Ronan McMahon Just Changed My Life

An Eye-Opening Experience Along Mexico’s Caribbean Coast

About 30 seconds in, a realization hit me: I could actually afford to live in a place like this.

“A place like this,” in this case, is a planned community called Corasol, sitting along a jungley stretch of the Caribbean just north of Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

I was on a private tour with Ronan McMahon, the international property expert behind Real Estate Trend Alert. I’m visiting the Riviera Maya to meet with Ronan and learn about real estate opportunities in this up-and-coming region.

And let me tell me, a few days in, it’s already been an eye-opening experience.

I walked into one of the condos here and was actually stunned by the luxury. Beautiful sandstone-esque walls and polished concrete floors. Bright, open, and airy rooms. Tall ceilings. A substantial deck overlooking a golf course and the jungle just beyond. Bedrooms and bathrooms that feel like they belong in a high-end resort. A kitchen where I’d love to cook.

You walk through a place like this and easily drift into that dreamy state where you can picture yourself living here. I saw myself working from a warmly appointed wood and stone home office, or maybe writing on the deck with a cold mojito sweating nearby.

Seeing Corasol reawakened something in me…a lesson I’d learned during my global travels that I’d almost forgotten and I think too many people don’t realize: Luxury and value can, and do, coexist.

When you stumble upon something like this, it’s a revelation. Actually, it’s a moment of clarity.

My wife and I have begun talking in recent months about buying an apartment in Prague, where we live. And I do like that idea. I love Prague. Truly one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.

I started poking around online recently at local real estate sites, gauging what we might afford in the $300K to half-million range.

Demoralizing.

In the three years I’ve lived in Prague, real estate prices have really ascended. That’s partly because of Brexit as Londoners in particular flee that bit of economic ignorance.

It’s also partly cost of living taking off elsewhere in Europe. Though prices are rising in Prague as well, it’s still cheaper than a lot of major European capitals, and so folks are relocating for a less costly but still highly urban lifestyle. Sort of like Southern Californians moving to Texas.

And recently it’s partly the result of the Russia/Ukraine conflict that has seen nationals of both countries descend on Prague, snapping up apartments.

The upshot is that I’d very likely have to move farther out of the city, which I don’t want to do because then I have to start thinking about public transit access and needing a car. Or I have to compromise on quality and finish…which is where I pick up again with Corasol.

Walking around the condos in Corasol, I’m thinking, “Why compromise? Why not find a place like this, where your money can buy true luxury?”

That’s certainly what I’ve found here.

And this idea holds true far beyond the Yucatán Peninsula.

I’ve toured luxury developments in Uruguay, Spain, and Montenegro. I’ve seen some amazing properties in Greece and Thailand. All at prices that were like, “Really?! I can afford that?”

The point is simply that these opportunities to live far more luxuriously are everywhere when you start rooting around outside the U.S.

That’s what I want at this stage of my life—some place where I walk into my home and I feel like I am in my own version of the lap of luxury.

So that’s my new goal. As the rest of this year unfolds, and as I begin converting some of my crypto/NFT profits back into dollars, I’m going to be looking for value-priced luxury.

I am not sure where I’ll find it just yet. Maybe Spain, maybe Portugal. Maybe Latin America. Lots depends on where my wife wants to be. (I’ll certainly be leaning on Ronan’s vast knowledge of overseas real estate markets during my search.)

But I can tell you this, I showed her images of the condo I was strolling through, and the woman who rarely cusses swore in a text message. “Wow! That’s [blankety blank blank] insane! Really beautiful. I’d definitely live there.”

We shall see.

More to come on this topic in the days and months ahead…