$10 Plots of Land Being Sold in Canadian Town
Officials in a small town in southern Canada have starting offering plots of land for only $10 to spur economic development.
Reston, Manitoba, a rural town in Southern Manitoba, is tucked in between Saskatchewan to the west, and North Dakota on the south.
The reason the town is practically giving land away is to encourage developers to move to the area in an effort to take part in the oil boom currently covering a great swath of North America, stretching down into the middle of the United States and reaching up to Fort McMurry in Northern Alberta.
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Town officials are selling undeveloped land for $10 which is a continuation of a program they first started in 2010. That year there were a total of 14 lots for sale, of which, 11 have permanent structures standing today, according to Reston economic development officer Tanis Chalmers.
The plan works by having prospective homeowners sign an agreement while putting $1,000 down as a deposit. After the agreement is approved owners have 90 days to begin construction and then are given 12 months to finish construction.
Owners do have the option of bowing out should another offer be made within those preliminary 90 days. If a transfer is made the original purchaser will be given a full refund of the deposit.
Once construction is complete and the town receives a copy of the owners occupancy permit, the town will refund $990 of the original down payment.
"We couldn't pass up this opportunity of a house of this nature for this kind of money, and a lot for $10," Todd Vanloo, who recently moved his family to Reston, told CTV News.
The main jobs of the town support the agriculture and oil industries, but city officials are hoping to draw all sorts of businesses to grow the town.
"We need to have supporting services to support the people living here and coming...we'd like to see a new hotel here, a new restaurant, a bar," Chalmers told ABC.
