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u don't need to buy it. You can get a "mining claim" of 20 acres, for $100 per year, on any of Blm's 1 millon square miles, mostly out west, tho. That claim gives you all the rights of an owner, you know.
no a trailer is not a better choice than the van, unless you have lots of kids, perhaps. That lack of caring about the Earth, tho, is unconsienable in this day and age. anyone with 2 kids is not helpiing anything, anyone with 3 kids is making everything 50% worse. the van is MOBILE, the trailer is not. that makes it many times less likely to be noticed, broken into, messed with by neighbors, kids, or cops. It also makes it a lot closer to work and everything else, most likely, if you are smart about where you park it.
u don't need to buy it. You can get a "mining claim" of 20 acres, for $100 per year, on any of Blm's 1 millon square miles, mostly out west, tho. That claim gives you all the rights of an owner, you know.
No it doesn't...
You can't have your property title reclaimed for not performing a minimum cost of improvements per year. Your claim right is for location and extraction of the resource deposit, thus could not be your registered primary residence, indeed you might not be able to camp there without approval. If you fail to comply with any regulation then you can have your claim withdrawn. It's a bad way to try to get land cheaply, since prospecting is a cut-throat business, if you're living on your claim full time, you will get reported, if you're not working your claim, you will get reported. If you're just not particularly liked, you will get reported. While reporting in itself isn't an issue, if you happen to be skirting regulations, then the subsequent official investigation is.
If you choose to file a claim in an area that no one else is currently filing a claim, you better have a really good story to tell the DNR too as to why you want the claim in that location, because there's a good chance this is your first claim, and its off the beaten track. If you happen to be a known local prospector your chances would be much better.
You'd likely also have to file a geological survey (if it's yours, you better be prepared to show your credentials too) maybe core/soil samples, extraction plan, and proof of being capable of transporting your resources extracted for sale. You may need to file a bond for reclamation of the site if the claim is not maintained, you will get this bond back after you clean up the site. Any permanent structures built without permission belong to the BLM, not you and you can't use them without their permission. Finally you HAVE to keep the claim site reasonably free of hazard, since the land could be used by hikers/campers/hunters/fishers/off-roaders as the BLM allows, and you can't stop it on any of that site except where it may impact your active workings.
You have to file the correct claim too, it has to be a placer claim, for 20 acres (and 20 acres is the maximum for an individual).
So does that sound like a cheap way o getting liveable land to you? Or were you just thinking it sounded like a good idea with superficial knowledge?
One could always get a patented mining claim which to my understanding is irrevocable, but the problem with patented claims is that a lot of them are usually priced at (or above) market rate of land, so one is not getting the same kind of 'deal' as one gets with an unpatented claim. Though with a bit of looking around on the real estate sites, there are some really nice deals on patented mining claims.
I came pretty close to buying a few patented claims because they were such good deals, but ultimately decided not to because I did not like the states they were in quite enough. Also looked into unpatended claims, as well.... was going to live in a temporary encampment in my wall tent while doing the perfunctory amount of work needed to keep the claim. I'm really bad with bureaucracy, though, so had reservations about doing it. Hate having to fill out state mandated forms and such.
Yes, with the loft, except I have implemented an alternating tread stairway rather than a ladder. They save tons of space, yet function much as a traditional stairway. Normally, alternating tread stairs are not allowed under IRC--but since the loft has less than 250 sq ft with ceiling height over 5 ft and there is no bathroom upstairs, technically it's allowed in this case.
I love Jay Schafer's home designs--elegant, simple, giving a nod to traditional design, very space efficient... and VERY small. Nothing over 837 sq ft on his website (his monster-sized home) and all the way down to 65 sq ft!
Sounds like a cozy little home you have there, and certainly way, way more efficient than the behemoths they are building these days and trying to pass off as single-family homes. Most could house 10 families. Can you imagine how loudly the contractors, tax collectors, and utility companies laugh when they see these battleship-sized white elephants? I can't wait until our super-size-it culture's pendulum swings back the other way.
Don't get me wrong, if a couple wants a 100-room palace for them and their parakeet to live in, go for it--I'm a staunch supporter of individual liberty. But I'll never understand the draw. Seems to me at best a wasteful money pit and at worst a debtor's prison.
Anyway, sorry, let me jump off from my soapbox now...
I will be a little over an hour northwest of Grand Forks in the Park River area--the northeast corner of the state. Actually it's a few miles west of Park River, which takes me out of the Red River valley and adds a few hundred feet of elevation (a good thing when the Red River floods).
You're right about the perception of small homes "reducing the value" of neighborhoods. It's a complete misconception and based on generalizations. It's the sort of thing where you see small homes in ghettos and start to relate the two in a cause/effect manner. But think about it: can I keep a 400 sq ft home up just the same as I can a 4000 sq ft home? Sure I can. Home maintenance is not size dependent, other than it's easier to keep a smaller home up. In fact if you look for small homes that are kept up well, they are generally much more appealing than the typical "cold" McMansion is, no matter how much the McMansion is dolled up. The small home is much more "homey," personal, cozy, intimate, and of course, efficient (when built properly) and cost-effective.
It's a shame that builders have turned to townhouses and condos for small living quarters these days. I think small single dwellings are so much more appealing and personal. It's hard to find builders that realize this. They've never been exposed to it. Luckily, there are a handful of architects, designers, and builders who are trying to bring the industry back to what it was, say, 75 years ago (in terms of home size choices), and they tend to be very enthusiastic about it--as are the "fans" who see the advantages of small homes and the many disadvantages of super-sized homes. The only reason more folks don't see the advantages of small homes is that they are not given the choice. It's either townhouses/apartments or behemoths... sadly.
Gee... I got back up on my soapbox, didn't I? Oh well.
In my area there's some builders doing these row houses with houses spaced pretty closely but at least you aren't sharings walls, you have more your own backyard, neighborhodos have alleys with garages behind.Still from a builders perspective you can pack a lot more attached homes into an area than you can even a smaller home with small yards. I agree though SFH is much more appealing.
u don't need any of this paperwork. Just file a one year "mining claim" on any 20 acre site that you like on Federal Bureau of Land Management ( BLM) land. .they have over 1 million square miles, most of it west of the Mississippi river, and it costs but $100 per year per 20 acre claim. Have one up North for the summer, one down south for the Winter. This claim gives you all the rights of an owner for that year, and no taxes.
baloney, I know many people who live exactly as I say. If you get your claim retracted, so what? Millions of acres have nothing going on but grazing of sheep or cattle.
Me, I just park the van wherever I want. As long as you don't leave it there more than 12 hours, you will have no problem with it. You need not move it far, 1/2 mile suffices, but you do have to move it 2x a day.
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