Penthouse Hunting in Medellin – Luxury Real Estate Investing

Jul 3, 2026 | Private List update

I know what you’re thinking.

This video was shot a week after I got scoped, kidnapped and robbed. I know people will ask “why would you ever recommend such a place?”

Premium real estate is attractively priced in Medellin, and the rental yields are solid. Especially so for penthouses. I’m extremely satisfied with my own investment there.

Why penthouses, why Medellin?

It’s an emotional market with limited supply. Many people go to Medellin to impress. They want the best that’s out there. These are the sorts of markets I love – emotional markets. To make the numbers work for you, one strategy is to have a target market that does not care about numbers.

We went penthouse hunting with Mauricio.

https://youtu.be/USULEgmfD_M?si=7E_brVzKCvywLbWM

Penthouse Hunting in Medellin – Luxury Real Estate Investing (https://youtu.be/USULEgmfD_M?si=7E_brVzKCvywLbWM)

Big catalyst for Colombia

Last Sunday, Colombia elected a new president, Abelardo de la Espriella. He is pro-business and the U.S. seems to be happy about it. Expect more foreign direct investment into the country and a much tougher stance on crime.

His election is a clear catalyst for Colombian asset prices.

To a World of Opportunities,

The Wandering Investor

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Transcript of “Penthouse Hunting in Medellin – Luxury Real Estate Investing?”

LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello everyone from beautiful Medellin in Colombia and today we’re going to be looking at two duplex penthouses in Laureles in the very neighborhood where I bought a duplex penthouse that I renovated and that I’m renting out right now and I’m really happy with the results. So apparently they’re fairly similar to what I bought in many respects?

MAURICIO: Yes, they are. They are duplex penthouses and with terraces, what a lot of people are looking for, so…

LADISLAS MAURICE: And now we are on a terrace of another…

MAURICIO: Oh yeah, my business partner actually bought this three years ago and every time people come here we hang out, they were like, oh, where can I find something similar? Something similar is hard, but we gotta try.

LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s a nice sunny Saturday afternoon and we’re just going to go do some viewings and the first apartment is right here, right?

MAURICIO: Yeah, it’s right around the corner, right there to the left.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So we’re gonna go there and do the numbers. Yeah.

MAURICIO: Yeah, I’ll finish this beer quickly.

Touring the Laureles neighborhood of Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s nice and leafy here, right?

MAURICIO: Yeah, it’s very tranquil. You can see like it’s some movements, but it’s not commercial movements. It’s very residential. People out walking the dog, it’s, it’s super nice. Very green too, just by the park here.

LADISLAS MAURICE: A lot of families?

MAURICIO: A lot of families. Yeah. I live here with my kid and ex-wife, it’s very good.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, this shop, do not come here. They overcharge gringos. These people ripped me off.

MAURICIO: Whoops.

MAURICIO: Welcome in.

Visiting a $380,000 penthouse apartment in Laureles

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, nice place. So, price, square meters?

MAURICIO: So the price here is – they’re asking 380 and it’s 212 square meters large.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, 380, probably negotiable to what, 350,000?

MAURICIO: Yeah, we’ll see later in the video, but if you don’t get it for 350, that’s not really make sense to me.

LADISLAS MAURICE: I love this about Medellin. This is the the living room and there there is no window.

MAURICIO: No.

LADISLAS MAURICE: There’s no window.

MAURICIO: You have no floor to destroy either.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. It’s open living. No AC, no heating, no window, just great weather all the time.

MAURICIO: Natural AC.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, no, it’s fantastic. I mean, this is why people, people move here. And the weather here is great.

MAURICIO: But as you can see here, we’re coming, we have the kitchen here and that’s where we think you should put some of the renovation budget.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, this kitchen is not, yeah, this kitchen needs to be redone.

MAURICIO: It was cool when the apartment was built, I’m sure. With all the glass feature, but right now… But what you do have though is that you have natural lighting coming in from both sides and when you come in with a living room, you get met by the high ceiling. So the whole apartment is very natural lighting. Okay, so before we go up, the layout here is living room, you have a balcony, you have a bedroom here, and a maid’s quarter with a kitchen. We think you should do the kitchen into one big kitchen, take away the maid’s quarter. Nobody uses that nowadays. Then on the second floor, we have two bedrooms and a terrace here. And that’s where most of the renovation should be focused at.

LADISLAS MAURICE: This is where the, this is where the money’s made on rentals, right? Having a sick terrace.

MAURICIO: For sure. With kind of a view for being in Laureles, I would consider this a good view. Right?

LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice.

MAURICIO: And you know, nighttime, everything dark, all the lighting coming up, it’s what Medellin is known for. And what Medellin also is known for…

LADISLAS MAURICE: … huge jacuzzies.

MAURICIO: Yeah. This property, I’ve seen its best days. I mean, the building is about 13 years old. I think the jacuzzi and everything you see is about the same. So here, like, that’s the question marks, right? Like, do you need to change the roof? How much would that be? Like that we need to check in for sure. And then what you want to do with the terrace, the wooden floor is like it’s in un-updated for sure, so… I mean, if you make this nice, if you want to rent it out… Make a popping photo here, like green walls, jacuzzi, hangout area, maybe a little barbecue over here, lounge area here with like a big screen TV, you can imagine the rest, hey?

Target rental market for penthouses in Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yep. Yeah, so who’s the target market here? Cause it’s not, people don’t really come here to party.

MAURICIO: No, I think the crowd here would be somebody who’s a little bit more tranquility but like to be home, have office and home being the same, the wife is here, like don’t like to go maybe like out and party too much, like to be home with a family, go out and walk, go to the park, this kind of crowd. And we see more and more of those people too, not only the Poblado party people.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So you’re seeing a shift in the type of people moving to Medellin from overseas.

MAURICIO: Yeah. I mean, now since Medellin has been all kind of known for like five, six years, a lot of people who came five, six years ago when they were by themselves, now come with their family and they’re looking for other things. Cause you have the weather, you have like it’s fairly affordable, you have everything around…

LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, it’s fairly affordable, but it’s certainly not as affordable as three years ago. I’d say prices have doubled with respect to like restaurants and going out and everything.

MAURICIO: Yeah, yeah, with inflation, it’s gone up for sure. You can feel it.

ROI calculation for penthouse in Laureles, Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: And the currency has really strengthened as well, the Colombian peso. Okay, so let’s do some numbers. So 350, some closing costs. Um, how much of a renovation budget would you do, would you recommend?

MAURICIO: I would estimate at least 60k. And then depending where we come here with a contractor, if we have a real offer in place, then we don’t just like, oh, I estimate 60k and let’s go. Like, we come here, we take the contractor and they do like a more fair estimation, like look at the materials, see what can be used, what can be changed. And with that, then you can make a more fair estimation.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, great. So let’s say we put 60, 70k in renovations, really cool terrace, we redo the kitchen, the rest is kind of okay. It’s mostly just furniture. How much can we rent this out for on a monthly basis? Because you can’t do Airbnb here, right?

MAURICIO: You can do Airbnb, but not daily rentals. So you can rent it for one month or more.

LADISLAS MAURICE: One month or more.

MAURICIO: Yeah. So the rental price for this one would be about 4,200. It’s uh very similar to your apartment. He’s been rented for about that for 18 months. So, yeah, that’s what we estimate. It’s a little bit not as many bedrooms, but location is a little bit better and you also have these amazing views over here.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, yeah, the terrace is definitely better.

MAURICIO: Yeah, yeah, it’s it’s.

LADISLAS MAURICE: I can see how you can make 4200 and also we’re seeing more and more people move to this particular area, which people weren’t really considering before. So there’s increasingly a market for it. Okay, then we have all the numbers, your property management, taxes, etc. The HOA though is pretty high. It’s like almost $600 a month.

HOA fees in Medellin, Colombia

MAURICIO: Yeah, it’s $582 something. But to be honest, since last year, when the, since this year, when the president increased the minimum wage, a lot of HOAs all over Medellin has been like poppying up like 30%, 35. So it’s getting more and more expensive, but when you pay the HOA, you actually get something for it. Like here you have a security, you have like they maintain the elevator, like it’s you get something at least. Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So yeah, just uh you want to look at that, you know, bigger buildings have lower HOA, this is a small building, higher HOA.

MAURICIO: And I mean it’s 220 square meters, the biggest apartment in the building, so it’s gonna be higher. And most apartment this size do have higher HOAs.

Occupancy rates for penthouses in Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. So and your occupancy rate?

MAURICIO: For this one?

LADISLAS MAURICE: For generally speaking for such penthouse apartments.

MAURICIO: About 92% for long-term clients, like you just find the right one and then they keep renting. That’s why it’s important to make a good job, so you don’t cheap out and people come, they see it’s really nice and then when they have the experience it’s like, oh it’s nice in photos then the experience. So that’s why like 70k, 60k budget for renovation is it’s good. Yeah, don’t cheap out.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Don’t cheap out. Yeah, just don’t if you come to Medellin and you buy a penthouse, do not cheap out. That’s the number one recommendation.

MAURICIO: Then go some prices down and then do a nice renovation for a smaller place.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Uh, we end up with a net rental yield of about 6.3%.

MAURICIO: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So, you know, it’s better than in most places in the world.

MAURICIO: But this is a lifetime investment property, so the what you always talk about, what is the second option, things go to shit, you have a sick penthouse in Medellin.

Per square meter costs for penthouses in Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, and when you look at the whole investment together and you look at it on a per square meter basis, uh, you’re like at what, 2200, something like that, dollars per square meter, which is for global standards really low for a fully renovated penthouse with jacuzzi and views. So there’s definitely still a lot of good value to be found in Medellin.

MAURICIO: And then also that people don’t have mortgages, so prices here is not going to go down. So it’s a good hedge as well. Like you’re not losing money for sure.

LADISLAS MAURICE: I will not stand by that statement. Prices can go down. But they have not been going down in Medellin.

MAURICIO: They have never so far.

LADISLAS MAURICE: They’ve been doing really well in the past few years for sure. Cool. So now we’re going to go check out the other apartment. That one’s a bit more affordable, hey? Right down right down there.

MAURICIO: Yeah, same street.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Same street.

MAURICIO: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Neighbour.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Literally this building right here.

MAURICIO: Literally that building.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. All right. Cool. Yeah, it’s fantastic.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Mauricio is a terrible friend.

MAURICIO: What?

LADISLAS MAURICE: I literally caught him trying to buy some electrolytes there from the shop.

MAURICIO: I like to get scammed, I guess, but I’m just so thirsty.

LADISLAS MAURICE: I mean, you’re not getting scammed, I’m getting scammed. But out of principle you should boycott the place.

MAURICIO: Yeah, I just did, I don’t, I didn’t buy.

MAURICIO: So yeah, we went up for the first showing, we’re going to the second one.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Right here.

MAURICIO: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So a little bit of background. I was coming from straight from the airport. I had my suitcase, I had my backpack. I ordered a six-pack and a bottle of water and they charged me triple the price.

MAURICIO: They probably saw you were not from here.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, they probably saw I wasn’t from here. And I was tired, I just I didn’t count, I just paid. And then I realized later, wait, did I just pay this much for a six-pack and a bottle of water? This lady…

Touring a second penthouse in Laureles

LADISLAS MAURICE: So Mauricio, you’re saying you actually wanted to buy this building when you lived in this neighborhood.

MAURICIO: Yeah, I bought a place three years ago, two blocks behind, and every time I came from Poblado, I just go down the street and I see this big penthouse and a massive terrace. I was like, fuck, I should buy one. Well, I should buy one of those. I should buy one of those. And I never did, but now I could, but I have no money.

LADISLAS MAURICE: You’re over-leveraged and…

MAURICIO: …we’re spoke about that. Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Mauricio puts his money where his mouth is. You’re master agent for one project in Poblado and you’re all in.

MAURICIO: Yes.

LADISLAS MAURICE: All in.

MAURICIO: It’s a personal treat of mine.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So how much is this place, Mauricio?

MAURICIO: It’s a 314 asking price. Would make sense about 300.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: Negotiate the fusial.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Gosh, this view is insane.

MAURICIO: Right out to the sales point, hey?

LADISLAS MAURICE: Gosh.

MAURICIO: Here you can see how close we are to Laureles.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yes.

MAURICIO: Laureles is right down here. Beautiful. And all these green everywhere, that’s like small parks.

LADISLAS MAURICE: How many Airbnbs and properties do you manage?

MAURICIO: About 130 apartments between Poblado and Laureles mostly.

LADISLAS MAURICE: And mostly high-end stuff.

MAURICIO: Yeah, high-end properties, like uh about 2500 and up mostly

How to maximize ROI on luxury real estate in Medellin.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Okay, cool. So you understand the target market. So what would you do? What’s your pitch? Let’s say I want to buy this. How do I maximize my return on investment? What’s the what’s the strategy? Let’s say we get it for 300. Tell me, what should I do?

MAURICIO: Yeah, I would break it down to, first I would look at what characteristics do the apartment already have. It has a nice terrace, it’s a penthouse, two floors. Really, really good views of being Laureles. I would say one of the best ones. I’ve been to a lot of apartments in Laureles and I don’t see this a lot. Yeah, it got that working for it. What it don’t have is the floor plans. So, who was the owner of this apartment before? It was a Colombian family and their needs are obviously way different from somebody who’s coming here from America, want to work from home. They appreciate much more bigger bedrooms, more open area, more like social area. While here, it’s like a little bit dark, it’s a little bit un-updated. So I would put a lot of thinking and planning into the floor plans. And what do you need? You need two big bedrooms, you need one office area and then a guest bedroom.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, cool. So here obviously just pimp out the terrace, jacuzzi.

MAURICIO: Here work together with the architect. Just make sure that you have what people are looking for. People are looking for the view, the space you have, they need a terrace, need a barbecue area and a lounge area. So if you can get that working, and then one thing that you should have in mind is the privacy here. So you have no neighbors on this side, which is amazing, right?

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: But then you come the neighbor here.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: So if you have that in mind when you do the design, maybe put up a pergola here, maybe like a curtain, like something you need to figure out to get the privacy because less issues, less neighbors involved, better for your returns.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, yeah, you don’t want jacuzzi action to be on camera for sure.

MAURICIO: Yeah. And one thing where you do renovations is also like this marmol floor is super nice. So I would try to keep as much of the floor.

LADISLAS MAURICE: It is nice.

MAURICIO: It is nice.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Super slippery.

MAURICIO: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool, so you would turn this into the master bedroom here?

MAURICIO: Yeah. One of the two master bedrooms.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.

MAURICIO: So master bedroom could then have a king-size bed, you have a private balcony here, if you put up a drywall right here with a door and open. That’s possible. You have to look with a designer and architect exactly.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: Behind this wall, right now is the maid’s quarter. I would try to make this connected to the private bathroom to the master bedroom. Because if you have a master bedroom, you need an en-suite bathroom. It’s expected for sure.

LADISLAS MAURICE: For sure. And this goes…

MAURICIO: Take down this here, so you connect the open living area with the terrace and the kitchen.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool.

MAURICIO: And that would also help to make this more natural light.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MAURICIO: It’s a little bit dark.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Keep this wall and then it’s just the kitchen just out. All it a massive open plan space that just merges into the terrace. It can become really beautiful.

MAURICIO: Yeah. And then this area here is dead space right now almost a wine bar with like wood, like nice LED lighting, like open up, it’s like blue colored. Could be super cool.

LADISLAS MAURICE: I like the stairs.

MAURICIO: They’re cool.

LADISLAS MAURICE: They’re cool, hey, in the circle here.

MAURICIO: And obviously this triple ceiling height, you have a lot of unused potential here, like for a designer, this is a wet dream with the natural sky light.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Very nice, yeah, you could definitely put a really nice painting. There’s so much um artistic talent here in Colombia. It’s really incredible.

MAURICIO: So yeah, here’s the second floor, you come up, you get met by three bedrooms today. So to the right, you have a smaller bedroom without the bathroom. The first bedroom that has a view does not have a bathroom either. That’s a little problem. Master bedroom does have a big bedroom, king-size bed, walk-in closet and a bathroom. That’s where we added a big bedroom downstairs because you do need two master bedrooms. In order to get the rent that we’re targeting, it should be two people who split the rent and then have one guest that is coming. And then a smaller bedroom, that one we would make into a designated office. And then I don’t say just oh, just an office with a desk and a chair and let it be.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Yeah. You know.

MAURICIO: And it just check off. No, no. It should be like two big screens maybe, like an algorithm share, maybe like a map and yeah, everything for like a home office for executive people.

ROI calculation for penthouse in Medellin

LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so hopefully negotiate it down to $300,000. Closing costs, $80,000 of renovations and furniture. We do all that. I hand this apartment over to you. How much can you commit in terms of rental income?

MAURICIO: We would target it a little bit above 4200 and hope to get 4200 in the end.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So like the other one.

MAURICIO: Yeah, very similar. I mean, it’s on the, it’s the same area, very same characteristics, but this one is a little bit cheaper.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, which essentially, it’s not only cheaper, um, so we use the same occupancy rates, but also the HOA is a lot lower.

MAURICIO: Yeah, it’s actually 350 instead of 580, was that the one? Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: It’s a big difference.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So less HOA, uh, cheaper to purchase, so in the end you end up with a net yield of about 7.5% pre-tax.

MAURICIO: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Which I think these days in Medellin is quite good. It’s not it’s not easy to make these numbers these days.

MAURICIO: No, and also have in mind what apartment you get for it.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.

MAURICIO: Plus the returns and the appreciation over the years, like this is very unique. So go for uniqueness, good returns. It’s a fairly safe bet.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, look, at the end of the day, there’s a limited supply of Medellin penthouses and there will always be a limited supply of Medellin penthouses, so…

MAURICIO: And the new ones that come up is normally not as big as these ones, because new development that tends to cut down the square meters, so…

LADISLAS MAURICE: That’s so true. New developments are all the rooms are all tiny, the terraces are small. They try to squeeze everything. It’s actually these older penthouses I find are much more investable than the new ones that you get from off-plan or pre-construction.

MAURICIO: And this area also like you have so many smaller buildings, they’re like the developer comes in, they buy up and the price goes up in the area. That’s a lot going for it.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. So look, I mean, those are the numbers. Obviously everything depends on the on the world economy, what’s happening, etc., etc. Um, you know, how will tourism fair? So, you know, those are all the usual risks that people need to be aware of, currency risk, etc. But, you know, looking when you travel, I mean, I travel around the world full-time, looking for real estate deals and I keep coming back to Medellin and I like what I see.

How to contact Mauricio to invest in Medellin real estate

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. So, I wrote a whole article on the real estate market here in Medellin, the neighborhoods that are interesting, the neighborhoods that are not so interesting. Some key learnings as well, there’s a link below. And if you’re interested in investing here in Medellin, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Mauricio.

MAURICIO: Thanks, man.

LADISLAS MAURICE: From Sweden. So he can help people in Swedish as well, not just in English and Spanish.

MAURICIO: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: And there’s a link below.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Make sure to download my free ebook, 12 Mistakes to Avoid When Investing in International Real Estate, which you can find on my website, link below, and feel free to follow me on Instagram @thewanderinginvestor. I look forward to hearing from you.

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