where to buy land and live in Oregon (Medford, Ashland: real estate, military)

[dieseldog]

We are looking to move there in 2 years. We are looking for inexpensive land with trees. I don't really want the extreme winters. We will be building our own house, probably an earthbag house. as long as it's outside city limits we shouldn't have too many problems with zoning. I was liking Ashland area until I looked here and found out how expensive it is. Medford sounds nice. I don't mind the rain and fog. I would like it. I love rain. (just not mud..lol) If anyone has any ideas please let me know. if you know any communities that already have built earth structures like cob, rammed earth or earthbag, please let me know.
I really have no preference as to where. I'm not looking for high desert. I want hills, trees, grass etc. Probably rural. I don't mind driving. I'm a little spoiled now, everything within 15 miles. but that's how it is in a military town. this will be our first move to where WE want to go. The army has called the shots for 18 years. We plan to look hard in the next 2 years so multiple suggestions are fine. I will be coming up (from Texas) to check it all out next year.
I want to give my appreciations to those who have posted and replied here. I'm so thankful I found it. The discussions are so informative. Always ask the natives I say! lol

[Waterlily]

I check out the prices of houses many places but I seldom look at land. However if you want western Oregon I believe the area around Powers has more reasonable prices than any other place. It's a tiny town with only about 800 people but the weather is nice there. There is a river going by the town and it is surrounded by forest. The first time I was there I could not believe how quiet it was. It is nice if you are an outdoor type of person who can live is a tiny town. You'd need to go about 20 miles to get to the next town.
You might want to check out Lakeside. It's close to the coast and a small town.

The next option would be to check out some places in eastern Oregon. Some of it has trees and mountains. Some of it is like desert.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by dieseldog

We are looking to move there in 2 years. We are looking for inexpensive land with trees. I don't really want the extreme winters. We will be building our own house, probably an earthbag house. as long as it's outside city limits we shouldn't have too many problems with zoning.

Wrong. Oregon has a state-centralized land use policy (LCDC). Whether you are in the city limits, within an urban growth boundary or under county jurisdiction has very little effect on zoning. In many cases, counties have more RESTRICTIVE zoning and building codes than the cities.
Experimental homes using cobb, straw bale, rammed earth and asphalt-stabilized adobe have performed poorly west of the Cascades due to the humidity and horizontal rainfall we get in winter and most building departments won't allow them. But if you are looking for inexpensive land, you won't be looking west of the Cascades anyway. The 1970's are gone, and western Oregon is a pricey real estate market just like the rest of the West Coast. The LCDC's restrictions on zoning have greatly upped the competition for buildable land (google "Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development" to get to the state website and read the code). You can't take land that is zoned agricultural or forest and grazing and build a home on it, and the most of the land that is zoned residential near populated areas has been snapped up by the development corporations. You might check the northeastern area of the state around Joseph or Enterprise.

[aaammmyyy]

try north of coos bay.someone I knew has a mineing claime around there, and the BLM, and other organizations have alot of rules, sometimes different rules that go against each other.