Who has not fantasized while traveling in a foreign country of snapping up some irresistible piece of real estate--a Tuscan farmhouse, Scottish castle or Argentine ranch--and beginning a whole new life that combines just the right mix of adventure and tranquility? If I lived here, you say to yourself, I could enjoy myself so much that I would stay young forever. Of course, returning home usually brings you back to reality: early retirement seems so far off, family and friends are too dear to desert, the logistics are unmanageable.
Yet the dream need not disappear, as more and more Americans are...