Originally posted by @Jim Spatzenfeld:@James HamlingYeah, construction costs have gone through the roof.Republicans scared away cheap Mexican workers with their wall that Mexico paid for.Democrats added new building codes to make homes even more unaffordable, like here in CA all new homes must have Solar cells, and not just a couple, it must be enough to make the house net-zero (produce as much as the house uses), as well as many other new code to make sure only millionaires will be left to buy a new house here.Lumber more than doubled in the last two month. 7/16 OSB (plywood) was always $8-$10 per sheet, now its $27 at Home Depot. 

We've retired to Mexico and to purchase a home here requires cash!

We have owned a very successful short-term rental (STR) in CO for several years and are under contract to acquire another in New Mexico.

In 2012 I had to leave Atlanta again, because my driver's license ran out and there were only 2 states I could get a new one: New Mexico or Washington.

I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, hence the background in arts journalism, but due to the era, I became interested in tech journalism also and that led to an interest in business topics and clips in local papers and magazines as well as national clips in Wired, Fast Company, the Industry Standard and others during the dot-com era.  

My buddy sent me the exp biz model, told me Mexico is opening up, and I think is genius!