Do I want to retire ASAP to a tropical beach in Thailand or to a gorgeous mountaintop retreat in Colombia?

It is not exactly a country for much international property business, but I am helping a family sell their luxury retreat in Jacmel, Haiti.Besides this assignment, international property business is growing, not only by institutional investing.

Even with the oil industry in retreat, we are having trouble finding skilled construction workers.  

Our saving grace on the buy-and-hold side is solid, reliable appreciation.I don't know Detroit personally, but I recently spent 3 days at an investor's retreat with 2 big players from Detroit, and based on their instructional presentation and dinner conversations, From what Robert & Frank shared with us, the situation in Detroit couldn't be more different from Charleston.  

The big banks are slowly retreating from the U.S. mortgage scene because regulations have increased their cost of doing business substantially in recent years.

As Banks Retreat, Private Equity Rushes to Buy Troubled Home Mortgages (nytimes, Sept 28, 2015)http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/business/dealbook/as-banks-retreat-private-equity-rushes-to-buy-troubled-home-mortgages.htmlForeclosure Abuses, Revisited (nytimes, Oct 6, 2015)http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/opinion/foreclosure-abuses-revisited.html?

I have previously worked close with chinese's been partner on developing detox retreats for the their market.

The only way I see something like that succeeding is corporate retreat type things.

When the market tanks and prices retreat 25%.

The freedom of your own space; a sanctuary where you can always retreat to, where there is no construction staring you in the face, may be worth more than some extra money when you're 65.