I'm so excited to see this post - thank you so much, James and other contributors! =D I've been dreaming about the Pacific Northwest for a while, and more recently have narrowed down the search area and am beginning to downsize our "stuff" in preparation for a move. However, all the factors to research are a bit overwhelming, especially when it comes to laws and codes! I don't want to get into "analysis paralysis," but I also don't want to upend our lives and then arrive (or even purchase property) only to find out we can not do what we need/want to do on our land. We're thinking about buying a tiny house, hopefully next year, if we can swing it financially, and hopefully find a piece of land someone wouldn't mind sharing with us for some rent while we look around for our own land (I would love to connect with other permies in the area!).
I have narrowed the search area down to...
west of I-5,
south of the Olympic National Park,
between 1-2 hours from Seattle,
preferably within/around 30 minutes to resources like groceries and supplies.
I'm especially looking at western Lewis County (but also eastern Gray's Harbor, western Thurston, Mason). I do hear good things about homesteading in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, and the land is cheaper there, but I know the winters are also harsher. I still haven't totally ruled that out, though.
Some of my questions:
Could we park our tiny house on the land?
Could we use a composting toilet?
Could we build additional dwellings? (My parents may live with us, and it would be nice to have the option for guest quarters or maybe even a rental, though that might cause a tax headache.)
Could we build a natural pond/pool?
Could we create berms & swales?
I'm not expecting anyone to answer these, just sharing my thoughts and concerns, but if anyone does happen to know about any of these things I would be so very grateful! =) My urgency for buying land has been increasing over the last few years and now I really don't want to wait any longer than necessary, but I am worried about taxes and codes.
Any other advice anyone may have would also be greatly appreciated! =) I've been trying to learn as much as I can, but I feel like I still don't know anything and it's taking too long, haha.
