Having a beachfront home in a tropical region had always been a dream of ours. My wife Danielle lived in Montreal all her life until moving to NJ in 2010. As a young child she knew someday she would be living on a beautiful beach in the tropics, NJ was that first step south to her dream.

I grew up in NY and lived for the summer going to Nathan’s in Coney Island and playing on the beach until the sun went down. When my children were young it was time to leave NY and head south (50 miles to the Jersey Shore). It wasn’t a big move but it was one step closer to the real south and eternal summer of my dreams.

In 2008 Danielle and I met, you guessed it, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. In 2012 Danielle and I married and immediately started thinking how we could make our dreams a reality. We started reading many books and magazines about retiring in the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Panama or Ecuador. Neither of us had ever been to Ecuador so it was time for a fact-finding visit. By 2014 we had done a lot of research but really felt like it was a shot in the dark picking the right place and where do we start. That is when we came across Lynn and Tom. Right from our first correspondence we felt we had made friends. Tom made arrangements for a taxi to meet us at the airport (who ended up waiting about an hour for us); the driver was so nice he even apologized to us for our flight being delayed. About 10 minutes after arriving in our room Lynn was there to give us a warm greeting with her son in her arms. We would spend the next 10 days having a few meals together in the local restaurants with them and their 2 sons.  When Tom was not

showing us around to see homes or land he would he give us suggestions on where to go with a genuine concern of what WE were looking for.

I can really go on with many stories of walking into town with Lynn, Tom, and the boys. Each time we would pass the locals in the street who would always greet Tom & Lynn with a smile and exchange some kind words in Spanish. We had a confirmation that they were as genuine to their local neighbors as they were to us.

Ok I will tell just one story. One day we were driving through town and Tom stopped a man on his bike to say hello and remind the man that he owed him money for work he did. The man said “no problem I will come to see you when I need it”. Tom smiled at us and said, “I am his bank”. It was so nice to see that level of trust.

Well it is 3 years since that visit. We did buy a beautiful double lot right on the water just south of Canoa during our visit, a huge step toward our dream! Tom helped us with every step along the way and gave us great peace of mind.  We have now put ourselves in a position to start building in about 1 year or maybe rent for a while and get ready for our next big decision. I emailed Tom about our plans and by the next morning Lynn responded and set up a time to talk. During that talk Tom was as pleasant and helpful as always to help us with our next step.

I’d like to end by saying Tom & Lynn are an absolute pleasure to deal with. I have been in the building business for 40 years and have dealt with many realtors, lawyers, architects and contractors in that time. They are as genuine and trustworthy as you can get always putting us at ease with such a big move to a foreign country. They are a wonderful family living a dream and simply wish to help others find their dream!

Danielle Brodeur  & Victor Cresci  (Feb. 2017)

NJ. USA