Squatters

[EddieWalker]

Other than already owning the house in WA, why retire there? If you didn't have this house, would WA still be where you wanted to live the rest of your life?

My wife and I talk about where we want to live when we retire. Will we stay here or cash out and move somewhere with less traffic? It gets tricky when trying to figure out what we want that will make our lives better than what we have here. It's fun to talk about with so many options out there.

 

[ultrarunner]

The PNW climate really agrees with me and life without the ever present threat of water rationing really appeals.

I’ve got the best tasting well water and no 3k annual SF East Bay EBMUD water/sewer bill for my 80 gpd usage.

One summer I decided to keep the back lawn lush running sprinklers 20 minutes twice a week and water/sewer bill for that month $450!

PSE Electricity is also a bargain compared to PGE but in California I got electricity covered with my self installed solar.

Something about salt water front living seeing the tide come in and out, eagles nesting at eye level and a salmon stream on property…

The property is fine… it’s people and government policies that can sour things.

 

[MossRoad]

The PNW climate really agrees with me and life without the ever present threat of water rationing really appeals.

I’ve got the best tasting well water and no 3k annual SF East Bay EBMUD water/sewer bill for my 80 gpd usage.

One summer I decided to keep the back lawn lush running sprinklers 20 minutes twice a week and water/sewer bill for that month $450!

PSE Electricity is also a bargain compared to PGE but in California I got electricity covered with my self installed solar.

Something about salt water front living seeing the tide come in and out, eagles nesting at eye level and a salmon stream on property…

The property is fine… it’s people and government policies that can sour things.

You know there's probably a hundred people here rooting for you to pick up and move.

 

[goeduck]

Just seeing this thread now. You are one Californian that I'd welcome up here. Although I am not sure we have not out-California'd California.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Interesting this thread has been restarted. Recently, my wife and I have been discussing buying vacation property in a more remote location. It's quite rural where we are now, but every year brings more and more development to the area. She wants a place where we can go occasionally to spend some time completely by ourselves.

While I'm not totally adverse to the idea, I reminded her of an incident we had here a decade ago. We had purchased an adjacent piece of property with a derelict house which we eventually planned to tear down. The place is far enough away where we couldn't see or hear anything that went on there.

During my occasional visits, I began to notice things were disappearing. A toilet, sink, interior doors and a few other things all went missing over the course of a few months. I wasn't concerned at first because of our plan to tear the place down. That changed abruptly when I noticed signs that people were staying there. Beer bottles, empty cans, ashes in the fireplace and even a sleeping bag caused me to hasten our demo plan. I hired a contractor the following week to do the job.

That past incident caused us to rethink our rural cabin purchase until we can find a place that would be more immune to theft and squatters if such a place actually exists.

 

[JRH02]

Interesting this thread has been restarted. Recently, my wife and I have been discussing buying vacation property in a more remote location. It's quite rural where we are now, but every year brings more and more development to the area. She wants a place where we can go occasionally to spend some time completely by ourselves.

While I'm not totally adverse to the idea, I reminded her of an incident we had here a decade ago. We had purchased an adjacent piece of property with a derelict house which we eventually planned to tear down. The place is far enough away where we couldn't see or hear anything that went on there.

During my occasional visits, I began to notice things were disappearing. A toilet, sink, interior doors and a few other things all went missing over the course of a few months. I wasn't concerned at first because of our plan to tear the place down. That changed abruptly when I noticed signs that people were staying there. Beer bottles, empty cans, ashes in the fireplace and even a sleeping bag caused me to hasten our demo plan. I hired a contractor the following week to do the job.

That past incident caused us to rethink our rural cabin purchase until we can find a place that would be more immune to theft and squatters if such a place actually exists.

There still are those places in abundance. All you have to look for is: no utilities, no cell phone signal, difficult and primative access via easements - not government roads, no mail delivery or any other delivery for that matter, etc. So you want that beautiful place that city people with the addiction to convenience won't go. Then all you have to deal with are recreational vehicles trespassing and thieves looking for an easy target. Those are easy to solve.

Oh, BTW, when you find that place don't plan of calling 911 and having an immediate response. You will have to be familiar with providing for your own defenses and injuries.

 

[Torvy]

Oh, BTW, when you find that place don't plan of calling 911 and having an immediate response. You will have to be familiar with providing for your own defenses and injuries.

We have one neighbor that has no clue how things work in a rural area.

He's always expecting that the county is going to do things the city he left would do.

Our county is very hands-off. They handle the roads pretty well, but we have no building codes or zoning, there is no animal control. We have pretty responsive LEOs. Most of us are 100% happy with that.

He just doesn't get it. Complains about neighbor dogs on his land, but doesn't fence his property. (Also lets his dogs run onto other's land).

I can't complain. We've had bad neighbors before and all-in we have good ones now.

 

[jyoutz]

We have one neighbor that has no clue how things work in a rural area.

He's always expecting that the county is going to do things the city he left would do.

Our county is very hands-off. They handle the roads pretty well, but we have no building codes or zoning, there is no animal control. We have pretty responsive LEOs. Most of us are 100% happy with that.

He just doesn't get it. Complains about neighbor dogs on his land, but doesn't fence his property. (Also lets his dogs run onto other's land).

I can't complain. We've had bad neighbors before and all-in we have good ones now.

I have lived rural my entire adult life. But no zoning and building codes are a hard no for me. That drives down the value of all real estate and creates hazards and eyesores that I’m not interested in dealing with. That situation isn’t the norm for rural areas; most counties do have zoning and building codes.

 

[JRH02]

I have lived rural my entire adult life. But no zoning and building codes are a hard no for me. That drives down the value of all real estate and creates hazards and eyesores that I’m not interested in dealing with. That situation isn’t the norm for rural areas; most counties do have zoning and building codes.

That's the wonderment of a FREE country. You get to choose where you want to live. But don't make the mistake of buying a place of your own free will and then try to change it to the preferences you brought and force them onto everyone else. But if your idea is good and your neighbors near and far buy into it you can be a hero. So many times when this happens someone just wants their preference and to spread the cost to everyone else.

An an age old example is the 'road.' It was and still is in some places that a time of year was set aside for road maintenance. Everybody participated in some way and if ya can't do physical work then equipment, lunches or even some cash for materials is needed. And if you legitimately couldn't do any of that your neighbors were already helping you.

 

[dodge man]

It’s kind of surprising knowing politics in Illinois but where I live, no zoning, no building codes, no inspections etc.

 

[JRH02]

I also want to speak to 'squatters'. Can they be a little lazy or challenged you think? If they can't get a broken down or barely running vehicle to the spot they are screwed. If they have a long way to walk they are screwed. If they can't get to a place with their sign they are screwed.

This also applies to thieves. They are notoriously lazy - that's why they are thieves. If they can't get to your place with a vehicle they are too lazy or it's impossible to hand carry their bounty.

Lastly, your home security system. We prefer dogs. Not man eating things but working 100# physical dogs who are protecting THEIR place and in our case, predators. They actually LOVE people but the bad guys don't know that the dogs' excitement of seeing somebody is for them to throw a stick or scratch their ears. At the same time the dogs can sense when something is wrong or the person is suspect. I have learned to watch the dogs' behavior. If they don't like someone I will not open the gate. They are almost always correct, breed and training not withstanding.

 

[jyoutz]

I have seen some of those places with no building codes or inspections. I have actually witnessed a mobile home with sewage discharging to an open pit. I won’t name the state where I saw this. Codes serve a beneficial purpose for everyone.

 

[JRH02]

It’s kind of surprising knowing politics in Illinois but where I live, no zoning, no building codes, no inspections etc.

We are in the last place we will be. It is 'zoned,' whatever that means, and there are the State mandates like a water well or septic. Outside of that, nothing, that inspector Hector wants involvement.

Even in Illinois I bet there are places an inspector doesn't want to go especially when utility hookups come into play. But that's the utility's requirements, not so much Hector. If you have no access to utilities you can do whatever.

But be forewarned: if you can insure your place, if it was a cobble job your insurance may decline a claim. And for good reason.

 

[tradosaurus]

I have seen some of those places with no building codes or inspections. I have actually witnessed a mobile home with sewage discharging to an open pit. I won’t name the state where I saw this. Codes serve a beneficial purpose for everyone.

Why wouldn't you name the state? It's not like we can find out the address.

 

[JRH02]

I have seen some of those places with no building codes or inspections. I have actually witnessed a mobile home with sewage discharging to an open pit. I won’t name the state where I saw this. Codes serve a beneficial purpose for everyone.

We had that some years ago on an adjacent parcel in a remote place. Fortunately, all the world crashed on that guy because of his situation and because he was a dirt bag.

Codes serve a beneficial purpose for city people in close proximity. In free country where your neighbor is way off and not in eyesight it is not an issue. Consider this: We have a hand dug outhouse 2x. It is technically illegal and prohibited. So is a burn barrel. But no inspector would flag either. Period.

But you don't do that in the burb or your HOA. Bwahh, hah. And to that, doing your stuff in an outhouse is not like the state park. It is YOUR place. If you leave the door open you see the starlings, jays, ravens and the various animals+++ talking back and forth.

 

[JRH02]

Why wouldn't you name the state? It's not like we can find out the address.

It doesn't matter.

 

[jyoutz]

We had that some years ago on an adjacent parcel in a remote place. Fortunately, all the world crashed on that guy because of his situation and because he was a dirt bag.

Codes serve a beneficial purpose for city people in close proximity. In free country where your neighbor is way off and not in eyesight it is not an issue. Consider this: We have a hand dug outhouse 2x. It is technically illegal and prohibited. So is a burn barrel. But no inspector would flag either. Period.

But you don't do that in the burb or your HOA. Bwahh, hah. And to that, doing your stuff in an outhouse is not like the state park. It is YOUR place. If you leave the door open you see the starlings, jays, ravens and the various animals+++ talking back and forth.

I live on 20 acres. I would still not want open sewage on the 40 acres next to me.

 

[tradosaurus]

We have one neighbor that has no clue how things work in a rural area.

He's always expecting that the county is going to do things the city he left would do.

Our county is very hands-off. They handle the roads pretty well, but we have no building codes or zoning, there is no animal control. We have pretty responsive LEOs. Most of us are 100% happy with that.

He just doesn't get it. Complains about neighbor dogs on his land, but doesn't fence his property. (Also lets his dogs run onto other's land).

I can't complain. We've had bad neighbors before and all-in we have good ones now.

It's not the responsibility of the home owner to keep other peoples animals off their property.
In my area problem animals are taken care of permanently. I don't have a dog but have lost a few cats either to varmints or neighbors who didn't like them on their property.

 

[tradosaurus]

It doesn't matter.

I didn't address my comment to you.

 

[JRH02]

I live on 20 acres. I would still not want open sewage on the 40 acres next to me.

When I lived in the Sandhills the guy that pumped my septic (and built our septic) asked if I was OK with him dumping the tank on the way out through the field. He was a neighbor. I said Yes.

In the year that followed the spring grasses came up gloriously exactly where that tank drained. Literally in a trail. It's fertilizer. But don't do this in your HOA.