Found this cheap home in South Dakota (rental, houses, Tucson)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
‘Out there’ is a relative term. It’s about 20-30 miles north of Glasgow MT (which is one of my favorite towns in MT). If it’s 0 degrees in Glasgow it’s -10 or -20 on St.Marie.
There are legitimate folks trying to restore and attract people there but for a while and maybe still there was a presence of ‘Freemen’. An anti govt group with whacked ideals.
Looks like, if it doesn't sell by the end of the month, the owner is bring in a crew to do a bunch of repairs, then the price will be adjusted. I'm in Alaska, that place would be a smoking deal up here! and the chance to become debt free, instead of paying a mortgage, putting your money into the home is like building equity, would be like money in the bank.....but a lot of people don't care about be debt free.
Here is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath condo, 976 sq ft with attached garage for $28,000 in Northeastern Montana. It looks ready to move in, but it's still a rip off.
It's on the former Glasgow Air Force Base. There are over a thousand of these houses up there just rotting away. You can own one by just paying the tax lien to the county. Then you don't even have to worry about paying the $132 HOA fees.
Wow... that cluster of houses and a runway in the middle of nowhere isn't it! What's interesting is how the base infrastructure blends in - camouflaged. Have to look pretty close to see it.
It sounds a little similar to where I lived in college, Big Bend Community College in WA is located on an old Air Force Base in Eastern WA with base housing that looks just like that. I am sure at one time it was also the only thing out there, but things have grown up around it now.
Back in the height of the Cold War, these northern tier air bases were what was protecting us from the Russians. I salute those who were stationed there. Not the easiest duty.
I lived on that base for a year when I was growing up. It was partially deactivated at that time. They were operating a welfare program there that my parents were enrolled in. Our house looked exactly like the one in the listing, except reversed. It doesn't even look much different then when we lived there, except the floors have been carpeted since then. The kitchen is almost exactly the same as I remember it. Exact same cabinets, just newer appliances. It was basically project housing when we lived there.
After the welfare program shut down the base was completely abandoned in 1980. Boeing bought the airfield and still use it to test aircraft there. And a private investor bought the 1,250 plus housing units and turned them into condos. I believe only a couple hundred of the units were ever sold. The other thousand plus have been sitting vacant ever since. Over time the HOA has broken down into several smaller condo associations. Nobody was paying taxes on the abandoned housing units, so they are all up for grabs. A couple of years ago some Sovereign Citizen guy paid the tax liens and took control of a lot of the abandoned housing units. But he seems to be gone now.
If you want to live there I guess you have two basic choices. Either buy one of the condo units, like the one in the listing. It will be ready to move into. The other option, save money and pick up one of the abandoned units and fix it up. Downside to that option I believe you have to make arrangements for utility hookups, which I have heard can be extremely expensive. Personally I would probably go that route, just to not have to deal with the HOA. Hell, maybe you could even go completely off grid. Solar, well/rain catcher, Starlink internet.
Thanks for the info, Cloudy Daz. I grew up in a military town & worked in another military town, all that military housing looks the same. I'm just surprised the buildings are still standing, with the weather extremes & all. When a AFB near my hometown was decommissioned, all the buildings were vandalized to the extreme. It would have been better if they were torn down.
Threerun, thanks for the links, I had no idea.
That Saint Marie housing would be a great place for the *homeless* & the *migrants*. I'm sick of seeing dudes in their 20's, 30's, 40's (and females, too) with their cardboard signs, tarps & shopping carts! And, especially the ones with kids & dogs! They could fix the plumbing, the sewer, the electric, rehab the buildings, learn to hunt & fish, grow a garden. Of course, that will never happen.
Well, it’s kind of out in the middle of no where, isn’t it? But I’ve seen worse homes.
Maybe the gubbmint should take them back and hand them out to “newcomers.” One winter on the high plains of Montana might convince them to go back to where they came from.
LOL. Yeah, the housing isn't bad. It was well built. Even with minimum maintenance, it's still holding up pretty well after 50 years. I have read a few things from former Air Force people who lived on the base that even by military standards it was some of the best housing they lived in during their service.
But yeah, like the listing says. As far as location goes it's a very strong 0.0 out of 10 in all categories.
Quote:
Groceries
No grocery stores within walking distance 0.0/10
Shopping
Few or no shops within walking distance 0.0/10
Nightlife
Few or no bars within walking distance 0.0/10
Restaurants
Few or no restaurants within walking distance 0.0/10
Cafes
Few or no cafés within walking distance 0.0/10
Daycares
No daycares within a 30-minute walk 0.0/10
‘Out there’ is a relative term. It’s about 20-30 miles north of Glasgow MT (which is one of my favorite towns in MT). If it’s 0 degrees in Glasgow it’s -10 or -20 on St.Marie.
There are legitimate folks trying to restore and attract people there but for a while and maybe still there was a presence of ‘Freemen’. An anti govt group with whacked ideals.
That second link is the best history I have ever read of that base. Anyone thinking of buying a property there, pay particular attention to the pictures of those empty basement foundations. Those are on the West side of the former base, close to the highway. Those houses have not been torn down. The wind has literally blown them away. I guess the windows blow out first, next the doors blow out, then the rest of the house just blows away piece by piece, until the basement is all that is left. There must be some weird wind tunnel effect in that area. I don't think anybody would want to live in that area at any price. Which probably explains why that part of the base was completely vacant even when my family lived there in the early 1970s. I can recall crazy strong winds on the other side of the base were we lived, but at least it wasn't strong enough to blow the house away.
You have to be prepared for some miserable cold weather to live there. I was born in North Dakota, which was just as bad. So I didn't know anything else, when I lived there. I would never want to go back to that type of climate again.
Wow... that cluster of houses and a runway in the middle of nowhere isn't it! What's interesting is how the base infrastructure blends in - camouflaged. Have to look pretty close to see it.
It sounds a little similar to where I lived in college, Big Bend Community College in WA is located on an old Air Force Base in Eastern WA with base housing that looks just like that. I am sure at one time it was also the only thing out there, but things have grown up around it now.
So true. Here is a recent video from last year showing the current condition of it.
Thanks for the info, Cloudy Daz. I grew up in a military town & worked in another military town, all that military housing looks the same. I'm just surprised the buildings are still standing, with the weather extremes & all. When a AFB near my hometown was decommissioned, all the buildings were vandalized to the extreme. It would have been better if they were torn down.
Threerun, thanks for the links, I had no idea.
That Saint Marie housing would be a great place for the *homeless* & the *migrants*. I'm sick of seeing dudes in their 20's, 30's, 40's (and females, too) with their cardboard signs, tarps & shopping carts! And, especially the ones with kids & dogs! They could fix the plumbing, the sewer, the electric, rehab the buildings, learn to hunt & fish, grow a garden. Of course, that will never happen.
Yeah, that is not going to happen. Way back in 1980 they considered putting the Cuban boat people there, but then they decided it wouldn't be a good idea for too many reasons.
I read the book Empty Planet and the author ridicules the population estimates for the world, given by the World Health Organization. He insists the world population is in decline.
So you found one book by one guy who you agree with, that says basically all data is wrong. That's not how this works. That's not how any of it works.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
