How do you find low cost houses? Look in the right towns,to begin with. Then you can find the houses you like and make an offer. Where are the right towns?

Altoona, Pennsyvania still had dozens of homes for sale for less than $30,00 as I write this (2005). I just saw one listed for $7,500! This is a cute little town (see the photo on our site), yet still big enough to have everything you need.

Hot Springs, Arkansas has low cost houses. The cheapest right now is $13,500. My wife and I like Alamogordo, New Mexico a lot, and it still has homes under $50,000. Independence, Kansas has homes starting under $10,000!

How To Find Low Cost Houses

You can look up various local newspapers online, and check out the classifieds. This also assures you that it's a town large enough for a newspaper. If there are at least a dozen houses for sale, you'll have an idea about home prices there.

You can find real estate agents online, or in local paper classifieds. Call one and ask if there are any low cost houses for sale. If not maybe he'll know which nearby towns have some.

You can go to www.Realtor.com, where you can search any town for homes listed by price, number of bedrooms, and many other criteria. This tool is a lot of fun. Set the criteria to select only homes under fifty thousand or whatever you want, and you'll quickly see if you're wasting your time on a town.

Of course, if you don't see many low cost houses, you still might be able to get one. When we lived in Anaconda, Montana, where we bought our own beautiful house for $17,500, we watched as a house listed for $18,000 eventually sold for $6,000! Towns that have had some economic troubles often have house selling for far under their listed price. The lesson is clear: make low offers to get low cost houses.

About the author:
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com
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How Do Property Investors Find Cheap Property?

Cheap property doesn’t always make a profit for an investor. The question we should actually be asking is: ‘How do I find properties that are being sold at substantially less than market value?’.

The first step is to find an area where future demand will be greater than the supply. How? Find out where there is to be new rail and road links. A large company moving to an area will bring jobs. People will need to move to the area to fill the vacancies and the demand for suitable housing will grow. Many large cities now have plans for area regeneration. Buying in the areas will cost a lot more when regeneration has been completed.

The next step is to decide on what type of cheap property to buy. If the demographics show a lot of elderly people living in your chosen area, then perhaps single storey accommodation will be in demand. If there are a lot of young people then perhaps the demand will be for apartments.

Once you have decided on both the area and type of property, you need to compile a list of what’s available. This can be done by using online resources such as www.findaproperty.co.uk . Other sites such as www.investalist.co.uk specialise in cheap property for refurbishment or development so may cut out some of the work for you.

When you have a good idea of what is available, you will need to see what the average property is costing in your chosen area. A great resource for this is www.upmystreet.com . They will also have a lot of other information such as the locality of schools and shops.

Finally you will need to visit the area yourself. Make a shortlist of properties to go and view. Take a pencil and paper so that you can write down the telephone numbers of agents from their For Sale boards. This is an excellent way of finding out if it really is a cheap property as well as supply and demand issues. The agents are generally only too pleased to help if they think they may be getting some business.

Finally nobody, especially property investors ever pay the asking price. You will need to put in an offer. This is an art in itself and will be the subject of a future article from us.

Andrew Stefanczyk has controlled a property investment business for over 14 years. He now advices both beginners and the more experienced investors on how to consistently make a profit from property. His investments over the years have been varied but include apartments, land, houses and commrcial premises. Andrew also owns and operates a website that sources and displays property suitable for investors.

Andrew Stefanczyk Find cheap property and other services for property investors at My Site