Originally Posted by
UrbanMan
It's possible to buy land in most parts of Mexico (more bureaucracy than in the first world), except for land adjacent to the ocean, which has much in the way of unique rules to prevent foreigners from monopolizing all the beach front.
If you're out in the boonies of Mexico, you'll need to be comfortable with guns, as you kinda are your own police in terms of protecting your property. Human and animal threats. Mexico has attractive, low bureaucracy tourist visa options. As long you promise you won't work, its easy to be legal if you are American, Canadian or British (legal spouses of other nationalities, you'd have to investigate that - I've been there several times, and without fail I saw non-American Asian faces, if that means anything). You have to show you have enough money to support yourself and have a valid passport is really about it.
Most of the north half of Mexico is arid, you have to go to the south half generally speaking to get legit fauna. That said, there are probably some pockets in the north half that would be exceptions. The middle of Mexico gets mountainous (higher elevations), and that's where you will find places that are not baking year round.
As far as getting stuff built goes, accounts of getting things done in Mexico, many of them are similar to accounts of getting things done in LOS. When will workmen show up, how good are they at what they do, getting supplies, expect headaches.
50 acres might be hard to achieve, when land gets parceled up for sale, the parcels tend to be smaller, as foreigners in general don't want to come and be actual farmers/ranchers. However, money does of course talk.
Mexico is on my top 5 list as far as a place to at some point go hang for a few years. Me, I'll aim for a city or at least a town, as I am the Urbanman after all.