Get in early on the Cape Breton golf rush with this home 20 minutes from Cabot Cliffs

Right now, Cabot Links is a brand new, critically acclaimed links course a two-hour drive from the middle of nowhere, in Inverness, Novia Scotia. To get there, you have to want it.

But in 1999, you could have said the same thing about Bandon Dunes.

Both places have been developed by Mike Keiser. Which means that a decade from now, Cape Breton could well be the East Coast version of the five-course Oregon mecca.

If you're up for a bit of a long-term play, this four-bedroom, three-bath home is 20 minutes from the course and has everything you'd need to go on a four-season adventure. Built three years ago, the 3,600-sq ft insulated concrete home sits on 115 acres overlooking miles of rocky coastline. Heat comes from a state-of-the-art underground geothermal system, which means you won't have to pay a gas or oil bill. The listing also points out that you get terrific cell reception at the house, along with high-speed Internet.

The price is $650,000 Canadian dollars, or about a half a million in U.S. funds -- a pittance compared to a comparable property on the Oregon coast

The only downside? It's a 700-mile drive from Portland, Maine, or a puddle-jumper flight into the tiny Sydney, Novia Scotia airport. And you'd have to get used to those dollar coins.