I'm hopefully going to sell a house upstate New York soon; I won't have much spare cash after this, maybe about $40,000 at most. The house is inherited; I'm not an experienced homeowner and have few skills. Since I can't afford much in the way of another house, at least in my present location, and I'm also interested in alternative housing, I'm looking into things like mobile homes, dome homes and other possibilities. I'm seriously considering relocating, possibly to the Northwest, but I'm also open to other areas. I guess my question is, can anyone suggest an area that 1) is hospitable (in terms of zoning laws and as well as attitudes) to alternative housing; 2) you can buy a few acres cheap and 3) is not too far from a small to medium sized city. One place I've thought of is Eugene, Oregon. I'd also be interested in corresponding with anyone who's done or is considering a similar move and/or can suggest resources to investigate alternative housing options.

-- Lleu Christopher (lleuc@earthlink.net), April 15, 2001

Answers

Response to Considering alternatives

Tennessee And Alabama. Here in N. Al, you can still find land in rural areas for $3500 an acre and in TN is even less, but rocky in places , so you have to harvest rocks and build your soil some.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 15, 2001.

Response to Considering alternatives

Lleu here in TN you can still get land cheap, land down the road is 1500-2000 ac that the average price here, I am 19 miles from a small town and 60 miles from the city. Ya we do have hot summers but mild winters very lax zoning laws and very ralxed attitudes. Schools are great, my children attend a school of 300 kids grades k-8th. Good luck.

-- tracy emily in TN (emilyfarms@tsixroads.com), April 15, 2001.

Response to Considering alternatives

Would concure on Tennessee as an excellent location. I moved to the mountains in E. Tn about two years ago. It's real pretty in Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carolinas but the the municipal governments can be a lot more uptight about zoning and building stuff. In Greene co. Tn, and I imagine in many other counties, they officially do not have a county building code. The state regulates septic systems and electric power hookups but they're pretty easy to get along with. There are also laws that specifically exclude the regulation of buildings on agricultural land so if you have an ag. zoning you can pretty much do what you please. This can have a downside if your uptight about what your neighbors place looks like. I suggust taking your time and looking hard for a deal. There are still a lot of really good buys but many of the locals are catching on to the fact that land is valued much higher in other parts of the country and that's where people are moving from. Check out www.ic.org for resources on Alt. building. Good luck and if you have any specific questions about the E. Tn just ask.

-- Carter (chucky@usit.net), April 15, 2001.

Response to Considering alternatives

Here in Kentucky there are several land companies which always have farm land for sale. Yes, they buy allot of it up and break them into sections. Allot of our old time farmers are selling because kids no longer want to farm, just the way it is. But at least they sell in large tracts. One example is old farmhouse, 2 barns and 16 acres for 40,000. These places sell on contract for deed to just about anybody with a down payment, or of course, cash. You just should have the title registered at the courthouse and it is fine as long as you make the payments. I bought my first farm in Ky with them.

There are places to be had for sure, lots of mobile homes around here. You just have to check good on the restrictions and zoning on the places you are interested in. You can go to www.thriftynickle.com and select Louisville or any other city and check them out. The web sites are listed in the classifieds. Tennesse has some very good prices also. Good luck and go for it!

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 15, 2001.

Response to Considering alternatives

Try checking with United Country Real Estate. They specialize in rural properties in most of the US. WWW.UNITEDCOUNTRY.COM

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), April 15, 2001.

If you are lookiing for cheap land you might look in Up state NY. Oregon's land is pretty spendy, tho we do have a 17.5 acre piece for $39K but this is sountern Or. Around Eugene it will be expensive, anywhere on the I-5 corridor will be, there are always bargins out there somewhere. I sold my farm 40 acre in Western NY 10 years ago for $55,000 with a new pole barn & shop, fenced with 9 acrs of hardwood, the rest pasture. the same place here in OR. would sell for $200-250K. Eeugene is not far from cottage Grove where they make Pacific Yurts tho.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), April 16, 2001.

Stay away from the northwest. Way overpriced and over regulated. Trying to escape myself!

-- karlog (karlog@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.

My daughter and son in law live in Eugene. I love it there, but it's true that Oregon is pretty heavily regulated. It also rains a LOT in Eugene. But lots of culture, especially considering its size.

If you are basically conservative, politically, be careful; Eugene is a hot bed of open mindedness :)

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), April 16, 2001.

Don't know anything about Oregon, but Idaho is pretty lenient when it comes to construction. Just in the little town I live in, there are 'board shacks', mobile homes, campers, etc etc, and the county says I won't have a problem putting up a strawbale house, so long as the plumbing and electric meet specs.

We are up in the mountains - with National Forest and BLM land surrounding the town, and total wilderness within 10 miles to the North. We are also within a half hour drive (40 miles) from Boise, so access to health care and 'city pleasures' - if you could call it that - is really close.

The only thing I can say at this point about alternative housing is that I despise the trailer we are in... No matter how I work it, the inside is always cold in the winter... Haven't lived here long enough to find out if its going to be hot in summer, but would imagine so. Make sure if you use this option that you have a snow roof and plenty of good insulation!!

Right now, we are planning a weekend trip to an abandoned town that is privately owned, where the owner is interested in selling off some parts of it. I have been told, that we could get a reasonably sized piece of land for much less than is currently charged around here. It has year-round access, power within the site, live water, BLM around it, and there are some cabins up there already. If you are interested, I would gladly send info after we go and take a look.

There is also a gentleman up here selling 5 to 40 acre lots for 2% down and 1% per month. We looked, but I want something bigger than the 5 - 6 acre lots in the area we wanted to be.(Plus, no live water...) He IS on the level - checked it out 'Nine ways from Sunday' so the saying goes. He doesn't charge interest, and once you buy, if you sell someone another lot, he gives you 5% of the purchase price. He also gives up to 5% the purchase price of your property, if you help clean up and do amendments on other lots. You get deed and title after 10% has been paid. His website is: http://mtn-property.com/index.html

If you are interested in the info from our pending visit, please email me, as I am losing my server, so won't be back too often till I get another. We are going this coming weekend.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.

The west is best, but that is just my opinion. We just returned from an odyssey over the last five years looking for cheap land. We returned to the upper midwest where we found cheap land ,(and ungodly cold weather in the winter , hot humid in the summer, and if your into biting bugs, this could be your cup of tea. Next we went to Tennessee where ,again we found cheap land and the most miserable summer I have ever experienced. Hot , humid, and NO WIND. Our conclusion is that there is a reason for cheap land prices. We returned to the northwest but chose east of the cascades and the east of the majority of people. Land here can be reasonable and it is possible to escape from the inspectors in some areas. Hot but NOT HUMID summers with cool nights, mild winters, and NO BITING BUGS. Yup, this works for me, but thena gain thats just my opinion. Good luck in your search Lleu.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), April 18, 2001.

Thanks for all the answers to my inquiry. JZ, I was thinking of climate myself when I said the Northwest, as I don't like humidity or extreme cold. Someone mentioned that Eugene is very openminded, which I like. I don't, however, like regulations much but I guess that depends on how they affect you. Someone also mentioned upstate NY for cheap land which is sort of funny as I live there now. But I live in the Hudson Valley, which is rapidly becoming a suburb of NY City, whereas if you go even twenty or so miles further West it gets a lot cheaper.

-- Lleu Christopher (lleuc@earthlink.net), April 18, 2001.

Texas!! The weather is usually pretty good except in July and August.The winters are good here in central Texas. The land is fairly inexpensive compared to lots of other places. Have family in the Northwest--beautiful country--but cost of living is so much better here and there are few to no restrictions on building here in the rural areas in the heart of the state. Moved from Washington state and wouldn't consider going back. Folks are helpful, honest, friendly, lots of them been around for years so they can really help you get started. Folks live in lots of things around here--we moved an old house in and refinished it--like it better than the mobile we lived in for a while. Ft.Worth-Dallas area is not too far away--all the city you could want.

-- bob dunwell (dunwells@cctc.net), April 19, 2001.

I have to agree with most of the other responses to your question. The Northwest does seem to have a more open-minded attitude towards life styles, but the actual regulations and land prices are deffinite negatives. Your most inexpensive lands are going to be found in the Southeast (except Florida) or Southwest. You might consider the Ozark Mountains area. Plenty of good fertile land at resonable prices. Don't think you'll find people as open minded as the Oregon Area, but at least you could afford to live there. $40,000 in the Ozarks is small fortune. As far as the southwest goes, great sunsets, decent prices, pretty open-minded, but a lot of desert keeps it from being as fertile as the Southeast. Good luck and keep us posted on how things work out for you.

-- Aaron Tomlin (atomicmass79@aol.com), April 20, 2001.