A lot of times, these types of lifestyle choices will start limiting you down very quickly to specific areas, and since you are going to be living in the property, are likely to have a heavy weight on the neighborhoods.  

Some people with cash to throw around don't look so diligently and run into cash flow issues.3: Life style: We decided to downscale our lifestyle and even do away with our cars for a short while.

@Kalei White - Depends on what you want your current lifestyle to be and how many years/income you expect to invest.

Does that make any difference in your life or lifestyle?

In many cases like this, it will either be one of two things:1) Lifestyle change.

You're trying to mix lifestyle and investments, which are two different animals that don't necessarily go along with each other.

To choose the neighborhood that best fits your lifestyle and financial objectives, take the time to investigate many options.

There are plenty of American and other foreigners who buy in Mexico and many, seemingly like you, do it for lifestyle first.

Or you have to make some lifestyle changes to take full advantage of it (e.g. real estate professional tax status). 

Pros: Least disruptive to my current lifestyle, gaining experience in a vacation destination aligns with my long-term goalsCons: Highly competitive and expensive market, NOO STR is very unlikely for my situation, finding a property in an area that’s appealing to tourists may be difficult.Scenario 2: Buy property in a market adjacent to Nashville without owner occupancy requirements for STRs (e.g.