You can buy 50k houses in small towns all over the country including Texas. The catch is most of them are in areas with little economy, usually in the middle of nowhere and often if pretty bad shape. Or, in some larger cities with major issues in the upper midwest and in the south but the catch is you do not want to live in the area.

what's the catch.. lol.

Did you look at any of the listings you posted?

The catch is that no one wants to exchange $50,000 in cold hard cash for the privilege of living there which is why they're still on the market.

There are some parts of the country (esp in cities) where most people wouldn't want to live even if you paid them.