A yurt on someone else's property... (Advice for potential yurt owner)

[benjamin]

Hello, I'm Ben. I'm new to the forum.

A little background:

My girlfriend, Emily, and I have been renting in different parts of the USA since 2008. Over that time we've paid approximately $60,000 to landlords. We're ready to get out of the rental market but don't have even remotely enough money (or credit) to buy a house/land. We love the idea of a "portable" home that will allow us to build equity and savings without having to commit to one place. We've always dreamed of living in a Yurt!

The plan:

Currently, we have just enough money saved up to buy (and outfit) a 20' yurt! Our idea is to buy the yurt and find a friendly land owner (hear in Eagle County, CO) who wouldn't mind a Yurt on his or her property. I'm pretty handy (worked construction for a year) and am really excited to tinker. We'll stay here in CO for the next six months and after that will move ourselves (and our Yurt) to Emily's parents' land in MA. After a maximum of two years there (we will be running a yoga studio), we plan on once again moving ourselves (and our yurt) back to the rocky mountains somewhere where we will take up permanent residence. (And hopefully run our OWN Yoga studio!)

One of the keys to our plan is that we expect to be "pitching" our yurt on other folks' land for the next five years or so. (I understand that I'll need to tap into their power supply, h20 source and septic.) I figure that, with the right hosts, we can get away with paying as little as $200 a month to the land owners for use of their land and utilities. That leaves us with with an approximate savings of $1000 a month! I figure that if, rather than paying that money to a landlord, we pay that money into a savings account, in five years we can have around $30,000 (and one sweet yurt) in savings. At that point, I expect to put a down payment on some land, add our yurt, add a baby (or two), add little yurts for the little people, add a garden and chickens and have beaten the rental market without having had to commit to a house or a location.

The questions:

1. Has anyone taken a similar route to land/yurt ownership? How did it go?
2. How much red tape am I likely to encounter on this journey? (I especially wonder how much red tape I'll encounter when attempting to temporarily put my yurt on other peoples' land.)
3. Any advice for us, in general?

I really appreciate you all taking the time to help us out. If all goes as planned, I'm sure I'll be posting here, a lot!

Thanks! Ben

[Marshall Eppley]

Welcome to yurt forum i hope it works out for you.

[Jafo]

If you could do this without all the moving around, you would save money faster.

[Marshall Eppley]

The utilities are going to cost you a good bit each move as well. septic s cost a good bit alone. then there's permit fees and inspections. And you may find it hard to locate land lords willing to go with your idea.

[Jafo]

That's true. You may want to consider an outhouse of some kind or portapotty. A solar setup that can be moved with you would save on those utilities. If you can do that, I expect the permitting to be much easier as really you would just be more of a temporary structure.

[Bob Rowlands]

Most folks work decades to pay for their place. I'm 60 and we still have 13 years left if we run out the payment book.

If you find a way to do it in a couple years you'll have done very well indeed. Write a book, do an infomercial, and retire. Good luck

[addicted56]

Similar situation. Pm for details.

[ljamies1]

A few thoughts;

- build your own yurt, its a blast and costs 1/4 of the cost. I used a building guide through a company, most of the information can be found online for free.

I currently have a yurt in upstate NY. Found a very part time work trade (10hrs/month) and have 30 private acres for $0.00/month. its incredible. Post on craigslist, put up flyers, tell your friends, and walk up to famers and offer them $100-$200 per month to put up an off-grid, 0 impact structure on their property for a few years. Offer to watch over properties for people or do some work for them on the side.

- I cant stretes enough the advantages of building your own (and reclaiming items where you can). Practice your cover a few times on a tarp before cutting into your real fabric. Doing this will give your a much larger budget to outfit your mobile camp with necessary comforts.

- I would take the time for time a "land-lord" who is uninterested with the "red-tape" portion of yurting. Pay someone cash or do work for them and find someone who is onboard with what your trying to do. The permting of a yurt is a road I have chosen to avoid. Thats not to say skimp on building codes and build a safe and sturdy yurt....