# Buying One Dollar Houses



## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

Hello. I read about houses being sold for a few dollars. I am really not an expert on taxes or things like that, so I would just like to know how much money would I have to spend on taxes and things like that if I buy such a house.
Thank you in advance for your help.
EmperorWolf


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

The only reason someone would sell a house for a couple of dollars is because there is a huge liability attached to it. Unpaid mortgage, back taxes, contaminated soil from industrial processing, a structure that must be removed to another site at your expense, an historical landmark that must be repaired, not taken down, or in a ghost town with no services or access.

How much money would you have to spend? How deep is the ocean?

TANSTAAFL.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i guess he's not in detroit or else he's putting us on


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

I know of places selling $1 lots in Canada, on the condition you build within 3 years...of course getting funding to build in these places is difficult.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Opportinites are closer to home. If you are a NY state resident you can buy tax arrears home in Buffalo for way cheap if you can prove you have the means planned to get them habitable again.

Yes, I know the sections these are in Buffalo are not the greatest, but the price is certainly right is you are looking to get ownership going in lieu of renting forever.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Your question is too vague. There may be some cities like Detroit and Buffalo where you can buy houses for a few dollars or a few hundred. Whether there are back taxes to pay etc. depends on the property.

It is also possible to buy decent houses for little or no money down in small town around the US and Canada. But you will have to use borrowed money to do it which means having a mortgage payment.

I have bought and sold properties with small down payments or no money down in the past. There are several ways of doing this.


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## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

So Rusty, if a house is being sold for a very low price that does not automatically mean that it has back taxes? So then I have a chance to purchase a house very cheaply without back taxes? I am a citizen of Canada, read about houses being sold for a few dollars in the states, so I thought land is land, even very crappy land is still land, which I can sell someday down the road.


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## MoreMiles (Apr 20, 2011)

EmperorWolf said:


> So Rusty, if a house is being sold for a very low price that does not automatically mean that it has back taxes? So then I have a chance to purchase a house very cheaply without back taxes? I am a citizen of Canada, read about houses being sold for a few dollars in the states, so I thought land is land, even very crappy land is still land, which I can sell someday down the road.


Selling it for a few dollars means they want to give it to you for practically free. They want you to accept the attached conditions. If there is no string attached, why would anyone give it for you for free? Do you really believe in free lunch?


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

There may be back taxes, it is not hard to find out. Taxes are a matter of public record, and you can ask the seller for a receipt showing they are paid.

If a property is selling cheap there is a reason. Back taxes could be one. The property could be land locked or impossible to build on, because of zoning or other rules. It could be on a flood plain, oh lots of things could be wrong.

In the US there are dying towns and cities like Detroit and Buffalo where there are thousands of abandoned properties. These properties have been falling in value for 50 years and there is no reason they should ever go up . 

I have been involved in real estate investing for 40 years and most of that time I was a bargain hunter because I did not have the money to be anything else. I found out it is a bad approach, that most cheap properties are cheap for a reason in other words, fairly valued.

Occasionally I have found undervalued gems but they were never cheap-cheap. They were priced like other properties in the area but had some hidden value others did not see.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

I saw this on the news today. Here's the story:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-buys-you-boston-bar-heritage-house-1.2514794



> "...the only stipulation we have is that the exterior retains the heritage value it has. The interiors can be restored to whatever comfort value they wish."


Nice deal for the right person...


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## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

Rusty, Land is land, things and laws change. Do you have any advice for buying cheap land in Canada? Or in foreign nations?


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## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

Moremiles, of course there is a free lunch. If you and I met in a desert, you were dying of thirst and I had water I would give you some water without asking for anything in return. See, and you say there is no free lunch, at least there is free water.:chuncky:


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Years ago........maybe a smart person could pick up land cheaply..........in areas that people actually wanted to live in.

Twenty years ago, we had a railway easement........about 30 feet wide and the length of 10 homes, offered to us for free. It was located directly behind our backyard and we were in agreement. The only "catch" was that all the neighbors had to agree so some of the land wouldn't become landlocked, because the railroad would lose access to maintain it as required.

The "gift" never happened because some idiot neighbors said "no thanks" because they didn't want the expense of moving their fences.

I read a true story a few years ago, written by a very successful businessman, who had successfully invested in stock markets, owned sports teams and had all kinds of businesses. He had gone to school with a pal and they had parted ways after University.

They caught up with each other years later, and he asked his friend what he had done all those intervening years.

The friend had purchased isolated and abandoned land in major urban cities (if I remember correctly he was in the Boston.....east coast cities area of heavy population and urbanization) that weren't big enough to build on or do anything with. He bought the land for almost nothing as he was the only bidder. He purchased all kinds of land, paved them over, painted parking lines in them, and then went to offices in the area and offered cheap monthly parking to the business owners. The guy went from city to city doing the same thing. He made many millions doing that and all he had to do was pave the unwanted area, paint the lines, rent the spots, pay someone to maintain the paving and paint the lines and I suppose remove the snow, and cash the cheques that poured in every month thereafter. His wealth topped that of the businessman, who had put in all that time, effort, and stress.

I think by now.........realtors and others have gleaned all the available land..........and are putting homes up behind other homes, on top of other homes, and in the driveways of other homes. Soon they will be putting them "under" existing homes, I suspect.

I'm surprised somebody hasn't installed steel beams over their home and built another home above theirs.........in Toronto or Vancouver. 

Land has become too valuable for anyone to ignore..........unless it has problems or is located where no one wants to live.

If anyone wants to live in the boonies..........they can live on lakefront government Crown land for free. All they have to do is move the place a few feet once in awhile........so make sure "home" is on wheels.


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## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

So are there specific sites and agencies to buy tiny pieces of land?


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

wendi1 said:


> The only reason someone would sell a house for a couple of dollars is because there is a huge liability attached to it ...


This is possible ... but then again, there's lots of variety out there.

There's the wonderful world of legal loopholes ....
http://www.geekosystem.com/16-dollar-house/


... bartering ...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-paper-clip-to-house-in-14-trades-1.573973


... towns offering free land ....
http://irjci.blogspot.ca/2011/03/small-towns-offer-free-land-to-boost.html


... towns wanting to attract business ...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-town-selling-downtown-lots-for-1-1.1341691


Cheers


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## Taraz (Nov 24, 2013)

Sometimes, you can even find $1 houses to go with it. (Unfortunately, the moving costs and the fact that the houses are often old and run down usually mean that those houses aren't such an amazing deal at $1.) The Air Force base at Cold Lake gave away some houses that they didn't need anymore a few years ago.


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

Eclectic:

1st example - squatter must live there 3 years, and it is not clear he owns it.
2nd example - kid essentially bartered some viral exposure (not a paperclip), and got a house in Kipling - betcha he's still paying property taxes on it, because he can't sell it.
3rd example - you have to live in the middle of Nebraska for 5 years.
4th example - you have to start construction within a year, for a business that the town council likes.

I think you actually made my point - all these offers (except #2) would cost years of your life. And I bet #2 was harder than it looked.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

wendi1 said:


> Eclectic:
> 
> 1st example - squatter must live there 3 years, and it is not clear he owns it ...


The article does say " ... won’t actually own the house until he’s lived there for three years, ... " - which implies at the three year mark, he will own it. This is similar to why my relative in California stays on top of squatters on his vacant land.




wendi1 said:


> 2nd example - kid essentially bartered some viral exposure (not a paperclip), and got a house in Kipling - betcha he's still paying property taxes on it, because he can't sell it ...


The article lists fourteen trades, starting with the paper clip for a pen so I'm not sure what the relevance of exposure is ... unless you have some other source than contradicts the CBC's statement?

Assuming he accepted the trade for the house - paying property taxes is pretty much a requirement, regardless of what one paid or bartered for the house.





wendi1 said:


> 3rd example - you have to live in the middle of Nebraska for 5 years.
> 4th example - you have to start construction within a year, for a business that the town council likes.
> 
> I think you actually made my point - all these offers (except #2) would cost years of your life. And I bet #2 was harder than it looked.


If the house in a location one is happy with - where's the problem with living years there?
People have chosen to live in far worse areas to say money.


The original post was that a huge liability was the only reason, which while this is likely true most of the time, it does not appear to be true 100%. What one is okay with or not in terms of "years of your life" is different issue.


Cheers


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Emperor, are you looking for a $1 property because you want to brag to your friends that you bought a house for a buck? Or because you want to live in it? Or because you want to sell for a profit?

There are ways to buy property below market value if you are a good shopper. But be leery of buying because a property is cheap. It is cheap for a reason. Most of these cheap properties end up worth less than you paid and are impossible to sell.

On the other hand it is possible to buy for 10% to 25% below market value if you watch your chances and are ready to make a deal.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

There are bargain properties to be found at tax sales but you have to know what you are doing. Investigate the property carefully. You may be able to find a way to turn them to account. They usually go for about 7/8 of the back tax amount. You must have the cash to pay for the property or be able to raise it and you must put up a 10% deposit with your bid.

For all the tax sales in Ontario look up the Ontario Gazette online. Tax sales must be advertized in the local paper and the Ontario Gazette. If you pay someone for a list, that is where they are getting them.


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## EmperorWolf (Jan 28, 2014)

Rusty, its number one(want to brag) and number three(make a good profit). Thanks for your help. I have seen online, people selling acres of land, are there any places there I can buy smaller amounts of land? Like a hundred square feet?


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

EmperorWolf said:


> Rusty, Land is land, things and laws change. Do you have any advice for buying cheap land in Canada? Or in foreign nations?


I'll tell you what. You type out everything you know about everything in the world, then I will tell you everything I have learned about real estate in the last 40 years.

Or, you can ask a specific question and I will try to answer it.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

EmperorWolf said:


> Rusty, its number one(want to brag) and number three(make a good profit). Thanks for your help. I have seen online, people selling acres of land, are there any places there I can buy smaller amounts of land? Like a hundred square feet?



Here is an angle hardly anyone has thought of. I know someone who owns a bit of land about 25 X 100 feet. Too small to build on and worth almost nothing. But it happens to be on a busy street. So he leased the property to a billboard company. They put up a billboard and they pay him $150 a month which is an excellent return on his investment and his work and expenses are nil.

I have thought of buying similar bits of land for billboards. You would have to contact some billboard companies to find out their requirements, and find cheap bits of land and make sure they are zoned for billboards.

Have heard of leasing the sides of buildings on busy streets and subletting to billboard companies at a profit.

Here is another one. There are small pieces of land in the country that cannot be built on because they are not on a year round road or do not have hydro available or for some other reason. Sometimes they can be bought for $5000 to $20000 for several acres.

You may not be able to build but you can put a trailer on them. You could make your own off the grid vacation property. And, sometimes roads get improved and someone farther along decides to have the hydro line extended. You never know your luck.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

You could run an ad on Kijiji. Offer to buy cheap property. You never know your luck.

There are books and courses on buying property for no money down, fixing up for resale etc.


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

Some municipalities have bylaws against billboards downtown. There was a bit of ruckus a few years back where someone put a big billboard up on the side of their house so the owner of the next lot simply put up another billboard in from of the other by about 6 inches (but still on his property).

I always shudder at the billboard eye sores on the drive to the ferry. There are bylaws against them but native land and all.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

That is why I suggested checking the zoning first.


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