What's that land law?

So, as I understand it, the house was really not "my house", but you have decided to fix up someone else's house, without their permission? Then claim it as your own? Then look into the law allowing you to lay claim to the house and land as a squatter?

No wonder you aren't getting much sympathy here. And as for the big, bad corporation (not really a person, huh?) - a corporation is a group of people. Individual shareholders, who own various sized pieces of a big pie. Although "corporation" no doubt makes people envision a huge evil empire. So in reality, you are apparently attempting to take away something that doesn't belong to you, and never did. My opinion is: Go buy a house like the rest of us.

I'll tell you how I got my property.

I worked my BUTT off and STILL work my BUTT off -- often working 70 hours a week (and I am disabled) at a job that, when I work massive amounts of overtime, puts me solidly into lower middle class.

I paid all my bills on time, kept a low credit card balance to *establish* credit, drove a twenty year old car with 230K miles on it, and ended up with a credit rating that was Very Good. Good enough that I could qualify for what I wanted.

Then I got a land-mobile home package out in the boonies with a low interest rate (and refi'd later for a lower rate), 2.4 acres of raw land, and three miles of dirt roads to the nearest paved road. This, I could afford, on my lower-middle-class job, though it still wasn't cheap, this being Arizona.

Oh, and the property came with an hour-each-way commute too. But this, I could handle, and I could afford, even though it often meant working thirteen hours a day (hour lunch, twelve hour shift) and an hour commute each way and an hour of chores and sleep? What's that?

It's not easy. It's not always a pleasant life, particularly when I'm on the fifth day of minimal sleep and working that weekend, too.

Oh, and making money on my homestead? Not gonna happen. That wasn't even part of the equation. After four years, my chickens are breaking even on the chick-sales prices vs. feed prices. The REAL profit is in the appreciation of the value of my land. For what I pay on mortgage, I could get a studio apartment in the city, or share ownership of my land with the bank -- and own ALL the appreciation of the land's value.

What you're contemplating is THEFT because you're too lazy to get a real job, work your butt off and earn the money for the land the honest way most real people do it.

Oh, and that faceless corporation? Guess what? Real people work for it. If you hurt the faceless corporation's bottom line, you're not hurting some rich dude who will never miss the lost money. Doubtless the corporation has plenty of peons just like you -- wouldn't be surprised if they've got stock options that can fluctuate based on the fortunes of the company, and certainly, bonuses and salaries are tied to the company's profits. 900,000 ... that's a LOT of money. That's enough to pay the salary (with benefits, compensation, etc.) for fifteen or sixteen average people. If you succeed in STEALING that money (land) from that corporation, the end result could very well impact a LOT of people who didn't do anything wrong and are actually WORKING for their wages, not trying to steal land.

Leva

I'm standing firm on this.

The original plan was to fix it up because I cannot continue to commute to this job with the way gas prices are. And on the pay I get I'm having a hard time paying my rent and utilities.

Also, I will be able to have a garden out there which is something I yearn for. It might help supplement my food bill.

Living out there is good practice for anything I might do in the future.

Adverse Possession was just an afterthought. The odds of it working out are slim to nil. Although Jone I think if they ignored it long enough and I was actively aquiring the land through hard and SMART work I think that's why the law is on the books. It's like a person who leaves their bagel on a park bench for the day and expects it to be there that night---the birds are going to eat it.

Finally, I do not want this land solely for myself. I would love to share it with the community. My lawyer friend told me to talk to people with conservancy groups in the area. The land is disappearing rapidly in greater Austin and I can definitely envision it as a park with a historic focus or as woodland gardens or a living history place.

I don't even have to be the caretaker in the end but I would be happy to go back and see this jewel in the middle of urban sprawl. I am reminded of the CT where I came from and how people flock to the quaint remaining farms because the area is so densely populated.

What you are wanting to due is wrong. Do not candy coat it. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, looks like a duck then its a duck. Hey man hard work is what pays the bills not stealing. Get out find you some land work hard pay for it yourself. Your time would be better spent doing it the right way not huntin loop holes. People do not get rich buy sitting on there rears, they put in the long hours.

i think i've figured it out - i believe its a case of you're not taking full advantage of your natural instincts and talents and thus wasting your time at a dead-end job -
from what i've been able to gather from your posts regarding your heartfelt personal philosophies, you would be a natural as a liberal political figure - one with potential for national office - go get 'em -

If this person is not pulling our collective leg, she sure has picked the right city to try this in. Austin can be strange like that.

Could be a stepping stone to a career in local politics...

__________________
You'll do fine - don't worry so much...

I believe that part of the plan is a real big dead end for you, but fine & all. You are putting money into a money pit that will never be yours. Wasting your time, energy, & youth. It's just not a good way to go. However, to each their own, and if the company you work for and the company that owns the property has no problems with it, fine.

However, to sit there & scheme about ways to steal $900,000 of property from someone else is just _wrong_, it is _so_ wrong. It is the opposite of what homesteaders & honest folks feel & do. I can only shake my head sadly & wonder where people in this country are headed, with attitudes like that. It is just so, so wrong & immoral.

Who owns the property, or what their intention with it is - has _NO_ bearing on this.

You are willfully plotting to take this property.

That is a sin.

Makes no difference what your use of the property is.

Stealing is morally wrong.

Can you not see that?

Now, should you want a park, and you get the community involved, and offer a fair value (fair, not inflated, not pennies) and change some laws & make an honest transaction happen - well good for you!

But just steal the land because you feel like it?

Wow.

--->Paul

Megan, your problem is, you are thinking WAAAY too small!

You have a job and $9,000 in the bank. That IS enough to get started on.

Look at Sandcrofts post on affordable housing. If you could restore a house, you can build one. At Auston prices, $9,000 is not a downpayment on a home, (unless you go the HUD route) but if you look long enough it might get you a down payment for bare land.

Try to find an old mobile home to move onto your property, and start saving the money you are paying for rent. Old mobile homes are not pretty, and you will eventually want to build.

The worst of the Texas heat should be over. Now iis a very good time to be working on a place of your own.

And, Megan, who was it that convinced you that you could not fullfill your own dreams? Who convinced you that you could not qualify for a loan? Now, I know you couldn't qualify for a million dollar loan, but a smaller loan for bare land should be within your reach.

You are capable, skilled, hard working, and you have money in the bank. You see other people living their dream, and assume that you can not. Well, why not?

DH and I have RARELY had $9,000, and yet we own 2 properties. One is our home on one acre, and the other is 5 1/2 acres of bare land.

The trick is, find land that has something "wrong" with it. Something that you can live with.

The problem with our house is that when we bought it, it was an hour round trip to the grocery store. So they did not ask for as much money.

The problem with the bare land that we bought, is that good water is not available, and won't be for at least 3 years. The gravel road, and the cemetary almost next door also decreased the price.

Oh, well. I can live with the road, the cemetary cannot QUITE be seen through the trees, and I have some ideas about the water. If nothing else, the neighbors next door have a cistern. (Their attempts at having a well dug did not work out for them.)

Also, have you tried HUD? When we bought this house, 15 years ago, we only paid $1,500 down payment because of HUD. It's a government-backed loan for people who want to buy. We paid MUCH less downpayment, but the interest rates were higher. A regular loan would have called for $12,000 down, and I would have paid lower interest. Whatever. At the time we only had $2000 in the bank, so we went the HUD route.

Megan, if you can restore a house, have a job, and have $9,000 in the bank, you can do ANYTHING! :yeeha:

The laws in this country are made largely to protect the rich from the poor. The corporations treat their people like dispoable things. Whether the corporation is in the right or the worng doesn't matter. The golden rule is in effect: He who has the gold makes the rules. :worship:

It is hard to look at the whole moral angle of things when the scales are tipped so wildly. You can work hard, be honest, do the right thing, scrape and save, and one little thing goes wrong and the whole house of cards comes crashing down. :waa: If the one little thing that happens happens to be a conflict of interest with a big corporation, prepared to be steamrolled (unless it's a personal injury or a wrongful death, then they might settle to avoid a jury.)

So what happened is that this land used to belong to a smaller holder and the company your work for leased it from them. Your company gave you permission to use the land. Then the small holder sold out to the big corporation. The corporation raised the price of the lease so high that your company now leases only the bare minimum of land from them, which doesn't include the property you are using. So you are left, essentially, swinging in the breeze. Do I have this right?

The way I see it, unless you get a lot of community support for the historic house and graveyard, they will get you off the land as soon as they are ready to use it. :yeeha: I don't see that it hurts anything for you to stay there until they remove you. I wouldn't invest too much of myself or my money into it, though. Aslo the work you do on the house may have to be redone when it is restored. :no:

If you do nothing, gain nothing, except some public attention for the plight of the little guy, that's something, IMO. May not be much, but it's something.

Good luck.

Heather

I find it amusing when a thief tries to wrap themselves in the cloak of being a do-gooder. I might be more sympathetic if you were trying to raise money to buy the land to preserve it. But you aren't....you wish to steal it. By definition that is what a thief does.

The fact that you yearn for a garden does not mitigate that you are a wanna be thief.

The fact that your commute is long or that you have difficulty paying your rent is no justification for contemplating thievery.

A persons reputation is one of the few things they can control. If you haven't clued in to what you have done to your reputation here then you simply don't "get it".

Mike

Well said Mike.I find it amazing how folks can justify theft,because that is what we are talking here.I guess the poster could go hold up a Walmart too,after all,they have the money,and I have this dream that usurps their property rights.Just amazing!
BooBoo

I wonder what the original poster would do if someone were trying to steal their land?

You might also want to be a little more careful about not caring if it's taken from a corporation. I am an average working guy who happens to own stock in some companies. When you steal from a company you literally steal from each and every stockholder.

As was said before, get off your rump and get your land (and anything else) they way most of us did. WORK for it. Most folks would be much better off of they put half as much energy into working and saving as to get get rich with no work schemes.

It never ceases to amaze me at how some folks think because they've want something, they are entitled to it.

Kind of like camping in a small cabin. I see no harm in using the building untill they tell you to leave. They will probably be tearing it down anyways. I would be low key and you might get to stay a longer. Forget about getting it for free and enjoy a little free rent. Do you feel safe there?

Megan, you SERIOUSLY need to talk to a realtor about HUD. Last I heard, the downpayment was 2% of the selling price. Using HUD, I bought a house in good condition, on an acre of land, for $1500 down. My monthly payments were $50 more than my rent was.

At that rate, the $9000 that you have in the bank will last until your next raise. Or longer, if you garden. And, when you move, you will sell at a profit.

You could be in your own home with a garden planted by Christmas.

A change in the lease. Movement on pricing. Realtors being around and quoting the owner.
Stand Back girl. With all that action, plans are being made. There will be someone looking over your house soon if it hasn't been done already.
Pack half your stuff and be ready to pack the rest. That place as a horse farm/park/historic site/community garden is history.

__________________
"The high cost of living doesn't lessen its popularity." The Gay Philosopher

"Life always looks better in someone elses photo album." Chas

Save the planet, it's the only one with chocolate.

Settle down, ya'all. Any lawyer who told her she had half a chance of coming into title by adverse possession ought to turn in his license. I do get a kick of all this work ethic getting stirred up, though.

Well I have been pondering what to say to you all since I got over having a really good cry. I was upset because I really enjoyed participating in the forum but now I know I just have to be a lurker. I know there are cliques even on the internet and it seems I’m not wanted anymore here any more with the way this conversation has turned.

I can sincerely see how a lot of you feel but I don’t think you understand what I was trying to get at. I'm was just looking into all the options--and this was a last ditch. There are many boarders at the stables who would like to make it a co-op although it‘s a very family place and it‘s more than likely out of our reach. I would like to do fundraising via workshops and community events as I originally stated. There are many conservation groups to reach out to in the environmentally sensitive Austin area. It is a historic property. Texas has ag grants for $250,000 max (so if I was growing hay this could be possible). There are many options. It felt like a dream to be able to save this land and now I feel pretty dejected.

I apologize all this has happened as it was really exciting to find folks who were interested in the same things as myself.

- Megan

Mike I also agree with you. May I add, that adverse possession cases usually are for ad joiners. In this case there is no ad joining lands to speak of.
Who is this big corp. and what kind of land are we talking about. I know an investor that might be interested.

Megan,we see what you are saying that you would like to save the land.Unfortunately,the plan you have is basically stealing from someone else.And it sounds sleazy,as does your lawyer friend.Sorry,thats how it sounds,if you realize it or not.This property is waaaaayy out of your price range and therefore you cant have it.You posted a plan,its a bad one,and folks let you know they pretty much feel that way.Now go do as others suggest,find something you can afford,PAY FOR IT,and move forward.Or put together a co-op of like minded folks who CAN purchase it.You got some good,honest advice about it,take it.
Now post a good plan,and continue to post.No one told you to leave here.Just admit you had a bad idea,thank folks for pointing it out,and just move along,nowhere did I see anyone tell you to leave,just that what you plan is wrong.
I look forward to the post that says 'I found my land!' and its all above board so you can feel good about it.And you're right,there is a clique here,a clique of hardworking people who succeed through hard work,honesty and being a good neighbor.Be that person at all times,as another poster said,one of your most valuable assets is your reputation,dont ever take it for granted.
BooBoo

What Booboo said

Megan, you are VERY welcome here.

But, your plan is not a good one. The only way it would work is through the massive incompetance of the corporation staff, and what corporation stays in business with a staff so incompetant? All ethical considerations aside, your plan simply won't work.

If you CAN raise the money, that's another story. A fund raiser where a struggling band performs in exchange for the publicity, (with a donation from the audience to put towards the land purchase), a grant from the Austin historical society, a suggestion to the city to buy it for parkland with the assist of the dollars you have raised, WHATEVER.

You will not get this land through adverse possession. But, if enough of the neighborhood loves it like you do, perhaps the funds could be raised.