cheap land for vacation home

[Vikram C.]

This message is inspired by a post from James (jawsette) where he describes buying 100 acres for $2,000 in a tax sale. I spoke to some of my friends about it and we are all interested in buying such land, except that we wish to build a small log-cabin or vacation home on the property.

The ideal property would be in a scenic area - Rockies, Sierras, Cascades, etc. It need not be in one of the popular places as long as it is scenic with some mountain, river or lake nearby. We really do not care to do anything financial with it - just enjoy it for years to come. I understand that we will have to pay taxes during all those years.

And we don't need 100 acres. Even five or ten acres will do. Access to a 4WD is important though.

Any suggestions on how I might go about finding such a property? We can pay a bit more than James's numbers but would prefer something cheap. (We might use it all of one week per year or perhaps even less.)