Unpermitted, off-grid, and grateful!

[randomq]

At a time when so many people are suffering and fearful of paying their bills and losing their homes, I'm grateful to live in Puna, unpermitted and off-grid.  Living this lifestyle has been my goal for over a decade now, but with recent events I think my mainland family and friends finally get it:  You don't really own your home until you own your home.  We built every stick of ours, and we could do it again if we had to, for less than a year of mortgage payments.

Anyone else been reflecting on this over the past few months?

[terracore]

A financial mentor of mine told me to never buy a house that you can't pay off in 10 years or less. For most of us that means living in something we're not 100% happy with. Also, to never buy a car you can't pay cash for. Sure, that means that I'll never own a new car but it also means that I don't ever have to worry about a repossession either.

“Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.” ― Norm Franz

[Hotzcatz]

All it will take is one phone call from your neighbors to complain about your unpermitted dwelling and then there will be huge trouble.  If you truly want to live a non-fearful life, have a paid for permitted home.  If possible, see if you can get an 'as built' permit for your home before the building code changes so much that you'd have no hope of getting it permitted.  You will have to bring the house up to the 2006 International Residential Code, but once it's got it's permit, you won't have to bring it up to any newer codes.

We have one paid for permitted house, one permitted house with four more years before it's paid off and one permitted house with a standard bank loan and about twelve more years to pay on it. There's also several paid for pieces of property and the ability to build a permitted house so we don't have many worries.  FWIW, two of the three houses are running on solar power, so we don't have to pay much for electricity.  The second house (the one with four years of mortgage left) has a newer system that still has a live circuit during daylight hours even though it's a grid tie system. Once you get one house paid for, the next ones are pretty easy to get paid off. Also, if you have houses that can be rented, that's like a second income. And, as a rental, having a permitted house is important since they can be kept properly insured.

How to handle finances and one's personal economy is an important life skill.  In buying houses or anything else.  Building houses is also a good skill as well as very satisfying.

Another thing you can do, if you can't afford to buy a new house, is to get an old fixer-upper and fix and up.  With the older houses, frequently you'll get one that already has a permit as well as the infrastructure in place.  The older houses (prior to 1970) are almost all single wall on post and pier so they're really easy to fix, too.  Inexpensive as well, since most times you can fix instead of replace.  I'd really hate to see the cost of a double hung sash window if you tried to buy one today and the skill level required to build one is possibly higher than most DIYers.  I'd not mind trying, but making more than one or two seems quite daunting.  A proper house amount of double hung sash windows would be almost as much project as building the house itself.

[randomq]

I agree on the risks, but believe it should be a human right to build and live in whatever you can afford on your own property, at least in rural areas like Puna. One of the reasons permitted homes are so expensive is people treat them like investments instead of homes. How do you square wanting property values to always go up with affordable housing? Should something as basic as shelter have an entry-level investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, or 15-30 years of indentured servitude? Should people be denied ownership of a modest home, and instead work their whole lives to enrich landlords? Should we kick people out of their unpermitted homes, because being homeless is somehow "safer"?

Don't take this the wrong way; I respect anyone that has the work ethic and tenacity to take on those commitments and risks. Until the rules of the game are changed, though, we are just paying lip service to affordable housing, while driving the prices higher and higher. For most following the rules, it's a game that funnels money from the poorest to the richest. And as we are seeing today, you can pay your rent or mortgage religiously, and still be at risk of losing your home if you lose your income.

[Punaperson]

I have to agree with Hotzcatz on this - a permitted house is the way to go. A current example of what can/will happen:

There is a guy down the road from me who has built his cabin over the course of several years about half way down a 3-acre shotgun lot, unpermitted, off-grid, and I have no idea what his plumbing/sewage situation is. Last month, a bulldozer came and cleared the adjacent 6 acres ( 2 shotgun lots ), pin to pin. The cabin is easily seen from the cleared acreage. It's actually visible now when driving by on the road. When the new people get their house built, with all the inspector visits required, the cabin owner will be having major problems. Just because an area is rural doesn't mean you are invisible to your neighbors.

[randomq]

I have to agree with Hotzcatz on this - a  permitted house is the way to go.  A current example of what can/will happen: 

There is a guy down the road from me who has built his cabin over the course of several years about half way down a 3-acre shotgun lot, unpermitted, off-grid, and I have no idea what his plumbing/sewage situation is.  Last month, a bulldozer came and cleared the adjacent 6 acres ( 2 shotgun lots ), pin to pin.  The cabin is easily seen from the cleared acreage.  It's actually visible now when driving by on the road.  When the new people get their house built, with all the inspector visits required, the cabin owner will be having major problems.  Just because an area is rural doesn't mean you are invisible to your neighbors.

So no one bats an eye at 6 acres of rain-forest being destroyed, but screw that guy living in an off-grid cabin?

Sorry, but this is an issue I will fight for.

[Punaperson]

Randomq:' So no one bats an eye at 6 acres of rain-forest being destroyed, but screw that guy living in an off-grid cabin?'

That's not even close to what I said.

[randomq]

Randomq:' So no one bats an eye at 6 acres of rain-forest being destroyed, but screw that guy living in an off-grid cabin?'

That's not even close to what I said.

Sorry, that was more of a rhetorical question, didn't mean to imply you felt that way.  Imagine me shaking my fist at a hypothetical bulldozer, or standing in the ocean trying to hold back the waves.

[Hotzcatz]

You can build permitted and to code and still build it yourself. Still build it by cash and not take out a mortgage, as well.

If it's three acre lots, then most likely that's Hawaiian Acres which used to be cow pasture at one time. The 'rain forest' is overgrown cow pasture full of waiwi. But, dozing it from pin to pin isn't the answer, either. All that does is allows invasives to come in since most times folks who do pin to pin dozing don't seem to have much plan keeping out invasives.

But yes, we are grateful to be here and secure. There may be upcoming stress from Young Brothers since they were losing containers on the barge as it was heading into Hilo.

[randomq]

Well, I couldn't afford the materials for a "kit" home, but my first cabin (screen house with shutters) only cost me a few thousand bucks to build. We were able to live in that and work until we could build more. Everything since I have tried to build "to code", but if I ever get into trouble my plan is to open a permit for another structure and take my time building it.