Help me to understand…please!

Okay now I consider myself a fairly intelligent guy – so why am I having so much trouble understanding simple economics.    What am I talking about?    Well let me explain… and be patient with me as I’m typing this after a few too many glasses of wine.    My wife and I watch several shows like ‘House Hunters International’ where some well-off foreigner is looking to buy some hobble in a  second or third world country.    What makes me scratch my head and ponder the question that leads to this post is – why on earth, could a run down, no internal plumbing, barely standing, shack, in some small underprivileged village cost upwards of $200K.     I mean this same place, mind you I’m not talking about ocean front property, would cost between 20 and 60K here in the United States.   How can it demand so much money in any country that isn’t defined as the most prosperous, well-to-do and economically well-off place to live in the world?   Is it that the locals are taking advantage of dim-witted foreigners who define any place without running water as exotic?   Have we lost our marbles?    Or have I?    Please tell me what in the “h” “e” double hocky sticks is going on?    Looking for answers among the mist of ill-conceived ideas…  J/W