@HannahyMartín0 I recently came across a small 4 building property for sale in Montezuma and it has me thinking of exactly what @Alexandra316 has already considered....
If I moved out of our main house and turned it into an STR, I could more than cover my US expenses while we were gone so the Costa Rica setup would just need to cover our expenses there and put us close enough to the beach to feel like we were at a working vacation.
In our case, we'd be looking to check out of US life for a few years and then come back before our kids start high school (they're 6,7&10).
So not the same retirement scenario that Alexandra proposed but I have some of the same concerns: how do the locals view expats, any concerns about an expat owning property, many listings are very cheap, how is the tourism, is the rainy season a problem, etc...
I've never enjoyed California, so @fred 's comment worries me a bit. But here in Austin our town slogan is Keep Austin Weird so a bohemian village sounds right up my alley. And my Spanish is limited, rusty & has most commonly been employed in restaurants and construction sites so a kind of americanized locale has some appeal.
But I'd love to hear @fred 's Panama thoughts as well.
Clearly we aren't the only folks considering running off to someplace sunnier!