Choose Your Favorite Beach Town

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The wide white-sand beaches in Cumbuco run for miles

Dear Reader,

West of Fortaleza on Brazil's north-east coast, wide white sand beaches stretch to the horizon. You can drive for hours along these beaches. The only interruption is where little rivers meet the ocean. Charming fishing villages with cobble streets and little beach towns sit just off the beach.

I don't like to pick favorite locations. But along this coast there's a beach town so special it deserves to be singled out.

That's Cumbuco.

Here the pace of life is slow, but active and engaging. The streets are lined with fishermen's homes. Blooming flowers spill over freshly painted exteriors. The local playground is miles and miles of beach. The beach is also a workshop... where locals repair fishing nets and touch up the paintwork on their fishing boats.

These little fishermen's homes sit alongside Italian restaurants, a German grill, a trendy kite-surfing shop and beach bars where bronzed adventurers come to enjoy caipirinhas at sunset.

If you are looking for a beach house, a second home, or a house for retirement, this is a place that should be on your shortlist.

A Beach Town That Should Have Your Attention

Cumbuco is popular with kite-surfers

Miles of white sand beaches stretch out, uninterrupted, east and west of Cumbuco. This is the type of beach town I'd expect to find way off the beaten track. Like ones I saw in Thailand over a decade ago.

But this little beach town isn't isolated. It's only thirty minutes from downtown Fortaleza, a First World city of three million people. A city that plays host to more domestic tourists than anywhere else in Brazil....more than three million last year...and tourist numbers are growing. They're up 23% for the first four months of 2011 on the same time last year.

You can see Fortaleza's skyline from the beach at Cumbuco

Standing on the white sand beach at Cumbuco - where I have seen baby turtles take their first staggering steps towards the water - you can look to your right and see Fortaleza's glimmering skyline. The international airport is just 35 minutes away.

This would be a great place to have a beach home. On the western edge of the village of Cumbuco, you'll find a charming little gated beach community. Here, you are five minutes by beach buggy (that's the easiest way to get around) from the center of the village.

And you're not far from high-end amenities. There is a new five-star resort close by...where you can pay 800 reals ($501) a night for a room. Large, luxury houses are complete or under construction in this community. The landscaping is top-class. Amenities include a pool, tennis courts, soccer field and clubhouse. The community sits alongside the beach so you have direct beach access.

Lots here are available with only 9,500 reals ($5953) down and monthly interest-free payments of 3,717 reals ($2329) for two years.

The infrastructure and amenities are already in. Monthly fees on one of these lots come in at 160 reals ($100) per month. This includes all maintenance of common areas. Expect to pay 150 reals ($94) per month for a guy to take care of your house and garden if that's a service you require.

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. Development within the village is tightly controlled: There should be no intrusive high-rises.

I expect Cumbuco will keep this feel even as development comes. And, it's coming. Last year that new five-star resort opened on land adjoining this beach community. This amenity makes Cumbuco even more attractive.

Also, there is a rental market at certain times of the year. In October, the town is packed with kite surfers who make their annual pilgrimage. Easter, Christmas, and New Year are popular with the local market, too. And Norwegians come for extended periods early in the New Year.

I'm planning a trip back here in a few months. For this trip, I've told my trusted contacts on the ground (Daniel and Hanna Neves) the type of opportunity I'm interested in. They will prepare a customized itinerary for me of meetings, viewings and cool stuff to do in my down time.

Today, I'm extending the same service to you. Daniel and or Hanna will work with you to figure out exactly what you are looking for. You'll talk about the best places to visit and the best opportunities for you to consider.

Then they'll map out your itinerary and meet you at your hotel for breakfast on the first morning to walk you through what you will see. They will be available by phone throughout your time in Brazil.

The Real Estate A-Team

Daniel and Hanna are my go-to contacts on the ground in Brazil.

These two have introduced me to the hottest opportunities in Fortaleza and along the beaches to the east and west of here. They manage high-net-worth foreign investors' interests locally and they have a company that develops homes for Brazil's new middle class. The time they spend with you is truly valuable.

Daniel and Hanna are standing by. You can register your interest in a customized trip here.

I've structured this chill weekend differently from our regular chill weekends, where groups of up to 25 people take part. Instead, these are individual, customized trips, tailored specifically for you.

That's because there's just so much opportunity along this coast. I want you to use your time on the ground as productively as possible.

I encourage you to act now and get in touch with Daniel and Hanna. You can do so here.

As I said earlier, I don't like to pick favorites when it comes to destinations.

Who am I to say Cumbuco is nicer than the villages a few minutes west like Taiba or Paracuru? I was very tempted to buy a beach bar in Paracuru...and it might be my second favorite beach town not just along this coast...but anywhere in the world.

The coast at Paracuru is different to the other beach towns like Cumbuco or Taiba. It's sheltered, protected from the trade winds...and the land is elevated from the shoreline of sandy beach and low cliffs. The best swimming beaches are here...

Sunset on the beach at Paracuru

Paracuru's town square with its church and open-air cafes and restaurants sits above the beach. There's oil offshore. The royalties and salaries earned from the oil pay for a clean town of cobblestone streets and brightly-painted shops and homes.  It's pretty and relaxed.

Last time I was there, I ate freshly caught seafood for lunch in a restaurant on the beach. We called ahead to the French chef. That's what you do here. Call in your order a couple of hours before you plan to eat, and the chef will go out and buy the fish straight off the boat. The fresh lobster and crab was top class.

So, when you visit, you get to decide which beach town suits you best.

And if you decide that a luxury resort is more your style, there is a new five-star beach community in the Fortaleza area. It's been years in the making. In fact, when I visited this part of Brazil over three years ago roads had already been constructed and earth moved for the golf course.

Today, the golf course is open...as is the five-star Dom Pedro Hotel. We can get in on a luxury condo pre-release here. Daniel and Hanna can give you the details, if this is an opportunity you'd like to know more about.

My point is: This is a stretch of coast you should check out for yourself. The opportunities are real. The values are excellent. And you can see a wide range of properties- from fishermen's cottages to high-end luxury gated communities. This is an opportunity you don't want to miss out on.

And remember, because this is a fully customizable trip, you can go when it suits your schedule.

I encourage you to act now to ensure you have a chance to see these opportunities for yourself soon.

Register your interest with Daniel and Hanna here.

Ronan McMahon

P.S. Of course, in downtown Fortaleza there's also an opportunity to profit. I have been buying here and recommending condos to members of my Real Estate Trend Alert service for the past three years.

It's working out well:

1. Prices in the Landscape project are up to 64% up since RETA members first bought here two-and-a-half years ago.
2. Prices at the Vitale project today are 21.5% higher than last November, when we could get in with member-only pricing and terms.
3. Prices in the Studios de Iracema project I recommended are up by 29.3% since the first RETA members bought in March 2010.

It gets better though. Those price rises don't include the currency gain. We have benefitted from a rapidly rising real. And with each of these deals we could get in with a tiny down payment (as little as 1%) and manageable monthly payments (again, as little as 1%).

And, there's still opportunity. If you are interested in profit opportunities just tell Daniel or Hanna, and they will be sure to line up the best profit opportunities in Fortaleza for you, too.

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Posted Under:

brazil, chill weekends, beach

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