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How to Buy a Ghost Town
lifehacker ^

Posted on 05/17/2021 5:30:01 AM PDT by mylife

Visiting a ghost town is one of the closest things we have to time travel. If left undisturbed, the town remains suspended in time; perpetually stuck in the year it was abandoned. Fortunately, some ghost towns have been incorporated into state and national parks, which tend to leave them in their state of natural ruin—the most famous example being the former gold mining town of Bodie, California.

But there are at least 3,800 ghost towns located throughout the United States (in a variety of conditions), and on occasion, entire towns are up for sale. While owning your own ghost town may sound great in theory, in practice, it could be a very different story (depending on what you want to do with the abandoned property and structures).

Before even getting to that part, you have to go through the process of purchasing the ghost town—which, it turns out, is a little different than buying your average not-abandoned home. Here’s what to keep in mind if you’re in the market for a ghost town to call your own, courtesy of an article by Joe Pye on Debt.com.

READ MORE The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide To Kid Culture: Is Elon Musk Funny? 35 Movies That Made Public Domain Characters Cool Again What to Look for During Your Final Walk-Through Before Closing on a House It’s more than just a house Attention-grabbing headlines on ghost towns being sold at what appear to be shockingly reasonable prices may give the impression that as long as you have the cash, you could be the proud owner of your own abandoned mining village relatively easily.

(Excerpt) Read more at lifehacker.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: bodie; california; ghosttown; ghosttowns; godsgravesglyphs
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To: Buttons12

I heard Centralia is a bargain....


21 posted on 05/17/2021 5:59:45 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: All

I’m saving up to buy Petticoat Junction. The railroad runs right by it, it has a hotel and water storage tanks.


22 posted on 05/17/2021 6:05:23 AM PDT by BipolarBob (This is my chainsaw. There are many like it but this one is mine.)
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To: mylife

The article mentions Cleator AZ. It is pretty cool place, working bar and closed general store, few other buildings and residents. Great place for off-roading.
Still on sale.
The price is kind of steep though. They lower it to a million now.
The area is very conservative, you would probably like the neighbors.


23 posted on 05/17/2021 6:07:53 AM PDT by AZJeep (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0AHQkryIIs)
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To: BipolarBob
why not buy a whole country? Freedonia! Freedonia!


24 posted on 05/17/2021 6:12:43 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: DoodleBob

Centralia is already played out in the sense of money moving from one pocket to another. I believe the heyday of the game was over 25 years ago.
I’ve talked to some of the players. Residents, realtors and some officials. I’ve seen Centralia. There is no town anymore and no one’s going to build a mockup, nor would anyone be permitted to. The environmental issues there are insuperable.

But there are many other little crossroads all over the place. Some with architecture more pitiful than those frontier towns in Texas. Old hotels and taverns, huge, crumbling, hiding in the weeds. Same situation in New York state. Local officials praying someone will come along and start something they probably can’t finish.


25 posted on 05/17/2021 6:16:07 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( )
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To: AZJeep

AZ has some very cool towns


26 posted on 05/17/2021 6:18:12 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Totally true, although most of the population of Crown King appears to be transients riding ATVs up from Lake Pleasant. The article also mentions Cleator, which still had a bar and general store last time I went through there.


27 posted on 05/17/2021 6:19:30 AM PDT by FateAmenableToChange
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To: Jolla

>I have seen a photo book of old Japanese farm houses, all wooden very neat, small but cool. If you had those many houses you could deconstruct a couple and build a nice place.

My daughter and I went backpacking in Japan in 2018 and stayed on a small island off of Shikoku. 20 people lived there, almost all over the age of 70. There are more than 100 houses there, 75% of them are empty. The sea there is so filled with fish that just one frozen shrimp on a hook will catch a large fish within 10 seconds. There’s areas to grow rice and other crops as well (only problem is that there are wild boars on the island that dig them up).

Imagine having a place like that to one’s own!


28 posted on 05/17/2021 6:19:55 AM PDT by struggle
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To: Truth29

Here’s one I sort of follow on YouTube, Ghost Town Living, this guy says he has a partner and the cash to rehab the place and turning into an adventure tourist location...

It’s a abandoned mining town in the mountains outside of LA called Cerro Gordo, the guy has been living there alone for over a year heading up the rehab....

https://www.youtube.com/c/GhostTownLiving/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid


29 posted on 05/17/2021 6:20:15 AM PDT by srmanuel (`)
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To: mylife

Or Gloucester Island. I’ll reclaim it back from the Russians.


30 posted on 05/17/2021 6:25:37 AM PDT by BipolarBob (This is my chainsaw. There are many like it but this one is mine.)
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To: struggle

Japan has a lot of empty countryside. Not a bad place to go when the dollar, society and culture fails.


31 posted on 05/17/2021 6:34:02 AM PDT by zek157
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To: mylife

How much for CNN? It’s pretty much a ghost town...


32 posted on 05/17/2021 6:41:45 AM PDT by null and void (When you put bad people in charge expect bad things to happen, often in a spectacular and sudden way)
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To: dynachrome
St. Elmo is cool I’ve been there several times. Hard to get to. Part of it burned down a few years ago.

St. Elmo's fire?

33 posted on 05/17/2021 6:43:21 AM PDT by null and void (When you put bad people in charge expect bad things to happen, often in a spectacular and sudden way)
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To: BipolarBob

You realize the girls from Petticoat Junction aren’t young anymore.


34 posted on 05/17/2021 6:47:17 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” ― Thomas Jefferson)
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To: null and void

That was the joke at the time. haha.


35 posted on 05/17/2021 6:49:02 AM PDT by dynachrome ("I will not be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: mylife

New Mexico, too, as I understand. There’s one place called Cuervo. It’s even been made into a song.

https://thewornflints.bandcamp.com/track/cuervo


36 posted on 05/17/2021 7:05:21 AM PDT by FamiliarFace
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To: super7man
missal bases are more my cup of tea.

Love them Catholic prayer books! /nyuk nyuk nyuk

37 posted on 05/17/2021 7:18:20 AM PDT by bassmaner (He y commies: I'm a white male, and guilty of NOTHING! Sell your 'white guilt' elsewhere!)
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To: mylife

Ben Wheeler TX is not a ghost town. There are real businesses and services there.


38 posted on 05/17/2021 7:28:18 AM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: ConservativeInPA

I’m after their granddaughters.


39 posted on 05/17/2021 7:41:47 AM PDT by BipolarBob (This is my chainsaw. There are many like it but this one is mine.)
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To: super7man

Except China and Russia are using old maps showing they’re still active.


40 posted on 05/17/2021 7:43:48 AM PDT by bgill
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