The control and restrictions imposed by above institutions and associated written legalia is not always apparent when purchasing the land. It is easy, as a down-to-earth simpleton like me, to be too casual and easy going in real estate matters, and it has hurt in the past.

A good agent, if you choose to employ one, should be able to translate and decipher the small print for you. Making the agent fully aware of what you intend to do, namely off the grid living with absolute minimal developements, will save a lot of time looking at totally unsuited properties in the latest golf course estates.

Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions are regulations conjured up by developers to acheive a certain ambiance. They typically limit most creativity and individualism. Some examples include clauses like these:
Minimum dwelling sizes of several thousand square feet. No green houses. No wood heat. No outside drying of laundry. Mandatory electrical and sewer hook-ups. The list goes on, all said to protect your investment, but certainly guaranteed to also stiffle alternative ideas or the creation of inspired communities.

Imagine the sterility of these regulated tracts, with their large, impotent dream houses, sitting stagnant amidst acres of manicured lawns. A few Cadillac SUV's silently move an unseen populace to and fro, while the clanking of remote controlled garage doors and the constant hum from heat pumps is all you hear, should you dare to venture out on foot. I say dare because such suspicious behavior will likely attract the wrath of the resident security force.

The safe thing to do in the land hunt is to look for the oddball properties, the little forgotten corners of long since divided ranches and estates, the old farms and end-of-the-road homesteads. Off course there's a limited amount of these around, and their numbers do not grow. The tendency in the West is for a powerful outside investor to team up with that local, ruthless developer to buy the large, ailing ranches and farms. These properties, often comprised of some of the most desirable, scenic, fertile valley floor land, is then subdivided, fenced, gated and equipped with sewer, community water systems, in ground utilities and adorned with names that evoke sentiments of the old west in rich, ripe boomers. The price tag on a lot in Silver Spur Estates is astronomical. You couldn't afford even the annual membership dues, and thank god for that, because any real, functioning family, young or old, would feel absolutely estranged in the resulting community.

We have seen this rampant developement in its ugliest, most extreme representation in SW Colorado, when years ago, from our home in Moab we scouted for a mountain community with quality schools and a few free thinking individuals. Massive tracts of land had been shut off from public scrutiny and offered to the rich elite as Mini Ranches, often, very often indeed, blocking former access to trailheads and rivers. This type of developement is currently spreading through the West like wildfire in beetle killed pines. It is very profitable and simple to execute.

Our valley here in the North Cascades, which up until recently sprouted with families and kids, not all of inherited affluence, and had that real feel of a working community; this wonderful place is rapidly succumbing to the same catering to retiree dollars. The former influx of worn out skibums, disillusioned techies and roaming city graduates has all but stopped, considering the skyrocketing prices and cost of living. Graying hippies, still creeping along the county roads in 1985 Subaru's, are destined to end their days as marketable curios, creating the illusion of earlier times in Pacific Northwest.

Well, how's that for bitterness and negativity? Off course it's not so bad. Times change and we have to change along. The good things far outweigh all this, at the moment. WallyWorld is still 50 miles away, over the high snowy pass in another valley. We have no fast food chains, franchises or big box stores. Not a single stop light along 90 miles of river and creek side roads, and said drainages are running wild and free without dams, sporting recovering steel head and salmon habitats.