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Ok. So we are looking at selling our suburban house and moving out to the country. We are in the investigative phase. I have just found out that everything we would want to do to make it possible for us to build without a 150K mortgage is pretty much illegal. Want to live in an RV while you build....not in most of VA. Want to build a small cabin first and then a house later....gotta connect the house to the cabin or it is a no go. Want to put a manufactured house on the property and then build....count on having to demolish or move the double wide as soon as you are done. No secondary residences on land. You cannot have an extra even tiny residence for your mother in law or your brother. Basically I am finding out (happily before we buy land and attempt to build) that VA is the "happy fun place" of building inspections codes and county ordinances. GRRRR!

So before I get totally ticked off. I thought I would ask and see if it is the same way in TX. Are there places where one can do any or all of the above things in TX?

The guy we bought our house from lived in an RV while he moved and remodeled a house in Hockley Co. Tx.

Down here, if you build your 30x40 shed with slab and plumbing first, its a very popular place to sleep while your main house come to life. Worked for me in 2004, YMMV.

Inside the city limits maybe a problem, outside the city limits, not so much...if at all. There are 254 counties in Texas. Rules may vary county from county...

Have no interest in being in a city.

My mother owned 4.8 acres in unincorporated Palo Pinto County with a brick house on it. She and I struck a deal where she would build an all metal house for herself and my brother who lived with her due to mental issues, and I would purchase the bulk of the land and the old house after she moved in the new one. We did this in 2003 and I have been here since. My mother passed away last year and my brother is dependent on me for transportation and finances, but lives mostly autonomously next door.

It wasn't a problem with this county, but with 254 counties in Texas I would guess some of the larger cities would have issues doing this.

I know a local vet that has a plot of land with his house, his "mother-in-law house", and two barns with living quarters all right there. I believe his brother lives in one barn, and a "ranch manager" in the other. Pretty sure people around here are okay with it.

some places it would be a problem, some not....A friend lives is a little area just a ways down the road, called Santa Clara, there is also Marion, both of those you could easily look at. But, no, you probably couldn't do that in San Antonio, or even Schertz....probably not even Cibolo, they've started tightening they're ordinances.

We've been looking for some out-of-city property in the 15-45 acre range, and of the three we've investigated deeper than just doing a drive-in walk around, only one had a prohibition of a mobile or premanufactured home on the property, allowing it for up to 24 months while a primary residence was being constructed. This is in the northwest of Fort Worth area, from Weatherford up through Decatur and up into Navarro County.

Of course, when you're buying rural property, everything is subject to negotiation.

What you are proposing is very common in rural areas throughout the state. Of course many never get around to building the house...
The more acreage you buy, the less issue you are going to have.

I do electrical code inspections for the town I live in. There are few codes that exist in unincorporated areas. There are State plumbing, electrical, and HVAC codes that counties have the authority to enforce. Other than those I know of nothing else that would hinder your plans.

Thanks y'all. I will tell my husband another check mark in the direction of moving to TX. I grow tired of the east coast busybodies that seem to exist no matter how rural you go.

jmra wrote:The more acreage you buy, the less issue you are going to have.

Not very familiar with the laws and ordinances, but what I've seen says you should be safe, especially if you're outside city limits (and that's the way to go anyway, if you ask me). I know that when I was growing up in Leander we had a house, an apartment above the garage (which was attached to the house by a sort of enclosed porch/walkway), a large barn, and a few sheds and things. Granted the barn didn't have any A/C or anything, but it did have electricity. Our neighbors were a family group -- the mother living in her house and her daughter and son both married, one in a separate house and one in a trailer. Not sure exactly how the ownership of the land worked on paper, but they shared a driveway and it had at least originally been one big lot. My dad is dreaming of finding a big lot up in the Georgetown area and convincing us kids to build houses there. I'd definitely do some reading before you sign any contracts, but I've never heard of what you're running into. In fact, back when I was regularly browsing real estate listings (we were wanting to move to a larger house), I feel pretty sure I ran across places in Austin with secondary residences (or at least finished workshops with bathrooms, electricity, water, etc.) on the property within the city limits on fairly small lots. Of course, I'd recommend reading the laws and so on before you sign a contract or anything, but what you're wanting to do sounds reasonable by Texas standards. ;)

mamabearCali wrote:Thanks y'all. I will tell my husband another check mark in the direction of moving to TX. I grow tired of the east coast busybodies that seem to exist no matter how rural you go.

You live in VA. It is even worse in The People's Republic of Maryland. I lived there 10-15 years ago and could not stand all the socialist busybody nightmares.

However, I did profit from it nicely when my county saw fit to impose a building permit moratorium, thereby tilting the whole supply-demand balance. Suddenly, my house jumped $100,000 in price right at the same time I sold to move out of that state.

mamabearCali wrote:Thanks y'all. I will tell my husband another check mark in the direction of moving to TX. I grow tired of the east coast busybodies that seem to exist no matter how rural you go.

When visiting TX years ago we noticed the real estate signs stating "Restrictions" or "No restrictions" and asked about that. Simply put, "With Restrictions" means there are covenants or easements or restrictions on what you Can or Can Not do with your property. When we bought we found a tract we liked "With Restrictions" which among other things has architectural rules, no hunting/firearms restrictions, and "no pigs" re: livestock. We do now wish sometimes we could target-shoot on our property but other than that we WANT a property with some rules & regs.

People are, of course, no damn good and the worst kind of people are neighbors. It is amazing what some people are capable of.

mamabearCali wrote:Thanks y'all. I will tell my husband another check mark in the direction of moving to TX. I grow tired of the east coast busybodies that seem to exist no matter how rural you go.

Texas is the place to be.

It's just a whole 'nuther country.

There is no place else like it.

Anywhere else is just, well, not Texas.