Camp property search

[airbiscuit]

It sounds like you have moved on from looking for a camp to a looking for a primary home.

 

[ArlyA]

It sounds like you have moved on from looking for a camp to a looking for a primary home.

No, we call it a camp but we are hoping to be there permanently. I'm retired but dearest is thinking about early retirement.

 

[Otto Syracuse]

Real Estate is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. If the purpose is to enjoy trails and skiing, the layout and features of the land is paramount. If you love the 100 acres woods, putting a modest camp or home on it should not be too difficult to do and would eliminate a lot of ‘fixing other people’s poor construction or design”.

 

[airbiscuit]

That's a nice metal building. If regulations allow, it's easy to make inexpensive living space in a corner of that building.

 

[chris the wrench]

No one sells mobile homes around here any more but we do see tiny homes come up on FB.

Look at prefab vs mobiles. The walls are built offsite and trucked in and assembled. Popular in areas where workforce can be thin. They can pop them up on a foundation crazy fast.

Depending on level of finish taste, in my neck of the woods a higher end stick built custom home is $300-400 a sq ft. Obviously that price can crank up or down alot based on finishes, layout, multi-story, etc. But if you do a rectangle with a gable roof, you can REALLY drop that price(200’ish) and have some decent finishes. Just some food for thought. Also regional building costs can fluctuate enormously.

 

[paulsharvey]

That's a nice metal building. If regulations allow, it's easy to make inexpensive living space in a corner of that building.

Locally, and I know that varies a Lot; the building department doesn't know what to do with the whole Bardimium thing. Is it a house, an ag building, or a commercial propery? Is it a split tendency? Does it require fire walls between the separate tenants? Tiny homes aren't much better. There is a strong push to ban them.

There was a gentleman I have dealt with that wanted a perm power connection, and access to his property, and his plan was a perm raised platform for his Yurt. My understanding is the county's response was No. His point was, you mean I can't camp? And yes, you can camp, but you are building perm structure associated with camping, and we aren't approving the platform, or power.

 

[Runner]

Building departments are kind of between a rock and a hard place. Unless they have specific local ordinances otherwise, as long at the "house" meets the minimum structural, space and sanitation requirements, they have to allow it, no matter how it is built.

Example: The area I live in is within city limits and governed by the city zoning ordinance (but no homes association). The zoning is for "residential agricultural" use, i.e., you can do ag. type uses (farming, livestock, etc.), but you can't have any "accessory buildings" (barns, etc.) unless there is a residence on the property as a "primary occupancy".

Property next door to me was just bare ground and guy wanted to build a pole barn there. As it turns out, he owned a lawn care company and just wanted a place for a building to run his business out of. However, city would not approve his permit app. because there was no residence on the property. However, you could get away with running a business like that from your house, as long as you aren't storing equipment outside, etc. His answer to that was to build a small, one room plus bathroom "residence" within the building.

So the city had to approve it, even though no one actually lives there and he is violating the spirit and intent of the zoning ordinance. But the city couldn't stop him because the building has a "dwelling unit" in it, and they can't prove that nobody actually lives there.

The guy actually lives in a swanky neighborhood (where such things would NEVER be allowed) in an adjacent city.

 

[2manyrocks]

I can't keep up with the rules in Tennessee. At one point, seems like the state was trying to prohibit tiny homes from being built offsite without being inspected as a manufactured home or something. I have seen stick built homes from the 1960s/70s moved from one location where roads were being widened to another. They used to be sold very cheaply and the main cost was hiring a house mover to move them.

The City of Gallatin,TN moved a two story late 1800s-early 1900s brick home from one area where a road was being built to another location for use as one of its office buildings. Impressive to see the house moved with the bricks intact and none of the large windows broken.

 

[ArlyA]

Codes from one state or county comparing it to another is like saying "all fruit is the same". Variations are to large to consider any, but where the project is.

 

[2manyrocks]

Trouble is regulators always seem to want to add more regulations especially if they can point to other places that prohibit something. If you can find something workable that's already built on the property, it may be grandfathered so you don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops required for new construction.