The best place in the world to buy a second home is… [Cue the drumroll, please!] Ecuador. There is some pretty good reasoning behind one survey's placement of Ecuador at the top of the list. But that doesn't necessarily make it the best for you.

The best place for your second home should be your ideal destination for a weekend getaway, an annual vacation or an eventual retirement community. It probably ought to be a good potential rental, too, for additional income, or just because you'd rather not let a home sit empty most of the time. (See Buying A Second Home To Rent: Dos and Don'ts.) If it meets all of the above qualifications, it's definitely the best for you.

To narrow it down, it's helpful to take a look at the places that others consider best. That's where Ecuador comes in. The coastal South American nation tops the list of the world's best places for expats in the most recent survey by InterNations.org. Luxembourg and Mexico are also in the top three. (See 4 Reasons Why Americans Retire in Mexico and 4 Reasons Why Americans Retire in Ecuador.)

Most of the questions asked for the InterNations survey are pertinent to any expat, year-round or part-time. Respondents are asked to rate the quality of life, the ease of settling in, the opportunities for working abroad, the quality of family life and cost of living. Plus, there's one all-important question: How satisfied are you with life abroad in general?

The only question above that might not be immediately relevant to a second-home buyer is the one about job opportunity. But it is worth considering, because a country that makes it easy for expats to work is likelier to have a large and diverse expat community. Not to mention the possibility that you might begin to like your second home better than your first one.

But the same question on job opportunities also pushes some destinations beloved by Americans, like Italy and Greece, toward the bottom of the list of 61 nations, along with more obvious no-go zones in the Mideast, Russia and Africa. Unless you have a serious allergy to sunshine and olive trees, Italy and Greece may well be further up on your personal second-home list.

Kathleen Peddicord, publisher of Live and Invest Overseas, identifies these five far-flung places where an expat can find it all, meaning a beautiful place in the sun with rental income possibilities and investment potential:

• Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires or the Mendoza wine region. Timing is all-important here, because Argentina's economy, and its real estate prices, have wild ups and downs.
• Istanbul, because Turkey's economy and its capital are booming after a long dormant period.
• The Dominican Republic, because this newly popular Caribbean destination is still way cheaper than neighboring islands.
• Malaga, because it's the heart of the Costa del Sol, and thus should recover first as Spain's economy gains in strength.
• Medellín, because miracles happen, even in once-notorious drug trafficking centers in Colombia. (See Retire in Colombia With $200,000 of Savings?)

If you're in the market for a bargain for your second home, it's not too late. Some of the countries that were worst hit by the banking crisis of 2008 are only now beginning to show signs of life, and those signs are not in price but in volume. Some of the world's best second-home markets are on the list.

Spain has an enormous expat population, long dominated by Brits looking to escape the rain. But even there, prices have been falling for seven years, and haven't stopped yet.

However, the sheer volume of sales has been increasing, and that's a good sign for the future. In Portugal, the first average price increases since the crisis have been recorded. The gains so far are modest. That means you'll still pay 25% to 33% less than the peak prices of 2007 for second homes of good quality in some of the world's most sought-after destinations, including Spain and Portugal, according to World Property Journal.

The luxury second-home market, meaning a price tag of roughly $1 million and up, has its own rules. Realtors who cater to the rich and the super-rich report a big upswing in sales of the world's most desirable properties.

So, the best strategy for a rich person might be to avoid competing with the super-rich. For instance, the French Riviera remains the world's favorite second-home market for high-net-worth individuals, according to World Property Journal.

Luxury homes there now come at an average price above $3 million, and there is plenty of competition from Russian, Middle Eastern and British buyers. But comparable properties in the southwestern region of France remain a relative bargain at a little under $900,000. That's if you don't insist on your own vineyard. This part of France is now attracting wealthy Chinese buyers, and apparently they really like vineyards.

The same flexible approach to luxury-home location works for the not-quite-super-rich in other prime second-home markets. In Spain and Portugal, luxury real estate prices range from about $1.1 million in Sotogrande, a giant resort-style development in Spain, to around $1.8 million in the Algarve, the region along Portugal's southern Mediterranean coast.

Changes in world politics also have had an impact on the luxury second-home market, opening up new areas to explore. Coastal resort towns in Croatia and Montenegro are among Eastern Europe's new hot spots for second homes, and they are still far less expensive than their counterparts farther west.

If you're affluent enough to be considering buying a second home, but you're not super-rich, here's something to feel thankful for: There can be a downside to billionaire hotspots. According to Christie's Real Estate, a second home in Dubai has become the new must-have accessory for the super-rich. The capital of the United Arab Emirates is a kind of Middle Eastern Hong Kong with a touch of Disneyland, best known for its over-the-top luxury real estate. But Naynesh Desai, a London-based adviser to the super-rich, told Forbes he doubts the practicality of that particular use of money.

In fact, it seems to lack the qualifications for an ideal second home. It doesn't seem like an ideal destination for a weekend getaway, an annual vacation or an eventual retirement community. If you agree, you can look anywhere else in the world knowing that you're not competing in the favorite trophy property spot of billionaires.

You may also be interested in reading Strategies to Buy the Perfect Vacation Home.