Offer in on CO Cabin/NF land…what am I missing?

[Tahoe1305]

Agree 100%. Don’t worry about the neighbors. If they want to control what happens on the property they can buy it.

Slippery slope either way. County charges enough for permit that may not make it worth it for the distance from desirable attractions (ski resorts). We are paying so little that we don’t need to do it yet. If we move away then it will be more appealing. Ill be bummed if we aren’t out there twice a month.

 

[tdhanses]

Slippery slope either way. County charges enough for permit that may not make it worth it for the distance from desirable attractions (ski resorts). We are paying so little that we don’t need to do it yet. If we move away then it will be more appealing. Ill be bummed if we aren’t out there twice a month.

What part of CO did you buy in?

 

[Tahoe1305]

What part of CO did you buy in?

Just east of FairPlay. About 90 west from Denver. We live in the springs.

 

[tdhanses]

Oh nice, I had looked there at one point, I ended up going south of the springs to the La Veta area.

 

[Tahoe1305]

Oh nice, I had looked there at one point, I ended up going south of the springs to the La Veta area.

Awesome. Haven’t been down there yet. Guessing hunting probably better simply due to being further away from the metroplex of Denver/c-springs.

We wanted something that could bridge the distance to ski resorts. Ours puts us 45 min from breck.

Hope that didn’t come at the cost of good hunting. The wildlife managers have been pretty helpful and sounds like I should have something in the backyard and if not a real close drive.

 

[tdhanses]

Awesome. Haven’t been down there yet. Guessing hunting probably better simply due to being further away from the metroplex of Denver/c-springs.

We wanted something that could bridge the distance to ski resorts. Ours puts us 45 min from breck.

Hope that didn’t come at the cost of good hunting. The wildlife managers have been pretty helpful and sounds like I should have something in the backyard and if not a real close drive.

I think hunting is the bonus but not necessarily the key priority when looking at a place. I wanted a place away from tourists like myself That said, Taos NM is only 75-80 miles away.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I think hunting is the bonus but not necessarily the key priority when looking at a place. I wanted a place away from tourists like myself That said, Taos NM is only 75-80 miles away.

Yeah that would be cool. Never been skiing in NM but on the list. With vail practically giving away epic pass to military it’s hard to not ski at a vail property

 

[Archerichards]

Pretty pumped. Took a small
step towards a life goal of purchasing some land in CO that backs to 410k acres of national forest. It’s 1hr 45min from our house and close to some ski resorts.

It has a perfectly capable (and actually pretty nice) cabin on it with a few storage sheds, etc.

Any lessons learned out there for 2nd homes or get away cabins I may be missing?

Love to get as smart on it as I can to mitigate any unforeseen risks.

If you go to contract, make sure that you get it surveyed by a registered land surveyor using modern methods, and that you resolve any boundary issues before you close. Or, buy it based on an up to date survey by a RLS, and make sure your title matches the modern survey. You want to walk out of the deal knowing exactly how many acres you have title to.

I point this out because there is a guy over on the Archerytalk forum who thought he had bought (and paid for!), say, 300 acres but turns out he only has about 220. You wouldnt buy a dozen eggs without counting them, would you? Nope. So get it surveyed!

 

[Archerichards]

By the way — and you already know this — but owning your own place changes everything. You’ll loving having your own place in the woods. I’m happy for you.

 

[Shootinsurveyor]

If you go to contract, make sure that you get it surveyed by a registered land surveyor using modern methods, and that you resolve any boundary issues before you close. Or, buy it based on an up to date survey by a RLS, and make sure your title matches the modern survey. You want to walk out of the deal knowing exactly how many acres you have title to.

I point this out because there is a guy over on the Archerytalk forum who thought he had bought (and paid for!), say, 300 acres but turns out he only has about 220. You wouldnt buy a dozen eggs without counting them, would you? Nope. So get it surveyed!

Funny, I was just about to write the same thing. Always get it surveyed. Small fee for your most or second most valuable asset.

 

[Tahoe1305]

If you go to contract, make sure that you get it surveyed by a registered land surveyor using modern methods, and that you resolve any boundary issues before you close. Or, buy it based on an up to date survey by a RLS, and make sure your title matches the modern survey. You want to walk out of the deal knowing exactly how many acres you have title to.

I point this out because there is a guy over on the Archerytalk forum who thought he had bought (and paid for!), say, 300 acres but turns out he only has about 220. You wouldnt buy a dozen eggs without counting them, would you? Nope. So get it surveyed!

The plot itself is actually only 2.2 acres. I’m rolling on old survey. I trust OnX too much and it matches the fence line perfectly.

The neighbors don’t have fences on either side but their structures also conform to the boundaries. I’ll get a better survey eventually before my title insurance expires. If there’s an issue I’ll hold them accountable at some level. Anticipating no issues.

To add: this isn’t a really expensive investment so pretty minimal risk. Sub $200k levels.

Another add: I did just ping the realtor on his thoughts and if title holds any liability in the matter. He mentioned it a few weeks ago and I told him I wasn’t concerned. Now you all got me spooked

 

[Tahoe1305]

Following up. Closed about a month ago and spent about a combined week over 3 trips.

This place is awesome. Great memories already. Got some trail cams out back now too (nothing much yet ).

How come no one warned about frozen sewer lines!!!!!! J/k but seriously that’s been the only issue!

 

[Jp child]

Following up. Closed about a month ago and spent about a combined week over 3 trips.

This place is awesome. Great memories already. Got some trail cams out back now too (nothing much yet ).

How come no one warned about frozen sewer lines!!!!!! J/k but seriously that’s been the only issue!

Sweet

 

[Tahoe1305]

First hunting weekend was an emotional roller coaster. Good news there are elk. Bad news is I can’t find them again……

Love it here.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Maintenance of cabins (log) or mountain homes can be very time consuming, you often are not there often and the weather and sun beat stuff down! Don’t let that lag. Also be very proactive with fire mitigation! Trees are fuel, you want to give yourself a fighting chance and it’s basically when not if when it comes to wild fires. Renting it out can work, but people will not treat it as there own, and will someone be willing to drive to clean, small maintenance ect… if not that would be a giant pain in my opinion. Good luck with your purchase, and congrats on fulfilling a goal

 

[SHTF]

Hey Tahoe this has been a great thread. Wife and I live in Littleton and are looking at finding some property up in the mountains to take our camper up to when we want to get away from town. Cabin would be nice but not necessary. Your thread is inspiring. Thanks for sharing the journey man. Hope you are able to connect on your hunt.

 

[Tahoe1305]

Hey Tahoe this has been a great thread. Wife and I live in Littleton and are looking at finding some property up in the mountains to take our camper up to when we want to get away from town. Cabin would be nice but not necessary. Your thread is inspiring. Thanks for sharing the journey man. Hope you are able to connect on your hunt.

PM me if you want some good leads!

 

[AndrewD]

Backhoe: I used a mini-excavator (8000 pound) to dig 400' of 4' deep waterline trench on our property, which grows granite boulders like a potato farm. I only ran into one boulder that I had to go around, but I was able to dig out many many many boulders the size of kitchen ranges with that mini-ex. It just took a little bit of time working at it. It ripped through clear soil. Way more maneuverable than a backhoe. To figure out how deep you need to go, just search for trustworthy frost depth or frost line maps. Sometimes, you can get a free days rental on equipment (Sunday) if you rent it over the weekend. Basically, you pay for Friday and Saturday, but they are closed Sunday so they can't charge you. Better yet, make friends with someone who owns an excavator. Just make sure to figure out how long you think you will need the equipment. Then, double or triple your estimate, because the weather will be terrible and it will take the rental company all day to send their guy out there to replace the hydraulic hose you break first thing in the morning, plus he brought the wrong one, so he'll be back out by 4 or 5.

Security: Having a cabin that looks run down might actually make it more of a target to thieves, or even worse, neighborhood teenagers. Lots of people put cellular game cameras up all over their remote property to deter and catch criminals. Cheapskates duct tape a spare baofeng handheld ham antenna to the back of their old memory card game camera with no batteries and mount it in an extremely obvious place.

 

[Tahoe1305]

Backhoe: I used a mini-excavator (8000 pound) to dig 400' of 4' deep waterline trench on our property, which grows granite boulders like a potato farm. I only ran into one boulder that I had to go around, but I was able to dig out many many many boulders the size of kitchen ranges with that mini-ex. It just took a little bit of time working at it. It ripped through clear soil. Way more maneuverable than a backhoe. To figure out how deep you need to go, just search for trustworthy frost depth or frost line maps. Sometimes, you can get a free days rental on equipment (Sunday) if you rent it over the weekend. Basically, you pay for Friday and Saturday, but they are closed Sunday so they can't charge you. Better yet, make friends with someone who owns an excavator. Just make sure to figure out how long you think you will need the equipment. Then, double or triple your estimate, because the weather will be terrible and it will take the rental company all day to send their guy out there to replace the hydraulic hose you break first thing in the morning, plus he brought the wrong one, so he'll be back out by 4 or 5.

Security: Having a cabin that looks run down might actually make it more of a target to thieves, or even worse, neighborhood teenagers. Lots of people put cellular game cameras up all over their remote property to deter and catch criminals. Cheapskates duct tape a spare baofeng handheld ham antenna to the back of their old memory card game camera with no batteries and mount it in an extremely obvious place.

Thank you. For the time being we are pretty content with just our 1000g holding tank. We’ve been there 10 months now and maybe it’s 10-20% full. Guessing just need to pump every 2-3 years. It doesn’t have water but is set up to run off 5gal jugs that pump water to sinks. It’s actually pretty solid and meets the need. Just cart up 20g of water when we go. Good thing is we don’t worry about any freezing.

I have a game camera up, haven’t seen anything nefarious yet. The neighborhood is pretty close and keeps an eye out. I have 3-4 neighbor contacts who agreed to watch each other’s properties.

We will eventually drop some serious coin to add 1000sf, plumbing, septic, water well, but guessing 5 year timeframe. For now it just works for our needs.