Friday, December 16, 2011
Fortaleza’s a modern city…and the top tourist destination for Brazilians
Dear Reader,
We often bring you property deals with developer financing on offer. Developer financing comes with many upsides. It’s sometimes interest-free. There’s no credit check or medical exam. You don’t need to fill in a mountain of paperwork or wait months for approval. It’s quick, easy and relatively painless.
The biggest downside is that developer financing usually applies to pre-construction property or vacant lots. If you want a condo, you face a wait of up to four years before it’s finished. In the meantime, you can’t enjoy the condo or rent it out.
So it’s a nice surprise to come across condos that are already finished, but still come with developer financing. They make great long-term rentals. And they’re in an area that’s got a ton of upside potential.
A New Boardwalk=New Opportunity
Fortaleza is a city of three million people on Brazil’s northeast coast. It’s the country’s top domestic tourist destination. The city’s seen strong economic growth in recent years, adding thousands of new jobs, and bumping more locals into the middle-class salary bracket.
That growth impacted the property market. Prices soared on the city’s boardwalk. Today, new boardwalk properties in the Meireles neighborhood command premium prices, of up to 10,000 reals per square meter.
Iracema is an up and coming neighborhood…
But there’s a boardwalk neighborhood that’s much more affordable. It doesn’t have the cachet of Meireles…yet. It’s playing catch up. And while it does, you’ll pay up to 50% less for condos here compared to Meireles.
The Iracema neighborhood didn’t have a boardwalk until April this year. That made it less desirable. But the new boardwalk links with the Meireles boardwalk. It’s hard to see where one neighborhood stops and the other begins.
At the end of the boardwalk in Iracema a construction site marks the spot where they plan to build South America’s biggest aquarium. This will bring more tourists to Iracema.
Iracema has a wide sandy beach that’s great for beach volleyball. It hosts a huge party every New Year. The beach and boardwalk are popular with joggers, walkers and swimmers.
Iracema has an arty vibe too. Fortaleza’s cultural center is in the heart of Iracema. The plaza around the culture center gets busy in the evenings. You can see a movie, catch a theater show, or relax at one of the restaurants in the historic buildings close by.
The cultural center in Iracema
The nightlife in Iracema is the best in the city. There’s a wide choice of bars, clubs and music venues. Pirata, a nightclub complete with a pirate ship, only opens on Monday nights –and it’s packed.
Buy Today & Rent Straight Away
You can already see the signs of change in Iracema. It’s not just the boardwalk and the aquarium. Shiny new condo towers are replacing old, shabby buildings. The city’s best restaurant relocated here. Younger buyers are moving in. And the rental market is strong.
Studio Iracema is a few blocks from the boardwalk and beach. Condos on higher floors have stunning views of the boardwalk, beach and ocean. New neighboring buildings will have a 13- floor height limit, so Studio condos above floor 14 should always have ocean, boardwalk and beach views.
There are only 16 condos left for sale in Studio Iracema. Fellow readers who bought here are enjoying their condos as vacation homes, or renting them out. Once furnished, these units make perfect rentals for local middle class professionals. You can expect to get up to 1800 reals ($967) a month in rental income.
Pricing starts at 213,588 reals ($114,795). You pay 85,435 ($45,917) reals as a down payment. With developer financing, you make 80 monthly payments on the rest. That works out to roughly 1602 reals ($861) a month.
The views from the top floor social area of the building
These units don’t just offer the potential of good rental yield. They also offer the possibility of price appreciation as Iracema catches up to Meireles.
Contact our local real estate agents, Daniel and Hanna Neves, here for more details. Daniel and Hanna can also help with furnishing your condo, and finding a tenant, if you want to rent.
Margaret Summerfield
Posted Under:
brazil, appreciation potential, developer financing, ocean-view
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