I've already been here 15 years... international health insurance premium x 15 years + interest + time and hassle saved = ? (you waste time calculating, I'm safe in the knowledge I've already beaten the game)

As for "casevac home"? Yunnan is home. :) Local medicine is fine - good enough for 1.4 billion people, good enough for me. After all, if you aren't able to get a doctor for an op here, you can always fly to Thailand.

The tremendous effort involved in putting together the whole notion is only justified in a tiny percentage of cases and if you take a very particular worldview, and 95% of the time it cannot be linked to anything tangible. In other words, you're being had.

Insurance is like the tooth fairy!

Agree also on the "Don't buy, renting is better in this market" line of thinking. Real estate security here is illusory anyway.

Even if you have a sweet place, great management, good price ... it could fall apart in 10 years, get knocked down by the government (or worse: everything around it does, and it doesn't), be next to a new huge construction project every year (meaning constant dust and noise), etc. That's not even mentioning the standard new-build apartment complex scenario where people moving in provide guaranteed renovation noise for the first 2-3 years. Then there's the 70 year dealio where the government wants you to pay again. Weird illegal shit that happens with utilities where they sell you as a monopolized market to a certain telecom company who refuse to provide the service you need. Water mains that just stop working for a week or more. You name it, I've seen it here.

With all the fundamental unknowns ... not all of which we can openly discuss ... renting just makes far more sense.

Check out prices for luxury apartments in Thailand if you must have your name on something .. they're far better and cheaper than Kunming.

Flying is super expensive last time I checked. There is no Thailand-like Air Asia low cost carrier.