% occupancy rate, that means $18,650 annually.
Property management fees run around 25%—leaving almost $14,000. Enjoy a couple of months here in the low season and you still enjoy a healthy yield.
In the November issue of International Living magazine, I reveal my other two picks for places where you can profit from your own retirement retreat…and more details about the Brazil deal I mentioned above. If you’re not a subscriber, become one now and get access to the November issue.
Editor’s note: Ronan McMahon is the Executive Director of Pathfinder (International Living’s preferred real estate advertising partner), which focuses on opportunity for gains in strategic pockets around the world-before most folks have even heard of them.
