HOW TO CLAIM PUBLIC LAND
By Cyber Sales Information Services

"Does the Federal Government ever sell public land? The answer is yes." These are the first two simple sentences of page one in the Bureau of Land Management brochure. "Are there any public lands for sale?" The encouraging words are followed by the admonishment to contact the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state offices listed in the back of the pamphlet for detailed information. Fair enough, but when one calls each of the twelve state BLM offices listed there, he soon finds six of the numbers are no longer valid and some of them have no forwarding number to help.

Thus is the typical frustrating experience of trying to get good information from the US federal bureaucracy. It's not that the information doesn't exist but rather grasping hold of it is a little like trying to nail jello to the wall. It can probably be done but who has the time or patience to wade through the muck and mire of an endless array of departments, assistants, phone mail and dead ends. Well, here's another simple sentence: WE DO!

Cyber Sales Information Services has done the work most people would walk away from. And it's not because we're so smart but rather we refuse to be worn down by the shear weight of exhausting phone transfers, un-returned calls, mysterious cutoffs after being on hold for fifteen minutes and the mountains of bad information from government agencies that are being paid to give out good information.

What you're about to read is the fruit of our labor. And we offer it up to you with the hope and confidence that it will profit you in ways as yet unseen and unexpected. This was the driving force that guided us through the process, one that we trust you will find worthy.

So get your coffee, sit back and enjoy the information we have put together for you, our valued customer.

This information package has as its objective to help you find as many properties for sale by the US Federal Government as possible, and to explain in a straight forward manner the way one goes about acquiring that property.

We make no apology for utilizing information from other info packs that have found there way into our grubby little hands. It's ever in our customers interest to provide them with the most complete information possible and to this end we are unabashedly ruthless in that endeavor.

Good information is what we're after. And in that same vain, we can't get enough. We would appreciate any shared info with your personal experience when dealing with any of the government agencies we list herein. If it's something we can use, we will return the favor with one of our (did somebody say "cheesy?") import gifts. It could be a car, it could be a VCR but it'll probably be something like a cast-iron piggy bank. Whatever, I'm sure it will last a lifetime. Cast iron usually does.

1) Are There Any Public Lands for Sale?

www.blm.gov/nhp/landfacts/LandForSale.html

A basic primer of general information put out by the Bureau of Land Management.

2) Homesteading -- Cheap Land for Sale?

New brochures provide correct answers.

www.blm.gov/nhp/news/press/pr960212.html

Lots of links to good info here with Ray Brady's phone number 202-452-7773. Ray is one of the chief BLM honchos in Washington DC and a good man to deal with when you can catch him. Very helpful.

3) Bureau of Land Management Home Page

www.blm.gov

As one would expect, there are lots of links, some good some not so good. Only the government would have a weed page.

4) Other BLM Offices And Web Sites

www.blm.gov/nhp/BLMinfo/ReadingRoom/InfoAccessCtr.html

This is one of your most important links. These are the state BLM offices that have a lot of your information but they don't have it all as you will find out. Be patient. After you've been doing this a while you'll know more than some of the staff in these offices.

In case there are any doubts about how much land may be available in the very near future, check out this memo I stumbled across deep in the dark crevasses of BLM files.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
December 1, 1997
In Reply Refer To:
2000 (350)P
Ref. IB 97-68
EMS TRANSMISSION 12/2/97

Home

Instruction Memorandum No. 98-26
Expires: 9/30/99
To: SD's
From: Director
Subject: Identification of Lands for Disposal DD: 12/31/97
A Bureau-wide inventory of public lands potentially available for disposal was completed earlier this year in response to Information Bulletin No. 97-68, dated February 6, 1997. This inventory effort identified some 3.5 million acres of public land as potentially available in response to the requirements of Section 390 of the Agriculture Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-127). Only those lands specifically identified for disposal in existing approved land use plans were included in the inventory effort.
Each State submitted an inventory report on a county-by-county basis as part of this previous inventory effort. Identification of these lands on a parcel-by-parcel basis, by legal description, or on maps was not required as part of the original inventory effort. We would like to assess the level of workload and various options available for submittal of more detailed information regarding the specific identification and location of these lands. Additional information is also needed on the possible segregation of these lands, to preclude further encumbrances on the land, and the potential serialization of these segregation actions to establish an Automated Land and Mineral Record System (ALMRS) record of lands identified for potential disposal.

The proposed ALMRS record notation of lands identified for potential disposal should be considered as a functional training and implementation review of ALMRS capabilities. This information available on a State-by-State basis will be a valuable management tool for the future.

Please provide the following information to WO-350, Lands and Realty, by December 31, 1997:

1) Describe the type of additional specific information you could provide regarding the individual parcels of land previously identified as potentially available for disposal and an estimate of the workload required to provide this information on a Statewide basis. Possible options could include maps, legal descriptions, planning documents, or other types of information.
2

Also provide an actual example of this type of information for a specific area with disposal parcels. We are not requesting a complete package for all disposal lands in your State at this time, but only an example of what potentially could be provided later.

2) Discuss the potential for segregation of these lands and the establishment of an ALMRS record of these segregation actions. An estimate of the workload involved for this type of Statewide effort is also requested.

Please contact Ray Brady, Lands and Realty Group at (202) 452-7773 if you have any questions or need further information.

Signed by: Authenticated by:
Pat Shea Robert M. Williams
Director Directives and Records
Group,WO540

This is an actual phone conversation I had some time ago with a state BLM office.

Me: Hi, I would like some information on your current listings of any land coming up for auction.

BLM: Well, we presently don't have any auctions scheduled.

Me: Do you have any land presently assessed for sale?

BLM: Yes we do. (long pause) But we don't know where it is.

Me: Pardon me?

BLM: We have a 40-acre tract and a 180-acre tract we're assessing but we don't actually know where they are.

Me: You mean you don't know where they are physically?

BLM: Yes, (another long pause) this is the government, sir! (laugh)

For the most part I really have enjoyed dealing with the various BLM state offices and they really have been very helpful and easy to work with. However, you must understand these agencies as all other government agencies are ham strung by the departmentalization or fractured structure of the government itself. Each office and even each person has their own area of responsibility and the sharing or information between people and agencies is an on-going process complicated by a never ending stream of new data.To state it another way, it's not their fault. They're doing the best they can under the circumstances. Perseverance and patience!

This section has properties for sale both improved and unimproved listed by the BLM and various other federal agencies. There is a great deal of personal property mixed in so it requires some scrolling but it's a lot of fun anyway.

1. 192.147.69.47/ore/template/detail.dbm (There's even a listing for President Clinton's 7 lots of Castle Grande Estate.)

2. www.fdic.gov/assets/flauct.html (Several unimproved lots and even some vacation property.)

3. www.lathamauction.com (sales in Florida)

In conclusion to this section, I think the actual complete list is endless primarily because it is added to daily. Use the search engines they provide and don't give up.

So I'm sitting there squirming in my chair, waiting for Monday and the endless parade of government employees to assume their positions and I start dialing. And dialing....and dialing... and dialing. These are the same phone numbers I called Friday afternoon when I was told everyone had gone home early. Now I'm getting transferred to an assistant who claims is no longer his assistant, transferred back to the first person who now is away from his desk and them mysteriously cut off in mid-sentence on their voice mail. Welcome to phone tag hell, government style. Where the name of the game isn't who you know but rather "catch me if you can."

There are two rules for getting information from government agencies by phone:

Rule (1) Never give up.
Rule (2) See rule 1.

(It's not like we're trying to get information from the CIA.)

Me: Yes, do you have any public land for sale?

BLM: No we don't. We don't ever sell public land.

Me: You don't ever sell public land?

BLM: No we don't.

Me: Isn't your office charged with selling off land that has been assessed as no longer needed by the government?

BLM: (long pause) Well....yeah...

Me: So you do sell it some times, right

BLM: Well, sometimes.

I've heard of stories where state unemployment employees would act like the money was theirs when it came to giving it out to those in need and I suspect that a lot of people who go to work for the BLM do it because they love nature. Maybe they don't really want to sell any to greedy creeps like me. But fortunately, they have to.

Patience and kindness go a long way in these situations.

Sometimes you have to wonder about the different set of values the government has form normal people. There was a story about this poor immigrant farmer out west who, while plowing his field inadvertently plowed some kind of endangered species. The conservation department got the evidence (Can you picture that?) and seized his tractor as evidence and was trying to take his farm as well! Fortunately for this fellow the press got wind of it and after a considerable amount of embarrassing articles the agency dropped the case.

So be warned. Whatever restrictions are put on the property, take them seriously.

Well, that about sums it up. I hope this packet was both helpful and entertaining.

Yes, the federal government does sell public land. It is done primarily through the Bureau of Land Management. It also sells repossessed private property through other various federal agencies. This land is primarily sold by auction bids. The federal government tries to sell it at fair market value but more often than not that's pretty cheap.

If you are the high bidder, you will be issued a dead and will own it with the same rights as any other land owner. However there can be various environmental restrictions attached to ownership.

Given enough time and energy, any US citizen of legal age can own this property.

So, good luck and may your properties be multiplied!