Own Your Own Town for $800k

[Feuer Frei!]

I normally avoid Yahoo like the Plague, but...

Had it with life in the big city? The traffic, crowds, and high rent got you down? Then may we suggest you consider investing in the town of Scenic, South Dakota? And by "invest" we mean "buy the whole darn town for $800,000."
That's right. The small town, which admittedly has seen better days, can be yours for just a bit more than an average home in San Francisco. So, what exactly do you get for your $800k? Quite a lot, actually. You'll get a dance hall, a saloon, two jails, a train depot, two stores, and some more empty buildings.
According to ABC News, the town is for sale because the current owner, Twila Merrill, has been diagnosed with cancer. Merrill's daughter, Lee Ann Keester, remarked, "I have to take care of my mom. Family always comes first... But it's just time, everything comes with time... [My mom] would love to do it until she's 100, but her health won't permit her."

True, the town won't be mistaken for New York or even Green Acres. However, based on the pictures, it does have a certain Old West charm. One can almost picture John Wayne ambling down the street. It does look like a ghost town--and with fewer than 10 residents, it's mighty close to becoming one.
This isn't the first time an entire town has gone up for sale. Some may remember actress Kim Basinger's ill-fated purchase of Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. Basinger planned to turn the town into a tourist draw, complete with film festival. But things didn't quite work out as she planned. She was later forced to sell the town at a huge loss due to financial problems of her own.
And Basinger isn't alone. As an article from MSN points out, many have purchased towns only to see that the dream of "owning their own zip code" turn into a nightmare. It's one thing to be a landlord and have to fix a renter's leaky faucet. It's another to be responsible for an entire town of faucets (and toilets, and electricity, and crime prevention, and, and, and...)


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[danasan]

Nice little place in the middle of nowhere

Had a look at Goggle Earth: 1st Street, 1st Ave....

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by danasan

Nice little place in the middle of nowhere

Had a look at Goggle Earth: 1st Street, 1st Ave....

We should go halves danasan!
You can run the 2 prisons, and be the Prison Warden, i'll run the Saloon Bar, complete with show girls, poker tables and a bar tender with the shot gun!

[papa_smurf]

Count me in if were putting a bid in

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by papa_smurf

Count me in if were putting a bid in

What will you do though?
There is only a few empty buildings, a dance hall hall and a train depot left!

[danasan]

I'd run the two prisons, of course. But be sure, they'd be like some in Turkey...

[ajrimmer42]

I bagsy being station master!


choo choo!!!

[danasan]

It definitely needs some nicer guys (and girls) there...

Mount Rushmore isn't that far away. Would it be an affront to add some stuff? I am sure it would. But we could make some money out of it.

Bed and breakfast in my nicely done jails... With free bread and water

[Anthony W.]

I'll supervise the building of a grass and later concrete runway

The whole Mt. Rushmore thing is a draw.

Open a cheap hotel/hostel with a shuttle service to the national park, move the employees into the upper floor of the hotel, plant the seeds of an economy.

Gain air traffic by offering free mooring for a month. Hold a camp out fly in at no registration fee. Have a drawing to win a free refueling.

There is only a few empty buildings, a dance hall hall and a train depot left!

Plus some big future liabilties and 9 sitting tenants.

I'll supervise the building of a grass and later concrete runway

The whole Mt. Rushmore thing is a draw.

Open a cheap hotel/hostel with a shuttle service to the national park, move the employees into the upper floor of the hotel, plant the seeds of an economy.

Gain air traffic by offering free mooring for a month. Hold a camp out fly in at no registration fee. Have a drawing to win a free refueling.

Would the shuttle service drive past the big airport and wide selection of hotels/hostels between Scenic and Rushmore or would it go the longer route south and back up past the airports and hotels/hostels in the park itself?

[Feuer Frei!]

@ Anthony W: how will you find the time to devote yourself to the overseeing of the building of the runway, the running of a hostel and hand out flyers for the camp-out?

@Tribesman: and the empty buildings, they need TLC! Perhaps a al fresco Pub, when it rains you get wet whilst getting drunk

FF. If I wanted some dirt cheap properties I would look here

http://www.nama.ie/Publications/2011...nforcement.pdf

But not until they work out how the hell taxes are going to go.
That being said, some people are buying. Apparently some farmer just bought a golf course so he could plough it up and add it to his farm.
No doubt someone will one day also buy Citywest for peanuts which contains not only worldchampionship golfing, but loads of hotels, a huge business park, a massive pile of "luxury" apartments, shopping centres ....plus an airport on the doorstep for a bonus.

Stateside though sensible money would look at Detroit not "nowhere" S. Dakota.

[Jimbuna]

Love it

(Homicidal Yul Brynner android not included.)