There were a bunch of things that made me reach my breaking point and expatriate.  In the beginning when I purchased my home here on the tropical island, It was economic.

At first it was the crazy increases in home prices in the US.  I had the idea when I left the US in 2004 that I would work a couple years, come back to the desert southwest, and build a self sufficient home. Having spent many years living the American debt, paycheck, endless bills cycle, I had the strong desire to break it and get away from the endless treadmill.  I changed my mind when I saw property on a popular real estate broker site go from $10,000 for a bare piece of land without utilities go to $30,000 in two years.