3 ms·

The problem is finding a place where they won't nail you with building codes, zoning or other ordinances, etc.

by jollyllama 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Scoundreller 4y ago
Quite often the places with cheap land are also the ones that don’t have building codes.
- jcadam 4y ago
  Up here in Alaska, land can be had very cheap (but construction costs are high), particularly if you don't care to be on the road system.
  - diversionfactor 4y ago
    Where can I find this cheap land? When I check online zillow, or via Alaskan state land auctions, the price of building lots even without road access in the deep interior is more than that of a suburb in Texas!
    - mbrameld 4y ago
      https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsales/parcels/details/470-1433 https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsales/parcels/details/470-143... seems pretty cheap to me at about $4,200 per acre. A quick search of building lots in San Marcos, TX as an example shows prices are around $200,000 per acre, or about 50 times higher than the land in Alaska: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Marcos_TX/type-land https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Marcos... Can you share the lots you were looking at?
      - diversionfactor 4y ago
        San Marcos is one of the most overpriced and fastest growing markets in Texas, right next to Austin, priced to the stratosphere since the Californians moved in. Austin is my home town, but I couldn't afford to live in San Marcos. For typical Texas land priced around the same per acre as Alaskan land: https://www.land.com/property/Fox-Hunters-Club-Rd-Bon-Wier-Texas-75928/16523649/ https://www.land.com/property/Fox-Hunters-Club-Rd-Bon-Wier-T... $19,708 - 3.79 acres On a public road, with electricity (water you'd need a well). Remote East Texas, and by remote I mean you're 20 min drive from the nearest city (Kirbyville with some gas, food, small department stores) and 40 min drive from the nearest Walmart SuperCenter (the real sign of civilization in rural America). Or if you prefer something closer to a city, the desert just outside Del Rio, you can see: https://www.land.com/property/Windmill-Rd-Del-Rio-Texas-78840/16303923/ https://www.land.com/property/Windmill-Rd-Del-Rio-Texas-7884... $15,997 - 2.05 acres On a public road, I see electricity nearby but you'd have to run it to your land ($15k+ probably), or just do solar since there's plenty of sun there. Well water and septic. Bordering the Rough Canyon national recreation area and Lake Amistad, if you like boating and hiking (watch out for rattlesnakes). I'd say a "suburb" of Del Rio, an apartment building and single family homes 7 min drive away as well as a cafe. The nearest Walmart Supercenter is 30 min drive away in Del Rio, as well as the city of Del Rio and the general aviation airport is by the Walmart, if you wanted to fly to San Antonio or Monterrey. Now you might be saying, I want true suburban land, like surrounded by other single family homes, with water hookups and neighbors, and commuting distance to a major city. That's going to cost you more - but not much more, especially given it's already got all utilities: https://www.land.com/property/1631-Old-Henry-Court-Angleton-Texas-77515/15238303/ https://www.land.com/property/1631-Old-Henry-Court-Angleton-... $33,000 - 1 acres About 15 minutes drive from the nearest Walmart Supercenter in Angleton, as well as an HEB (gotta have that HEB), and 40 min commute to Pearland where you could actually find city jobs, or 60 min if you want to go all the way to downtown Houston (I used to have a manager who did just this drive every day for 10+ years, so she could live on a working horse farm). That's where my disconnect is for Alaskan land prices. I can only surmise it's because the federal and state government own like 99%+ of the land in Alaska and only sell a very small amount at any time to rigidly control the prices and development. Like an Uber-California in that way.
    - mhb 4y ago
      A cursory look reveals that there is acreage in Maine for less than $2K/acre. https://www.landwatch.com/maine-land-for-sale https://www.landwatch.com/maine-land-for-sale
      - vectorxheng 4y ago
        [flagged]
    - vectorxheng 4y ago
      [flagged]
      - thfuran 4y ago
        Ah, to get away from civilization into pristine nature, 12 feet away from the next guy doing the same.
- TeMPOraL 4y ago
  They also lack various things highly correlated with presence of building codes, such us road access, electricity, running water, clean water, water, food variety, healthcare, ER/ambulance, fire protection/prevention, crime protection/prevention, schooling, after-school activities, nightlife, pool for potential mates, (edit: was supposed to be "pool of potential mates", but in this context both work), and in general, people.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    I mean, not paying for/depending on/having half of those networks sounds pretty awesome I’d add lack of internet to your list. Much harder (but not impossible) to provide yourself.
    - TeMPOraL 4y ago
      Absolutely! Unfortunately, they are all mutually dependent and mutually reinforcing, so you can't opt out of some without opting out of the rest.
      - microtherion 4y ago
        Cf "A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear": https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/matthew-hongoltz-hetling/a-libertarian-walks-into-a-bear/9781541788510/?lens=publicaffairs https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/matthew-hongoltz-he...
    - jollyllama 4y ago
      >much harder to provide That's the real problem. HN forgets not everyone is remote.
      - TeMPOraL 4y ago
        The "provide" is easy these days, apparently, thanks to Starlink. The "yourself" bit is a tricky bit, as where it comes to utilities, you can sort of DIY your own supply of everything else, but Internet is as much a social construct as it is technical.
- turtlebits 4y ago
  It's not building codes, it's zoning/permitting. You can't just toss up an structure and live in it without going through some approval process with your county/city.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Sometimes the only requirement is to meet code, but even that creates issues when you want to build something for yourself. We have some really far out places that are still "unorganized" in Ontario Canada and therefore no permitting req'd, but you're still supposed to follow the building code for anything over 108sqft.
iancmceachern 4y ago
Especially in California

The problem is finding a place where they won't nail you with building codes, zoning or other ordinances, etc.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Scoundreller 4y ago

Quite often the places with cheap land are also the ones that don’t have building codes.

jcadam 4y ago
Up here in Alaska, land can be had very cheap (but construction costs are high), particularly if you don't care to be on the road system.
- diversionfactor 4y ago
  Where can I find this cheap land? When I check online zillow, or via Alaskan state land auctions, the price of building lots even without road access in the deep interior is more than that of a suburb in Texas!
  - mbrameld 4y ago
    https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsales/parcels/details/470-1433 https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsales/parcels/details/470-143... seems pretty cheap to me at about $4,200 per acre. A quick search of building lots in San Marcos, TX as an example shows prices are around $200,000 per acre, or about 50 times higher than the land in Alaska: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Marcos_TX/type-land https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Marcos... Can you share the lots you were looking at?
    - diversionfactor 4y ago
      San Marcos is one of the most overpriced and fastest growing markets in Texas, right next to Austin, priced to the stratosphere since the Californians moved in. Austin is my home town, but I couldn't afford to live in San Marcos. For typical Texas land priced around the same per acre as Alaskan land: https://www.land.com/property/Fox-Hunters-Club-Rd-Bon-Wier-Texas-75928/16523649/ https://www.land.com/property/Fox-Hunters-Club-Rd-Bon-Wier-T... $19,708 - 3.79 acres On a public road, with electricity (water you'd need a well). Remote East Texas, and by remote I mean you're 20 min drive from the nearest city (Kirbyville with some gas, food, small department stores) and 40 min drive from the nearest Walmart SuperCenter (the real sign of civilization in rural America). Or if you prefer something closer to a city, the desert just outside Del Rio, you can see: https://www.land.com/property/Windmill-Rd-Del-Rio-Texas-78840/16303923/ https://www.land.com/property/Windmill-Rd-Del-Rio-Texas-7884... $15,997 - 2.05 acres On a public road, I see electricity nearby but you'd have to run it to your land ($15k+ probably), or just do solar since there's plenty of sun there. Well water and septic. Bordering the Rough Canyon national recreation area and Lake Amistad, if you like boating and hiking (watch out for rattlesnakes). I'd say a "suburb" of Del Rio, an apartment building and single family homes 7 min drive away as well as a cafe. The nearest Walmart Supercenter is 30 min drive away in Del Rio, as well as the city of Del Rio and the general aviation airport is by the Walmart, if you wanted to fly to San Antonio or Monterrey. Now you might be saying, I want true suburban land, like surrounded by other single family homes, with water hookups and neighbors, and commuting distance to a major city. That's going to cost you more - but not much more, especially given it's already got all utilities: https://www.land.com/property/1631-Old-Henry-Court-Angleton-Texas-77515/15238303/ https://www.land.com/property/1631-Old-Henry-Court-Angleton-... $33,000 - 1 acres About 15 minutes drive from the nearest Walmart Supercenter in Angleton, as well as an HEB (gotta have that HEB), and 40 min commute to Pearland where you could actually find city jobs, or 60 min if you want to go all the way to downtown Houston (I used to have a manager who did just this drive every day for 10+ years, so she could live on a working horse farm). That's where my disconnect is for Alaskan land prices. I can only surmise it's because the federal and state government own like 99%+ of the land in Alaska and only sell a very small amount at any time to rigidly control the prices and development. Like an Uber-California in that way.
  - mhb 4y ago
    A cursory look reveals that there is acreage in Maine for less than $2K/acre. https://www.landwatch.com/maine-land-for-sale https://www.landwatch.com/maine-land-for-sale
    - vectorxheng 4y ago
      [flagged]
  - vectorxheng 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - thfuran 4y ago
      Ah, to get away from civilization into pristine nature, 12 feet away from the next guy doing the same.
TeMPOraL 4y ago
They also lack various things highly correlated with presence of building codes, such us road access, electricity, running water, clean water, water, food variety, healthcare, ER/ambulance, fire protection/prevention, crime protection/prevention, schooling, after-school activities, nightlife, pool for potential mates, (edit: was supposed to be "pool of potential mates", but in this context both work), and in general, people.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  I mean, not paying for/depending on/having half of those networks sounds pretty awesome I’d add lack of internet to your list. Much harder (but not impossible) to provide yourself.
  - TeMPOraL 4y ago
    Absolutely! Unfortunately, they are all mutually dependent and mutually reinforcing, so you can't opt out of some without opting out of the rest.
    - microtherion 4y ago
      Cf "A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear": https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/matthew-hongoltz-hetling/a-libertarian-walks-into-a-bear/9781541788510/?lens=publicaffairs https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/matthew-hongoltz-he...
  - jollyllama 4y ago
    >much harder to provide That's the real problem. HN forgets not everyone is remote.
    - TeMPOraL 4y ago
      The "provide" is easy these days, apparently, thanks to Starlink. The "yourself" bit is a tricky bit, as where it comes to utilities, you can sort of DIY your own supply of everything else, but Internet is as much a social construct as it is technical.
turtlebits 4y ago
It's not building codes, it's zoning/permitting. You can't just toss up an structure and live in it without going through some approval process with your county/city.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Sometimes the only requirement is to meet code, but even that creates issues when you want to build something for yourself. We have some really far out places that are still "unorganized" in Ontario Canada and therefore no permitting req'd, but you're still supposed to follow the building code for anything over 108sqft.

iancmceachern 4y ago

Especially in California