Initially my search had an acre as the minimum lot size. There are probably much better deals in Montana than what I saw. Same for Texas.
The issue in Texas is it takes forever to get anywhere from those river front and lake communities. Not a problem if you're remote, bit of a drag if you work in Austin.
Anything that you'd colloquially call a "lake house" is going to be $1m+, even in frigid remote areas.
But, IDK with inflation maybe in 2023 a $1,000,000 purchase does count as "cheap."