My wife and I bought land five hours away from home and the fact that it was so cheap compared to land close by influenced us for sure. Close by land was so expensive it was not even dreamed about. Land five hours away was cheap and it turned out to be the place we wanted to retire to. It worked out perfectly by dumb luck but it worked. We were able to buy a lot of land because it was so cheap and as luck would have it, we want to live here anyway as compared to where we came from. Land near the old home would have been great when we were young and working but when we retired that land would not have been right for us any longer. Maybe land close by could have sold for big bucks and then buying in a less populated area would have been possible, that is an unknown. Buying five hours away from home a few miles from a vacation area where we happened to have some waterfront cottages worked out for us, financially and most other ways. How cheap was cheap? A single timber sale of what most called junk woods more than paid for the entire property. There are no strings attached to our property and when you live on it that is a big deal! I would do the same thing again if I were reliving my life. That is I would buy for retirement and no matter your age it is not that far out. I can relate to the idea of buying things in government programs to take advantage of said programs and we have been tempted; the older we get, the happier we are that we didn't get involved with the government. They are in our pockets enough as it is.