Invest in Debt
Many years ago, before Ebay was invented, I spent several years locating and finding lots in dead subdivisions in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. I always loved hiking around in these places looking for corner markers and trying to learn about the history and value of the lots.
When these subdivisions get to be 30-40 years old there is a lot of interesting history to be found in the tax records. The buyers are passing on and deeds get transferred to kids and grand kids. Sometimes there are no kids or the records get lost and property with real value eventually gets sold for back taxes.
In Arizona I also checked into the potential for buying tax lien certificates. I actually bought some, but the I got distracted by other things and have not followed up on it for many years. Part of the reason I didn't follow up was because of the difficulty of selling lots where the tax certificate did not pay off and you actually got the deed. Things have changed a lot since then and I am building an Arizona Tax Lien website to help investors learn how to profitably make tax lien investments in AZ.
Now that Ebay is active, the answer of where to sell lots is obvious. In fact, I have seen lots in subdivisions I looked at being sold on Ebay. The dream of owning a little piece of land of you own seems to be alive and well, because these tax lots often bring good money. Maybe it is because buyers don't understand how cheaply they can be purchased and how expensive they are to develop.
Of course, if you just want a place to park your camper and lets the kids run for a week every couple of years, the cost really isn't that much.
So, I will have to see about scanning some of our old photographs and building this site into a place where I can coordinate Ebay sales and other marketing.