2543 Butte Place Thermal, CA 92274

In 1958, a developer named M. Penn Phillips looked at the California desert and said, "I will put 25,000 homes here." He planned a resort city for 40,000 people. Celebrities came. Frank Sinatra came. They went boating on the Salton Sea. Then the 1960s happened, and most of the grand plan went away.

But here is the part nobody talks about. The streets got built. The utility lines got run. The paved roads stayed paved. And now you can buy a lot on that grid - at 2543 Butte Place in Salton City, California - for $13,095. The infrastructure was designed for a city ten times its current size. That is either the saddest story in real estate or the most interesting one. Probably both.

This lot is 11,984 square feet of residential-zoned land. It sits on a paved road with homes nearby. Water and sewer are both at the street line. Electric is two lots away. No HOA. Zoning is low-density residential - one unit per lot maximum. Property taxes run $101.16 per year. Per year. In the state of California. Read that number again if you need to.

The lot itself is shaped like a wedge - about 76 feet and 60 feet across the top, stretching roughly 190 feet deep toward a point at the south end. That gives you almost 12,000 square feet with more breathing room than the usual rectangle. It is an oversized parcel compared to others in the neighborhood.

Salton City today draws around 200,000 visitors a year. They come for off-road sports, bird watching, desert photography, and local art. The town sits between the Peninsular Ranges to the west and the Salton Sea to the east, about 110 miles from San Diego. It is flat, dry, and wide open - the kind of place where you can see the sky from one edge to the other.

Owner financing is simple. Put $131 down and pay $131 per month. No credit check required. No bank approval required. Pay it off early any time with no penalty. If you decide it is not for you within 30 days, you get a full refund.

A developer once bet millions that this spot in California was worth building a whole city around. The city did not happen the way he planned. But the paved roads, the utilities, and the land are still right here.