Online House Hunting

Can you build on unclaimed land that does not have a for sale sign on it, or is all land property of the U.S.?

I have thought about building a cabin or moving a trailer house to land in a forest where there is no for sale sign, or land on the side of the road. Is all unocuppied land still property of the U.S.? Is there a way to purchase land that does not have a For Sale sign on it? How does land purchase work? I live in the state of WA, but I was thinking of buying some land to put a modular/mobile home on, and laying it a foundation on the land.

Public Comments

1. How do you know the land is unclaimed. Just because it does not have a for sales sign on it doesn't mean anything. People will buy property and hold it for years without developing it. Be careful with trespassing, too. If you don't authorization to be on the land, you could be breaking the law. There is quite a bit of land in some states that is owned by the federal government, like my state Nevada, it is all over the place. But the government does necessarily give it away for free. If they want to get rid of it they auction it off. There is no free lunch...
2. If you find truly unowned land, then lucky you. But it sounds like you are looking at public land. You may be able to lease a parcel of public land, there would be conditions as far as what you can do. Check it out.
3. There is no unclaimed land in the U.S. It could be owned by a person who uses it for camping/hunting, or forest crop land for a lumber or paper company, or government owned land, or just vacant land that someone hopes will increase in value or plans to build on some day. In any case you can be forced off of it for trespassing if the owner finds out. Check laws in that state for "adverse possession". Just be aware that one of the requirements is usually that you paid property taxes on the land for the required number of years, and you can never claim adverse possession of government owned land.
4. ther is no unowned land in the US, but that does not mean you can't become the owner. AFAIK: Land in Alaska can still be had under the Homestead Act. Do you like snow? Follow the rules and 160 acres can become yours.