My parents and I own some property in the Dominican Republic and I want to see if i can get a HELOC on some property to buy rental properties in the USA, where we live.

Secondly, unlike Mexico or the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica doesn't have mass tourism as a result of a decision the country has made to limit the growth in development and tourism.

Matt - we have checked out surf beaches in Nicaraqua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Rep, Florida, St Croix.

I finally took a vacation from work and am in sunny Dominican Republic.

Being 100% Dominican and fluent in Spanish it was a pretty smooth transition.

As to the crazy driving, some Dominicans surely love to be a bit aggressive on their motorcycles.

Scarce information means not many people invest there and there are probably reasons for that.I limit myself to countries where investing in real estate has proven to be (very) profitable and where there is a well established tourism industry such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Portugal, Italy or Greece.You mentioned that tourism is booming in Georgia.

For that reason, my investors and I have given the preference to investing in pre-construction in other countries like Mexico and the Dominican Republic there because we can get private financing through my connections (and I personally know developers).

So you'd be looking at high potential rental income, cheap properties or, even better a combination of the two.That prime candidates would be:Mexico and the Dominican Republic: cheap properties, mass tourism, occupancy all year long, closeness to North America, direct flights from North America, the US and increasingly Asia, strong international and domestic tourism and tourists coming from diverse locations.Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece): properties aren't necessarily that cheap (some are) but you have mass tourism there as well.Then you have secondary markets like Colombia or Brazil.

In countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic or Uruguay, the properties that you'd buy are traded in USD.