Any friendly Counties?

So I dont want to leave my lovely state. However I do not know of any places that would leave me alone if I lived in my rv (converted bus,yurt,...) on my property out of anyone's eyesight. Do you know of any such country that's off grid friendly?

Someone told me that San Bernadino county is pretty live & let live, as far as the unincorporated places go. I don't live in California - yet - but I just bought land in Kern county and am trying to find out more info. All I know so far is that we can put a mobile home on the land. Good luck!

Hey CM, I'm glad to see you settled on Kern County. Me too! We're supposed to close this week on a property near Walker Basin. What part of Kern County did you end up in?

Ben Breckenridge wrote:Hey CM, I'm glad to see you settled on Kern County. Me too! We're supposed to close this week on a property near Walker Basin. What part of Kern County did you end up in?

I ised to live out that way. I love it out there; the gateway to the Sierra. I lived in Twin Oaks. Some times I really miss it. I always felt so safe from the problems of the world out there where as other places in California even in the country feel so connected to the main frame. It is definitely it's own separate place. Everyone waves when your driving, even the sherriff. In fact that was the first place and one of the only places I lived where the sheriff acted like he was apart of the community as opposed to some separate force acting ON the community.  If your interested in minerals, keep an eye out for garnets in the schist.

It's actually been 10 years since I lived out there, it may be quite a bit different now.

You can usually get away with this in most locations but it comes down to two things:
1) Dont stand out, become the grey man
2) Plausible Deniability

With plausible deniability, you wan to have an excuse if the government shows up. Where you can say, oh I have a legal greenhouse here I am just here working on the fan or something, which would technically be true.

And when it comes with not standing out, you dont want to be the suspicious pink hair dude, who rides around on a unicycle that probably lives out in the woods. you also dont want to be the loudmouth that is always arguing that the earth isn't flat either. In fact when people see you at walmart, want them to incorrectly think that you work there and ask which aisle have sugar, maybe that means wearing khaki pants and having a checklist or something.

All that said long term, you will need to move a cheap mobile trailer on site or build a house that passes code. You can usually build your house out of anything as long as you pay an engineer $2,000 or so dollars to stamp it. And you really dont want to build a long term house that doesn't even meet the bare minimum stands that the US government requires.

We just closed on 2 and a half acres of land in Cantil. There is power at a nearby road, but we'll have to try for a well or haul in water. Right now, we are still out of state due to extreme heat but soon as the weather cools off, we will start setting up our household. We're allowed to put a mobile home on the property. Cheers!

When I lived in Nevada County it was very friendly to any situation as long as no one was harming the environment. I don’t know if it’s the same now, I left in 2006. But I suspect it is still similar.

Shasta County, Siskiyou County, Tehama County all seem pretty tolerant of people that aren’t hurting anyone by their lives, but You’d need to connect with people living there now. It’s been awhile since I was in the area permanently. Modoc County is probably ok.

I'll chime in on this as I think it's increasingly urgent and relevant in a state with a multifaceted housing crisis on top of lots of poorly stewarded open private lands! One very encouraging recent development is two counties in Sierra foothills (Placer and Nevada) that are going to allow tiny homes on wheels (potentially RV/trailers with appropriate mods) as PRIMARY permitted dwellings on rural property, in conjunction with the usual sewer/water/electric requirements. Including the possibility of so-called cluster development, with multiple units nearby around shared utilities. Here's a recent article with discussion of the regulations which are I believe set to be confirmed by county supes next week:

https://www.theunion.com/news/tiny-homes-ordinance-a-well-intentioned-step-but-too-expensive-for-people-on-the-brink/article_db7a4ff6-9316-11ef-a0d8-ab6f7d0ebc52.html

I’m in northern Calaveras and it seems pretty live and let live.

It's really about friendly neighbors.  As long as you're outside the city limits and you don't live in a county corrupted by large cities and the slickers who live there, you should find plenty of rural areas with like-minded people and counties that don't look for trouble, even if they have a lot of stuff on the books ---unless someone complains.  So understanding your neighbors in sight of your land is key and find out during Escrow.  In my case, I found the neighbors to be cool so I purchased the land and moved in with my RV.  But no one could see my RV.  So to be sure, before spending any serious money developing the land,  I built the ugliest greenhouse in another location everyone in the valley could see.  No complaints.

When buying property, I have always checked for building codes.  The fewer the better.  I find neighbors to be critically important. I had the misfortune of having property in Minnesota with a collection of neighbors with all but one being very questionable.  Drunks with guns is not a good mix. Yes, for me, neighbors who will leave me alone are the best. So, as was implied above, having relatively isolated property can be an advantage. But, all it takes is that one special person who decides they know the best way for you to run your life to make things difficult.

Echoing what others have said about neighbors and building codes being a big factor. Exciting to see counties out in the Sierra's are possibly extending their code to include tiny homes. Here in Mendocino county we have a relaxed optional building code- Class K. It was developed many years ago because they realized they just couldn't keep a lid on people building off in the wilds on their own and doing alternative structures like strawbale and cob. It's gotten a bit watered down over the years, and so they tend to still want you to do engineering on a new build. But you still only have a base of 3 inspections and you don't have to put in a sprinkler system in your home! I'd bet a small house design wouldn't even need engineering. It's quite lovely here 3/4's of the year, come check it out!