There have always been people who wanted to live in remote mountain/beach towns. Ski/surf bums are not new. What is new is being able to work remotely through the Internet for a company located in some place where there is more economic activity or being able to pile up enough wealth in places like coastal California to move to a remote area and semi-retire at a youngish age.

If you're retired on a fixed income in Austin and own a house you can defer paying property taxes until you die so there's no reason this person should have to move.