The triangular property is sparse on improvements \u2014 because there really aren\u2019t any \u2014 but that\u2019s part of the appeal. The land is surrounded entirely by water, making it a blank slate that\u2019s less about a house and more about the idea of getting away from everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour own private island in the heart of the California Delta,\u201d the MLS property description reads, noting that the setting \u201cfeels a world away yet remains within reach of Stockton and the greater Sacramento region.\u201d<\/p>\n
For listing agent Monte Morris of Nick Sadek Sotheby\u2019s International Realty, properties like this are unusual enough that he\u2019s built a niche around them \u2014 this one isn\u2019t his first.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely rare, this is the third (island listing) for me,\u201d Morris said, referencing a prior island he sold that garnered a lot of attention.<\/p>\n
This 5.6-acre private island in the San Joaquin Delta near Stockton is for sale for $39,000. Brandon Ramos\/Re Media 4u <\/p>\n
In 2020, Morris sold an island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta<\/a> for $43,000 in an all-cash deal. That property spanned 18 acres of raw land and was also in the middle of White Slough. It changed hands less than a month after being listed and closed escrow in just eight days. The seller received seven offers for the property. It was listed for $40,000.<\/p>\n Morris already has offers on the current listing, including one from a company in Seattle that buys unusual properties and uses them for short-term rentals, he said.<\/p>\n The new listing sits in a quiet stretch of Delta waterway that tends to trade waterski-for-a-weekend chaos for a slower rhythm: fishing boats, the occasional cruiser and a landscape defined by reeds, levees and big skies. Morris described the area around the island as \u201csuper laid back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really calm, and not a lot going on,\u201d he said, save for people traveling up and down the river, fishing and otherwise recreating.<\/p>\n In an era when privacy can feel like the ultimate luxury amenity, a 5.6-acre island offers it by default.<\/p>\n \u201cSpend your days exploring the Delta waterways, casting a line at sunset, or simply enjoy the kind of privacy that\u2019s becoming harder and harder to find,\u201d the MLS description reads.<\/p>\n Unlike the fantasy of a fully built-out island compound, this listing is more grounded \u2014 literally, a bermed piece of land.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re classified as berms,\u201d Morris said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re zoned agricultural.\u201d<\/p>\n That zoning, he added, reflects what the land is on paper, not necessarily what buyers imagine doing with it.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are just like land deals,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThey\u2019re obviously different because they\u2019re surrounded by water, but they\u2019re basically just land, and it\u2019s agricultural pieces of land that I don\u2019t think that\u2019s their highest and best use, because it would be too hard to access for a farmer.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say buyers haven\u2019t dreamed big \u2014 sometimes very big. Morris said that when he sold a similar island previously, would-be uses were all over the map.<\/p>\n \u201cLast time I sold one of these things, people were looking into them for recreational use,\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody wanted to do a pot grow on it, some people wanted to do jet ski rentals.\u201d<\/p>\n More commonly, he said, the interest tends to be less entrepreneurial and more personal \u2014 the kind of purchase that doubles as a story to tell friends.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to just have a place to take their buddies and hunt and fish, and I think, they want to just say, \u2018Come to my island,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That access question is a defining feature. The property is reachable by water, and any notion of building or installing amenities comes with a to-do list that starts with conversations with local agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of these are things that would have to be worked out with the building department,\u201d Morris said. \u201cYou can always change the zoning. It\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n In that sense, this listing is part trophy, part escape hatch. The Delta already draws boaters, anglers and people looking for a place where cell service fades and the to-do list shrinks. Owning a private island takes that impulse to its logical extreme: a patch of ground where the nearest neighbors are separated by water.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that you could probably put some pylons in there and put in a dock,\u201d he said, adding that others have added small structures. \u201cA lot of these guys that I talked to have put sheds and things like that, or little fishing hut. It would be just a little bit tough to get utilities over there.\u201d<\/p>\n If he owned it himself, Morris said he\u2019d keep it simple.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it were mine, I would probably put some piers or something in there,\u201d he said, imagining a setup that leans into the setting rather than fighting it \u2014 a platform for sitting, casting a line, watching the water traffic and calling it a day.<\/p>\n That stripped-down reality is also what makes the $39,000 price point possible. It\u2019s not the kind of price tag associated with the more famous private islands, which are effectively in a different universe. For example, Red Rock Island, the only privately owned island in San Francisco Bay, was listed for sale<\/a> in 2023 for $25 million.<\/p>\n This listing is not that. It\u2019s the accessible, oddball version: a rare piece of California geography that most people only experience by boat, now available to someone willing to take on the quirks.<\/p>\n There are a couple of marina businesses nearby: the members-only Devil\u2019s Isle<\/a> and Grindstone Joe\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n The island was last purchased in 2007 for $17,500, public property records show.<\/p>\n This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 12:45 PM.<\/p>\n In an era when privacy is sometimes the ultimate luxury amenity, a 5.6-acre island offers it for only $39,000. Brandon Ramos\/Re Media 4u <\/p>\n
The triangular property is sparse on improvements, but the appeal is a blank slate and privacy. Brandon Ramos\/Re Media 4u <\/p>\n
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