This place is great!

Afternoon folks,

I've just relocated to the Seattle area from the Boston area. Though I will remain a resident of a suburb I have my heart set on land out in the Cascades so that I may begin fostering my future homestead. I have 4 major goals at this time.

A. Involve myself in as much community as possible - I'm registering, reading and reaching out both online and locally
B. Learn through new friends, courses and volunteer work - Narrowing down my first perma course is proving tricky. If you have any that I should NOT attend please share.
C. Purchase land - I'm looking about 4 hours east of Seattle. Omak, WA area perhaps. I want about 10 acres of something remote with varied terrain. Finding a quality realtor or assistance in general has not been easy. Any recommendations? Things I should know about how a particular Washington state county responds to this sort of approach to land ownership for instance? (zoning laws are making my eyes bleed)
D. Learn through new friends, courses and volunteer work. At the rate of information flow I'll be hard pressed to keep myself organized! It has been a very warm welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Best,
Dave

Hi Dave and welcome to permies...good to have you here! Sounds like a well thought out plan so far...there are many here from that area to share information with you:)

Welcome tp permies Dave.

As far as counties & zoning laws go, I think it is much like just about anywhere you go.
If you are inside city limits they can (and will) hassle you over every little nit picking thing they can.
Once you get out in the sticks, they pretty much leave you alone.
Outside the city though, avoid 'developments' and communities...they can be worse than cities.

Check out the Cascades forum here on permies.
Lots of local knowledge & scheduled events get posted there.

Thanks for the response folks! The zoning restrictions I'm most concerned about relate to any that impede water management. I'll give that one it's own forum post.

-Dave