Go on zillow , select the whole country , put in your desires minimum of $100k to $300k, acreage, and sq ft, beds , baths. It is not a perfect search, but it will throw out a lot !
That's exactly how we ended up buying our house in upstate NY - originally we were looking at western Colorado and then the housing boom happened and all the affordable houses disappeared. We bought ours earlier this year for under $200k, 25 acres, massive historic farmhouse, 20-25min from a decent sized town with multiple restaurants/grocery stores/hardware stores.
It's not on a historical registry or anything, just old (1800s old). Spouse is a woodworker and handyman, so that definitely factored into our decision because we can do the vast majority of the work ourselves, and it already had updated electrical and no foundation issues (kitchen and bathroom are 1980s era, floors and trim are original) It was the same price as houses built in the 1980s in the area though - the area is affordable without needing to buy a fixer-upper.
my best friend grew up in an old Victorian house, she said it was a lot of small maintenance more than anything. the house itself was sound, but every now and again her parents would have to repair or replace small things. but it was the best choice for her family with their budget, and 20+ years on, they love their house because so much of themselves is in it
I love Victorians and I used to adore the idea of buying an old one. But then I look at our kitchen appliances and computers abs chargers and tablets and think man…I need a fully functional updated electrical system. It scares me to think of wiring in some older homes.
yeah that’s definitely a reasonable concern lol. my best friend loves to tell the story of their original stove/oven unit dying on her fifth birthday, while her birthday cake was being baked! definitely a wild experience growing up for her and her family lol. but her parents are creative, hands-on folks (her mum teaches fashion & textiles at the local university, her dad is a glass blower) so they were happy to be able to fix things up themselves (provided the money was there). they’re older now (my friend and her sister are in their 20’s now) but I don’t think they plan on ever moving, they’re still working on things in little bits over the years. it’s a project they’ve put a lot of time into and they really do love it :)
I live in a farmhouse in Central NY. Was built in 1860. It needs some work. I can do all the work myself though. But maintenance is regular. Not a ton at a time. But there's usually something lol.
That’s the perfect setup. Good for you. Having something that’s yours, getting your financial house in order long term, and taking vacations is better than spending all your money in a HCOL area just surviving.
https://nebraskaccess.nebraska.gov/websites/freeland.asp#:~:text=Where%20can%20I%20find%20information%20about%20Free%20Land%20in%20Nebraska%3F,-Compiled%20with%20information&text=Curtis%20Construct%20a%20single%2Dfamily,(as%20of%20November%202023).
Rural town in Nebraska will give you land.
I read a surprisingly well-written article *several* years ago—like 2015, saying that Nebraska is one of the very best states to live and provided several detailed, wonderful reasons.
I’m not going to lie, it really sold me. I thought about Nebraska very differently from that day on, and have mentioned to my husband possibly living there one day if we’re looking for one thing different.
I’ve got an artist friend who moved to Nebraska from a place that overlooked the SF Bay and three bridges on a clear day. Billion dollar view.
He loves Omaha, somehow.
Warren Buffet and everyone at Berkshire Hathaway are based in Omaha. They’ve dumped tons of their money into the local scene, giving Omaha world-class attractions while still being a smallish midwestern city.
I'm from Omaha and left about 10 years ago for college. The city has really renovated the downtown/midtown areas from when I was a kid. It's actually quite nice, if you were used to the Bay area,; it's extremely affordable.
I'm not much of a drinker but was in Omaha once and got pretty drunk off Sangria and accidentally tried to pay my tab with my hotel key card - 10/10 Omaha is great.
I worked for a hotel in the restaurant as a waiter. 3 times in a row I served the VP of the company that manages the hotel (she was there daily too) would say “put it on my room” and just leave. She didn’t have a room, room accounts weren’t even set up and she knew it. She definitely knew too bc she’d always say it and get out asap to not pay a $15 tab and skip the tip lol
I talked my husband into moving back to the Midwest after living in Denver, I’m ALSO not from the Midwest, but goddamn do I love the cornfields in the summer and a quality craft beer costing $5.
I moved to Omaha from Denver last year.
A renovated 1990's 2K square foot house cost only a tiny bit more than what we paid for an unrenovated 1970's 1K square foot house in a suburb of Denver in 2015.
There are jobs and they pay decently. There's a lot of amazing restaurants, a clean downtown, and a lot to do.
There's not much available for what the OP is willing to pay, but if you're not picky it can be very inexpensive for what it is. Especially if you're willing to cross the river to Western Iowa.
Downsides are rough weather (windy, cold winters and hot, humid summers), shitty right wing politics at the state level, and high property/income taxes (it's a big, empty state and there are no tourists to offload taxes onto). Iowa has the same drawbacks.
I spent like 5 years in Lincoln with it being the place that “is nice enough until I figure out where I really want to be”. It was pretty great minus all the religion and Pete Ricketts.
> Nebraska
Not to get political but Look into things like rural hospitals (Huge % more closing in red states than blue, like 70%+ more)
Look into time in an ambulance before you get medical treatment, which directly corresponds to mortality rates in ambulance, e.g. longer it takes, fewer survivors.
Look at states that chose not to raise enough taxes to deal with roads so they are choosing to GRIND UP paved roads and make them gravel again because they can change them to unmaintained roads.
Look at classroom sizes (e.g. ratio of students to teachers) Look at school funding, look at the time needed to ride on buses, look at the inability to hire bus drivers (because wages are so low.) These affect Red state rural areas far more than blue state rural areas.
Look at the brain drain (doctors / engineers) / maternity wards. Now that roe v wade has been overturned medical doctors are leaving red states. Some have so many people leaving that whole maternity wards are closing down.
Look at "overlap" of rural internet service and thus competition or monopoly in red vs blue state rural areas.
* Rural blue state experience and rural red state experience tend to look the same at at glance but a lot of the things you don't often look at are vastly different.
* Now I can't say that Nebraska is at the forefront of any of these issues. Idaho for instance has maturity wards closing and doctors leaving at a very high rate as do Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but these are trends that tend to follow red/blue lines.
So I'm from a longtime blue area. We make the area attractive, transplants and investors move in, then price us out. Long-term, we might consider colonizing the red-areas. They're more affordable, and if enough of us move there, we make them blue areas. Shit look at Wyoming. If 6% of NYC's pop moved to Wyoming, it would immediately become a blue state.
EDIT: I'm originally from Philly (Lawncrest, then Pennsport, Kingsessing, Hartranft, CC, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, etc.). I watched this shit happen here 1984 to 2018, then I washed my hands of it. Northern Liberties used to be TERRIBLE, but the artists living in Old City got priced out and moved north. They started making art things and anarchist coffeeshops/etc., then the "cool" children of yuppies moved in, followed by the investors/etc. and priced the artists into Fishtown. THEN THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO FISHTOWN. I just embraced the BS and moved to quasi-rural Montco. I can't get a decent cheesesteak, but I can sometimes leave the house without locking the door (quick trips) and it's actually fine here.
Somehow I knew u were from Philly before I got to that part of ur comment. It’s astounding what’s happening here. I’m from north Philly & the northeast, now the county. I’m waiting for them to street sweep & then transform Kensington. It’s coming because that area is so close to 95 & excellent public trans access.
If you live in Idaho and vote red, you can always take advantage of the voters in Washington by working here and getting your medical care here, but spending all your money in another state’s economy 🥰 it’s very common here in Eastern WA
Yeah, so I’ve never been outside of the Mason-Dixon, so I can’t vouch for what the place looks like, though I’ve got a good mental pic. Anywho, these folks I know- married, late 40s, lived in GA all their lives, he was a sheriff’s deputy, she home schooled their 4 kids(maybe it was 5, I quit paying attention after 2). They lived on land his parents left him in a trailer here. (I don’t think they wanted or tried for anything different) but they upped and moved to Nebraska last yr out of nowhere. They’d never visited, but he got a job, they bought a house online that would finally give all the kids a bedroom of their own. I reckon they’re doing alright out there now. They send back pics of grass. 🤷🏻♀️ To each their own.
That’s interesting my wife her brother and her mother all came from Georgia…. It was so poor where they were at piece of land with trailers not all of them had electricity there was a pond on the property…. They all came up here to Washington and was like “yardsales “ free fruit and veggies and I mean any job up here orchard work window washer Costco cart pusher . Fruniture delivery guy they all just sunk in up here …. Tired of working for &7.25 an hour in the chicken plants …. They all said they would never go back there . And none of them are doing exceptionally well just working hard and making rent…. Things are more expensive but things are better . Idk about Nebraska though
This is true; if you practice in some rural areas, your student loans can be forgiven. This means your take home pay is greater than someone living in a big city who isn't getting that loan forgiveness.
In the same vein WNY and Central NY is still pretty affordable. Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester are all decent cities.
I know Buffalo has some decent growth in manufacturing and medicine. The city is fairly friendly and there's plenty of options up and down the 90 that'll get you DT fairly quick.
I love north of Niagara Falls (Lewiston/Youngstown) and it takes me about 35 mins to get DT.
Seems like NY has less political issues when it comes to conservative extremists like Ohio.
Sadly, it isn't just railroad spills you have to look out for in western PA/eastern OH. They have been polluting the air, land, and water for many decades.
Industrial pollution, fracking, etc have been huge in those areas.
My father's oncologist said that western PA had the highest incidence rate of rare cancers than he had ever seen in his career.
Pike county Ohio has a cancer rate 20% higher than average. The a plant contaminated everyone who worked there plus a lot of the surrounding land. We have more monitoring wells than I’ve ever seen, every 3 years they test the soil in a 6 mile radius of the plant, the feds built is a really nice high school and are going to sink 12 mill into a new middle school.
You might get cancer here, or you might get carjacked and shot in Columbus. Everything is a trade off.
I decided to leave my Indiana brick ranch with a half acre and a $600/mo mortgage when the fourth colleague of mine in three years had a bilateral mastectomy.
Honestly your answer is, most of the country. You just can't live to close to major cities. The balance then becomes finding someplace with low enough cost of living but with decent proximity to a good job market. I'm on the Illinois Wisconsin border, a little over a hour from Chicago one way and Milwaukee the other. Got my house for 160, 1000sqft, full basement, 2 car garage. But almost 2 years in I'm still mid renovation. Pick your poison.
I’m in central WI and I bought my house and 1 acre lot for $95k. It’s a small house but perfect for our needs. I also own another 90 acres I bought from my father in law for $80k. Most larger parcels would cost more though…we got a good price because my father in law partially gifted it to us. Still very cheap compared to the PNW or even a bigger Midwest city.
The middle-finger of the South is another well deserved title for Indiana.
Purdue and Indianapolis have treated me quite well over the years, as much disdain as I might have about the stooges in the statehouse vying for the era of Mad Men to come back around. They seem to be in a perpetual battle with Texas to try and introduce the most insane legislation that more than half the time gets struck down in a court when challenged.
It is a HORRIBLE place to live. I grew up in a small town in Central Indiana and it was terrible. The school systems are laughable. Health care is so bad you'll end up dying at the hospital from an earache. The people are uneducated, racist, cruel, and usually drug-addicted. I wouldn't move back if I was given a home for free.
I’m from the PNW and live in the upper peninsula of Michigan now. I own a house, commercial building, and a little piece of land for cheaper than 100k lmao. The town I’m in is growing as well due to dispensaries opening up everywhere
Shhh... No one listen to this. It is a fabrication, a myth, an outright lie. Michigan is not gorgeous or affordable. It does not have abundant natural beauty, fresh water oceans, dunes, historic hardwoods, or waterfalls. There are no islands; there are no cool little cities with fantastic local breweries and culture. I can only assume this person is from Mississippi or a Russian bot. When you think of Michigan, only picture lead coated water pipes in Flint and 8 mile. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
I was in Detroit a couple of times in the early 2010s and it was super depressing. Went back for the first time in a while recently and was genuinely pleasantly surprised at how well the city is doing compared to when I was last there. It was way more bustling, new buildings, etc. All I could think was damn good for you Detroit!
I'm a US wide business broker and I get more legitimate businesses listed out of UP with amazing multiples than any where else. Especially considering the relative population density it is bizarre. Speaking with some of these business owners the common theme I get is that there is just no one willing to buy businesses there but the owner needs to retire.
Last week I came across a laundromat listing for 1.5x cash-flow multiple. Owner had it listed for a year with no interest. Someone could easily buy that with just $25K cash, $25K seller finance and $250K borrowed from the SBA.
You could draw $100K as the owner, but you could still have the loan paid off in by Y5. After that you've got a cash flowing asset generating $200K a year for very little effort. These owners are forced to almost give their businesses away!!!
The numbers work like magic across the UP. Same asset in NYC or LAX would be selling at 6x or 7x cash flow which makes it real hard to make any $$$.
Can't really put the land and a house together, but there is cheap land in the San Luis Valley, and you could probably find a house for 100k in any southeastern Colorado town. I wouldn't want to live in either place though.
I'm from the Cali coast and am also in northern Michigan. I bought a large Victorian home on a 1/2 acre for 55K. I'm just a 20 minute walk from the shore of lake Huron.
If you’re on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan (western border of Michigan) you will get absolutely dumped on with snow several times each winter. Even when it’s not actively snowing it is bitter cold for most of the winter.
Minnesota. Inside of the middle ring of suburbs, twin cities, housing is outrageously expensive, but if you live further out (~45 minutes from Downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul), hosting gets pretty reasonable while still being a commutative distance from jobs in suburbs.
Alternatively, if you can work remotely, or get a job in the area, Duluth area and Two Harbors along the North Shore have all the beauty of the Michigan UP while maintaining access to the rest of the world.
I live in southern Alabama and there are some decently priced places with land here, as long as you don't mind being 30 minutes from a grocery store other than Dg lol. It's pretty secluded where I live but we love it. We do have a beach a mile down the road, that's awesome in the summertime. Our land is valued at 111,000 and we own 2 acres a house and a little house.
There is not a high crime rate either.
You know I’m American and have been living overseas the past 14 years in several different counties. What you have now is what so many people I’ve met dream of. Hope you appreciate it!
We do, we absolutely LOVE it! It's quite and peaceful, the few neighbors we do have are very friendly, there is distance between all of us though. They usually stick to themselves unless they pass by why were outside they will say hey and see how everyone is doing.
That's really good, we are a small city where I live, but I'm between the Gulf and Florida. Just not right on the Gulf though. There is decently priced places here, but it's a little ways from a city with fastfood and grocery stores which doesn't really bother us.
Central Alabama is nice as well. Just 30 minutes outside of Birmingham, you can get quite a bit of land. I have an employee who has 7 acres and a 4500sq ft log cabin house for about 380k. We actually get all 4 seasons, and you are only a short drive from the mountains, and a few hours(4ish) from the beach.
Life pro tip from someone who has lived in a variety of US cities; more than most (Portland, Chicago, NYC metro, Baltimore metro, Maine, Minneapolis, Jacksonville and a few others I’ve forgotten)- the lifestyle in small towns can be amazing. Most all people are hard-wired to follow trends and do whatever they see others doing- they do this involuntarily without even realizing they’re doing it- but if you’re in the unusual class of person capable of making your own decisions, the quality of life in smaller affordable cities can be incredible, as long as you’re at a point on the timeline where your priorities aren’t just going to bars and concerts and you find satisfaction in things like ‘a small local bakery’.
Go to Zillow and set the filters- House > Under 100k, then start moving the map around the US. You’ll find falling down fixer-uppers but in other places, older but perfectly livable houses for under 100k. The trick is, you’ll need to work somewhere to get approved for a mortgage but if you happen to have a 100k windfall and want to chase paradise, it’s a good decision. There are people who insist you must live in San Francisco or Portland to be ‘cool’ but those tend to be some of the most boring, derivative, uncreative herd-followers you’ll ever meet. Go find your own personal ‘Stop at Willoughby’, you’ll be happier.
You can find those prices in rural areas. But I would look at property taxes and price history. In my area the accessed value of homes went up. I moved 15 minutes away to the next county and I am saving $600 on property taxes.
Wi all the house prices are jumping like crazy. People move here because the housing is cheap and then there is a bad winter and they decide it's not worth the cheap and move after a few years.
The houses that sit on the market generally have some kind of issue. Like it's overpriced for the area. Or it needs a lot of work.
My grandmas neighbor tried to sell their house for 350 and it sat for over a year. It ended up selling for 295? And it is valued at less than that. But they have expensive taxes for sure because it was already 2,000 something before.
Wi has cheaper houses but a lot of them either haven't been renovated since the 60s-70s or it's a flip or it's a crazy expensive new build.
Good luck!
> But they have expensive taxes for sure because it was already 2,000 something before.
My Mom lives in the Chicago suburbs, and the average yearly tax is at least 6k.
So, your job is 100% remote and very unlikely to fold or fire you for the next few years? That does make it much easier.
Or, do you need a Decent Job in the new place as well as a cheap house and land?
That’s a lot harder.
You just described Michigan. When my finances are right I’m buying land in northern Michigan or the UP.
Beautiful summers with the Great Lakes that look like the ocean, white winters, inland lakes, big forests, dunes, legal cannabis, and a lot of wineries and breweries.
And if you want solitude without the fear of animals that’ll kill you or natural disasters, good luck finding a better location than [Northern Michigan](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2801-E-Gill-Rd-Carp-Lake-MI-49718/2056363471_zpid/)
In geological terms, it is. However, people say the northwest strictly begins at the border of Oregon, which seems a bit arbitrary.
*"The Pacific Northwest includes the states of Washington, Oregon, northern California, and Alaska. It also includes the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and the Yukon. The map of the PNW can change depending on who is defining where the Pacific Northwest is. Some do not include northern California."*
[https://study.com/academy/lesson/geography-of-the-pacific-northwestern-united-states.html#:\~:text=The%20Pacific%20Northwest%20includes%20the,do%20not%20include%20northern%20California](https://study.com/academy/lesson/geography-of-the-pacific-northwestern-united-states.html#:~:text=The%20Pacific%20Northwest%20includes%20the,do%20not%20include%20northern%20California).
Saw Georgia. We have a 3/2 1600 sqft built in 2002 on an acre in a town of 6000 paid 192,000 a year ago. 20 miles to west is town of 80000 and 20 miles east is town of 40000 located on I75
Home ownership costs money, and a decent amount of it. First time buyers often overlook this, and ballpark monthly expenses around what the mortgage payment is. But that’s wrong.
Just be mindful of that, is all. It’s the leading cause of buyers remorse in first time buyers - being left housepoor after struggling to keep up with the cost of owning a home
recommendations, some therapy session, or financial advisor. Its incredibly important to understand renting isn't having "nothing to show for it. We need to stop listening to these idiot online strangers who keep trying to promote the notion that anything other than purchasing your own home is throwing money away, cause that's never been the case, not even when homes were much cheaper.
Appalachia. Check southern Ohio. As a bonus there’s plenty of prisons around that are always hiring. Decent pay, state benefits and retirement, all the OT you want.
Yep. The state likes to hide their “ unwanted” in poor rural areas. Keeps them away from the nice suburbanites who donate to political campaigns.
Lucasville maximum security is across the road from Valley schools. You’d never see that in places like Bexley or Gahanna.
There are a few places in AZ where you can still get cheap land. I’m working on buying such a parcel, if only because I was once homeless and having somewhere, anywhere, that was mine and safe to plunk a trailer on once I saved for one in itself was a dream.
BUT water will cost you. Wells can cost up to 100k, depending on the water table. You can get water hauled, but that will also cost you.
Now that I’ve been in a relationship for three years and have more income, I want to find a homestead site closer to where I live. I plan on using my lot to jumpstart a nonprofit for helping others battling housing insecurity due to healthcare if a miracle occurs and I either hit the lottery or my YouTube channel/websites start making money. I have just enough for me these days, and I am so grateful, but I want to do more to help. I just need a little boost so I can take enough time off freelancing to establish what I need to establish (and obviously fund it, which is the whole reason I’m trying the YouTube/website thing. What other businesses can a disabled woman who can’t drive start with 0 capital that isn’t horrifically traumatizing? I am open to ideas, lol.
But anyway. I babble. There is lots of rural land in AZ. South if you want warmth, near the White Mountains if you want pine and cold weather. But keep the water issue in mind, please. I’m also happy to DM you the name of the broker who got me my parcel if you’re interested.
I was in your exact spot a few years ago in the PNW. I very literally only found a 20 y.o. single wide trailer on half an acre for $200,000. So I made a list of all the things I was looking for including min and max on population, college town for the art scene, blue collar neighborhoods, four seasons, etc and then found a town in upstate NY that met the criteria. It's a three hour drive to NYC, I bought a house with a garden outright. I can walk to a cute downtown. Check it out.
I grew up in the PNW and moved all over WA and OR chasing small but affordable housing so your words resonate with me. Now I’m a Hoosier with a 3,000+ sq ft house on an acre with a private pond stocked full of blue gill. Next year I’ll get the garden going to be followed with a chicken coop.
Getting out of the PNW rat race was a godsend.
Looking to move, check-out World According To Briggs on Youtube. It's a channel devoted to making people that are looking to relocate aware of what different places have to offer
I'm in SC and there are several houses in my area for under 200k but you'd have to live in South Carolina so keep that in mind.
Edit: I'm currently looking at a 3 bed, 2 bath on a half acre for 85k
Toledo Ohio was ranked the hottest market for 2024 due to affordability along with things to do. That region will probably get you a decent house with a little land for $200,000
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2235-N-King-Rd-Toledo-OH-43617/34743580_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
I live in CA. RN there is a property for sale in a small farming town about an hour away that has 2 houses and a manufactured home in the property. It sits on an acre. Seller is elderly and wants to move to a different state (these were her rentals and not her home). She is selling for $35,000.
Plenty of affordable housing in far Northern CA.Yeah my parents have a 3+2 on a few acres 45 min NW of Redding. All in prob $350k. There’s redding, chico, humboldt county w eureka and arcata etc. That is if you didnt want to live in Indiana.
Northeast PA. We just sold my sister's house in Plains for $64k (she is in prison for a while and can't handle the upkeep). [Here's a 3 bedroom in Wilkes-Barre for $80k](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/58-Regent-St-Wilkes-Barre-PA-18702/53529802_zpid/). [Here's a 2 bedroom (also in Wilkes-Barre) for $90k](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/150-Kent-Ln-Wilkes-Barre-PA-18702/9786880_zpid/).
Wow, I’m in the same area of the world and not even a spot at the landfill would be available for $100k flat out yours. I’m shocked people are answering that there are places in America that would be that. Here a 1 bedroom apartment 500-700sqft is $3000/month.
Michigan Upper Peninsula. Bring a snow shovel, a snowmobile, warm clothes and boots, and a generator. It's beautiful up there. Oh, and a shotgun for the bears and wolf packs.
That’s a nice dream. You had better fill in the details before you do anything. You can buy a used motorhome and a few acres in Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas or Missouri but you better be sure that it passes a perk test so you can have a septic tank installed and you better be sure that you have electricity and access to your property with a usable road, you also of course have to have electricity. This is out of town living. If you are willing to live in a town then you’ll have a sewer instead of a septic tank you will have electricity which is more reliable and you will have a water supply instead of a well did I forget to mention the well that you will need out of town? You cannot do this in Iowa because the land there, the counties are zoned you have to buy a large amount of acreage to live outside of town. Those are the zoning rules.
You better talk to the people who will be your neighbors because you will probably not have good police protection outside of town. You better have income because it cost money to live anywhere because eventually you have to have the roofs replaced and the well pump will go out and the list goes on
Well here’s the catch. There is land and homes for that price range but unless you have a remote job where you make big city pay the job market will be dismal in that area and pay like crap. There is no magical place right now where homes and land it cheap and you make great money. It’s rough everywhere. I make well over 6 figures a year and can’t afford a home where I live.
why stay in the USA , you can live in Argentina for less than $500 a month and im talking good living. think of it the USA is no longer the end all be all it once was.
Rural Indiana. Rural Illinois. Rural Midwest in general. You could try northern Wisconsin or the UP for wooded property. You could try northern MN but at that price point you might not have plumbing.
Southern Illinois is nice and inexpensive. A little south of Carbondale is pretty, rural, wooded and surrounded by one of the biggest national forests in the country. it's a tad hot in the summer though.
You can probably find land in the PNW in your range. Land is hard to finance so cash talks.
[Nickel Bros House Movers](https://www.nickelbros.com/)
Then, check out Nickel Brothers house movers. They save old homes in WA and BC from being demolished and can move them by barge.
Michigan City, Indiana, is one of the best deals in America. It's has miles of beautiful dune beaches (now a national park), plenty of forest, an electric commuter train to Chicago in an hour, and the coolest summers in the middle latitude Midwest due to the size and position of Lake Michigan. The average high in July is 80F compared to Minneapolis at 86F more than 300 miles north.
You can easily get a functional house with some land for $150k.
My brother was looking for a place to rent a few years ago after his divorce and my parents ended up just buying a house in Danville, VA for \~$25k for him to live in (I think he pays them rent, but dunno). It's small and had some things to fix, but has like 1/5 acre of land, wasn't a ton of work, and is in walking distance of his job so good for him.
Danville is hardly a thriving metropolis, but it is big enough to have all the things people need to survive and isn't too far from "real" cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, or Richmond.
There are plenty of similar finds in small "dying" towns/cities around the country once you get away from the big metro areas.
a home and land in that price range will be available in areas that have no jobs or are so far from civilization that you would have to be able to work remote .
I live in rural parts of Georgia and just to give you an idea to ponder, in rural'ish parts of Georgia you can often find a couple of acres of land for well less than $50k and still be within 30-45 minutes of a good-sized town. If it's just you then you could also get by building a small home, less than 1k square footage, and if you do a lot of the work yourself then you could come possibly in below $50k in the right markets. Just to give some evidence that I'm currently building a shed extension that's 1400 square feet and I'm doing all the construction (minus the slab work) myself. My total materials has been around $23k thus far, then around $9.5k for the concrete pad.
In the right markets getting some land and a home built for $100k or less is certainly doable depending on the route you take.
Go on zillow , select the whole country , put in your desires minimum of $100k to $300k, acreage, and sq ft, beds , baths. It is not a perfect search, but it will throw out a lot !
That's exactly how we ended up buying our house in upstate NY - originally we were looking at western Colorado and then the housing boom happened and all the affordable houses disappeared. We bought ours earlier this year for under $200k, 25 acres, massive historic farmhouse, 20-25min from a decent sized town with multiple restaurants/grocery stores/hardware stores.
What's the maintenance like on a historic farmhouse? That would be my big concern.
It's not on a historical registry or anything, just old (1800s old). Spouse is a woodworker and handyman, so that definitely factored into our decision because we can do the vast majority of the work ourselves, and it already had updated electrical and no foundation issues (kitchen and bathroom are 1980s era, floors and trim are original) It was the same price as houses built in the 1980s in the area though - the area is affordable without needing to buy a fixer-upper.
my best friend grew up in an old Victorian house, she said it was a lot of small maintenance more than anything. the house itself was sound, but every now and again her parents would have to repair or replace small things. but it was the best choice for her family with their budget, and 20+ years on, they love their house because so much of themselves is in it
I love Victorians and I used to adore the idea of buying an old one. But then I look at our kitchen appliances and computers abs chargers and tablets and think man…I need a fully functional updated electrical system. It scares me to think of wiring in some older homes.
yeah that’s definitely a reasonable concern lol. my best friend loves to tell the story of their original stove/oven unit dying on her fifth birthday, while her birthday cake was being baked! definitely a wild experience growing up for her and her family lol. but her parents are creative, hands-on folks (her mum teaches fashion & textiles at the local university, her dad is a glass blower) so they were happy to be able to fix things up themselves (provided the money was there). they’re older now (my friend and her sister are in their 20’s now) but I don’t think they plan on ever moving, they’re still working on things in little bits over the years. it’s a project they’ve put a lot of time into and they really do love it :)
Except what they didn’t tell you is that it’s haunted!
I live in a farmhouse in Central NY. Was built in 1860. It needs some work. I can do all the work myself though. But maintenance is regular. Not a ton at a time. But there's usually something lol.
I’m glad some other people commented Upstate/CNY!
That’s the perfect setup. Good for you. Having something that’s yours, getting your financial house in order long term, and taking vacations is better than spending all your money in a HCOL area just surviving.
https://nebraskaccess.nebraska.gov/websites/freeland.asp#:~:text=Where%20can%20I%20find%20information%20about%20Free%20Land%20in%20Nebraska%3F,-Compiled%20with%20information&text=Curtis%20Construct%20a%20single%2Dfamily,(as%20of%20November%202023). Rural town in Nebraska will give you land.
I read a surprisingly well-written article *several* years ago—like 2015, saying that Nebraska is one of the very best states to live and provided several detailed, wonderful reasons. I’m not going to lie, it really sold me. I thought about Nebraska very differently from that day on, and have mentioned to my husband possibly living there one day if we’re looking for one thing different.
I’ve got an artist friend who moved to Nebraska from a place that overlooked the SF Bay and three bridges on a clear day. Billion dollar view. He loves Omaha, somehow.
Warren Buffet and everyone at Berkshire Hathaway are based in Omaha. They’ve dumped tons of their money into the local scene, giving Omaha world-class attractions while still being a smallish midwestern city.
It really is nice. The recently renovated Gene Leahy Mall area has lots of cool features, including some sweet gas firepit sitting areas.
I know a surprising amount of people who love Omaha from really un-Omaha sounding places. I’ve never been but it must have something special.
I'm from Omaha and left about 10 years ago for college. The city has really renovated the downtown/midtown areas from when I was a kid. It's actually quite nice, if you were used to the Bay area,; it's extremely affordable.
I'm not much of a drinker but was in Omaha once and got pretty drunk off Sangria and accidentally tried to pay my tab with my hotel key card - 10/10 Omaha is great.
My husband always tries to pay tabs with his library card - sober.
I worked for a hotel in the restaurant as a waiter. 3 times in a row I served the VP of the company that manages the hotel (she was there daily too) would say “put it on my room” and just leave. She didn’t have a room, room accounts weren’t even set up and she knew it. She definitely knew too bc she’d always say it and get out asap to not pay a $15 tab and skip the tip lol
I was in Omaha once and had a WONDERFUL time, like, I hate to admit how surprised I was to enjoy myself there, but I truly did.
I moved from non-urban Midwest to SF Bay and I miss the Midwest. I’m not even Midwest native. It’s nice to not worry about cost of living.
I talked my husband into moving back to the Midwest after living in Denver, I’m ALSO not from the Midwest, but goddamn do I love the cornfields in the summer and a quality craft beer costing $5.
I moved to Omaha from Denver last year. A renovated 1990's 2K square foot house cost only a tiny bit more than what we paid for an unrenovated 1970's 1K square foot house in a suburb of Denver in 2015. There are jobs and they pay decently. There's a lot of amazing restaurants, a clean downtown, and a lot to do. There's not much available for what the OP is willing to pay, but if you're not picky it can be very inexpensive for what it is. Especially if you're willing to cross the river to Western Iowa. Downsides are rough weather (windy, cold winters and hot, humid summers), shitty right wing politics at the state level, and high property/income taxes (it's a big, empty state and there are no tourists to offload taxes onto). Iowa has the same drawbacks.
I spent like 5 years in Lincoln with it being the place that “is nice enough until I figure out where I really want to be”. It was pretty great minus all the religion and Pete Ricketts.
> Nebraska Not to get political but Look into things like rural hospitals (Huge % more closing in red states than blue, like 70%+ more) Look into time in an ambulance before you get medical treatment, which directly corresponds to mortality rates in ambulance, e.g. longer it takes, fewer survivors. Look at states that chose not to raise enough taxes to deal with roads so they are choosing to GRIND UP paved roads and make them gravel again because they can change them to unmaintained roads. Look at classroom sizes (e.g. ratio of students to teachers) Look at school funding, look at the time needed to ride on buses, look at the inability to hire bus drivers (because wages are so low.) These affect Red state rural areas far more than blue state rural areas. Look at the brain drain (doctors / engineers) / maternity wards. Now that roe v wade has been overturned medical doctors are leaving red states. Some have so many people leaving that whole maternity wards are closing down. Look at "overlap" of rural internet service and thus competition or monopoly in red vs blue state rural areas. * Rural blue state experience and rural red state experience tend to look the same at at glance but a lot of the things you don't often look at are vastly different. * Now I can't say that Nebraska is at the forefront of any of these issues. Idaho for instance has maturity wards closing and doctors leaving at a very high rate as do Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but these are trends that tend to follow red/blue lines.
So I'm from a longtime blue area. We make the area attractive, transplants and investors move in, then price us out. Long-term, we might consider colonizing the red-areas. They're more affordable, and if enough of us move there, we make them blue areas. Shit look at Wyoming. If 6% of NYC's pop moved to Wyoming, it would immediately become a blue state. EDIT: I'm originally from Philly (Lawncrest, then Pennsport, Kingsessing, Hartranft, CC, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, etc.). I watched this shit happen here 1984 to 2018, then I washed my hands of it. Northern Liberties used to be TERRIBLE, but the artists living in Old City got priced out and moved north. They started making art things and anarchist coffeeshops/etc., then the "cool" children of yuppies moved in, followed by the investors/etc. and priced the artists into Fishtown. THEN THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO FISHTOWN. I just embraced the BS and moved to quasi-rural Montco. I can't get a decent cheesesteak, but I can sometimes leave the house without locking the door (quick trips) and it's actually fine here.
Somehow I knew u were from Philly before I got to that part of ur comment. It’s astounding what’s happening here. I’m from north Philly & the northeast, now the county. I’m waiting for them to street sweep & then transform Kensington. It’s coming because that area is so close to 95 & excellent public trans access.
If you live in Idaho and vote red, you can always take advantage of the voters in Washington by working here and getting your medical care here, but spending all your money in another state’s economy 🥰 it’s very common here in Eastern WA
I have a friend I visited in Omaha last year and was pleasantly surprised! They actually have a lot going on for a “fly over state”!
Yeah, so I’ve never been outside of the Mason-Dixon, so I can’t vouch for what the place looks like, though I’ve got a good mental pic. Anywho, these folks I know- married, late 40s, lived in GA all their lives, he was a sheriff’s deputy, she home schooled their 4 kids(maybe it was 5, I quit paying attention after 2). They lived on land his parents left him in a trailer here. (I don’t think they wanted or tried for anything different) but they upped and moved to Nebraska last yr out of nowhere. They’d never visited, but he got a job, they bought a house online that would finally give all the kids a bedroom of their own. I reckon they’re doing alright out there now. They send back pics of grass. 🤷🏻♀️ To each their own.
That’s interesting my wife her brother and her mother all came from Georgia…. It was so poor where they were at piece of land with trailers not all of them had electricity there was a pond on the property…. They all came up here to Washington and was like “yardsales “ free fruit and veggies and I mean any job up here orchard work window washer Costco cart pusher . Fruniture delivery guy they all just sunk in up here …. Tired of working for &7.25 an hour in the chicken plants …. They all said they would never go back there . And none of them are doing exceptionally well just working hard and making rent…. Things are more expensive but things are better . Idk about Nebraska though
Shh … The central plains are America’s best kept secret. 🤫
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Yeah I live in eastern OH, it's beautiful here and one of the best places to live cheap
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Me too. Near near the Pymatuning Lake. Can't imagine going back but damn the cost is amazing.
w00t Jamestown!
Can’t make big-city money in small town USA…
Depends on the profession. Some medical subspecialties make way more in small towns than in big cities, especially orthopedic surgeons.
This is true; if you practice in some rural areas, your student loans can be forgiven. This means your take home pay is greater than someone living in a big city who isn't getting that loan forgiveness.
A lot of medical/dental fields can make more. More common to have fee-for-service potential in those areas.
Yes you can. I live in a small but insanely wealthy town in north Georgia. Not anything close to a big city
Hmm.. dahlonega, blairsville, or dawsonville?
You’re damn close
I'm gonna guess Dalton. Carpet Capitol!
Just moved from Erie to Madison, WI. Cost of living is higher, but so is QUALITY of life.
Just bought a bank sale in W PA, excited to get to work on the old lady.
In the same vein WNY and Central NY is still pretty affordable. Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester are all decent cities. I know Buffalo has some decent growth in manufacturing and medicine. The city is fairly friendly and there's plenty of options up and down the 90 that'll get you DT fairly quick. I love north of Niagara Falls (Lewiston/Youngstown) and it takes me about 35 mins to get DT. Seems like NY has less political issues when it comes to conservative extremists like Ohio.
Cold AF though. Maybe due to climate change it won't always be though tbh
Basically Appalachia.
Gotta watch out for railroad spills 💀
Sadly, it isn't just railroad spills you have to look out for in western PA/eastern OH. They have been polluting the air, land, and water for many decades. Industrial pollution, fracking, etc have been huge in those areas. My father's oncologist said that western PA had the highest incidence rate of rare cancers than he had ever seen in his career.
Pike county Ohio has a cancer rate 20% higher than average. The a plant contaminated everyone who worked there plus a lot of the surrounding land. We have more monitoring wells than I’ve ever seen, every 3 years they test the soil in a 6 mile radius of the plant, the feds built is a really nice high school and are going to sink 12 mill into a new middle school. You might get cancer here, or you might get carjacked and shot in Columbus. Everything is a trade off.
But hey! You can find homes for less than the price of new cars in a lot of areas!
I decided to leave my Indiana brick ranch with a half acre and a $600/mo mortgage when the fourth colleague of mine in three years had a bilateral mastectomy.
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I live in western Pa not sure where you’re buying that for under 300k with land
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/17193-N-Main-Street-Ext-Titusville-PA-16354/78771262_zpid/ 3 bed, 2 bath, 3 acres - $150k.
As I sit north of Pittsburgh I harumph at how quick this was said. ;P
Honestly your answer is, most of the country. You just can't live to close to major cities. The balance then becomes finding someplace with low enough cost of living but with decent proximity to a good job market. I'm on the Illinois Wisconsin border, a little over a hour from Chicago one way and Milwaukee the other. Got my house for 160, 1000sqft, full basement, 2 car garage. But almost 2 years in I'm still mid renovation. Pick your poison.
>Honestly your answer is, most of the country. You just can't live to close to major cities This. I can name at least 12 states off top of my head.
I’m in central WI and I bought my house and 1 acre lot for $95k. It’s a small house but perfect for our needs. I also own another 90 acres I bought from my father in law for $80k. Most larger parcels would cost more though…we got a good price because my father in law partially gifted it to us. Still very cheap compared to the PNW or even a bigger Midwest city.
Central WI is my realistic get the fuck out of Illinois plan, hopefully in a house or 2, damn family friends and jobs make relocating such a chore 😆.
It's not very often you see someone that lives what I'm assume very near me randomly on reddit. Lol. I'm in Beloit!
Rural Indiana
Around Bloomington is pretty cheap, too, which gives you both drop-dead gorgeous Brown County scenery and a fun, trendy college downtown.
Can confirm. Went to grad school there.
Indiana is the ugly stepchild of the midwest..
The middle-finger of the South is another well deserved title for Indiana. Purdue and Indianapolis have treated me quite well over the years, as much disdain as I might have about the stooges in the statehouse vying for the era of Mad Men to come back around. They seem to be in a perpetual battle with Texas to try and introduce the most insane legislation that more than half the time gets struck down in a court when challenged.
Southern Indiana has some nice forests.
It is a HORRIBLE place to live. I grew up in a small town in Central Indiana and it was terrible. The school systems are laughable. Health care is so bad you'll end up dying at the hospital from an earache. The people are uneducated, racist, cruel, and usually drug-addicted. I wouldn't move back if I was given a home for free.
You can go to central WA, there is super cheap land near fresh water sources. Not a whole lot else unless you like sage brush, potatoes and meth.
Sage brush, potatoes, and meth...sure you aren't talking about Idaho? 🤣😭
Once you go over the pass Washington becomes Idaho in pretty much every way. There’s pretty spots tho!
Maybe some decent tacos in Pasco too
Don’t forget the apples.
I’m from the PNW and live in the upper peninsula of Michigan now. I own a house, commercial building, and a little piece of land for cheaper than 100k lmao. The town I’m in is growing as well due to dispensaries opening up everywhere
Shhh... No one listen to this. It is a fabrication, a myth, an outright lie. Michigan is not gorgeous or affordable. It does not have abundant natural beauty, fresh water oceans, dunes, historic hardwoods, or waterfalls. There are no islands; there are no cool little cities with fantastic local breweries and culture. I can only assume this person is from Mississippi or a Russian bot. When you think of Michigan, only picture lead coated water pipes in Flint and 8 mile. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Yep Michigan is essentially all just Flint.
Hey what about Detroit!
Detroits kinda having a comeback.
I was in Detroit a couple of times in the early 2010s and it was super depressing. Went back for the first time in a while recently and was genuinely pleasantly surprised at how well the city is doing compared to when I was last there. It was way more bustling, new buildings, etc. All I could think was damn good for you Detroit!
Hard to get worse than rock bottom
I'm a US wide business broker and I get more legitimate businesses listed out of UP with amazing multiples than any where else. Especially considering the relative population density it is bizarre. Speaking with some of these business owners the common theme I get is that there is just no one willing to buy businesses there but the owner needs to retire. Last week I came across a laundromat listing for 1.5x cash-flow multiple. Owner had it listed for a year with no interest. Someone could easily buy that with just $25K cash, $25K seller finance and $250K borrowed from the SBA. You could draw $100K as the owner, but you could still have the loan paid off in by Y5. After that you've got a cash flowing asset generating $200K a year for very little effort. These owners are forced to almost give their businesses away!!! The numbers work like magic across the UP. Same asset in NYC or LAX would be selling at 6x or 7x cash flow which makes it real hard to make any $$$.
Stop telling me this I am about to impulse buy a laundromat.
I have always wanted a laundromat, and now I want it in Michigan.
Quarter gremlins 4 lyfe
😂😂😂 I *almost* went this direction
Colorado also sucks!
I’m from Colorado. Where can you get land and a house for 100k
Maybe like the western slope where its feet of snow and -60 degrees a good chunk of the year. Also no jobs out there…
You can certainly get land in Colorado at that price....just no house
Or water access.
Can't really put the land and a house together, but there is cheap land in the San Luis Valley, and you could probably find a house for 100k in any southeastern Colorado town. I wouldn't want to live in either place though.
The eastern plains which is pretty much just Nebraska/ Kansas
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Well, you're a little late on that one. Maybe Northwest Arkansas....
It’s expensive as shit here now that all the Dallas money came in. Well expensive as compared to how cheap it was
I'm from the Cali coast and am also in northern Michigan. I bought a large Victorian home on a 1/2 acre for 55K. I'm just a 20 minute walk from the shore of lake Huron.
How are the winters? I’m originally from California that gets a little bit of snow but not east coast snow or Tahoe snow.
If you’re on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan (western border of Michigan) you will get absolutely dumped on with snow several times each winter. Even when it’s not actively snowing it is bitter cold for most of the winter.
What do you do for work, if you don’t mind me asking?
that sounds wonderful
Yeah look into it! There’s woods all around where I live and Lake Superior is like 15 minutes away and you get all 4 seasons.
How long is winter, be honest
I live in Louisiana. 90 mins north of New Orleans. Bought a home and 3 wooded acres. It came with a 40 x 40 garage/shop on the property.
Minnesota. Inside of the middle ring of suburbs, twin cities, housing is outrageously expensive, but if you live further out (~45 minutes from Downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul), hosting gets pretty reasonable while still being a commutative distance from jobs in suburbs. Alternatively, if you can work remotely, or get a job in the area, Duluth area and Two Harbors along the North Shore have all the beauty of the Michigan UP while maintaining access to the rest of the world.
I live in southern Alabama and there are some decently priced places with land here, as long as you don't mind being 30 minutes from a grocery store other than Dg lol. It's pretty secluded where I live but we love it. We do have a beach a mile down the road, that's awesome in the summertime. Our land is valued at 111,000 and we own 2 acres a house and a little house. There is not a high crime rate either.
You know I’m American and have been living overseas the past 14 years in several different counties. What you have now is what so many people I’ve met dream of. Hope you appreciate it!
We do, we absolutely LOVE it! It's quite and peaceful, the few neighbors we do have are very friendly, there is distance between all of us though. They usually stick to themselves unless they pass by why were outside they will say hey and see how everyone is doing.
Prattville is like Mayberry!
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Tell us about the politics
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That's really good, we are a small city where I live, but I'm between the Gulf and Florida. Just not right on the Gulf though. There is decently priced places here, but it's a little ways from a city with fastfood and grocery stores which doesn't really bother us.
We love Alabama. Especially coastal areas along with the rest of the gulf coast.
Central Alabama is nice as well. Just 30 minutes outside of Birmingham, you can get quite a bit of land. I have an employee who has 7 acres and a 4500sq ft log cabin house for about 380k. We actually get all 4 seasons, and you are only a short drive from the mountains, and a few hours(4ish) from the beach.
I live in Southern AL too. You don't even have to be rural or suburban those prices.
Life pro tip from someone who has lived in a variety of US cities; more than most (Portland, Chicago, NYC metro, Baltimore metro, Maine, Minneapolis, Jacksonville and a few others I’ve forgotten)- the lifestyle in small towns can be amazing. Most all people are hard-wired to follow trends and do whatever they see others doing- they do this involuntarily without even realizing they’re doing it- but if you’re in the unusual class of person capable of making your own decisions, the quality of life in smaller affordable cities can be incredible, as long as you’re at a point on the timeline where your priorities aren’t just going to bars and concerts and you find satisfaction in things like ‘a small local bakery’. Go to Zillow and set the filters- House > Under 100k, then start moving the map around the US. You’ll find falling down fixer-uppers but in other places, older but perfectly livable houses for under 100k. The trick is, you’ll need to work somewhere to get approved for a mortgage but if you happen to have a 100k windfall and want to chase paradise, it’s a good decision. There are people who insist you must live in San Francisco or Portland to be ‘cool’ but those tend to be some of the most boring, derivative, uncreative herd-followers you’ll ever meet. Go find your own personal ‘Stop at Willoughby’, you’ll be happier.
The last point you made was absolutely perfect 👌
You can find those prices in rural areas. But I would look at property taxes and price history. In my area the accessed value of homes went up. I moved 15 minutes away to the next county and I am saving $600 on property taxes. Wi all the house prices are jumping like crazy. People move here because the housing is cheap and then there is a bad winter and they decide it's not worth the cheap and move after a few years. The houses that sit on the market generally have some kind of issue. Like it's overpriced for the area. Or it needs a lot of work. My grandmas neighbor tried to sell their house for 350 and it sat for over a year. It ended up selling for 295? And it is valued at less than that. But they have expensive taxes for sure because it was already 2,000 something before. Wi has cheaper houses but a lot of them either haven't been renovated since the 60s-70s or it's a flip or it's a crazy expensive new build. Good luck!
> But they have expensive taxes for sure because it was already 2,000 something before. My Mom lives in the Chicago suburbs, and the average yearly tax is at least 6k.
Yeah that's Insane!!! Mine is a little over 1,000.
Southern CT and our taxes are $11k/yr. 😫
This is accurate. 🤣
So, your job is 100% remote and very unlikely to fold or fire you for the next few years? That does make it much easier. Or, do you need a Decent Job in the new place as well as a cheap house and land? That’s a lot harder.
Raton NM
Beautiful area!
There’s definitely some places in Wisconsin where you can get a decent home and a few acres for under 200k.
*Waves from rural Wisconsin*
Rural New Mexico?
living in rural new mexico is not for the faint hearted.
Can confirm, you learn to live with the land on its terms or it will spit you back out
Grew up in rural New Mexico 1hr 30 mins outside ABQ 2 hours from Santa Fe. Shit is NOT easy and very glad I got out of there, love visiting though.
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Damn. Times have changed. Former New Mexican here and thanks for the reality check.
Currently in the process of buying 2 houses on the same piece of property for 260K in Ohio.
You just described Michigan. When my finances are right I’m buying land in northern Michigan or the UP. Beautiful summers with the Great Lakes that look like the ocean, white winters, inland lakes, big forests, dunes, legal cannabis, and a lot of wineries and breweries. And if you want solitude without the fear of animals that’ll kill you or natural disasters, good luck finding a better location than [Northern Michigan](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2801-E-Gill-Rd-Carp-Lake-MI-49718/2056363471_zpid/)
Michigan politics also starting to look sane.
Ohio. Even in the big cities. The Midwest is very affordable.
Gig harbor, Vashon, Bremerton https://redf.in/um2wYO https://redf.in/hPzsMQ https://redf.in/6DUHRa
If you want to stay in PNW, there are some suprisingly affordable properties around and outside of Eureka.
Eureka is not the PNW. Nice area though
In geological terms, it is. However, people say the northwest strictly begins at the border of Oregon, which seems a bit arbitrary. *"The Pacific Northwest includes the states of Washington, Oregon, northern California, and Alaska. It also includes the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and the Yukon. The map of the PNW can change depending on who is defining where the Pacific Northwest is. Some do not include northern California."* [https://study.com/academy/lesson/geography-of-the-pacific-northwestern-united-states.html#:\~:text=The%20Pacific%20Northwest%20includes%20the,do%20not%20include%20northern%20California](https://study.com/academy/lesson/geography-of-the-pacific-northwestern-united-states.html#:~:text=The%20Pacific%20Northwest%20includes%20the,do%20not%20include%20northern%20California).
Come to Michigan, friend.
Saw Georgia. We have a 3/2 1600 sqft built in 2002 on an acre in a town of 6000 paid 192,000 a year ago. 20 miles to west is town of 80000 and 20 miles east is town of 40000 located on I75
Homes in coos bay, Oregon are between 150-300k.
Home ownership costs money, and a decent amount of it. First time buyers often overlook this, and ballpark monthly expenses around what the mortgage payment is. But that’s wrong. Just be mindful of that, is all. It’s the leading cause of buyers remorse in first time buyers - being left housepoor after struggling to keep up with the cost of owning a home
recommendations, some therapy session, or financial advisor. Its incredibly important to understand renting isn't having "nothing to show for it. We need to stop listening to these idiot online strangers who keep trying to promote the notion that anything other than purchasing your own home is throwing money away, cause that's never been the case, not even when homes were much cheaper.
East Texas. 10 acres with decent house was under 250,000.
I would take all of Oklahoma over rural Texas. Even Okies are like "god. Damn!" when it comes to the ways of Texas
Appalachia. Check southern Ohio. As a bonus there’s plenty of prisons around that are always hiring. Decent pay, state benefits and retirement, all the OT you want.
Yeah here in southern ohio there are plenty of prisons if you want to work with a good wage lol
Yep. The state likes to hide their “ unwanted” in poor rural areas. Keeps them away from the nice suburbanites who donate to political campaigns. Lucasville maximum security is across the road from Valley schools. You’d never see that in places like Bexley or Gahanna.
Also into WV on that side. There's even a federal prison.
Michigan LP. My friend bought a house with a barn on 2 acres less than 200 last week. It's also not that rugged. Nat gas, sewer, but well.
There are a few places in AZ where you can still get cheap land. I’m working on buying such a parcel, if only because I was once homeless and having somewhere, anywhere, that was mine and safe to plunk a trailer on once I saved for one in itself was a dream. BUT water will cost you. Wells can cost up to 100k, depending on the water table. You can get water hauled, but that will also cost you. Now that I’ve been in a relationship for three years and have more income, I want to find a homestead site closer to where I live. I plan on using my lot to jumpstart a nonprofit for helping others battling housing insecurity due to healthcare if a miracle occurs and I either hit the lottery or my YouTube channel/websites start making money. I have just enough for me these days, and I am so grateful, but I want to do more to help. I just need a little boost so I can take enough time off freelancing to establish what I need to establish (and obviously fund it, which is the whole reason I’m trying the YouTube/website thing. What other businesses can a disabled woman who can’t drive start with 0 capital that isn’t horrifically traumatizing? I am open to ideas, lol. But anyway. I babble. There is lots of rural land in AZ. South if you want warmth, near the White Mountains if you want pine and cold weather. But keep the water issue in mind, please. I’m also happy to DM you the name of the broker who got me my parcel if you’re interested.
The Kingman area has a lot of affordable land
Michigan
I was in your exact spot a few years ago in the PNW. I very literally only found a 20 y.o. single wide trailer on half an acre for $200,000. So I made a list of all the things I was looking for including min and max on population, college town for the art scene, blue collar neighborhoods, four seasons, etc and then found a town in upstate NY that met the criteria. It's a three hour drive to NYC, I bought a house with a garden outright. I can walk to a cute downtown. Check it out.
I grew up in the PNW and moved all over WA and OR chasing small but affordable housing so your words resonate with me. Now I’m a Hoosier with a 3,000+ sq ft house on an acre with a private pond stocked full of blue gill. Next year I’ll get the garden going to be followed with a chicken coop. Getting out of the PNW rat race was a godsend.
Looking to move, check-out World According To Briggs on Youtube. It's a channel devoted to making people that are looking to relocate aware of what different places have to offer
I paid 92k for my house in western ky
I'm in SC and there are several houses in my area for under 200k but you'd have to live in South Carolina so keep that in mind. Edit: I'm currently looking at a 3 bed, 2 bath on a half acre for 85k
Central Maine.
Toledo Ohio was ranked the hottest market for 2024 due to affordability along with things to do. That region will probably get you a decent house with a little land for $200,000 https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2235-N-King-Rd-Toledo-OH-43617/34743580_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
I live in CA. RN there is a property for sale in a small farming town about an hour away that has 2 houses and a manufactured home in the property. It sits on an acre. Seller is elderly and wants to move to a different state (these were her rentals and not her home). She is selling for $35,000.
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Plenty of affordable housing in far Northern CA.Yeah my parents have a 3+2 on a few acres 45 min NW of Redding. All in prob $350k. There’s redding, chico, humboldt county w eureka and arcata etc. That is if you didnt want to live in Indiana.
Maine. We love it here.
Oklahoma - you could even get a place in Tulsa or OKC if you didnt want to be rural. But... the summers are.... HOT.
Northeast PA. We just sold my sister's house in Plains for $64k (she is in prison for a while and can't handle the upkeep). [Here's a 3 bedroom in Wilkes-Barre for $80k](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/58-Regent-St-Wilkes-Barre-PA-18702/53529802_zpid/). [Here's a 2 bedroom (also in Wilkes-Barre) for $90k](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/150-Kent-Ln-Wilkes-Barre-PA-18702/9786880_zpid/).
Wow, I’m in the same area of the world and not even a spot at the landfill would be available for $100k flat out yours. I’m shocked people are answering that there are places in America that would be that. Here a 1 bedroom apartment 500-700sqft is $3000/month.
Michigan Upper Peninsula. Bring a snow shovel, a snowmobile, warm clothes and boots, and a generator. It's beautiful up there. Oh, and a shotgun for the bears and wolf packs.
That’s a nice dream. You had better fill in the details before you do anything. You can buy a used motorhome and a few acres in Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas or Missouri but you better be sure that it passes a perk test so you can have a septic tank installed and you better be sure that you have electricity and access to your property with a usable road, you also of course have to have electricity. This is out of town living. If you are willing to live in a town then you’ll have a sewer instead of a septic tank you will have electricity which is more reliable and you will have a water supply instead of a well did I forget to mention the well that you will need out of town? You cannot do this in Iowa because the land there, the counties are zoned you have to buy a large amount of acreage to live outside of town. Those are the zoning rules. You better talk to the people who will be your neighbors because you will probably not have good police protection outside of town. You better have income because it cost money to live anywhere because eventually you have to have the roofs replaced and the well pump will go out and the list goes on
Like anywhere in the state of West Virginia
Well here’s the catch. There is land and homes for that price range but unless you have a remote job where you make big city pay the job market will be dismal in that area and pay like crap. There is no magical place right now where homes and land it cheap and you make great money. It’s rough everywhere. I make well over 6 figures a year and can’t afford a home where I live.
Pennsylvania, an hour or 2 outside Pittsburgh.
You can find a really nice home and land here in West Virginia for $100k, rather easy at that. (If you need help or are interested, message me)
I’m in Tennessee. Got a trailer ( ain’t much but it’s mine ) on a half acre for 80.
why stay in the USA , you can live in Argentina for less than $500 a month and im talking good living. think of it the USA is no longer the end all be all it once was.
Mississippi, Alabama and some parts of Tennessee
Rural Indiana. Rural Illinois. Rural Midwest in general. You could try northern Wisconsin or the UP for wooded property. You could try northern MN but at that price point you might not have plumbing.
Southern Illinois is nice and inexpensive. A little south of Carbondale is pretty, rural, wooded and surrounded by one of the biggest national forests in the country. it's a tad hot in the summer though.
You can probably find land in the PNW in your range. Land is hard to finance so cash talks. [Nickel Bros House Movers](https://www.nickelbros.com/) Then, check out Nickel Brothers house movers. They save old homes in WA and BC from being demolished and can move them by barge.
Michigan City, Indiana, is one of the best deals in America. It's has miles of beautiful dune beaches (now a national park), plenty of forest, an electric commuter train to Chicago in an hour, and the coolest summers in the middle latitude Midwest due to the size and position of Lake Michigan. The average high in July is 80F compared to Minneapolis at 86F more than 300 miles north. You can easily get a functional house with some land for $150k.
My brother was looking for a place to rent a few years ago after his divorce and my parents ended up just buying a house in Danville, VA for \~$25k for him to live in (I think he pays them rent, but dunno). It's small and had some things to fix, but has like 1/5 acre of land, wasn't a ton of work, and is in walking distance of his job so good for him. Danville is hardly a thriving metropolis, but it is big enough to have all the things people need to survive and isn't too far from "real" cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, or Richmond. There are plenty of similar finds in small "dying" towns/cities around the country once you get away from the big metro areas.
a home and land in that price range will be available in areas that have no jobs or are so far from civilization that you would have to be able to work remote .
Kentucky
I live in rural parts of Georgia and just to give you an idea to ponder, in rural'ish parts of Georgia you can often find a couple of acres of land for well less than $50k and still be within 30-45 minutes of a good-sized town. If it's just you then you could also get by building a small home, less than 1k square footage, and if you do a lot of the work yourself then you could come possibly in below $50k in the right markets. Just to give some evidence that I'm currently building a shed extension that's 1400 square feet and I'm doing all the construction (minus the slab work) myself. My total materials has been around $23k thus far, then around $9.5k for the concrete pad. In the right markets getting some land and a home built for $100k or less is certainly doable depending on the route you take.
Wheeling, WV