We considered a second home in Italy. In one of those places where like you said, they're practically giving them away. But the renovation costs and the risks (will enough people move there to support infrastructure, stores etc) are considerations,. We were there a month ago, after spending a week in Malta, then Sicily, then Tuscany, we decided it's a nice place to visit but we wouldn't want to live there.
Mexico is a bit tricky nowadays. We did some diving in Tulum 3 years ago and considered moving there rather than to Europe. The cartel problem isn't getting better and there are other worrisome issues that are not prevalent in other countries such as Greece.
I haven't been to France yet but the few French I've run into don't impress me much.