First thing's first - there is no such thing as free land. You might find free or amazingly cheap land, but there are always conditions. Often, the government offering the land requires you to build a permanent structure that conforms to their specifications. You may also have to pay to get services such as water, gas, electricity or communications to the lot. That can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars. The land may also be taxed at fair-market value. Even if the land was free or cheap, it may have a market value of ten, twenty or even fifty thousand dollars.

Mind you, even with those potential costs, if you can get decent land for free or on the cheap, it can still be worth it. This article is going to show you legitimate deals on land or homes under $10,000 USD, many are even free. Let's take a look where we might be able to find some.

Homes Under 1K

This page lists some major metropolitan areas in the United States of America as well as a rough idea of how many houses are for sale at certain price points. For example, Detroit has 147 listings under $1000, Cincinnati has 33 listings under $1000 and Las Vegas has 37 listings under $5000.

The listings themselves aren't shown on this site, but it gives you an idea where to start looking, with any of the other real-estate sites listed on MakeUseOf (read The 5 Most Significant Online Property Search Websites - Part 1 and The 5 Most Significant Online Property Search Engines - Part 3, 4, 5)

Most of these come with municipal government orders requiring that the properties be brought up to code or rehabilitated for use as low-income rental properties. Even still, if you have the ability to provide more sweat equity than money, it might be a good deal!

Kansas Free Land [No Longer Available]

Isn't Kansas supposed to be a nice state? Seems to me that I heard that before. So why is there free land in Kansas? Maybe the tornado alley thing isn't a real good selling point. But hey, Kirstie Alley is from Kansas, so it can't be so bad. They even have a rock band named after them. What more do you want?

There are currently thirteen communities offering free land in Kansas; Atwood, Lincoln, Mankato, Marquette, Ellsworth, Wilson, Kanopolis, Holyrood, Plainville, Stockton, Chetopa, Tescott, and Osborne.

The conditions usually require that you build to their codes and move into the house within 24 months for being approved for the land. Not bad!

Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada

Just about 4 years ago, you could get town lots in Alberta for as little as a dollar. Along came the Oil and Gas boom and within a year those same lots were worth around $50,000. If you built on it, it would be in the $200,000 neighbourhood.

Some people say that Saskatchewan is the new Oil and Gas boom province in Canada, and they may be right! Labour is cheaper there and a lot of the people working in the industry in Alberta are from Saskatchewan. The lovely town of Kamsack is offering residential and industrial lots in the $5,000 range. Sure that's more than a dollar, but you may be eligible for $2000 cashback after building. If you like good, wholesome, small town life with a world class provincial park nearby - Kamsack is for you! There are quite a few other communities in provinces like Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Yukon. You just have to dig around the municipal sites.

Re/Max Bulgaria [No Longer Available]

There are a few countries in Europe where real estate is a steal compared to North America. Take a look at northern Spain as their real estate market is crashing. Beautiful land and climate!

Bulgaria has some pretty nice homes for extremely low prices. Check out this old world charmer - 1400 square feet for only $7,400 USD. That's less than $6 a square foot! There are four bedrooms, a huge yard and a self-airing toilet (yep, outhouse.)

You would have all of Europe literally at your doorstep. Remember the adage, "A hundred years in North America is a long time, but a hundred miles in Europe is a long way." Plenty of North Americans' morning commute could take them through several countries in Europe.

Get out on the net and search around! The deals available are amazing if you are willing to go beyond your front door and do a little work. Maybe you'd have to think about a career change, but you'd own your own home finally! It is this kind of thinking that brought people to North America.

Read other real-estate articles on MakeUseOf. Selling your house? Syndicate your property with Postlets.

Have you thought about picking up and moving somewhere to get a home? What have you found? Any other great sites you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments.

Image credits: wizardofthefiretopmountain