Where is off-grid utopia?

[Zwy]

Like right in the middle of Iowa - Des Moines? not excessively hot in summer, not too cold in winter, good solar potential all year around, low cost land available, depth to well water?

It gets humid in IA when it is hot. I've been in the high desert in CA at 110F and came back to IA on a plane. Just melted stepping off the plane until I became acclimated again.

It gets cold, -20F isn't uncommon. Solar potential in Des Moines is better than NE Iowa. I was in Des Moines yesterday, they had good sun. I checked SA on my phone and saw I was only getting 300W of PV input. It was cloudy back home all day.

Land is now $15K to $20K/acre for farmland. Some land sold here recently for $24K. Wooded areas are bringing $7K to $8K/acre, many are not buildable. Mosquitos will eat you alive too.

Well depth of about 250 feet in NE IA. Farther south is water district country, seems the water closer to ground surface has some impurities that aren't good for you. So they have a water district in a county, run water lines to each property (can't be cheap) from a central water tower. I never asked what the water bill is but if you have a limited number of neighbors, your cost to each property won't be cheap.

In NE IA, I live in one of 2 counties not zoned. We like it that way. Would I live elsewhere? Probably not, like the freedom and even the change of seasons. With the bad comes the good, sometimes enjoying the suck is what makes you a better person.

 

[hugemoth]

I suggest that when you find that special spot in the woods to build your off grid cabin you consider future shading from tree growth. My perfect spot in the woods of Central Oregon used to have good solar insolation 35 years ago when I built it but now the 130+ year old ponderosa pine trees have grown huge and blocked much of the sun.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

Michigan's Upper Peninsula!!!

Property is still cheap in the eastern UP.

Not much for industry/jobs but thats why its cheap. Tons of camps and cabins for sale if youre not near a tourist town or on a lake.
Most are already set up with a cobbled solar install that needs attention ?

Michigan looks like it has some beautiful areas, but it has the nothern California problem: Beautiful, but you're still subject to the depraved, power-hungry politicians doing absolutely everything they can to control your life.

Not to go off-topic onto politics since this isn't in chit-chat, but a big part of an off-grid utopia for me would be having plenty of land to hunt on, and have a range in my backyard at any time of day and not worry about neighbors or the government telling me I can't.

 

[JRH]

By all means please keep that rumor going, we have enough people moving here

I live 200 ft from TN line in the mountains …I personally like old washing machines, used tires and burn-barrels as yard decor..also I enjoy being able to see every car that a family has ever owned since the 40‘s still sitting in the side yard with that “coveted” natural rusty look..Old refrigerators make a great rack smoker for meats…one can always count on the Sherif’s Dept showing up down our road at least twice on the weekend nites for somethin.
we have an abundance of quality things to keep the city folks from moving here and ruining the place .
I will never move..J.

 

[BrendanK]

I'm in the planning stage of adding solar to my home. It has me thinking about setting up an off-grid cabin in the woods as a retreat.
Now that you can get acceptable Internet by satellite that part of the equation is met.
I would need to be in a location where drilling for water won't be a problem.
Also, have to be able to install a sewer system.
I would like to be on a year-round flowing creek not too far from civilization.
I assume that land without any utilities would be very reasonably priced.
How do I find this off-grid utopia? Where is the best place to look?

Some areas in Utah are great for off-grid living. Although the state in general is pretty drought-ridden you can find places where water is plentiful. My well was 800 ft but the water is clean and reliable. I was more interested in the location than how hard water would be to get, but if you focused mainly on water you could find spots. Winters can get pretty rough weather wise but even on the shortest day of the year I was able to generate plenty of electricity.

 

[peakbagger]

Keep in mind the Free State Project https://www.fsp.org/

No sales tax, no income tax and if you do your research, very low property taxes (if you dont do your research you will regret it

Then again https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...mpshire-libertarians-matthew-hongoltz-hetling

The article covers a lot of the interesting parts but worth finding a copy of the book.

 

[Sparks-n-Splinters]

Michigan looks like it has some beautiful areas, but it has the nothern California problem: Beautiful, but you're still subject to the depraved, power-hungry politicians doing absolutely everything they can to control your life.

This!
I lived my entire life in the lower peninsula until I retired. It sure is NOT what it used to be. Wandering the country now, also in search of my off grid utopia.

 

[Brett V]

Arkansas would be on my short list.

 

[Danke]

Arkansas would be on my short list.

Quiet!

 

[OffGridForGood]

It gets cold, -20F isn't uncommon. Solar potential in Des Moines is better than NE Iowa. I was in Des Moines yesterday, they had good sun. I checked SA on my phone and saw I was only getting 300W of PV input. It was cloudy back home all day.

Land is now $15K to $20K/acre for farmland. Some land sold here recently for $24K. Wooded areas are bringing $7K to $8K/acre, many are not buildable. Mosquitos will eat you alive too.

Well depth of about 250 feet in NE IA. Farther south is water district country, seems the water closer to ground surface has some impurities that aren't good for you. So they have a water district in a county, run water lines to each property (can't be cheap)

Ok, painting such a picture, strike IA off the list...!

 

[JRH]

Arkansas would be on my short list.

If a place has mosquitos , no- see- ummms, alligators , snakes or tornados it’s not high enough up in the hills for me…..and no sharks either…don’t want no more sharks…

 

[MiSh]

Michigan's Upper Peninsula!!!

Property is still cheap in the eastern UP.

Not much for industry/jobs but thats why its cheap. Tons of camps and cabins for sale if youre not near a tourist town or on a lake.
Most are already set up with a cobbled solar install that needs attention ?

Spent many years in the past visiting the U.P camping and hiking. But you better like snow! I think Munising area got 250" a few years back.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula!!!

Property is still cheap in the eastern UP.

Not much for industry/jobs but thats why its cheap. Tons of camps and cabins for sale if youre not near a tourist town or on a lake.
Most are already set up with a cobbled solar install that needs attention ?

 

[Zwy]

Ok, painting such a picture, strike IA off the list...!

We don't recommend people move here, we tend to tell everyone about all the bad things. That way people don't come here and try to change things.

The real estate market in Iowa is just unbelievable right now. My son bought his first house 3 years ago and sold it this year within 2 weeks of putting it up for sale without a realtor. He made $85K profit. I had heard the biggest demographic moving here is 18 to 34 year olds, married and want to raise a family here. The cheaper cost of living translates into a higher standard of living with comparable compensation from where they came from. My next door neighbor had his daughter and husband move back here from NYC and they work the same job remote. They purchased a nice house in a new development, they will do well here as long as they can continue to hold those jobs.

Huge increase in illegals coming here to work in ag such as hog farms, dairies, packing plants. Most don't speak English and rely on their phone for translate. They come into my business now and then. Hard working bunch. We also get South Africans here on visas to work on farms. Biggest problem here for employers is they can't hire enough people to work here because entry level housing is non existent. Bare farmland at over $20K/acre isn't attractive to developers for housing development here. Any new house around here starts at over $450K and workers in a good job getting top pay around $26/hour so they aren't buying. Plenty moved here during covid from MN and a few other states that were restrictive and drove house prices up. Usually sold their home in a city and moved here for cheaper living costs and less government intrusion in their lives.

We don't have much for homeless population although I was in Ankeny yesterday which is growing fast and I did see a travel trailer hiding in between a pair of semi trailers in the Menards parking lot. You could tell it was more than a one night stay. Des Moines has homeless, not many but you will see them around the VA Medical Center so that tells you why they are probably homeless. Once we get snow and cold, many of the "homeless nomads" are long gone.

I can remember back in 1980's when farmland was $800/acre and houses were $10K here. A really nice house just a few years old might have brought $35K. Many were torn down in small towns because no one would rent the house and owners didn't want to pay property tax and upkeep. Things sure have changed. The increase in the Des Moines area urban sprawl is just mind boggling. Iowa City/Cedar Rapids corridor is another.

 

[Zwy]

If a place has mosquitos , no- see- ummms, alligators , snakes or tornados it’s not high enough up in the hills for me…..and no sharks either…don’t want no more sharks…

Iowa can have skeeters, usually the humid, hot muggy weather brings them out. Nothing like MN though. I can sit on the patio evening until dark sipping a cold one or two and no skeeters. I think the bats keep the skeeters cropped down pretty good.

No see ums only in fall, when corn harvest takes place. They live in the corn here, other than that they live up to their name, you never see um.

You don't want to be outside when they are picking corn across the road with wind blowing your direction with short sleeves and shorts on. If you are, you won't be there long. This year there weren't any, too dry.

 

[Rabbit]

Rural Florida is actually pretty cheap, and hurricanes much less of a problem if you live even a few miles from the coast. There's not much need to ever heat at all, and plenty of sun to run low-consumption mini-splits for A/C. Build cheap and with storms in mind from the outset, stay away from the coast and from the big cities, and enjoy the sun! I like it very much here, and am successfully living well beneath my means. While home insurance is indeed high and sadly getting higher, living in a cheap, small home goes a long way towards mitigating this. I'm not off-grid, but easily could be if I found it cost-effective.

 

[nycamper62]

Boonie hat with a no see um / mesh bug screen. Now, back to work.

 

[rhino]

Problem with Iowa is a lot of the rural areas burn their trash. I lived in Iowa for a while and was temporarily blinded by someone burning something nasty. I had no idea until I lived there for a while that that was still a thing. It was okay 80 years ago or so when you just had paper, wood, cardboard, etc for trash but not today.

 

[k490]

Greenlee County Arizona has no building, or zoning codes. One of 11 places in the country where there are no building codes. The northern part of the county rises up into mountains very remote.

 

[rhino]

One of 11 places in the country where there are no building codes.

That is definitely not a complete list.

 

[hugemoth]

One of the great things about living in a high desert ponderosa pine forest is there are no mosquitoes and pretty much no bugs of any kind. No surface water for miles around and wells are 400' deep. The well water is good enough that it is bottled and sold in grocery stores.