[van]

don't forget asia! it's still not too late to invest in china and vietnam imo.. you've just gotta go a little bit further out from the metropolises, but it's pretty much a sure thing. I'm not 100% sure about china, but in vietnam, it'd be best to know and trust someone in the country to basically help you work your way around all the bureaucratic red tape (i.e. bribes, etc.), and essentially "manage" the property for you. as both countries' economies continue to grow, and sprawl increases beyond current boundaries, what was formerly worthless rural land becomes gold. lots of former farmers and the like have made tens and hundreds of millions in USD in vn over the past few years (and they spend their money like the nouveau riche, too). My uncle (who's in the US...he's not a bumpkin!) saw a return of i think over 30x his investment in some farm land over a period of just a few years... and this was a few years ago, before things really started booming. i think, ultimately, the most important thing when purchasing property in foreign areas is to make sure you have some sort of trustworthy liaison physically there to manage things for you...