Anyone got experience with buying land? I'd like to figure out if my dream is realistic or not.

Sorry I can't help you much but I'd love to own some land. In the UK there are a few rules about it too, not sure about anywhere else.

Apparently, you don't need to buy land - you can claim it. If it's unused, no longer registered AND unowned these are the guys you might wanna get in touch with, I think they basically have the job of saying who's land is who's land. You can also claim buildings on said land.

There are also squatters rights in the UK which I'm not 100% on the ins and outs of. But basically, if you purposefully squat on/in someones unused land/property and use it yourself (I.E. utilise it, refurbish it and regenerate it) for long enough, you can claim the land. But that takes over 12 years.

PDF goodness http://www.landreg.gov.uk/assets/librar ... de_016.pdf

You can become an American citizen, move to Alaska, and not only do you get paid for being an Alaskan citizen, you can be granted a parcel of land and as long as you make improvements on it, it becomes yours after x years. It's called homesteading, good stuff.

Beyond that, buying land in Texas is like buying a house. You typically involve a realtor to do the legal part, a bank to give you the long-ass loan, then find a seller, hook up, and negotiate. Same idea as buying a new car, basically, except you have a realtor providing you some assistance (and taking some money). Is it much more complicated in the UK? I imagine it's much more expensive.

Man, Alaska sounds like a sweet deal. A cabin, some land, and an internet connection and I'd be set.

I'm pretty sure Alaska attracts plenties of crazies for this reason though, and not the good (?) kind of crazy like me. The kind of crazy that elects Sarah Palin for governor.

I have no other contributions to make re: land. Only that it can be relatively cheap or horrendously expensive depending on where it is and what it was designated for (agriculture, building, commercial...).

EDIT: Hey Derf, you might want to check this site, it offers all sorts of analysis/comparisons/investment rates for countries worldwide. For example, here's the (average) price per m² for Europe:

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Euro ... er-prices/

Yeah Alaska is not my cup of tea. I need to warm temperatures and lots of sun.

Nice graph Ox, that's reassuring. Also, land in southern Italy should be waaaay cheaper than the national average.

I think now I need to figure out how much i'm after, what kind of house is needed and what the prices are.

http://www.realpointitaly.com/italian-properties.asp

Some of those prices are actually affordable. Most are definitely not. At least not for me and my meager wages.

*edit*
lol... 100 sq m! Only 78,000 euros! What a steal!

I own my own piece of land, 642 square meters if i'm not mistaken

But as been said: it will depend where you want to buy your piece of land. And i don't know how it's in other countries, but you can have restrictions (what type of house can you put on it for example, or what kind of roof) and some land is for agriculture so you can't put an house on it etc.

But i guess you've already figured that out.