Buying Land

[Frood]

I just watched Bob's video I Bought LAND as a VAN Life HOME BASE! Should YOU? and looked at land.com for fun. One option listed was Includes Mineral Rights and this made me wonder; how would Bob feel if he doesn't own mineral rights (MR) and the MR owner shows up one day to start mining, drilling, etc.?

In quite a few cases this pertains to oil rights not necessarily metals... There may be an oil field below your land that is being accessed by a well far away.

There may also be a deep mine already under your property. So deep that even if there were a cave in or something you wouldn't notice anything up on the surface.

But in some cases, yeah, you may have the person that owns the mineral rights show up and try to figure out how they are going to access the minerals they own on the land you own. Generally though, unless you are specifically buying a property because you want to mine or prospect on it, not having the mineral rights should not necessarily be a deal breaker unless there is something bizzare that says the rights holder can demolish any existing surface buildings when they pursue the rights.

I think most are suburban tracks.

You would think so, but you would be unpleasantly surprised.

There are LOTS of HOAs for undeveloped, unbuilt, raw land without utilities out in the middle of nowhere. It's kind of shocking and insane how often you run into HOA crap to deal with.

 

[rruff]

It's kind of shocking and insane how often you run into HOA crap to deal with.

The worst kind of no-HOA crap is when someone upwind of you decides to put in a hog farm....

 

[Frood]

The worst kind of no-HOA crap is when someone upwind of you decides to put in a hog farm....

Yeah, this can be bad but happens far less frequently than not being able to have a flag/garden/non-grass front yard/non-earth-tone-color house, etc.

This is even part of some rural HOAs where the average lot size is 5+ acres.

 

[rruff]

I just watched Bob's video I Bought LAND as a VAN Life HOME BASE! Should YOU? and looked at land.com for fun.

I looked at his video too. He said it's 20 acres 5 miles down a poor dirt road, and very far from any town. I wonder if it's the Sierra Mountain Ranch area, that's way north of St Johns?

His reasoning doesn't make much sense, but I figure he can probably afford whatever he wants.

 

[bullfrog !]

^^^plus he probably doesn’t need things like medical facilities nearby. Yet! Lol!!!

 

[rruff]

^^^ One would guess that since he is going to wait to "settle down" until he absolutely is forced to.... ya, being over an hour from a hospital, assuming he isn't snowed or mudded in, is probably not ideal. Just getting supplies would be annoying.

I was looking at a lot that was ~40 acres and $40k, that was 2 miles on a county road from Concho Valley... which ain't much, but it's got a grocery, gas station, laundry and showers, propane, library, and a restaurant that gets good reviews. It's 30 minutes to Show Low which is a "big" town.

 

[maki2]

I looked at his video too. He said it's 20 acres 5 miles down a poor dirt road, and very far from any town. I wonder if it's the Sierra Mountain Ranch area, that's way north of St Johns?

His reasoning doesn't make much sense, but I figure he can probably afford whatever he wants.

Given his descriptions he is on private lands close to the Sitgreaves forest areas east in or nearbApache county east of Show Low close to the border of New Mexico. There are only a couple of paved roads that lead into that territory. Also very few towns in the area that would have a community well to service them.

The setup in many ways is not that different from where he bought his one acre of land over towards Grand Canyon Junction. There hwy 18o and Hwy 64 provide the major access and pretty much all other roads are just rough dirt back into the rural properties. There is a “community” well with payment cards for resident members adjacent to the Grand Canyon Junction Airport and an associated public paid water filling station at the gas station/trading post.

 

[rruff]

Sierra Mountain Ranch has a community well. That would be my guess from his comment that he is a long way from a town. They have a HOA also, and online info. https://www.sierramountainranch.net/resources

 

[bebewanna]

After having to hide 1 year to camp in WA and the insane scrutiny about homeless these days.
I bought 1/2 acre outside of Taos.
$3000 and I made last payment April 1st.
My main consideration was no county harassment for living in the Grand Caravan on the land. I didn't care about power and water or anything else lol. Plus I lived in Taos and worked in summer decades ago. So I knew the story.

Been off grid for 25 years... Hauling water is not a problem. I have 5-100 watt solar panels and no power issues.

Some NM counties and most of America are on people living on land with no facilities.... Some (Deming) have employees that drive around looking for people in RV or camped on their land in the winter... They state it openly

For me it came to... Far too many people these days living in vehicles looking for places to camp (in my VW bus days, it was not so) and far too many Govt rules.

Living in the van is great I have no complaints other than more space might be nice ... But in today's world I like knowing where home is and not having a never endless search for where to sleep.. Too much stress.

 

[rruff]

My main consideration was no county harassment for living in the Grand Caravan on the land.

I'm curious how that works. Is it that you are in an area where the county simply doesn't care?

But in today's world I like knowing where home is and not having a never endless search for where to sleep.. Too much stress.

I always thought it was kinda fun looking for good spots. I'd keep returning to them. But it would be harder in a minivan.

Getting away from the infernal SxS things is the biggest challenge for me...

 

[maki2]

Humans are creatures of habit. Even full time nomads often stick to the same schedules for sleep patterns and travel time patterns. In the last 5 years I have frequently seen postings saying Thursday is the best day to change campsites. The logic for that has to do with weekend campers showing up on Fridays. Sure enough on Thursday morning I see lots of nomads pulling out right after breakfast so they can get to the next campsite by 3:00pm. So if you want to change camps on a Thursday then get up really early and try to be at that next desired camping area not at 3:00pm but instead get there by 10:00 AM.

 

[rruff]

^^^ The different methods are interesting. I prefer to camp where I won't see or hear another human, and they won't see or hear me... so there isn't any competition for sites. I can achieve that pretty easily except for the SxSs. I keep using the same spots unless I want to scout for another one. I have a MTB now, so usually scout with that. It's way more a fun thing to do than a burden.

When I was NE of Quartzite a couple months ago, everyone was parked near the highway. About 1/2 mile from it, there was no one for miles, except me.

As I recall you like to stick close to town for economic reasons so that is a different priority. I'm glad you found a place that works for you.

 

[bebewanna]

I'm curious how that works. Is it that you are in an area where the county simply doesn't care?


I always thought it was kinda fun looking for good spots. I'd keep returning to them. But it would be harder in a minivan.

Getting away from the infernal SxS things is the biggest challenge for me...

Hey.... There are maybe 6000, 1/4 and 1/2 acre lots, covering miles of area. A few thousand were never sold and sit in limbo because the Govt doesn't want them sold. This part of Taos County. As we say west of the bridge. Is well known for refugee living.
As well... This is a liberal area and I think even though the county is not happy about it. There are hundreds of people living in all kinds of funky structures out here and as well in other parts of the county. Lots of them established before the rich folks arrived and laws were changed, which is a big topic of discussion here.

They say now enforcement is only if they receive a complaint.......like a neighbor complained people on land next door had someone living in an RV... They made her move the RV and everyone here went looney tunes. They have been pretty quiet at the county since then... Which means stay away from fancy subdivisions and town. They would have a big problem trying to enforce things here. It is too far gone

 

[BobPeters61]

I paid about $3000 for an acre of open desert in Apache Co. where camping on one's land full time is allowed.

This is what I paid for 2 years ago. A compatible lot will cost more in reality now. My current hurdle is how to get a domicile when my land has a warranty deed registered with the county and an outline on the map, but no address.

 

[rruff]

I paid about $3000 for an acre of open desert in Apache Co. where camping on one's land full time is allowed.

Bob, I'm pretty sure there is a county wide code for waste disposal. You can park on the land but it is not legal without a septic or other approved means of dealing with waste.

You said in another post that there was a particular association or community also. Have you checked their rules? They would be in addition to the county codes.

 

[bullfrog !]

I paid about $3000 for an acre of open desert in Apache Co. where camping on one's land full time is allowed.

This is what I paid for 2 years ago. A compatible lot will cost more in reality now. My current hurdle is how to get a domicile when my land has a warranty deed registered with the county and an outline on the map, but no address.

How is the property described on your Apache County RV Dwelling Permit? You may have more issues than you thought.

 

[maki2]

You can all stop making assumptions and guesses. The Apache County Document in the link below covers all the issues related to having and staying in RVs on private land including the fact that invited guest who will be staying on the land in their RVs must apply for a free permit and there is a limit of the number of RVs as well as a limit of the number of days they can stay in a year.

I suspect that Bobpeters is fully aware of this document and the rules if he did even a modest amount of background internet research before making a land purchase in Apache county with the intent of staying on it in an RV. It took me only milliseconds to find this document after entering just a few basic keywords. So basically a total time of under 10 seconds to find the document. An official and importantly current copy of the ordinances can be easily obtained from Apache County.
https://www.apachecountyaz.gov/accn...2022-Planning-and-Zoning-Backup-Documents.pdf

 

[bullfrog !]

I saw a news article the other day from a super fund site in Nevada where the next door property had been sold cheap and the new owner had not been informed of the situation, got permits and spent $50,000 getting a proper septic system installed.

 

[Malamute]

I paid about $3000 for an acre of open desert in Apache Co. where camping on one's land full time is allowed.

This is what I paid for 2 years ago. A compatible lot will cost more in reality now. My current hurdle is how to get a domicile when my land has a warranty deed registered with the county and an outline on the map, but no address.

Can you explain in more detail what you mean by "get a domocile"? Do you mean an ID or mailing address to establish residence based on property ownership?

 

[Happy Camper]

https://www.wnem.com/2024/07/08/dnr-auctioning-off-nearly-100-properties-next-month/