In Palo Alto, it&#x27;s easy to speculate with empty plots of land.<p>Example:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zillow.com&#x2F;homedetails&#x2F;2240-Columbia-St-Palo-Alto-CA-94306&#x2F;19504874_zpid&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zillow.com&#x2F;homedetails&#x2F;2240-Columbia-St-Palo-Alto...</a><p>The owner of this plot was able to hold onto a huge empty lot (with weeds) for ~$1000 a year in property taxes until 2014 when it was sold for more than $2 million with an original purchase price probably under $30 thousand.  In less than one year, it was flipped for $3.3 million.<p><pre><code>  06&#x2F;01&#x2F;15	Sold	$3,300,000+56.0%		
  08&#x2F;15&#x2F;14	Sold	$2,115,000+41.5%	
  07&#x2F;21&#x2F;14	Listed for sale	$1,495,000</code></pre>