We just bought 20 acres in the high desert(Victorville Ca) Theres no house,does have water and is mostly fenced. We don't know where to start.LOL We are looking for a trailer to live in while we build.Don't have alot of money.I'm hoping to build as we get money.Out here theres sooooo much rules and such.What should we tackle first.In the mean time we are still renting and wasting our $645. a month. Thanks Tammy

-- Tammy R (rose3713@aol.com), April 03, 2002

Answers

Water is your first priority. Without some way to provide water the property is not usuable. After that shelter.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), April 03, 2002.

yup - Gary's right!

Your first priority is getting you water source buttoned down. Then get a trailer or whatever you're planning to use for housing til your house is built. That way you can say bye bye to paying a fat rent check to someone else and put that money to work for you - builing your home.

This is something you might consider if your money flow will allow it - instead of putting the money you're going to be spending into a trailer, use that money to have the full basement built for your new house and finish it up enough so that you can move into that - living there while the house is being built. I have never done this - but many have.

Good luck - Congrats - Enjoy!!!!

-- dottie - in E Shore MD (mother-ducker@webtv.net), April 03, 2002.

My suggestion would be to check the zoning rules before spending any money on buildings,etc. Not build, just don't expect that once something is built if it doesn't 'fit' the code that the county will allow you to leave it. We once had that problem; we didn't know you needed a building permit to erect a chicken coop, once it was up the county found out & notified us that we weren't in 'compliance' and either had to move the coop approx 4 ft farther from the house after paying $75 to get a permit, remove it completely or get a fine for non-compliance. Now we had put alot of time & money into building that coop but had no choice. Looking back we should have checked for zoning regs, but we were out in the middle of nowhere and didn't think a chicken coop would have the same type of size/construction regulations that housing for humans would have. Enjoy your new property, just always check before building anything, CA does seem to have a rule for everything :), one other thought-will they allow you to live in a trailer while building,any special requirements? The county we came from wouldn't allow you to have a trailer on the property unless it was less than 7 yrs old & over 900sq ft. You wouldn't want to pay for something you couldn't use if money is tight. Have a great day, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), April 03, 2002.

Make sure you visit the Roy Rogers Museum in Victorville. --Happy trails, Cabin Fever P.S. Since you have water, the next thing you'll likely need is an outhouse.

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), April 03, 2002.

When you say 'rules', are you referring to convenants on the land you bought or local zoning laws? As far as I know, there's not many zoning laws there. None at all outside of town unless you're in a development. I'm about 50 miles southwest of you.

Once or twice a month I come upon free trailers here. Some of them are in nice condition. Same with building and landscaping supplies. It's a scroungers paradise out here. If you have a month or so to look around, you could find a trailer for nothing and just pay to have it hauled up there which wouldn't be much.

Here's one place you could check daily. The good stuff goes pretty quick. On that page, scroll down near the bottom and select the number of days to search and hit the 'find it' button.

http://www.recycler.com/asp/ClassBrowse.asp?iSC=6004

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 03, 2002.

don't get too upset over that rent either, that's a dirt cheap bargain compared to most of southern cali. Can't even rent a garage for that much in alot of areas. ; )

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 03, 2002.

motherducker...I like that! I stenciled "Cluck You" on my screen door about a year ago (after a visit from the police). I will now add "motherducker"! Well, I DO have chickens and ducks...

-- Viv Lander (century2kay@webtv.net), April 03, 2002.

Hey I lived ther many years ago as a kid. Yep roy Rogers useum and Adam West (Batman) lives/lived in apple valley.

I wouldn't go back to Cal. or the dessert for all the tea in china. That's okay, most folks shy away from North Dakota too!

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), April 03, 2002.

CA is a whole different ball game when it comes to zoning, and it is important to check things out before you even buy property there in the first place.

However, to be honest, a lot of people also do not use common sense when building something in the local area. For example, if all the places around you are fairly new, and you're using scrap lumber, expect that someone will notify code enforcement. If everyone else's place looks similar to yours, probably no one will say a word.

And, doing a "workman-like" job is important too. I have seen some really scary-looking electrical set-ups because someone wanted to save some money, which will really come back to bite you if say code enforcement was called out, or worse, you had to sell the property in a hurry for some reason and the buyer's inspection indicates that they will not be able to get it insured until it is brought up to code. Just something to think about.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), April 03, 2002.

Dave, I wasn't referring to any specific knowledge of the 'rules' or regulations in California, we encountered the situation I mentioned in my post in WI, where the land use/zoning council decided to implement use & zoning in rural areas. I was just suggesting for Tammy to check before spending money so she could make the most of her homestead funds. Pierce County,WI limits trailers to the newer & larger sizes even on the most remote parcel, that is why I figured there may be specific rules/regs for CA since they seem to have more overall regulations than most mid western states. Just things to check in my opinion, before planning where and what type of buildings you will be investing your time & money in at your new location. Peace, Kathy

-- Kathy (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), April 03, 2002.

Hi Kathy. I wasn't questioning you but rather what Tammy mentioned in the first posting. It does vary alot out here. Some areas you can't even have clothelines. Other areas you can build anything with any materials(and it's done alot). From what I've seen, most of the high desert area is like that unless you own association land with covenants.

Tammy, I should have mentioned that the website I posted is their freebies section. A free classifieds you could look for there local is the "green sheet". I've seen a few free trailers in there also. Surprisingly quite a few of them are in decent shape, people just don't want to mess with selling them for some reason. Quite alot of stuff like that around here if you can haul it.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 03, 2002.

Thanks everyone for your answers. Tammy :)

-- Tammy R (rose3713@aol.com), April 03, 2002.