It’s probably for the best not to get much closer.

There’s a huge number of these kinds of homes in the southwest. They’re pretty inexpensive and they usually sit on the market for months. They’re in no way investment properties - mine sold a decade later for what I paid for it after sitting on the market for a year.

You have to go into it with eyes open, though. If you’re lucky, you will have your own well on the property. If not, you’ll have a shared well or have to haul your own water. That changes the way you think about showers and laundry. You’re in the middle of nowhere, and your neighbors may range from the nice folks who live a mile over that way to the black helicopter conspiracy theorists. You’ll probably see them rarely but hear them doing target practice in their backyard. Wildlife will very much be a thing. Winters can be rough because if you get snowed in, you’re not going anywhere without owning a plow or snow vehicle. Summers are freaking hot. Water will increasingly be an issue. Internet will be unavailable unless you have a satellite service. You’re going to potentially have a problem with cell service, too.

Some of the problems can be solved by throwing money at it, others are just things you have to adapt to.

There are a fair number of these properties in California. $40k for a postage stamp lot with a tiny framed structure on it (maybe). Oh in the middle of the desert where the high is above 110 recently.