Nevada?

[houndlover]

My husband and I want to look at property in the northern half of the state, but at least an hour away from Reno area. We have a week in September to just drive around and look. Not sure where to start. Think we'll go through Alturas CA, SE down 50, east to Ely, loop north and across 80 to Winnemucca and back to Oregon. Husband and I entertaining the idea of retirement residence in NV, keeping the farm here and coming back for the summers. Only need an acre or so, maybe keep a couple goats, put small single wide or big 5th wheel on. Areas we should look at?

[fantasymaker]

Depends a lot on why your wanting to move.
Im fond or the area north of Wendover and the Bonnieville salt flats. Theres a little dirt road that runs straight north outa there thats interesting and I hear the closer to the Idaho line you get the more of a natural food raising area it is.

[houndlover]

Looking for a place to snowbird out of the rain (don't mind cold), within 6 hours of my kids in Central Oregon. Considering a change to Nevada residency for tax purposes re: retirement. Would keep our spread in NW Oregon to come back in the hot summer.

[phrogpharmer]

Northern Nevada has a number of appealing places to live and farm in retirement.
To live in northern Nevada just in the winter may be not so appealing.
It might be a good idea to take your road trip in Dec., Jan., or Feb. and see what you think.

[swollen tongue]

to get out of the winter country, tie a snow shovel onto the back of your car and when the first person asks you "what is that?", then you have found the perfect winter climate..........northern nevada gets pretty cold but it does have some neat desolete mtn. areas and cattle ranches. It snows in Ely and all the areas around it, but open country with few people...........

[houndlover]

We like cold, just not the relentless rain we get here in the NW corner of Oregon. We'd consider central oregon but no tax advantage.

[Freeholder]

I've heard good things about the Elko area -- decent water table for wells, for one thing.

Kathleen

[Nevada]

I just moved from Elko a little over a year ago. I'm still carrying a loan for the buyer of my homestead. My place was in the community of Ryndon, located about 10 miles east of Elko. I can tell you how to get really inexpensive land around there. If you visit Elko I suggest you stay at Stockmen's downtown (Hint: Ask for one of the older rooms on the floors above the casino, they are twice as large as the new ones at the same price of around $45 weekdays)

Winnemucca is a possibility for a homestead too. If you stay there I suggest you stay at Winners hotel.

For more than a just couple of acres, try Montello, NV. You can get huge acreage around there for very little, sometimes as little as $50/acre. There is no hotel to stay in, so you will want to stay in West Wendover.

Most of the I-80 corridor has great water.

I love Ely, but property around there is over priced since the mine in Ruth reopened. Still, it's a terrific place to visit, with a national park only 20 miles away. Staying at the Hotel Nevada is an ABSOLUTE MUST. Weekday rooms start at $40.

If you are looking for character, take a look at Eureka, NV. The town is an absolute throwback to the 1800s. A cuter town never existed. It's well worth driving out of your way to see.

[houndlover]

Thank you!

[phrogpharmer]

Here are a few small communities to check out in N. NV.
Lamoille, green and tree shady in the summer and at the base of the beautiful Ruby Mountains.
Clover Valley also at the base of the Rubies.
Jarbidge, old mining town, somewhat popular in summer, real quiet in winter.
Paradise Valley, a ranching town with very independent thinking citizens.
Yerington, farming community fairly mild winter.
Montello, a farming community like an island off the coast of Utah.
Jackpot, a casino town on the Idaho state line.

[houndlover]

I am marking locations on a map. Before I get too excited about building a small place in Nevada, are there a lot of building restrictions out in the country? We have been experimenting with off grid here on the farm in Oregon, but a sunny (and windy) location would be great, as long as the local county didn't need to be all-involved. Another thing we're not crazy about is HOA's. We had to fight for 10 years to get out of being absorbed into a local HOA - 10 miles out from the nearest tiny town.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Lamoille, green and tree shady in the summer and at the base of the beautiful Ruby Mountains.

Lamoille is a super cute little town located at the base of Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby mountain range, sometimes called the Apls of North America. It's on the east side of of the town of Spring Creek, which is southeast of the town of Elko. The problem with the Spring Creek area is that it's pretty pricey. It's the high-end real estate area of Elko County.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Clover Valley also at the base of the Rubies.

Clover Valley is just south of Wells, NV. It's an ok area for a large farm, but quite a bit out of the way. You'll see it as you head south out of Wells towards Ely.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Jarbidge, old mining town, somewhat popular in summer, real quiet in winter.

Pretty remote. It's mostly government land up that way. It's more of a remote vacation location.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Paradise Valley, a ranching town with very independent thinking citizens.

Paradise Valley is a homesteading possibility. Land is cheap up there. It's maybe 1/2 hour drive north of Winnemucca. A lot of the parcels up that direction are unpowered, but if you're up to the challenge it's worth a look. You sometimes see parcels in that area offered at eBay as Winnemuca properties.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Yerington, farming community fairly mild winter.

That's getting pretty close to Reno, and prices will reflect that. The military base in nearby Fallon also keeps real estate prices supported around there.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Montello, a farming community like an island off the coast of Utah.

As I mentioned before, Montello is a homesteader's paradise, with good water and land at probably the lowest price per acre in the country. You could make a $2,000 cash offer on a 40 acre parcel and realistically expect it to be entertained. Montello is 100 miles from the nearest Home Depot, but still an attractive community for a lot of reasons. You will find a lot of Montello land at eBay, but you can get it a lot less expensively by making offers directly to out of state owners.

Originally Posted by phrogpharmer

Jackpot, a casino town on the Idaho state line.

Other than a few small gambling hotels for travelers there's not much in Jackpot, since it's a tightly contained community bordered by government land. The road south out of Jackpot is closed all winter, so you have to go north to Idaho Falls for everything. I don't think you would like it there for anything but an overnight visit.

** My Advice **

If you're looking for large acreage then Montello is the only way to go. If you are only looking for a couple of acres then look closer to Elko. I can show you where to get unpowered 2 acre parcels for around $700, and close to power for perhaps twice that. If you're looking for affordable land Osino & Ryndon east of Elko are the best places.

Avoid the affordable parcels south of town in Meadow Valley Ranchos 9, 10, 11, and 12, and the Last Chance Ranch subdivisions located immediately east of Elko south of I-80, since people who live in those areas sometimes complain about stinky water. I don't know what's up with that, but I suspect that it has something to do with being close to the Humboldt River bed downstream of the gravel quarry. Worse than that Meadow Valley Ranchos 9, 10, 11, and 12 are built around the Elko City sewage disposal facility. We don't have that problem in Ryndon & Osino, where Meadow Valley Ranchos 1 through 8 are located.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by houndlover

I am marking locations on a map. Before I get too excited about building a small place in Nevada, are there a lot of building restrictions out in the country?

It depends on where you are. Elko County has building restrictions, but they only have 2 building inspectors. I know people who applied for building permits but have never seen an inspector.

They run a pretty tight ship in the towns of Elko and Spring Creek, but when you get out of town you can do what you want. Structures up to 200 sq ft don't require a permit (guess how big I made my 2-story cabin).

Basically, when it comes to building you can pretty much get away with what you want in Ryndon. In Montello you will never see a building inspector.

Originally Posted by houndlover

Another thing we're not crazy about is HOA's. We had to fight for 10 years to get out of being absorbed into a local HOA - 10 miles out from the nearest tiny town.

You won't have a HOA in the subdivisions I've suggested. Some have building covenants, but they aren't much more restrictive than current county building codes.

[Nevada]

Since this thread was started I've been looking for an old Elko land ad I found in a vintage 1968 magazine a few years ago. I finally found it at one of my FTP sites. I can remember seeing those ads in magazines when I was young (maybe high school age). I never would have believed that I would someday own one, build a home with my own two hands, and even live there for years.

You can get the same parcels (ranchos?) for about the same cash price today. Click on the image below for an enlargement.

[houndlover]

I've seen several advertised, 1-5 acres, between $350 and $1500. I discount them out of hand because anything that cheap can't be very livable - can it?

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by houndlover

I've seen several advertised, 1-5 acres, between $350 and $1500. I discount them out of hand because anything that cheap can't be very livable - can it?

Some of those subdivisions are neighborhoods today, but many are still unpowered and sparsely populated. The interesting thing is that the Meadow Valley Ranchos magazine ad land boom has created more vacant parcels in Elko County than there are residents of the county (somewhere around 50,000 vacant parcels). That's a statistic that no other county in the country can claim.

But I bought a 2-acre parcel for under $1000, built a cabin, then lived there for 4 years. When I left I sold it for a profit, and in fact doubled my money (if my time was free).

Livable? Yes. I lived there for almost 4 years with a woman in her early 80s while in constant communication with this forum. I don't know of any place you can buy property for that price in a subdivision with dedicated street and utility easements, as close to pavement and a convenience store, and only 10 miles from the county seat. Where can you find 2 acres like that for $700?

Somaday people will look back at the Elko magazine land boom and laugh. They will say that those lots were offered at the same price for over 50 years while the world passed them by.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by houndlover

Areas we should look at?

Anyplace except Nevada in my opinion. Nevada is where the good Lord tossed all the scraps when He was making the world. It wasnt quite big enough, and a lot of the trash spilled over into Arizona too.

[phrogpharmer]

I took from your first post that you are interested in finding only an acre or two.
Since you are planning to live on your acre during the colder months you won't be trying to support yourself on your small parcel.
You should be able to find a small parcel in any of the places that I mentioned.
Jackpot and the Contact area just to the south do have a few small parcels available. Hwy 93 which runs through Jackpot and Contact is sometimes closed for a short while after a big winter storm. Twin Falls, ID with lots of shopping opportunities is about 50 miles north of Jackpot.
All of the places that I mentioned are not near the I-15 freeway which in my book is very important.

[phrogpharmer]

Oops! I mean't to say the I-80 freeway is not so great to live near. Actually I'd prefer not to live within sight or earshot of any freeway.

[fantasymaker]

Originally Posted by Nevada

For more than a just couple of acres, try Montello, NV. You can get huge acreage around there for very little, sometimes as little as $50/acre. There is no hotel to stay in, so you will want to stay in West Wendover.

Yep thats the area I was recomending only over on the Nevada side.Where I was thinking is in Utah wich has both advantages and disadvantages.
Thats 3 of us recomending within a few miles!