Our First-Ever Deal in San Jose del Cabo

Broadcasting from Cork before heading back to Portugal and then on to Mexico for the winter season, Ronan uses this episode to step back and reflect on Cabo not just as a market, but as a place that has shaped both his lifestyle and investment strategy over the past decade.

He explains why Cabo has become his preferred winter base despite the distance from Ireland and Portugal, and why its unique combination of weather, accessibility, luxury amenities, food, and surrounding destinations has made it one of the most compelling real estate markets anywhere on his global beat.

Ronan also shares how Cabo has delivered some of the strongest returns and rental performance he has seen anywhere—through a combination of identifying the right macro story, buying the right product, and getting in at the right moment. Along the way, he breaks down how Cabo evolved from a luxury tourism destination into a true luxury living destination, attracting not only affluent visitors, but long-term residents, renters, and buyers from across North America and beyond.

Most importantly, Ronan turns to San José del Cabo—a market he has been studying closely for more than 11 years. After reviewing hundreds of opportunities over the years, he explains why none had met his standards until now, and what makes this first-ever San José del Cabo opportunity different.

For Ronan, this is more than just another deal. It is the culmination of more than a decade of boots-on-the-ground research in one of the most desirable coastal markets in the Americas.

In This Episode

Ronan covers:

• Why Cabo has become his preferred winter base
• What makes Cabo’s weather, lifestyle, and energy so exceptional
• How luxury tourism laid the foundation for today’s real estate boom
• The accessibility and infrastructure that support long-term demand
• Why Cabo has delivered some of the strongest rental income and capital appreciation on his beat
• The importance of buying the right product for the “ordinary rich” market
• Why San José del Cabo has such rare appeal as a lifestyle and investment destination
• What makes this first-ever San José del Cabo opportunity so significant

Key Takeaway

Cabo’s appeal goes far beyond tourism. It has evolved into a true lifestyle and investment market—one where weather, accessibility, luxury infrastructure, and long-term demand continue to support both rental income and capital appreciation. And in Ronan’s view, San José del Cabo may be one of the rarest opportunities yet.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi there, Ronan here. Greetings from Cork and welcome to your notes from the field. This is where I bring you my latest boots on the ground research. Research you can profit from. So it is 8:16 a.m. on Friday morning. I'm looking out from my kitchen table, looking to the green grass of my backyard and to the golf course beyond. And it's very much a fallscape, you know. I've got golden leaves accumulating on my terrace. Some of the trees are almost naked at this point, others are still pretty, pretty full and green. But fall here in Ireland can take some time to play through. But the falling leaves, the dark evenings, the dreary days, they all signal one thing for me, and that it's time to head to sunnier climbs. It's time for me to put myself in the explosive sunshine, the bright, warm sunshine, the low humidity, the cool evenings, and just the stunning natural beauty of Cabo. So rather than looking backwards, well, rather than looking backwards to recent scouting, in this dispatch, I'm going to take a broader decade retrospective on what Cabo has meant for me personally and financially, in terms of how my income flows, the types of capital appreciations I've seen, and what this all means in the context of our upcoming deal, which is our first ever San Jose del Cabo opportunity. And it's a moment that's truly been over a decade in the making. But before we dive into Cabo, brief update on my movements. On Sunday, I fly from Dublin to Santiago de Compostela. This is part of my continued mission Galicia. So from my home base in Caminha in northern Portugal. Over October, I'm scouting both those surrounds of the Caminha area in northern Portugal and also into Galicia. So next week it's going to be Santiago de Compostela and Orense. And base has been Camina for October, with the exception of this week. So last weekend I traveled to Dublin for Jeff Opdike's The Future of Wealth Summit, and I've stayed on in Ireland for a few days before heading back to Camina and Galicia. And then on the 2nd of November I fly from Madrid to Guadalajara, and that marks my big movement of seasons. That marks me moving to sunnier climes. That marks me moving to both a lifestyle and also scouting and base that is cabocentric for a block of winter. And you know, people always ask me as I as I move between these different places, you know, and this this is a moment of the year where I have Ireland, the tail end of Ireland, and then I jump in for the tail end of Portugal, and then I'm heading to the to the start of Mexico. And you know, people always ask me which one, which one do I prefer or which is better. And you know, the the answer is is is always the same. It's not a like-for-like comparison. You know, I can't compare Ireland in the summer with Cabo in the winter because I know in high summer, I know there's nowhere else on earth I want to be except here at home in Ireland where it's bright until 11 o'clock at night. You know, the the we have bright long days, it's active, it's friendly, it's home, it's very important to me to stay connected with with home. And then come winter time, come January. Um there's nowhere else I'd want to be other than other than in Cabo. And um the reasons for that, and I guess this is a a good jumping-off point to drill on Cabo, to talk a bit about my personal experiences in Cabo. Um, we can extrapolate that into a market opportunity because what makes it my preferred place to be for winter, you know, it is the same thing that makes it the preferred place for many, many millions of people to be there for creating demand. And then we can drill on some specifics of San Jose del Cabo and the opportunity there. But I guess a the game changers for me are what makes Cabo my preferred place to be of everywhere on earth I could be. Why do I choose to put myself in Cabo in peak winter time? And you know, another component for you to to consider in terms of in terms of this mix and in terms of my personal journey is that Cabo isn't particularly accessible for me because you know my my other bases are Ireland and Portugal. Um you know, Cabo is so special to me that I'm willing to go that far. I'm willing to go not just to the sun, not just to warmer climbs, but I'm willing to go to the western hemisphere and to the western edge of the western the western hemisphere. And for for me, the weather is just an absolute standout attribute. Um the weather for me in Cabo is it's got the best weather on earth, period. For me personally, you know, some of you may prefer other types of weather. You know, I've I've friends who love when the weather changes here in Ireland and when it gets dark and gloomy, and they love the idea of sitting in front of a warm fire. That's not me. I want bright colours, I want warm sunshine on my face, on my skin. I want to be able to feel cool breezes coming off a off a wild ocean. So the weather for me in Cabo is about as close to perfect as I can get for nine months of the year. So, you know, I'm not just talking about a place with a sweet spot of weather that comes and goes for six weeks. There's a big block of weather pretty much from mid-October for a full nine months when the weather is warm, sunny. Um you've got cool breezes off the Pacific. If you're on the Sea of Cortell side, it's calmer and and and a bit warmer, but it's not hot, it's not humid, it's weather you can get out there and be active in. And I think this is really important. I think this is one of the key things that have that has made um that has made Cabo a destination that has evolved from a luxury tourism destination into a true luxury living destination. So this is a place where people who have either been drawn to LA weather are are in LA weather and want that type of weather, just maybe better. I would I would argue that the the weather in Cabo is significantly better than than the A than the than LA weather. But you've got that weather, you've got that California dream, but it's that blank canvas of a of a California dream. It's the California dream from the 1950s and the and the 1960s. So you've got amazing weather that can be a catalyst for so many other things, you know. For me as a big golfer, um, it's just uh an incredible place to golf because you just have these stunningly beautiful ocean front courses in perfect weather for golf, perfect conditioning. Hiking, you know, this is a place where now I see a hill, I see these these hills up behind San Jose del Cabo, and indeed behind the corridor and behind El Te sal. And it's just spectacular to be able to take a morning hike, a midday hike, a sunset hike, and just get up there to one of the incredibly jaw-droppingly beautiful lookout points and and vistas. For boaters, there is there's there there's there's boating, you know, for motorsports enthusiasts, ATV, you know, there's you you you you name it, there is a lifestyle and activity associated with Cabo that I think to a very large extent stems from or flows from the the active weather or the sense that the weather is just so perfect, you know, I just want to get out and get out and do stuff. And you know, for me, that's long walks along the beach. Um, you know, I've always struggled, or throughout my life, I struggled with getting to the gym and exercise, that kind of formal exercise. But since being in Cabo, that's all changed because you know, in Cabo I get to work out in a gym with just these incredible views of of the ocean and um and then leave the gym and have a cold drink in in warm sunshine. Something has just flipped, and again, the weather has been you know just a very, very big and and and and key component of that, certainly for for me personally. Then with Cabo, there's the there's the accessibility, you know, for as I mentioned, Cabo is a long way from Ireland, it's a long way from Portugal, but it's a very short hop to California, to Texas, to pretty much all of the US and Canada, and also connects really well domestically within Mexico. So it's a hub in itself. And you know, that this is this is really important for me personally in terms of moving around, but for us as investors, this is just really, really particularly important. You know, you can fly from right across the US and Canada to Cabo. You land in Los Cabos International Airport, and in 25 minutes you're in, you're in San Jose del Cabo. So it's extremely inexpensive. You've got the budget airlines right through to being one of the world's busiest um private jet airports. So this is the other thing about about Cabo. So you've got the accessibility of accessibility at every price point. And Cabo for decades has been a mecca for luxury tourism. And you know, this this luxury tourism industry has you know brought us some incredible benefits. It's brought the benefits of flight accessibility, it's brought the benefits of amenities, so it's that luxury tourism industry has brought all the golf courses, brought all the spas, brought the sports fishing, fishing, fit fishing industry. Um, it's brought restaurants, it's brought luxury gourmet restaurants. And then there's another kind of quirk of this luxury tourism industry, is that it's attracted people from you know originally right across Mexico and now more recently right across the globe to Cabo. And um, they've all brought their own food, so they've brought their regional food from Mexico, and they've also brought their international food. So Cabo is a place where it's just one of the best places on earth to eat, and you know, I'm not just talking about the fine dining and the high-profile um big name restaurants, but wherever you go at every level, and I would even argue that to a large extent, the the strongest proposition is at the street food and kind of local food level, um you you just have incredible food. Like every night I'm there, and if I want to go out for something to eat, it's like tacos, Yucatan food, um Japanese food, just you you name it. Every type of eating option is available to us at every level in every setting imaginable. So whether that's taking in a sunset experience, whether it's in a vibrant cantina, and you know, that's it just adds such a such a richness to life. And it's you know, it's one of the things I really miss. It's one of the very few things I yearn for when I'm on this side of the world, and that's missing missing the the food of Mexico. And then what you have all around you, you know, I had this very interesting experience last year. So last year I turned 50 around the time of the gathering when we were all getting together in Playa del Carmen. So the gathering is our lifetime members-only annual get together. And um, you know, my wife said, We're going to be in close to Cancun. Cancun connects everywhere in the world practically. You know, we're gonna go away somewhere nice immediately after the gathering for your 50th birthday. Where do you want to go? And you know, she pulled up these flight maps, and you know, as you you as a Rita member will be very, very aware of, you know, from Cancun you can fly east, you can fly, you can fly east to Europe, you can fly north to um to the rest of North America, you go to South America, you can connect to Asia, you could go anywhere. And where I wanted to go for my special bucketless trip for my 50th birthday was back home to Cabo. We'd stay in our home in Cabo for a for a couple of nights, and then we'd go to Todo Santos, we'd go to the Pueblo Magico of Todo Santos, stay on the beach, and um and relax there. And that says a lot when you can go anywhere on earth for a bucketless trip and you choose to go home, stay at home, and then drive somewhere that's only a 50-minute drive along the coast. And that's one of the huge things about being in Cabo is that my two, well, probably my three preferred weekend breaks or destinations are within an hour to two hours of Cabo. So in any given moment, if you were if you were to say to me, where do you want to go for a weekend break, the answers would be certainly in the top five places I'd answer would be Toro Santos, the East Cape, and La Paz. And again, these are all incredibly special places because they have a formula of incredible food, stunningly beautiful beach, but also the vibrancy of a really, really attractive town that's very, very pleasant to be in and and to to spend time. Although the the East Cape is a is a wilderness appeal, but in the East Cape, you can be so close to San Jose del Cabo that you can just pop in, pop in there for dinner. So within the base of living in Cabo, you know, Cabo is where I live, or where it's a base for an extended period of time and a big part of my Life, but the vacations or the breaks within that are just the case of getting into getting into my car and driving and being somewhere really, really special within an hour. So that means it doesn't even have to be an overnight stay. You know, frequently we'll go to the East Cape for a for for an afternoon for lunch, we'll go to Todo Santos for brunch on a Sunday. And you know, it it just adds wonderful variety because you know when you hit some of the dirt or sand roads around the East Cape or in Todo Santos, that's like a whole other worldly pioneer experience. Um so that really makes for a for a much for an even richer experience. And so in the 10 years since I first bought in Cabo, and in the 10 years since um since we had our first Rita members-only deal in Cabo, we have seen some of the strongest uplifts and some of the strongest rental incomes of anywhere on my beat, anywhere in my career and lifetime of doing this. We've been able to buy best in class real estate, we've been able to buy the right real estate at the right moment and see see see values double. And so, how have we been able to do that? We've been able to do that by by doing what we do here here here at Rita, which is identifying the the macro story, identifying the the big idea, and the big idea back in 2015 was that Cabo was and still is a stunningly beautiful destination that the luxury tourism market had come to and capitalized on, but no one was paying attention to what I call the the ordinary rich, you know, those are the the affluent but not the folks who are dropping you know five grand on a condo or five million on a condo or five grand a night on a on a hotel room. And we in Cabo on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, and then along the corridor in El Teixal, we were able to buy the right real estate at the right moment that targeted and spoke to that market, and it's just working out like gangbusters for us. I own more real estate in Cabo than I do anywhere, anywhere else on our beat. This is a place we can generate long-term income, and this is really, really important because this is a place, for example, my the condo that I use as a home base when I'm not using it. I prefer to rent it short-term, I prefer to rent it long term rather than short term, and I've been able to you know generate $3,000 per month in in rental income when I haven't been using it. So we can rent long term, of course, we can rent short term. This is one of the strongest hotel markets in all of the world. It's just a phenomenal market with really, really high occupancy and rates. And plus, by following that formula of buying the right real estate from the right developer with the right amenities, we've been able to enjoy really, really strong capital appreciation. Now, we haven't had a San Jose del Cabo, so for 11 years, I have been running the rule over San Jose del Cabo opportunities ever since 2014. On a regular basis, I've been putting boots on the ground, checking out San Jose del Cabo opportunities. And when I say on a regular basis, that could be as much as weekly at certain times of the year when I'm physically there, and certain moments when there were things bubbling up in San Jose del Cabo. So that's over a decade. It's literally, you know, hundreds of deals have crossed my desk, hundreds of opportunities at varying stages from concept to reality, and none of them cut Rita Muster until now, until this moment, until our first ever San Jose del Del Cabo deal. But before I dive into the why this deal, the why now and why this deal cuts Rita Muster, first, you know, just a few words about San Jose del Cabo. Um you landed the Los Cabos International Airport 25 minutes, you're there in where our opportunity is, and in the heart of San Jose del Cabo. So extremely convenient, extremely accessible. And again, this is huge because remember, this is a place a lot of people will commute back and forth to family, to work, to businesses, and San Jose del Cabo just has that rare thing of multiple appeals. Like it is a just this magical colonial town. It's just this magical Baha chic town full of history, full of trendy restaurants, full of glitzy art galleries, just a lovely place to stroll in the evening. So you've got a magical town that is a that is a attraction in itself. And if it was in the middle of if it was three hours flight from the ocean, the the town would have would have its own, you know, really, really strong appeal. But next to the town, you have you have a beach, you just have absolutely stunning world-class beach a couple of minutes from the heart of this Baja, Baja Chic town. And all along that you've got a different thing. You've got a bit more modern, glitzy bars and restaurants. Then you just go outside of San Jose del Cabo, just on the edge, and you're into the East Cape, and now you're into another worldly place of just one of just one of the most beautiful places on Earth. You know, there's just no caveats or no qualification needed here. This is just one of the most stunning pieces of of Mother Earth. And the drive along the East Cape is just one of the most stunning ocean drives anywhere on earth. And that's just 20 minutes away from you. And the only thing that that separates you, or what separates you, um what separates San Jose del Cabo from the East Cape is luxury resorts, you know, there's marina, sports fishing, golf, $10 million homes. That's what you drive through to get to the East Cape. And you have a food scene, you know, just on the edge of San Jose del Cabo, you've places like Flora's Farm, an acre, because you you have water, so you have this phenomenon in the desert where where you have water, just everything comes to life, and you've just this incredible farm-to-table food scene. So this is just an absolutely fabulous luxury destination where the rich have come and the rich have pretty much kept it for themselves, you know, until until now and until this opportunity, because this deal marks, for the first time ever, I found an opportunity that you know ticks those Rita boxes that is the right developer. So this is a developer who is incredibly strong, who the team and developer behind the Viceroy Hotel, which is one of San Jose del Cabo's most luxurious hotels, celeb after celeb after celeb comes and stayed there. Viceroy Hotel, have a have a look at it online. Um and now this developer wants to do something truly special that keeps that same same nod to design, keeps that same integration of water in the in the aesthetic, but that will be put together and targeted at that market, which I call the the ordinary rich. So we're getting in ground floor, ground floor in an area just behind, just above San Jose del Cabo. So you're above town, which just opens up this vista of just incredible views along the along the Sea of Cortez. You're above town, but can be in the beaches in probably three or four minutes in town in maybe a minute less, maybe three or four minutes as well. And then in your community, you're just locked away with these just incredible Sea of Cortes views, amenity, infinity-edge pools that you know look beyond that water to the glistening Sea of Cortez. And it's going to have that type of cocooned luxury feel. The condos just have all the amenities we expect in a Rita deal, but these have particularly high ceilings because the developer wants to keep that luxury vibe that they're known for, and that he's built a track record and a career, both in San Jose del Cabo and other parts of Mexico, um, in Miami. So this is a top-tier developer with an exceptional team. And to get all of that to be able to buy into a community like that at a sub $300,000 price point for a spacious two-bed, two-bath condo. So to be able to get in for $298,400 for a spacious two-bed, two-bath condo with a big, comfortable terrace area, it is just mind-blowing because other projects, other condos in the surrounding areas, you know, you're going to be looking to be paying, you know, 30% and even more on a on a per foot basis. And you know, your other options, or let's say the competing options are be downtown and be in a bit of a more cluttered area and have limited or obscured views, but you've the convenience of being downtown and paid 30% more, 30 or 40 or even 50% more than our pricing, or be further out of town and be in a more resorty type setting. Our opportunity is the best of all these worlds. And um, you know, we're we're getting this pricing thanks to our group buying power, we're getting this pricing because we'll get in now and we'll take our allocation of condos, and then the developer will get back to selling retail, and the developer will will move on to that. So this is a really, really special, timely, and urgent opportunity. It's our first ever San Jose del Cabo opportunity. You know, it's been 11 years in in the making, so I don't know if it's going to be another 11 years before our next San Jose del Cabo deal. I don't know if there'll ever be one again. Deals like this are just too special, too rare not to get your attention when when when when they come on. So, you know, to get, you know, I you know, I I just can't stress enough how how how rare and special this this is because this is the new California dream. This is the weather, this is the sense of open space, a sense of freedom, sense of activity, and we can get that for 300 grand right now. And you know, we're getting it at that price point, excuse me, at a moment when other people are paying 30, 40 more on a per per square foot basis for something that, in my opinion, isn't as good. And key here, again, like our re like all our Rita deals, is those amenities to have those standout amenities. So there you have it, Cabo. Truly special place. If you're not in a position to act on this deal, you know, I'd urge you to just go and visit and experience it. It's truly wonderful. Um, if you are serious about our beat of international real estate, and this does meet your criteria for capital appreciation, rental income, and maybe lifestyle mix, please do pay attention because this is one of those Rita deals that's so special, so rare that you know it's just not going to last long. So there you have it. Um, talk to you soon, I guess, from maybe Galicia over the next couple of weeks. And um, yeah, look looking forward to to crossing paths with with hopefully quite a few of you in Cabo over the winter.