property

[drjenk]

My wife and I thought it would be a good idea to have a small piece of property to call a home base for perhaps a few months at a time, to be able to grow some veggies in the summer, and take off to a winter destination of our choice for the winter. The problem is, most counties do not allow dwelling in a 5th wheel for very long, unless you have a building permit or such, and even they they will only renew at max one time. Yes of course we can dwell in smaller park like spots, such as the escapees coops, but there's not much room to grow very much, nor to expand with a small cabin later if we decide to.
My question is, does anyone know of any counties or states, that allow you to buy say and acre of land, and let you live on it indefinitely in an RV, provide of course you have a sewer and water source? For electric, I want to go solar, off grid. Has anyone done this? And where?

[Isaac-1]

Here in Louisiana historically it was somewhat common, though they have started cracking down on this sort of thing in the last few years, with the exception of areas recently hit by major hurricanes where they tend to be a lot more flexible on these rules, ie people living in RV's on lots where their house used to be. Having said that where I live in western Louisiana there always seem to be rural properties from 1/2 - 5 acres for sale with either a mobile home or older smaller sometimes ran down house on it for roughly the same price as empty land in the area is selling for, and Louisiana has homestead exemption so no property tax on primary residence houses up to $75,000 estimated value (though local property tax is still charged). Note estimated value for tax purposes is typically well under real world value. Here is an example of what $65,000 gets you in the way of a small 800 sq ft lake camp house on 3/4 acre of land on a small creek with water access to the lake a few hundred feet away (if your boat is small enough) in western Louisiana (this is about 15 miles from my house) For comparison a vacant (thanks to Hurricane Laura) 1 acre waterfront lot on the same lake about a mile away is listed for $85,000 https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...?ex=2944332613

[CamperLifer]

Maybe you are looking in the wrong state.

[Country Road]

Originally Posted by drjenk

My wife and I thought it would be a good idea to have a small piece of property to call a home base for perhaps a few months at a time, to be able to grow some veggies in the summer, and take off to a winter destination of our choice for the winter. The problem is, most counties do not allow dwelling in a 5th wheel for very long, unless you have a building permit or such, and even they they will only renew at max one time. Yes of course we can dwell in smaller park like spots, such as the escapees coops, but there's not much room to grow very much, nor to expand with a small cabin later if we decide to.
My question is, does anyone know of any counties or states, that allow you to buy say and acre of land, and let you live on it indefinitely in an RV, provide of course you have a sewer and water source? For electric, I want to go solar, off grid. Has anyone done this? And where?

Small acreage for the purpose you're asking about will be very hard to find. Places like that in states like Texas and specifically central Texas allow sewers to be installed and I think the minimum acreage has to be 1.2 acres (in our county). You can put in your own well or use county water if available and get power from the power supplier or your own solar. You can normally put anything on the property. This, of course, assumes you aren’t buying into someone’s divided acreage that has special use conditions.

Here’s the problem. It’ll be nearly impossible to find that land in today’s world. And if you find it, the cost will be out of this world crazy. So it’s likely you’re dream will be difficult to achieve, not impossible, but difficult. Good luck.

[Rob_M]

You may have to get farther away from the big cities and buy more than an acre, but properties are still out there. I have a half acre lot for sale in a small town an hour north of St. Louis right now. $60k no restrictions. Already has a small metal shop with apartment.


Take a look at this home I found on Realtor.com
531 N Main St, Eolia
$75,000 · 1beds · 0baths

https://apps.realtor.com/mUAZ/9bk97mg1

[Nwcid]

There are tons of places like that. Challenge is that typically you are going to b looking at it county by county.

Worst come to worst, build a small "shed" that meets the requirements of that county. Make sure to install full RV hook ups.

[shootist]

Usually septic system is required if you live on a property.

[Argosy]

Originally Posted by CamperLifer

Maybe you are looking in the wrong state.

I agree. Townships here have that control and they aren't uncommon. They're going to be very rural areas but they do exist. FWIW, you need to research the solar system that will let you do what you want, it's going to be very expensive and very tempting when the property sits vacant for long periods.

[hemifoot]

where i am in central British Columbia there is a mix of properties.we're on a .65 acre RL (residential lakefront) and can park a trailer or build a permanent home according to the zoning bylaws. across the street are zoned residential and we are not supposed to have permanent rv residents but there are dozens that do it anyways.nobody really cares.most of them have no septic,they just bury a 350 gallon holding tank and pump it out a couple times a year. i buried one for my guest suite above my main workshop instead of tearing up my yard to tie in to my house septic.

[Gordon Dewald]

Have you considered buying a property in a favored area, getting building permits and start building a cabin or other required infrastructure. It may end up being your favorite or if not you can sell. Any improvements will enhance the selling price.

[Grit dog]

Originally Posted by CamperLifer

Maybe you are looking in the wrong state.

Maybe that's why they are asking....
OP, as said, it will vary by state/county. I'd pick an area, look up the zoning regs and then shop properties zoned that way.
Also, MANY areas that it just "happens" and noone cares. Having owned, or still own property in several states, rural Northern WI this is pretty common.
This area, likely?, is a case of lack of requirements or building codes altogether.
House I built up there needed only a county building permit and state septic permit and the only reason for the septic permit was it's proximity to a lake. Only inspection was state septic inspection.
Just sold property in rural Colorado in the mountains, near Como. It was bordered by a subdivision of 100s of little lots 1-3ac that were zoned for anything from camping on, to building a permanent residence. The "HOA" even has a storage facility for folks to pull RVs down to for the winter (not sure why, it snows just as much a mile away at the storage lot...lol).

How to find them specifically, idk, but there are thousands of places like you're looking for.
Call a realtor in a rural area where you'd want to do this at. Free info and insight from the realtor.

[LMHS]

https://tennesseelandandlakes.com/th...gs/#purchasing

[LMHS]

https://www.landsofamerica.com/Easte...sort-acre-low/

[arcaguy]

Have you thought about a place with a mobile home already in place? The water electric and septic will already be in place and so long as the mobile home is livable where you actually stay probably won't be an issue, especially if it's not visible from the road. Good luck.