Let's go by parts and get some numbers:
Brazil is classified by the World Bank as upper-middle income country. That means, you don’t have to take my word here, but that from hundreds of highly qualified economists and social scientists; link below. BTW, third world is a so old expression that I only read/heard it in this forum:
Data - Country Groups
You cannot expect to have Scandinavian services in Brazil, but something in between. Life gave me the opportunity to travel among very rich countries as well poor countries, and Brazil is in between.
Regarding Human Development Index, Brazil is classified in 70th place (JM pointed this out once), the last position in the “High Human Development” group. Again, don’t take my word for it, this index was create by a Nobel Prize in Economics and is published by UNDP.
Statistics - Human Development Reports (UNDP)
NE is the poorest part of Brazil. But the folks there are usually more easy going, way more, than people from south. Lots of beaches mostly of the year, while in the South beaches are fantastic as well, but they are only warm January-February. Rio Grande do Norte become a very popular destination among Brazilians (Natal, Pipa, Pirangi,…) as well, tough it is true for other NE states, for instance, Ceara and Alagoas (nice beaches),well all of them. In the South, where I have an apartment, we don’t have problems with electricity or water. My building has municipal water supply and a water well, and we can drink directly from any of them without any sort of water filter. Cars in Brazil are very expensive, heavily taxed. Food in general is cheap; to compare electronics prices you can check the websites below and compare with the WalMart to have an idea:
Americanas.com: Os melhores preços e ofertas em CDs, DVDs, Livros, Eletrônicos, Informática, Cine e Foto, Telefones e Celulares, Eletrodomésticos, Brinquedos,Instrumentos...
Submarino.com.br: Livros, CDs, DVDs, Eletrônicos, Câmeras Digitais, Telefonia e muito mais
Cost of living: In dollars terms, things increased in price drastically lately, a combination of dollar weaknest with overvalued real. Check the link below:
USDBRL=X: Summary for USD to BRL - Yahoo! Finance
I’m a Brazilian living abroad with salary in dollars. My family just arrived in Brazil for Summer holidays, and my wife exchange each dollar for 1.65 reais; just few years ago, it was 1 to 3, a 50% drop in the value of the dollar, what explains part of the cost of living in US dollar terms. And that put us back to the property issue:
If you are just looking for something nice to live, without investment as a primary concern, than Graymax is absolutely right for pointing this out again.
If you are considering as investment, you have to take account that the dollar may bounce back during the coming years, at least at some extent (and I truly hope for it!!); but (there is always a “but”) property in Brazil is booming and any exchange rate gain may be completely offset if you wait. Than, guys in this forum have been debating the pros and cons of buying now or wait, resales or off-plan, and so on. I cannot advice on that because I’m nearly ignorant when comes down to property, and other things carry a bit of risk (no advice). But I will tell my situation.
I was planning to sell my apt. in the South to buy a Summer house in RG or Ceara. But my family wants to keep our apt. in Brazil for a variety of reasons (friends,…). I’ve a bit of money in stocks but I’ll not sell because I believe stocks in Brazil look very promising for the coming years. So, I’m down to send money in dollars to Brazil with the actual exchange rate. What I will do (until I change mind again) is to buy a plot in a condominium and hire someone to built my house (I will never put for rent) or buy an off-plan so I can pay in installments. This way I believe I will not lose the property momentum and allows me to deal with exchange rate issue by parts. Again, this is not from an investment perspective (It’s a summer house, eventually for retirement), but how I will deal with the situation.
Long post, my family is far, and I’m half way of a depression…
P.S.: Last time I was in New Orleans I lost the boat ride because of the fog, but we walked through the French Quarter. Food in Brazil is completely different from a region to another, but in general terms, I think NO food is the closest one to South America. And you have Carnaval too, but different...
PPS: Robh, is it possible swimming among dolphins in Pipa, or just look from the boats. I saw some great pictures. Is it like Fernando de Noronha where it is not allowed, for conservation reasons?