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Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra (Post 10966763)

Pretty much

I have grandkids that I could easily ride a bike to their homes in 5 minutes for one and 15 minutes two others, I loved Texas but it is nice to see them a couple times a week. I guess I could pack up everyone, sell everything and take the whole clan to a compound in deep East Texas.

I actually know of a place that was sort of like the one Burt and Heather had in Tremors. Michael Gross' character, crazy survivalist married to Reba McIntyre where the monster breaks in through their basement wall and they end up stopping it with some giant elephant gun. 20' perimeter fence, video cameras inside and out, air filtration system, backup generators, a well and septic system. It was a reinforced concrete building, most overbuilt structure I have ever seen. 2 story, had to have been at least 6 or 8 thousand sq ft. Had a huge kitchen, no idea what it was originally built to be, but it was being sold as a home/office deal, realtor friend showed it to me. It struck me as the sort of place you would build if you were really rich and more than a little bit paranoid.

That is no good though, the kids have their own lives to live

Oh, and your auto parts store manager guy you told us about, that is nascent sociopath, a little initiative and he will be burying prostitutes in the woods.

When I was younger, I wanted a place like that. Now, not so much. I can't imagent having no one around with nothing for a few acres rock and sand. Suburbs is where I want to settle down after this. Its coming soon. I might buy something along the foothills here. Something flat, with a long driveway and a decent back yard. Rebuilt the damn thing one more time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeke (Post 10966660)

I think you are wrong. I've seen this work: you move to a new location that is ripe with new development. You start building a house for yourself. You are getting acquainted with the locals, the subs, the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) and local residents, many of who may be from CA.

In comes more transplants looking for a new home and there you are sitting in the catbird's seat. When there's more work than the existing builders can handle (you need to know that going in), no one is gonna get angry that you're taking some work. You also need to know the going rates for all the local trades. We in CA and others in NYC and such places are used to huge sq ft figures.

In the rest of the Southwest, Midwest, the South and many other places the costs are lower. Not so much in metropolitan areas but that's not where the transplants are looking into.

Be visible, be friendly, pay fast and you're golden.

If it doesn't work out, sell the house as a spec and relocate. It takes 9 months to a year to build a house, so you need some capital to live on. Leaving CA you ought to have bags of money from your real estate sales here. I think you have a rental. I'd keep that as collateral. Easier to get a construction loan.

BTW, that's another good business. You can charge higher interest for a construction loan. Friend of mine built 30 houses in Mt Washington in L.A. He couldn't have done it w/o the guy that put up the money. It was just factored in and he made money on every one, some more than others as he built there for over 25 years during the ups and downs.

Another story.

Easier said then done. If I were to move, it will be an older house in an established neighborhood not a newly developed one. who knows, maybe I am wrong. The So Cal in me says established neighborhood are usually better with mix bag of older and younger folks living there. Not having reliable subs will kill me because i am used to getting the phone out and its done without mush fuss.

My other problem is I tend to over build if its for myself only to sell if it doesn't workout will hurt my pocket book. A wood floor just aint gonna do it. It must be rift or quarter sawn. I will kick myself in the ass because of it.

I hear ya on pricing out of state. My neighbor has a place in Bullhead City and asked me about cost of driveways. I gave him rough numbers on cost over the phone. He said, siht the contractor was willing to do it for 40% of LA's typical pricing.

30 houses in Mt Washington? I live in Mt Washington. How long ago was this? It must be in the 70s in the newly development on the other side of me if he popped in 30. No way he can do that today. The left nut jobs will bury themselves in the soil to keep that from happenning.

Thirty five years ago, the wife needed a barn so she could move her horse from her parents' place to ours, so I contacted the county office to apply for a building permit and to my delight, was advised the county did not require a building permit for a structure housing livestock at that time.
So work began in my time away from work.
One day, after a long day at work, I made my way to the partly enclosed new barn to find a couple of pieces of paper jammed into the fuse box. One was a violation of the building code for not applying for a permit! I had the inspector on the phone inside five minutes (while I was still on "simmer") and asked him about the paper. He responded he had checked with his office and there was no application on file . I advised him of my conversation with his office the previous fall regarding no permit for an agricultural building. His response "I thought you were building a cottage."
"Why would I build a cottage in my back yard?"
He agreed to tear up the paperwork. I never invited him to spend a night in the 'guest room'.

Years later, he was working with me on another project and advised me he could not work on a particular property because the owner had 'issues with him'. No Schit Sherlock! :rolleyes:

His replacement at the county office has been fantastic to work with.
Best
Les

They tried to make me do a traffic impact study to open my one man auto repair business . I got quoted 5k for the traffic study . I just flat out refused, but had to go to 2 more township planning meetings to resolve this issue . One meeting per month .
Stuff like this went on for well over a year. All I was trying to do , was fix some cars in a building that had been repairing cars since 1950. Zoned correctly , and a permitted use . They kept throwing stuff like this at me .

So much of it comes down to "kingdoms" and protecting perceived authority over the common folks.

In Oklahoma long ago they opened up the car registration and driver's license issuance to private enterprise. One must be a "tag agent" and that usually takes a friend in the legislature. For years, the tag agents were scarce, and they were the local source for vital paperwork for car owners.

When I first moved here I went to the only local agent, and it was run just like a DMV in the movies, EVERYONE had a cigarette in their mouth and the air was worse than any bar ever, and the place was as almost as clean as a dive biker bar. It was as dark as a biker bar from the inch thick layer of yellow smoke residue on the lights. Very slow employees and they all loved to make clients wait.

Over the years, more tag agents opened up, and some owners figured out people registering that new car prefer please fast service in a clean environment. Now I can go to a local agency, it is bright, clean, a big NO smoking signs, an employee will approach the counter and do the paperwork in minutes, take my payment and I am out the door in 3 minutes. Even easier, not I can do tag renewals on-line. Pay with a credit card, and the renewal shows up in my mail box.