Speaking of "catches".... years ago when I was doing financial planning for fee... I had an Hispanic client who was an engineer with a master-degreed wife. (They weren't stupid.. they were educated... but they were also greedy... looking for a "free lunch") They wanted to buy "Mexican CDs yielding 24%". I advised them that "anyone/country paying that kind of yield has severe financial problems and the currency devaluation/default risk is high". Well, they ignored my guidance and piled into the CDs anyway. Bottom line... after one year, they collected their 24% interest, but after taxes and currency devaluation, they lost a big chunk*. I'd cautioned them, but they didn't listen. * Could have been worse. Their debt could have been defaulted upon and they could have lost more... maybe even 100% of their investment. (BTW... A LARGE part of financial success in the long runs depends upon the "big mistakes you don't make".) Investing in Greece seems potentially similar at this point.
It's come down to Greece (thank Vandy !), Costa Rica, and Amsterdam.... the latter of which I've heard has some fabulously beautiful dames.... with bodacious sets of "ta-ta"s. (David Keith - Officer and a Gentleman, 1982). re: "Worley: Did you see that bodacious set of tatas?" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084434/quotes
I just bought a small farm in New Zealand. Not far from a tourist beach... Needs a lot of work to make money from it but it will be there when I retire. And the price was low: it is only near Auckland that the prices hit the million dollar mark. Having said that, I am a great admirer of the American conservative tradition and I could just as easily settle down in Montana or south Dakota - given a green card. New Zealand has a streak of socialism that has been weakened during the last 5 decades but it is still closer to a democrat dream than to the ideals of Judge Bork or William Buckley.
If you want to buy property in Greece, choose it wisely because they have a vicious wind in the summer that blows North to South. You want a property to be sheltered from that otherwise on many days you won't even be able to site outside by your pool. Here's a Youtube clip of the wind.