About the $8000 property, the guy who wrote the article bought it 20 years ago. I lived in Pittsburgh in the mid '00s - before the housing market crash- and you could easily find properties in the $20,000 range. They were shitty, abandoned, and probably had a tax lien on them but nevertheless available. I bet 20 years go, before Pittsburgh had any sort of urban renewal, it'd be possible to get an $8000 property.
Edited to add- What I find most shocking about this article are all the negative comments! Sounds like the Internet Retirement Police (tm) are all over this guy!