# Where can I buy land for cheap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517 "2013-03-21T03:12:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/1 "2013-03-21T03:12:49Z")
Suppose I wanted to take $1000 and buy as much land as possible. Where would that be? The only requirement is that I could get a valid deed (or local equivalent) that is recognized by the official government and there’s a good chance it won’t be seized by the government on a whim. I still hold out hope that I can buy Bir Tawil for $2 ($1 for Eqypt and $1 for the Sudan). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/2 "2013-03-21T03:48:51Z")
Perhaps because I’m putting too much emphasis on the deed/seizure part, I think first of the Australian Outback, Northern Canada, or useless chunks of Nevada. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/3 "2013-03-21T03:51:22Z")
Baltic and Mediterranean. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/4 "2013-03-21T04:05:41Z")
You may have the problem that countries with viable and dependable land registration systems may also have laws which prevent you from subdividing landholdings into unviably small plots, and - particularly if your $1000 is to be inclusive of registration fees, transaction taxes, etc - you may not be able to buy an amount of land which they are willing to subdivide as a distinct title. I’m pretty sure you’d have this problem in Australia, at any rate. You won’t get a small plot of land unless it has been zoned under the planning laws for the kind of development/use for which a small plot would be viable, and if it has that zoning then even the smallest plot will cost considerably more than $1,000. Having said that, last year you could buy a house for just one pound in a run-down street in Stoke, in England. The catch is that you had to accept an obligation to renovate the house (for which a low-interest load was also offered) and to live in it for five years before you could on-sell. So your total outlay would considerably exceed $1,000. > **[Yours for just £1: A house on BOND STREET (shame it's the crime-ridden one in...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184334/Empty-houses-sale-1-Britains-cheapest-street.html)** > > The one pound price tag aims to attract buyers to derelict buildings in Stoke, Staffordshire (pictured). A £30,000 low interest loan for renovations will be thrown in too. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/5 "2013-03-21T04:51:18Z")
Atacama desert in Chile. And if you play your cards right, you might be able to call the [POLARBEAR telescope](http://bolo.berkeley.edu/polarbear/?q=node/22) your neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/6 "2013-03-21T04:59:38Z")
Well, I have some rubbish land in Tennessee, or rather my mom does. We’d quite like to be rid of it… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/7 "2013-03-21T05:01:47Z")
Previous thread on the same or a closely related topic: > **[Where can I buy worthless land?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630201)** > > There’s an old story about people being defrauded by a shyster real estate agent and tricked into buying worthless swampland in Florida. Where can I (knowingly and willingly) get me some of that worthless land (on the cheap, of course, it’s... ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/8 "2013-03-21T14:01:29Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Baltic and Mediterranean. Say what? I’m pretty sure land on the Mediterranean is pretty damn expensive, by global standards. There’s also the added fun element that in certain places, e.g. Spain, lots of the land never had the right permits etc and can be seized right back, or at least have the buildings on it razed. Or in Cyprus you might find that the family who owned it before the Turkish occupation come knocking at your door with the deeds to “your” land… ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/9 "2013-03-21T14:15:00Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Say what? I’m pretty sure land on the Mediterranean is pretty damn expensive, by global standards. There’s also the added fun element that in certain places, e.g. Spain, lots of the land never had the right permits etc and can be seized right back, or at least have the buildings on it razed. Or in Cyprus you might find that the family who owned it before the Turkish occupation come knocking at your door with the deeds to “your” land… This is a vailed reference to the game Monopoly I think… ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/10 "2013-03-21T14:18:03Z")
Buy land around the “Salton Sea”…in the California desert. Some day, it will be like present day Palm Springs. There is plenty of cheap/worthless land available. But most of it is far away from civilization. My theory is that as energy prices rise, it is going to get harder and harder to live out in the sticks-unless you want to live like a Mountain man ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/11 "2013-03-21T17:47:14Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > Perhaps because I’m putting too much emphasis on the deed/seizure part, I think first of the Australian Outback, Northern Canada, or useless chunks of Nevada. A while back a cousin of mine was able to buy a few acres of Utah desert for around $20 in back taxes, the previous owner had abandonded it, so he saw it online and went to the tax sale. Not quite a salt flat, but from the pictures it is periodically flooded (judging by the look of the soil). I don’t think it would be possible grow anything but salt brush on it. Nothing stopping you from building on it if you wanted to, but no roads within a mile or so. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/12 "2013-03-21T17:55:11Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Baltic and Mediterranean. > [@Colophon](#): > > Say what? I’m pretty sure land on the Mediterranean is pretty damn expensive, by global standards. 'tis a joke, but you’d have to have played [the US version of Monopoly](http://monopoly.wikia.com/wiki/Baltic_Avenue) to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/13 "2013-03-21T19:46:40Z")
I just saw land for sale in Wyoming for $250 an acre, let me see if I can pull it [up](http://www.acreage4less.com/listing.htm#_1_1a). But those kind of prices on small lots would be difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/14 "2013-03-21T20:07:22Z")
Why do some of you assume I want a small lot. I’m talking $1/ac of Libyan sanddunes in the Sahara or 5000 acres of beautifaul Siberian tundra. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/15 "2013-03-21T20:30:50Z")
If you want to move to a one-horse town in Kansas, they’ll [just give it to you](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/us-land-free-idUSBRE83001N20120401). Comes with a few caveats, though (you have to build house on it, and possibly live there for a year or two). There are similar programs all throughout “flyover country.” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/16 "2013-03-21T21:24:08Z")
I don’t think a 100’ x 150’ lot that I have to build on qualifies as lots of land or cheap. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/17 "2013-03-21T22:47:10Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why do some of you assume I want a small lot. Maybe because you mentioned a $1000 figure in the OP? ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/18 "2013-03-21T23:10:02Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > think first of the Australian Outback I think you’ll find Australian land prices are comparatively high. [Knock yourself out](http://www.buyacres.com.au/real-estate-property/list?type=sale&keywords=&state=®ion=&category=rural-land-1-25-acres&price=0-250000&page=1&sort=price&dir=asc). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/19 "2013-03-21T23:55:47Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Maybe because you mentioned a $1000 figure in the OP? But that is in the US. What would $1000 buy in Chad or the Gobi Desert? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517/20 "2013-03-22T00:31:56Z")
The Gobi Desert is mostly not privately owned, and the Chinese government isn’t going to sell you vast tracts of it for $1 an acre. The problem with buying vast tracts of land in the third world is that land titles often aren’t very clear. There are people who might live on certain land, and feel they have a right to the land, but don’t have formal title to the land other than the fact that their ancestors lived there. Or there are laws or customs that forbid the alienation of land. And there is unused “worthless” land, but that land is typically owned by the government and they aren’t selling. Or it’s owned by some rich oligarch, who also isn’t selling. Poor people who might be tempted by the offer of a thousand bucks don’t have thousands of acres to sell, and even if they did they need the land to live on. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-land-for-cheap/653517.md?page=2)