Idle dreamer
Cris Bessette wrote:
You just need to start over at a smaller scale that you can sustain, and then with time, work your way to where you want to be.
Idle dreamer
Tyler Ludens wrote:
Cris Bessette wrote:
You just need to start over at a smaller scale that you can sustain, and then with time, work your way to where you want to be.
Can you give some practical suggestions about how to start over with a partially completed Earthship?
Just call me Uncle Rice.
17 years in a straw bale house.
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paul wheaton wrote:
I very much hope that the wofati ends up doing what we claim. Especially 30 years down the road.
Josh Ritchey wrote:I've got to say I'm in love with the idea of earth friendly housing, but as I start my own Paul/Jack inspired land search the problems become quite apparent. A lot of vacant land is simply way too expensive, some is actually cheaper per acre with a house. More to my point, aren't there more house in the U.S. that people? Are we being responsible stewards by constructing more, even if they are earth friendly? I suppose an earth friendly house couldn't have a negative impact, but all the "stuff" we put in it may. We could debate for hours on the positive and negatives of constructing more homes, I'm curious what everybody else thinks. Is it too difficult and costly to make a conventional house reasonably energy efficient, if not equal?
I am a little upset to finally arrive at the complete rationalization that my dream of living in an earthship is busted.![]()
I guess better now than once I've started.
As far as an answer to the above question, could a timber frame roof be put over what ever is there now and used as an animal shelter of something while a more cost effective structure be utilized for living. Maybe a Yurt or the previously mentioned travel trailer.
I hope all works out, you guys are truly and inspiration for me.
Deb Rebel wrote:Len...
Try asking the seller about 'owner carry' financing. Aka the two of you work out a deal, have a few hundred bucks (at outside) of legal papers drawn up, signed, and filed, and you pay the owner off in 2-5 years directly. I have done this more than once and usually tossed a 10% on it for 'flat interest' for carrying the financing, in this market that is usually a pretty good return, even on 5 years of payments. The owner gives you the deed and files a lien on the property which they release within (60 days usually) one you have paid off.
Rent an RV or get one cheap, it just has to run enough to get there and be able to be hooked up. You aren't really going to live in it, but you have thus put a habitable space back onto the land; you might even be able to borrow one from a friend to 'store' there most of the time. Since that's what the land is set up for, maybe the bank will accept that and loan.
Look for property that is worth it by itself with a 'marshmallow palace' on it; the bank will probably loan on it; and after you start paying... deal with removing the residence and build another. I have done this. Land was worth X, house was worth less than 10% of that; land was undervalued as it was... bank financed and I started improving it, and that meant a 'remodel' of the existing structure. I left one corner structural timber stand and built onto that. MASSIVE remodel. It flew with the bank.... it also saved property taxes as it was a 'remodel' instead of 'new construction'.
*marshmallow palace=it needs to have you invite your friends and someone with a fire truck; toss a match and hand out the coathangers and marshmallows...
Good luck.
Len Ovens wrote:
Deb Rebel wrote:Len...
Try asking the seller about 'owner carry' financing. Aka the two of you work out a deal, have a few hundred bucks (at outside) of legal papers drawn up, signed, and filed, and you pay the owner off in 2-5 years directly. I have done this more than once and usually tossed a 10% on it for 'flat interest' for carrying the financing, in this market that is usually a pretty good return, even on 5 years of payments. The owner gives you the deed and files a lien on the property which they release within (60 days usually) one you have paid off.
RV and living space are two different things to the bank. I can legally live that way, but the bank considers that raw land... means (right now) 50% down and the home we have right now does not have that much value in it. We have gone through a bunch of lean years as my wife went to school and are now recovering. The bank wants a permitted house and one that a house inspection shows as being more than a teardown. Other wise it is "raw land".
I hear you there, we both went through college for post grad...
Another thing to try, Rent to Own? You pay rent for two years, a percentage of that goes towards the down and it gives you time to raise the rest of the down; then you go into a mortgage. Only downside is if you don't finish raising the down, you lose what you've paid into the down-fund. (anything you saved yourself you keep, but anything you paid as 'rent' you lose)
Look for property that is worth it by itself with a 'marshmallow palace' on it; the bank will probably loan on it; and after you start paying... deal with removing the residence and build another. I have done this. Land was worth X, house was worth less than 10% of that; land was undervalued as it was... bank financed and I started improving it, and that meant a 'remodel' of the existing structure. I left one corner structural timber stand and built onto that. MASSIVE remodel. It flew with the bank.... it also saved property taxes as it was a 'remodel' instead of 'new construction'.
*marshmallow palace=it needs to have you invite your friends and someone with a fire truck; toss a match and hand out the coathangers and marshmallows...
Good luck.
This is my best bet, so long as it is not leaning over or infested with ants or rotted out, it can be older and smaller. In other words there is someone living in it now and not suggesting it should be torn down. I can get 10% down (with mortgage insurance) or 25% without (which I will probably be able to do in a year or two when the bank is willing to look at my wife's income as having meaning). The fact is that land here is not cheap (Vancouver Island) and we can't just move anywhere... I have health problems on the prairies where I come from though I might be able to inherit there. Also our work is here and two sons have school here too. It is (as I am finding out) a very complex move. Our reasons for more land are less perma culture than I would like and I would expect less help from my wife because she will be working more than me. So a food forest, yes. live stock? maybe chickens. A garden? not anything big as it will be a learning experience for sure. Off grid? ish maybe. Supplemented grid for the most part. Off grid for some things like food preserving and other priorities, meaning that we should be able to live without grid if we have to and that we cut our bills a bit in the mean time. wood heat for sure... maybe moving towards solar. brick oven, yes. Wood cooking? I hope so, but I am sure there will be times of propane or electric.
A place for experimenting though. A place with more outside room for the kids and us too.
Deb Rebel wrote:
I'm dealing with two urban acres and some weirdities with that; but. Look into Square Foot Gardening; vermiculture and vermicomposting; and solar cookers.
I am building some next week with cardboard, drafting skills and aluminum foil, and going to play with my collection of fresnal lenses for that and water heating in general for our use. I need to get a linear to do pipe heating for hot water.... And embrace the RMH (Rocket Mass Heater). They take so little fuel, make so little ash, and share heat for so long after a few hours of firing. You can cook on top the burn chamber barrel if you need to.
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