I didn't inherit this.I built it.

The €8,000 course that sent me in a different direction

In 2021 I paid €8,000 for a real estate investment course in Germany.

It was the best and worst money I ever spent. Best — because it taught me how to think about property as a business: how to analyse a market, calculate returns, structure an investment, manage risk. Worst — because after everything I learned, I looked at the German market and realised it wasn't where I wanted to put my money.

The yields were too low. The entry prices were too high. The tax burden was crushing. I had just spent €8,000 learning a system that worked perfectly — but for a market I didn't believe in.

"So I did what most people thought was crazy. I looked at Rio de Janeiro instead."

I had visited Rio many times. I knew the city, the energy, the neighbourhoods. What I didn't know was whether it was actually possible — legally, financially, remotely — for someone living in Munich to buy, renovate and run an Airbnb apartment there.

There was only one way to find out.

Flying to Rio with a notebook and a system

I flew to Rio de Janeiro and spent weeks on the ground. I walked every street in the South Zone. I studied every building, every neighbourhood, every price per square metre. I talked to agents, owners, lawyers, accountants.

I applied everything I had learned in Germany — the analytical framework, the return calculations, the risk assessment — and I applied it to Rio. The numbers were extraordinary. Yields that Europe hasn't seen in years. Currency advantage that multiplied purchasing power. A tourism market growing every single year.

I found the right neighbourhood. I found the right property. And I bought my first apartment.

Then the tax bills arrived

I bought the apartment. I renovated it. I listed it on Airbnb. The first bookings came in. I was excited.

Then the tax bills arrived.

I hadn't structured things correctly from the start. I was paying tax in Brazil as a private individual, not through a company. I was declaring income in Germany without the right cross-border framework. The money was coming in — but a huge chunk was disappearing in taxes that could have been avoided legally.

I spent months working with accountants in both countries to fix it. I set up my Brazilian company — Uan Brazil Homes LTDA. I restructured everything. It cost me time and money that I shouldn't have had to spend.

The renovation that tested everything

My first renovation was a lesson in humility.

I was managing it from Munich — 10,000 km away — with contractors I had found, but hadn't yet learned to work with effectively. The renovation went over budget. It went over time. There were weeks where I didn't know exactly what was happening inside the apartment.

I fixed it. I learned which contractors to trust, how to structure payment schedules, how to manage remotely with the right level of oversight. I built a team in Rio that I trust completely — people who have been with me across multiple apartments now.

"The renovation that tested everything became the playbook for every renovation that came after."

Building the system — and then doing it again

By the time I listed my first apartment on Airbnb, I had already learned most of the hard lessons. The listing wasn't perfect at first — pricing was wrong, photos were average, the setup wasn't optimised for the platform. Occupancy in the first months was lower than it should have been.

I fixed everything. I studied how the Airbnb algorithm works, how pricing strategy drives occupancy, how a listing converts. I rebuilt the listing from scratch. Occupancy went up. Revenue went up. The system started working the way I had always believed it could.

Then I bought the second apartment. Then the third. Then the fourth. Each one went smoother, faster, and more profitably than the last — because by then I had a real system, not just a hope.

Today I own four apartments in Rio de Janeiro, managed entirely from Munich with a trusted team on the ground. I am now buying my fifth.

Why I help others do this

I went through this process twice — once as a European investor figuring it out from scratch, and then again helping foreigners and Brazilians living abroad navigate the same path. I know exactly where the process breaks down for someone coming from outside Brazil. The legal surprises. The tax traps. The renovation risks. The cultural differences in how business works. I have lived every single one of them.

There was no guide when I started. Nobody who had done it before me and could show me the way. I had to build the map myself.

Now that map exists. And I share it — because the opportunity in Rio de Janeiro is real, it is significant, and it deserves to be accessed by people who are serious about it, not just the ones lucky enough to stumble through the mistakes alone.

"If you feel lost right now — excited about Rio but not sure where to start — that feeling is exactly why I built this. You don't have to figure it out alone."