Want the Cheapest Homes in the USA?

Despite the promise of the title, this will not be about the absolute cheapest homes in the USA. If it were, I would tell you about the $25 houses I recently saw in Detroit, Michigan. But you almost certainly don’t want to live where those houses are found. Apart from the apocalyptic setting, they give "fixer upper" a whole new meaning. What you probably want to know, is where are there cheap homes in nice places. That, then, is what this page is about.

In the south, you can find decent homes under $50,000 in Cherokee Village, Arkansas. The population is only $5,000 or so, but the beautiful surroundings make up for the lack of some amenities. Forests, hills, rivers and woods abound. As of 2010, in addition to the cheap homes in town, for less than $200,000 you can find houses the lakes or rivers in the area.

Other towns that are decent and have homes under fifty thousand dollars as of 2010, include Warren, Pennsylvania (on the Allegheny River, population 10,000), Alpena, Michigan, (on Lake Huron’s northwestern coastline), and Fort Madison, Iowa (on the Mississippi River, in southeastern Iowa). The latter has a crime rate that is half of the national average, which is not that uncommon in smaller towns. It is one of the big advantages that make them so livable.

I recently called a real estate agent in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina about some condos there. Most of the ones that my wife and I saw for sale online were less than six years old, and many were under $40,000. In fact, one five-year-old condominium seven blocks from the beach was $32,000. Myrtle Beach, from what I see online and what friends have told me, is a great little resort town, full of beaches, golf courses, and decent restaurants. Part of Florida have been similarly depressed by the bursting of the real estate bubble, and may be cheaper than they have been in a long time.

Here are some of the other pages that cover inexpensive places to live:

Where To Find Cheap Homes - Cities and towns with houses priced under $50,000 (I try to investigate and update these yearly).

The Most Affordable Places To Live - This page covers towns with homes under $125,000. It was posted before the crash in prices had gone very far, so many of these towns are likely to be even cheaper now.

Cities With Inexpensive Houses - This information on affordability and future sustainability of prices is based on price/income ratios in various parts of the USA.

Buying Real Estate In Mexico - This is for adventurous house-hunters.

More Places To Buy A Cheap House - This page has examples of town where livable homes can be bought for less than $30,000 - definitely some of the cheapest homes in the USA.

Anaconda, Montana - Our own story of buying a home for $17,500 in beautiful Montana.

Cheap Towns - There are five new additions to our cheap towns on the newest page for 2011.

The Cheapest Homes in 2012 - The latest update, with two new towns added.