Entering a vanlife retirement.

[BobPeters61]

Well, after all these years, I've recently gone from working for the man to living in a van. Living and working in Nashville just got to be one major stressor, especially with my decade-older roommate whose spare bedroom I was renting was slipping off into some form of dementia and his daughter wants to get him into an assisted living situation.

Now, I'm camping on my acre of land in Apache County, AZ where permanent camping on my own land is allowed and I'm in a "subdivision" where all my neighbors live in RVs or "tiny houses."

I'm living in a 30 year old van with a past history of sitting idle for years and only 110K miles. My camping land is a 1.04 acre parcel with a short (less than 300 yards) overland stretch off the road. Luckily, my van is a one-ton with the accompanying ground clearance.

Still working out details such as a new domicile ASAP. My land came with no address, just an outline on the map. I have to drive an hour each way to pick up mail from my new UPS mailbox. Closest that service is to me. I'm really out in the desert with once- or twice-weekly trips into a small town just under 20 miles away.

 

[maki2]

Well, after all these years, I've recently gone from working for the man to living in a van. Living and working in Nashville just got to be one major stressor, especially with my decade-older roommate whose spare bedroom I was renting was slipping off into some form of dementia and his daughter wants to get him into an assisted living situation.

Now, I'm camping on my acre of land in Apache County, AZ where permanent camping on my own land is allowed and I'm in a "subdivision" where all my neighbors live in RVs or "tiny houses."

Still working out details such as a new domicile ASAP. My land came with no address, just an outline on the map.

Congratulations on your new home base! I guess you will be taking that deed, map and GPS coordinates to the county accessors office to get some type of a domicile street address. Fees will be involved! Look along your road to see if you can spot any street number signs at the entrance driveways into other properties. That would be very encouraging for getting a street address for your land. The “neighborhood” might have a central location somewhere within a few miles with a set of mailboxes on posts. If so that will make life easier for getting and sending mail without a long drive.

 

[BobPeters61]

No street addresses in this piece of the desert. If I got a building permit, I would get a 911 address, but that would be stated in some rural addressing system foreign to anything that requested an address. Might as well enter my GPS coordinates in the middle of my land. Lots of RV homesites and a "tiny house" or two, but no rural route mailboxes on the road I take home.

Not to mention that getting a building permit would first require certain surveyor fees and then establish the expectation that I then build when I can't afford to.

I'm zoned recreational - agricultural - residential with an open pasture law so I keep company with a different herd every day or two.

My deed does list a legal description of the land as:

LAND RESELLING SUBDIVISION, UNIT x, lot y

That isn't a legal domicile, either.

 

[maki2]

No street addresses in this piece of the desert. If I got a building permit, I would get a 911 address, but that would be stated in some rural addressing system foreign to anything that requested an address. Might as well enter my GPS coordinates in the middle of my land. Lots of RV homesites and a "tiny house" or two, but no rural route mailboxes on the road I take home.

Not to mention that getting a building permit would first require certain surveyor fees and then establish the expectation that I then build when I can't afford to.

I'm zoned recreational - agricultural - residential with an open pasture law so I keep company with a different herd every day or two.

My deed does list a legal description of the land as:

LAND RESELLING SUBDIVISION, UNIT x, lot y

That isn't a legal domicile, either.

Or you could just restate the physical location as being “between a rock and a hard place”.

 

[Tony's Dream]

You might be able to obtain a 911 address from the local sheriff office. They are responsible for doing that in most states. But as you said.........once you start down that path, the tax man will soon follow.

No street addresses in this piece of the desert. If I got a building permit, I would get a 911 address, but that would be stated in some rural addressing system foreign to anything that requested an address. Might as well enter my GPS coordinates in the middle of my land. Lots of RV homesites and a "tiny house" or two, but no rural route mailboxes on the road I take home.

Not to mention that getting a building permit would first require certain surveyor fees and then establish the expectation that I then build when I can't afford to.

I'm zoned recreational - agricultural - residential with an open pasture law so I keep company with a different herd every day or two.

My deed does list a legal description of the land as:

LAND RESELLING SUBDIVISION, UNIT x, lot y

That isn't a legal domicile, either.

 

[maki2]

You can use an affidavit of Arizona residency as one of your documents for getting an Arizona Real ID drivers license. Link to that document.
https://apps.azdot.gov/files/mvd/mvd-forms-lib/40-5143.pdf

Another document is proof of property ownership from the county assessors office or if you do not own it free and clear a copy of your mortgage statement.

You will also have your rental agreement for your postal box mailing address available as part of your proof of Arizona residency collection of documents. It will not suffice on its own but it is part of a collection of evidence.

Voter’s registration in Arizona is another document you can obtain.

If you put a water tank on your land and get water delivered to your property by a local water supply company that receipt would count as a utility bill. Utility bills do count towards proof of residency.

 

[LargeMarge]

...a past history...

.
I think a 'past' history is the best kind of history...
.
I am also fond of 'documented' history and 'recorded' history.
I also really really like 'prior' experiences...
.
.
[edited to add, because 'topic']
Install a mail-box.
Put an address on it (I like '1488', because -- speaking of history -- that is pre-Columbian).

 

[VanFan]

.
I think a 'past' history is the best kind of history...
.
I am also fond of 'documented' history and 'recorded' history.
I also really really like 'prior' experiences...
.
.
[edited to add, because 'topic']
Install a mail-box.
Put an address on it (I like '1488', because -- speaking of history -- that is pre-Columbian).

Sounds like you have a strong interest in stamping out and eliminating redundancy.

 

[LargeMarge]

Sounds like you have a strong interest in stamping out and eliminating redundancy.

.
I have a documented history of past prior experiences with that accusation...