New poster with questions about HAWAII, ALASKA, WASHINGTON, OREGON and stuff

[maggiethecat]

Hi! Alright this is my first post here on this forum.... I mean, I say it's the first but probably won't be because I'll probably delete it and make another one...if I don't like it. Anyway, why am I doing this? Well right now is not a good time to be living in California.  The cost of living is really high and I want to build my own home and stop paying rent.  So what I'm looking into right now is building the grandfather cottage somewhere. But my question is, where will I find the least red tape and lowest permit fees? Here are my options:

Hawaii

Alaska

Washington State

Oregon

Wyoming

I'm looking for a place where I can actually live somewhat away from "civilization". I'd like it to be just isolated enough, but still enjoy internet access.

How hard is it to get a permit in those places? Alaska is top on my list. Also, how hard would it be to buy the building materials in Alaska? And lastly, does anyone have a materials list posted anywhere for the grandfather's cottage?

Thanks in advance for your answers..

maggie

[Redoverfarm]

maggietoh    to the site.  There is probably members that live in alll the areas that you have mentioned. Someone will probably give you some insight.  As for me very little red here except the septic.  again 

[Pox Eclipse]

Alaska is by far the least regulated.  If you build outside incorporated city limits, there are no code requirements, and permiting by the borough (the equivalent of a county) is minimal.  You can live in whatever kind of shotgun shack you can throw together.  The blue tarp is considered a permanent building material.

You can get further away from civilization in Alaska than any other state, though you will have to share space with bears and other critters, who frequently enter without knocking.  Internet access may be a problem in unincorporated areas.  Cable rarely extends outside city limits, though DSL coverage is somewhat larger.  A shocking number of Alaskans still use dial up.

[rdzone]

Maggie,

building materials here in Alaska are not hard to come by we have lowes, HD, SBS and a number of lumber mills.  I am currently building the Universal and can get pretty much whatever I need, however don't expect to buy the latest and greatest materials as there is a time lag before they are on the markets here.  If you want you can order from the lower 48, but you will pay for it.  $$


The only problem with materials is if you have a remote place off the road system you will have to haul things in.  A lot of people haul by snowmachine in the winter and build in the summer.

Chuck

[glenn kangiser]

maggie

What general part of CA are you in, maggie?  Seems most of CA is ruled by the bureaucrats, but there was a measure K - owner builder thing mentioned in one county at least.  If you just want out of it, who can blame you though.

[rwanders]

In Alaska, a good place for someone new to start is in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley outside of Anchorage----about 1-1 1/2 hour drive. Close enough to civilization but also very close to "wilderness living". No building codes---only a $25 land use permit----they want to make sure you build at least 75' from lakes, streams. Building materials readily available with delivery if you have road access. Land prices vary greatly, but 1-5 acres readily available with road access from 10,000 on up.

41 year resident

[muldoon]

Welcome Maggie,

If I understood your question, your fed up with the high cost of living and are looking to move.  However, most of your listed options also has a high cost of living.  Prices are generally set by two market forces, the big one is supply and demand - things cost what people will pay with the balance being roughly the spot where the vendor can maximize profit based on units sold vs per unit cost.  The other is cost+, where if a device costs me 20 dollars to make and 10 dollars to ship - it will not sell for less than 30.. no matter what the demand is. 

So, how does that apply to your question?  Think of the logistics of getting building supplies, road material, regionally monocultured food, and energy into places like Alaska and Hawaii.  Quite frankly it's no surprise they have high costs of living. 

http://www.costoflivingbystate.org/cost-of-living-by-state.html

Top 10 States With The Lowest Cost of Living    Top 10 States With The Highest Cost of Living

                      1. Oklahoma                                                           1.Hawaii 
                      2.Texas                                                                   2.California
                      3.Tennessee                                                           3.Washington D.C
                      4.Texas                                                                   4.New Jersey
                      5.Nebraska                                                             5.Alaska
                      6.South Dakota                                                       6.Maryland 
                      7.Missouri                                                              7.New York
                      8.Kansas                                                                8.Rhode Island 
                      9.Georgia                                                                9.Connecticut
                     10.Mississippi                                                        10.Vermont

**Data based on Food, housing, Utilities, Transportation and Health care

Top 10 Most Expensive Housing Markets in the Nation                     Top 10 states in cost of Food

1.Hawaii                                                                                                             1.Hawaii     
2.Washington D.C                                                                                               2.Alaska
3.California                                                                                                         3.California
4.New Jersey                                                                                                       4.Rhode Island
5.Maryland                                                                                                          5.Connecticut
6.New York                                                                                                          6.Vermont
7.Connecticut                                                                                                      7.New York
8.Rhode Island                                                                                                    8.Delaware
9.Alaska                                                                                                               9.NewJersey
10.Massachusetts                                                                                                10.Massachusetts

I cannot speak to building permits for those areas as I do not have the experience to do so, however I have read some doozy stories from the pacific northwest area in general to the level of beuracracy involved.  It may vary by county so someone else would be more qualified to answer. 

I dont mean to sound negative to your plan, but you may want to consider opening up your opions a bit. 

[rwanders]

One additional variable often forgotten----the areas with the lowest cost of living are also usually the areas with the most depressed economies and lowest income levels---a rather good example is Mississippi. Of course, if you are retired and don't need to work---then it may be a good choice.

[maggiethecat]

Thanks everybody for the responses. I am pretty much set on that list of states. I'm an artist and all I really need is a space to paint, an internet connection to manage my business and a road to the post office and fedex office.   

I like the idea of buying land near or in Willow, Alaska or somewhere in Matanuska-Susitna County.  Also heard that there's a bonus granted to alaska residents annually...is that true?

I see a lot of land going for about $10k in that area, it really looks tempting! Especially if owner financed. I have a Jeep Cherokee 4WD and apparently there's a Home Depot in Anchorage, some 40 miles away..I'm guessing the prices there are about the same as prices in every home depot...


What kind of foundation is recommended? Slab? Basement okay? I see some people using little stilts to hold up the houses...

Thank you all for the helpful answers!

--maggie

[rwanders]

The annual bonus (after a years residency) is the Permanent Fund Dividend---it is paid in October to each resident (adults & minors) and for 2008 it will be approximately $2000. It is our share of the income generated by the Permanent Fund of about $38 Billion which is invested in stocks & bonds. Our Governor ( a very attractive lady known as "the hottest governor in the coldest state")  just proposed an additional payment for the next year of $100 per month for every man, woman & child to defer high energy prices and also a subsidy of 475 Million to the electrical utilities which would result in a reduction of 60% for our utility bill. Legislature will decide later this summer. We have no income tax, no state sales tax ( a few towns have a sales tax). In many areas of the state there is no property tax either. Almost all of the state revenues come from the oil industry. There is a Home Depot in Wasilla---about 20-25 miles from Willow.  I am starting construction of a cabin in Willow in early June. Seldom see slab construction here---cabins are commonly on piers/beams, larger houses on crawlspaces or sometimes on daylight basements----regular full basements are pretty rare. Willow is not really a town---it is more of an "area" located about 70-100 miles from Anchorage and about half way between Anchorage & Denali (Mt. McKinley). Gets pretty cold in winter (-30 F) but nice and warm (85 F) in summer. An abundance of scenery (many many lakes & streams), fish, moose, bears & wolves available. Rumor has it that there is also an abundance of single men available but they also say "The odds are good but the goods are odd".

[lonelytree]

There is a Home Depot, Lowes and SBS in Wasilla.

Willow (and some other areas) is(are) known for meth use and in some areas, theft and general poverty generated crime.

There is a Mat-Su Borough. They have a new land use permit and it is not as easy as they make it out to be. I have spent weeks trying to learn and understand the rules. I will try again Thursday.

Depending on your area, you may have some construction issues.

I would look at:

www.landinalaska.com

www.realtyalaska.com

and see what is available.

With the air cards, you can live even more remotely without paying too much.

Look at bartending, cooking etc at some of the semi remote areas. You may see a new alternative.

Mike

[Nicky]

Living in Hawaii... rent is triple what we paid in NY, milk is over $6 a gallon, it's soooo crowded anywhere you can live and all the land where you can't live is protected, and don't even get me started on state taxes for those of us who are self employed or receive any kids of royalties or commissions. 

[Redoverfarm]

Nicky.  I guess that would fall into the old saying " It's a good place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there". 

[glenn kangiser]

I understand that Hawaii is not legally a state.  They can still extort all of those taxes  from you? 

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/HAWAII/hawaii.html

[John Raabe]

Welcome Maggie!

Here are my suggestions for finding the right homestead location. You may have already found this.



Click HERE

[maggiethecat]

Thank you all for the info so far...it really is a lot to process.  You've all been very helpful.

My husband and I don't want to pay rent ever again. The cost of living here in LA is so high it's ridiculous. I'm originally from Texas but we're not interested in living there...Alaska sounds VERY interesting. The only problem I can see is that it would be expensive to rent a place there while we build a builder's cabin...Also, we are both self-employed...he's an artist too. And we conduct our sales thru internet. So we need to have internet access or we have no income. And access to UPS/Fedex/Post office.... All these things come into play.

One thing that I really like about living in the wild is that it should be a lot easier to save money if there's no malls around.  I'm narrowing my choices down to Alaska, WA and OR. A lot of sites seem to advertise owner financing. We see some cheap land on ebay all the time. The problem is that some of that land is in places without even telephone.

I'll keep looking through the site and the links everyone's posted.

Thanks!
--maggie