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by mothballed1 hours ago |
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upvoteby inigyou33 minutes ago|
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What was the loophole?
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upvoteby mothballed30 minutes ago|
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Do everything yourself and it never touches commercial regulations on licensing, inspection, and and building plans. I recorded a sworn affidavit with the county I was building it myself on my own property for purely personal residential use and then they issued me a permit explicitly stating I did not need to submit building plans or inspections.

Since the house was built without any compensation and not used for any commercial purpose, it bypasses "commerce" which was the auspice under which housing was regulated. When I was done I literally just sent the county a picture of a house and they closed the permit and that was that.

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upvoteby inigyou16 minutes ago|
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Ah. One of those weird bureaucratic legal things. Probably wouldn't fly in most countries that have building permits.
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upvoteby bell-cot1 hours ago|
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I'm thinking that very few folks, these days, have the mindset & skill set & finances & timeframe to build their own houses.

And it wouldn't be just the currently-active NIMBY's who fought tooth and nail against any "simple changes" that might halve the average cost of a house overnight.

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upvoteby inigyou1 hours ago|
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A house doesn't have to be fancy. Live in a tent on a grassy lot? Why not?

But you can't, because the lot is unaffordable

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upvoteby mothballed1 hours ago|
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Last I checked 5 or so years ago a lot big enough to drop a yurt on in San Francisco was only like 100k. Legally unbuildable, but perfectly usable and sanitary with an incinerator toilet, solar, and hauled water. Maybe 200k all in, in roughly the most expensive place in the US.
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upvoteby inigyou52 minutes ago|
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If it's legally unbuildable, does that mean you're spending 100k just to get yourself imprisoned for having an illegal structure?
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upvoteby mothballed51 minutes ago|
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Yes

edit: as a comment, there are a lot of people in places like big island hawaii for instance, that do something like this under burner LLCs with shipping containers, then just move them when caught and do the same thing over again.

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upvoteby inigyou32 minutes ago|
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I suppose as long as it's 100% temporary, it might be legal (I am not your lawyer). So maybe a caravan trailer, a tent, or a covered up cargo bicycle will be allowed. But I'm not paying $100k to sleep in a converted bicycle bin, I can do that just as well under a bridge!
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upvoteby mothballed1 hours ago|
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I was working 60 hours a week, plus raising small children, plus had zero construction experience, plus buying literal pieces of lumber and block paycheck to paycheck as money allowed. If you start at 18 and finish in 20 years, you are still ahead of age of median new home buyer by 2 years.

Some people have valid excuses, but most do not.

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