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Home Countries Brazil

My Four-Year Search For My Dream Retirement Home Overseas Led Me To This Beach…

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Aug 31, 2009
in Brazil, Retirement/Living
0
Pristine Beaches like this for a small Property Investment brazil
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My Four-Year Search For My Dream Retirement Home Overseas Led Me To This Beach…

“Super-cheap beachfront,” says new Brazil Correspondent Will Davis. “That’s what attracted me to Brazil at first. That and the super-low cost of living.

“When my wife Eileen and I first left the States, we settled in Cuenca, Ecuador. We enjoyed Cuenca, but, frankly, this colonial city wasn’t our dream. Our fantasy retirement involved a home at the beach. I spent four years, therefore, scouting the beaches of Latin America in search of a beach house available for an affordable cost. It was on the island of Itamaracá, about an hour from the city of Recife on Brazil’s northeast coast, that I finally found what I’d been looking for.

“Now my wife and I are the proud owners of a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom house. It has good living space and a little winter garden on the roof, and the bedrooms have been built in such a way that they all have great views to the ocean. But perhaps the best part is this: We bought the property (the land and the house) for the equivalent of about US$60,000.

“Right now, you could get an acre of beachfront land (on which to build your own dream home) for maybe 180,000 to 200,000 reals (around US$100,000 to US$110,000 at today’s rate of exchange). I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where you could buy a slice of beachfront at that price…and actually want to live there. I speak from experience. More than a house at the beach, here in Brazil, we’ve invested in a dream house at the beach that has brought us our dream lifestyle, too.

“What surprises me most about Brazil is how neglected it is by North Americans. Europeans are coming to this country’s northeast region for vacations and part- or full-time living. On Itamaracá, for example, there are maybe 45 British families in residence, but only 4 or 5 American families.

“I think a lot of this has to do with the living options here. We Americans are more accustomed to the protection and the amenities of a gated community. In Brazil, that option really doesn’t exist. You have to get out and live among the locals. Gated communities likely will come in time. But, for me, the fact that my neighbors aren’t gringos is part of the attraction.

“A lot of people, I think, are put off Brazil by the language. For some reason, Portuguese has a reputation of being more difficult to learn than Spanish. I’ve had to learn both, and I can honestly say that the learning curve is the
same.

“Another big attraction of this country for me is how far removed it is from what I was used to back home. This is the Third World, meaning the experience of living here is completely different from living in the more developed world. In Brazil, there’s no mistaking that feeling of other-worldliness.

“Of course, ‘other-worldliness’ has its downsides. Getting things done, for instance, can be painfully slow. I was frustrated when I had to get my driver’s license translated into Portuguese. After paying a translator to do the job, the local police would certify it for only six months. (I was tempted to ask when the language was scheduled to change.) I’m not looking forward to going through the process again. But you get used to these little ‘quirks’…to gritting your teeth and dealing with the red tape.

“And, in fact, in many ways, Brazil is ahead of other Latin American countries. I’ve had friends in Nicaragua complain about the common power outages and the unreliable Internet connectivity there. Eileen and I have been living full-time in Brazil for three months now, and we haven’t lost our electricity once. Nor can I moan about connectivity issues. Last week, I had an hour-long call, via Skype, with a business contact in Europe. We had a clear line for the duration of our call and didn’t get cut off once.

“Whatever frustrations we’ve experienced during our time here so far are easier to put into perspective when we remind ourselves of the low cost of living we’re enjoying. We eat out regularly at one of the local restaurants by the beach. For less than US$25, we enjoy a grilled shrimp dinner, including salads, dessert, and drinks. The downside is that the two-dozen or so restaurants on the island, serve pretty much the same menu. If you want diversity, you’ll need to cook at home–or escape to one of the mainland cities for a weekend.

“This is part of the reason that we’ve decided to live in Brazil just four months of the year. The rest of the year, you’ll find us in Punta del Este, Uruguay. We prefer Punta’s amenities but could never afford a beachfront home at this world-class resort. Plus, the Uruguayan winter is a little too cool for me. Brazil makes the perfect complement. Here on Itamaracá, I don’t own a coat, and I can swim in warm water year-round.

“We’ve chosen to settle on Itamaracá, but my favorite city in northeast Brazil is actually Fortaleza. The city has lots going for it–far more amenities and dining-out options than anywhere else on this stretch of coast. The problem with Fortaleza right now is limited inventory. And prices, while affordable, are higher than what I’ve found on Itamaracá.

“For my US$60,000, I might have bought a 700-square-foot condo in Fortaleza, for example, which wouldn’t have been as comfortable for long stays.

“A condo in Fortaleza, on the other hand, is an ideal vacation home rental…”

More on this tomorrow.

Kathleen Peddicord

Tags: Retire To Northeast Brazil
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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