Forget Detroit, Buy Your Own U.S. Island

Mini-mansions are so 2003.

Now, if you really want to roll  around in cheap luxury, you have to buy your very own island. Amazingly enough, it isn't that expensive.

Private Islands Online maintains a website that brokers islands from all over the world, and that includes the U.S. You never go wrong buying unspoiled land, and when that land is surrounded by water, all the better. Plus, should the global economic collapse go even more badly than it already has (Could it? Yes!), then you can hunker down on your private island with a couple year's worth of supplies and avoid the marauding hordes on the mainland. If things turn around, all the better. If not, oh well. Not your problem.

Nobody ever complained about being 'stuck' with a piece of worthless waterfront property, after all. (Except maybe the residents of New Orleans and some parts of coastal Florida. Oh yes, and parts of Alabama. You know what? Just forget I even said that.)

Hunter Island outside Midland Michigan is available for only $209,000.

In most cases, buying your own island is going to cost you some shiny sheckles, but there are exceptions to that rule, even in the U.S. The state of Michigan, for example, has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, but it also has more coastline than any other state, even the coastal states. This is because Michigan is bordered by four of the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and a bit of Lake Erie), and is also dotted with thousands of smaller lakes that were left behind when the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated into Canada.

You can buy a little 1.5 acre island in Michigan for a mere $209,000. The little island, dubbed "Hunter Island," is part of a private 881 acre wilderness that is privately owned by 46 other people. The Scottish Hills Club (which is what they call themselves) maintains the hunting and fishing rights to this huge parcel of land, and in Michigan, which is a mecca for hunters and fisherman, that is no small thing. The property already has a well and septic in place, and an additional lot is available on a nearby peninsula that already has a dock and a pole barn erected on it. Hunter Lake is a 150 acre body of water that hits depths of 50 feet near the center.

If you're looking for something less rustic, The Isle of Mews in southern New Hampshire on Lake Menomonac is available for $825,000. The 2.5 acre island includes a three bedroom two bathroom home with vaulted ceilings and lots of glass through which you can survey your private kingdom. The house is fully electrified via a cable from the mainland, and it includes a fireplace, a screen porch, and 1,280 feet of beachfront.

The Isle of Mews in New Hampshire is listed at $825,000 and includes a house.

New Hampshire's state motto is "Live Free or Die," and it's hard to imagine being much freer than this.

Even at $825,000, The Isle of Mews is a good deal. New Hampshire, which is near all the major east coast cities (New York, Washington D.C.), will never be a bad place to live. On the down side, it gets really cold in New Hampshire in the winter. By really cold I mean really, really cold. Sub-zero, howling winds cold. So you're not going to be sunning yourself all year. Still, a foreign investor could do worse than a luxury home on a private island a short commute from some of the country's most important metropolitan areas.

On a more serious note, it is generally true that one of the few segments of an economy in trouble that tends to retain value when everything esle is plummeting is luxury goods. Investing in a private island or waterfront retreat is not a bad way to go right now, and if you have to hold onto it for awhile, the good news is you can enjoy the place yourself while you wait for things to turn around on a bigger scale.

For more information and tips on where and how to invest in American real estate, check out our article United States Real Estate Prospects for 2009.