This Friday, I’ll be sending you something special—your brand-new RETA issue spotlighting 20 dream hideaways in stunning, overlooked destinations.

At RETA, I lead a scouting team that scours the globe in search of the world’s best real estate opportunities. We spend over $1 million on travel and research every year to seek out the rare 1% of properties that are RETA-grade, meaning they can double your money invested in five years or less.

So in your upcoming special issue of RETA, I’m taking you on a different kind of journey. A romp through overlooked destinations that my scouts and I have fell in love with on our travels. Places that offer both dream lifestyles and properties that could be your perfect personal sanctuary.

One of the destinations I’ll be highlighting in your special issue of RETA coming Friday is the city I consider the most livable and romantic in Italy. Yet, you can own stunning, move-in-ready apartments here in its historic center from €250,000. Scroll down for a sneak peek of one of the listings I found there…

In your issue, my team and I have curated a list of seven of our favorite destinations that we’ve scouted. And we’ve selected 20 listings across these places that can unlock the fairytale lifestyles there, and potentially even pay their way with some rental income.

In your upcoming issue, I’ll be showing you…

• Historic farmhouses in France’s most famous wine-growing region.
• A ranch-style home minutes’ from a bohemian beach town in the “Portugal of South America.”
• A rural cottage set along Ireland’s most famous coastal driving route.
• Incredible-value historic homes in the same Portuguese town where I’ve bought my own personal hideaway.

That’s coming Friday…

Today, a preview of one of our destinations and listings, in Italy’s overlooked romantic city.

Like many of the destinations I’ll be highlighting in your new issue Friday, the northern Italian city of Verona was a chance scouting discovery…a place I stumbled upon and fell in love with.

It was five or six years ago…

I was moving north from Rome to Venice, and wanted to pause for a few days along the way. So I pulled out a map and picked a random city on the train routes between them.

This is how I discovered Verona.

I had no knowledge of Verona before that first visit, beyond the fact that it serves as the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

What I found was Italy’s most livable city.

Verona is a striking labyrinth of grand piazzas, Roman ruins, Renaissance palaces, and towering cathedrals, with an indulgent food and wine scene rooted in the rustic traditions of northern Italy, known for its rich red wines and slow-braised meats.

Walkable and historic, Verona is a place where you could spend your days enjoying leisurely strolls along ancient cobbled streets…rich coffee in glistening piazzas…long al fresco lunches of freshly made pasta and glasses of locally produced wine overlooking Roman ruins…

And while it’s a popular tourist spot, you don’t have the hordes of vacationers who descend on Rome, Venice, or Florence. Real estate is also more affordable than those cities.

What Verona is, then, is a perfect destination for a hideaway—a property that could unlock the dream Italian lifestyle and even pay its way with some rental income.

Here’s a listing that speaks exactly to that dream…

This charming pied-à-terre is in the historic center of Verona. It has large French windows, a French balcony, and looks out on an attractive 17th century building.

It appears move-in-ready and is on the market for €330,000.

A Juliet balcony in Juliet’s hometown! This charming pied-à-terre would offer the idyllic Italian city lifestyle…and I figure it would have strong rental appeal. Check out the listing here.

With a home like this, you’d have an eager pool of renters among the millions of tourists who flock to Verona each year.

Well-appointed apartments in the historic center such as this are in short supply and rent for $250 to $300 or more per night in high season. I’ve seen reports of average occupancy rates in the 70% range. I’d expect this attractive property to perform at the higher end of that range, if not exceed it.

I’ll have several other Verona listings to share in your full RETA issue, as well as many more across the six other hideaways destinations my team and I fell in love with on our scouting trips.

Your issue is coming Friday…

SIGNOFF

P.S. Do you have a suggestion for an overlooked destination that my team or I should scout? A walkable historic city in Italy? An under-the-radar Costa Rican beach town? A hidden gem in the Caribbean? I love to hear from you. Drop me a line here.