All Forum Posts by: Andrew Taylor

Hi Jerry

Correct we are Samsara#1. This was our first RETA buy and we decided to get a 2nd floor unit in a quieter area. Priced in the low 2's. After we got comfortable with RETA we always tried to get penthouses. 

Ultimately until you sell it's hard to lock in a resale price, but looking at the listings of equivalent 2-bedroom units we are sitting on some really good gains. I really like the fact that nothing will be built in front of Samsara. 

I visited the site in November 2022 and it is a fantastic location, near the new mall and close to the beach but away from the busy roads. Make sure you get all the upgrades they offer.

Smart Money Homes (Viviana) was/is amazing to deal with, and goes the extra mile. Viviana deserves a 100% pay raise. 

Pretty sure you will love the location and the condo.

On another note the lawyer in charge of Casares (Spain) strata informed our property manager that the contractor we hired then fired and now in litigation with, who was referred by the person above, broke into the electrical rooms and was up to no good with electrical power to units.  Ugh, all these guys needed to do was do the work in a timely manner and get paid. Way too much drama. I hope RETA deals with this issue. RETA really does offer a great service. 

This is my reply to Mike Lambert who reached out to me about my comment about Geoffrey Donaghue. Thank you for caring Mike. Anyone who reads this thread, I really like RETA and Ronin is a really kind caring individual. Research any RETA deal and go visit the site, RETA brings some fantastic deals to the plate with great financing.  I do feel strongly though that others don't make the same mistake as us with Geoffrey Donaghue and his trades. Many RETA members have suffered using Geoffrey. 

Hey Mike

Thanks for reaching out. I enjoyed our chats.

In a nutshell, I really like RETA, and Ronin is a genuinely nice guy. I have met him several times now.

The main concern I have is when someone is associated with RETA, your normal screening defences are lowered, RETA must screen these people.

We bought in Tulum, Corasal, Cabo, PV, Panama and Portugal using RETA. (12 units in those areas). All has gone smoothly so far. Delivery of most units in the Fall of 2024/early 2025. Hard to beat the builder financing deals RETA offers. Smart Money Homes who work with RETA are truly amazing and totally go the extra mile for you.

Mike, as you know if you bought in 2020/21 you are sitting on major gains. The RETA deals have done amazingly well for us in this time period.

Spain is another story we bought 3 units with Geoffrey Donaghue as Geoffrey used RETA to market the properties. From the beginning, it has been a nightmare. The trades Geoffrey recommended have been appalling (we are now heading to the courts with one trade). We have been threatened with vandalism and worse. Electrical room fuses have been removed. Anyway, the courts will deal with that issue.

Regarding Geoffrey, he made the statement to me "I am in business since 1981 and have NEVER had any issue like this - ask anyone! You unfortunately did not correctly manage your project through busyness I assume".

That was a huge mistake made by Geoffrey and I decided to investigate. I talked to the lawyer/manager of the Casares project Geoffrey sold us. Lots of RETA members were complaining about Geoffrey and some were taking legal action. After a bit more work I found out more than 30 plus RETA members had bought in Casares. I talked to several and we all had the same story, only some were much worse than ours. One person had owned for 3 years and had Geoffrey manage her property and it had only been rented one week in that time period. I could go on forever. Big picture, lots of issues and very little clarity. I have informed RETA of this and I am interested to see what happens. As the court system may be dealing with a RETA member group action or we may pursue legal action with Geoffrey, I should not elaborate more.

I was at the RETA Gathering last November and met Lucy Maynard who has worked for Ideal Homes in Portugal and Spain. Lucy has taken over the task of getting our properties in the Costa Del Sol ready for rent. Lucy has been amazing and if you are looking for a property manager in the Costa Del Sol I would highly recommend her. Chris White of Ideal Homes in Portugal is also 100% fantastic to deal with and an amazing human being. I have so much faith in these individuals.

Moving forward we have bought multiple land parcels and will be developing them in the next 3-5 years. Utah and Mexico are the two main areas. We will be building 22 townhomes North of Cabo soon and subdividing a property in Los Barrilies and building duplexes and commercial.

My hope with these comments is to save others from the nightmare we have had with Geoffrey Donaghue. It may be a one-off but how he dealt with us and other RETA members was truly awful. FYI I have been doing REI for about 35 years now, this is not my first rodeo.

Update to this post. I would not recommend working with Geoffrey Donaghue (Spain) or any trades he recommends. Many RETA members including myself went through hell and back dealing with this individual. Heading into litigation. RETA is solid, but a few bad apples slip through the cracks.   Quote from @Andrew Taylor:

Currently, I am listing our Spain properties that we bought through RETA contact Geoffrey Donaghue last year. Hoping for a good return on our purchases. We purchased foreclosure units and after a few months of hell with the Spanish foreclosure agency, we took possession. Finally, the renos were/are completed and we are listing the units for sale. We will use the sale proceeds to try and find new units in Spain and to help pay for our Dona Ana units in Lagos, Portugal. Without RETA information bulletins we would have never known about these deals or these amazing locations. 

RETA is a great resource for information and deals. I can understand the frustration when a few hundred units are available and many more RETA members are calling in for the deals. I missed out Cabo Costa in 2021 and made sure I was calling in at exactly the moment the deals went live for the next deal. This helped me get my Tulum, Samsara 2-bedroom condo. The price has skyrocketed since 2021. 

All the rules of buying real estate exist, go visit the locations you are buying into, not all deals are good, and due diligence is key. Based on the information that RETA provided on future development areas I was able to find a lot, research the lot and find out I can build between 40-80 townhomes on the land. Got an accepted offer and now a whole new chapter of my life is opening up. 

PS. I don't work for RETA, I am a semi-retired doc in Port Moody, BC, Canada. 

Currently, I am listing our Spain properties that we bought through RETA contact Geoffrey Donaghue last year. Hoping for a good return on our purchases. We purchased foreclosure units and after a few months of hell with the Spanish foreclosure agency, we took possession. Finally, the renos were/are completed and we are listing the units for sale. We will use the sale proceeds to try and find new units in Spain and to help pay for our Dona Ana units in Lagos, Portugal. Without RETA information bulletins we would have never known about these deals or these amazing locations. 

RETA is a great resource for information and deals. I can understand the frustration when a few hundred units are available and many more RETA members are calling in for the deals. I missed out Cabo Costa in 2021 and made sure I was calling in at exactly the moment the deals went live for the next deal. This helped me get my Tulum, Samsara 2-bedroom condo. The price has skyrocketed since 2021. 

All the rules of buying real estate exist, go visit the locations you are buying into, not all deals are good, and due diligence is key. Based on the information that RETA provided on future development areas I was able to find a lot, research the lot and find out I can build between 40-80 townhomes on the land. Got an accepted offer and now a whole new chapter of my life is opening up. 

PS. I don't work for RETA, I am a semi-retired doc in Port Moody, BC, Canada. 

Happy to report Marc Ramsay and I became friends. We have bought multiple properties together and have created a fun real estate group that loves to share info. Thanks, Bigger Pockets.

What a great way to share info and meet new friends with common interests and goals.

Quote from @Brad Costanzo:

I have experience with RETA.  I'm typing this from inside my new property in Lagos, Portugal right now, July 2022.  Found the deal via RETA and Ronan and couldn't be happier. 

Discovered the deal in May 2021.  Closed in November 2021, deal was Santa Maria.  The transaction went very smooth and I'm beyond delighted with the work of the developer. 

And we purchased this property having never stepped foot in Portugal before.  To say we were a bit nervous is an understatement but I felt very comfortable with both RETA and the Ideal Homes team who facilitated the transaction. 

Could I have gotten a better deal if I came here and did boots on the ground research?  Who knows.  But I wouldn't even have considered Lagos or Portugal had it not been for my initial conversations with Ronan. 

In fact, after first discovering international living and Real Estate Trend Alert, I invited Ronan to be on my podcast (it allowed me to get more comfortable before making a decision). 

You can watch both my interview with Ronan 9 months before closing and a second video I filmed yesterday sitting in our new condo by going here:  https://baconwrappedbusiness.c...

FYI there are no affiliate links or any other payments I receive on that page. 

Just sharing my love for this process. 

Were stayed at Santa Maria in May. Beautiful development. We bought two in Dona Ana, one of the best locations I have ever seen in the Algarve. I agree I wouldn’t have found Lagos without Rohan, Ideal Homes and RETA.

Quote from @Andrew Taylor:

Quote from @Mike Julius:

Andrew,

I have purchased a few RETA deals recently (Mexico and Portugal).  Where did you end up buying in the ALgarve?

Thanks,

Mike

 Hi Mike

In March 2020 a few friends and I decided the time was right to start buying international properties. One reason was the Covid shutdown. We felt deals would be everywhere. The other reason was we were looking to invest outside of Canada using the STR strategy. We decided to buy 10 properties over the course of a few years. Currently, we are at 7. Two were RETA deals. We are going to Portugal for the month of September to scout out more deals and get the lay of the land. Currently, we have bought two units in Lagos, and we are now looking for other locations in the Algarve. We are also looking at Spain. I think of RETA as a great source of info and deals, just like Bigger Pockets. We bought land in Moab and are now building townhomes, bought in Costa Rica, bought in Mexico, and Portugal. Other friends are building a resort in Bali. Go explore, make lots of offers and don't expect the deal of the century to fall into your lap. Use RETA as a resource just not your only one.

 Update: We decided to stop buying International Properties for the rest of the year as I hit 12 in June 2022. The last one was in Cabo we grabbed that unit in June. My friends loved the project so much that they bought 4 units themselves. Now we have a small Cabo fishing and golfing community. Well, we will in 2024.

Quote from @Mike Julius:

Andrew,

I have purchased a few RETA deals recently (Mexico and Portugal).  Where did you end up buying in the ALgarve?

Thanks,

Mike

 Hi Mike

Lagos in Portugal, two units. We met with the builder, lawyer and the real estate team in the Algarve and they spent the whole day with us. We toured previous construction projects by the builder and we went to the Dona Ana location in Lagos. We also stayed 4 nights in a brand new build by the developer near the marina in Lagos. The building quality is 5-6 star. I made a point of meeting with different realtors and they raved about the builder and one realtor was living in a condo development that the builder had completed in 2017. RETA did introduce me to Ideal Homes in Portugal and I am really happy they did. We also bought a RETA foreclosure deal on penthouses in Marbella, Spain. This foreclosure sale was a flash sale and done through a government agency. We had to fly to Marbella to get all the legal paperwork done. We stayed in the condo complex and got a good a feeling about the property. The deal was so good we bought 3 penthouse units and instantly made 200,000 on each unit if we decided to flip them. We won't we fell in love with the area. Don't get me wrong I am an investor from Port Moody, BC, Canada. I don't work for RETA, but like I keep saying RETA is just another resource of deals, not the only one. Mike, I hope you are in Lagos, we can head out for Octopus at my fave restaurant EASY BAR.

Cheers,

Andrew

Quote from @Mike Julius:

Andrew,

I have purchased a few RETA deals recently (Mexico and Portugal).  Where did you end up buying in the ALgarve?

Thanks,

Mike

 Hi Mike

In March 2020 a few friends and I decided the time was right to start buying international properties. One reason was the Covid shutdown. We felt deals would be everywhere. The other reason was we were looking to invest outside of Canada using the STR strategy. We decided to buy 10 properties over the course of a few years. Currently, we are at 7. Two were RETA deals. We are going to Portugal for the month of September to scout out more deals and get the lay of the land. Currently, we have bought two units in Lagos, and we are now looking for other locations in the Algarve. We are also looking at Spain. I think of RETA as a great source of info and deals, just like Bigger Pockets. We bought land in Moab and are now building townhomes, bought in Costa Rica, bought in Mexico, and Portugal. Other friends are building a resort in Bali. Go explore, make lots of offers and don't expect the deal of the century to fall into your lap. Use RETA as a resource just not your only one.

Just an update to my previous posts on RETA. 

I have found the RETA info to be really enlightening, the two RETA projects I purchased last year are already up $80,000 plus based on product hitting the market from the same development.

I have talked to several developers and they all say the same thing, RETA/Ronan seems to be able to get the volume they desire and thus they are willing to pass on great pricing.

So for me, I am happy to do my own searching/research, but RETA is another good resource for me.

Like all deals make sure you do your due diligence.