Buying the cheapest houses in your neighborhood?

If you're an average buyer looking for an average-priced house, you may be interested to know what a typical house costs in your town. But what if you're not an average buyer? What if you want – or need – to spend as little as possible?

In honor of frugal buyers and cheapskates, we've put together a collection of houses that are the cheapest of the cheap in their market.

Keep in mind that while the cheapest house in town may only cost a buck in Detroit, you'd have to cough up a lot more than that to live among movie stars or rich geniuses — think Bill Gates.

We looked for single-family homes that could actually be lived in, though some will need quite a bit of work before that's possible, and we talked to real-estate agents about why they're priced so low.

Median sale prices are as reported by the National Association for Realtors for the third quarter and are for existing single-family homes in the indicated metropolitan statistical area.

NOTE: Homes were on the market and available at the time of publication, unless noted otherwise. All property information is courtesy of listing agents.

From the desk of Edward E. Cambas through MSN Real Estate.