Did I buy the wrong property ?

[Ed Rohr]

Hi
I bought a 1+ ac. lot near Homer AK. and it has covenants and restrictions... I am not looking for legal advice, but just your thoughts about if I should attend the class with the intention of building.

The C&R include a 900 sf minimum, with no reflective siding or roofs. My real concern is about "All residential structures must meet all applicable codes specificaions and be completed within 18 months from the date construction is started, no unattached structure, including garage, carport or storage building may be constructed before the construction of the main residence."

The LHBA "Keep Out" signs send a strong message, and I wonder if the "all applicable codes" trumps my sign.

Anyway, I am a 62 y/o mainframe computer dinosaur, liberal, very attached to GSD.s. without legal interest - other than survival.

Thanks.
Help

Just Ed

mr. ed was a horse of course..

[Shark]

I'd say it's do-able if you can get the manpower to beat the timeline.

You can build larger than 900SF easily, roofing is any option you need it to be, & these homes easily surpass local building codes. So really it's up to you if you can build one in under 18 months.

Our property has similar restrictions, no issues so far (& if your neighbors don't complain, you may be able to get the outside "looking finished" & work on the inside....but it depends if there is an actual homeowners association or not....in our case there is not, so we made friends with most of the other lot owners, & no issues yet *knock on wood*

hope that helps a bit.

Jeff

[gypsykat]

My questions would be: What specifically constitutes "start of construction" - site work, foundation work, or going vertical with walls, etc.? Also, are there any extensions on this timeframe and under what conditions?

[LeighG]

I was up in Homer maybe 10 years ago to attend a wedding. At the time - I was thinking there wasn't ANY code enforcement there (my wife slipped and fell down a non-code compliant stairwell in my friends house.) So, as you might suspect; I don't think code enforcement was a priority (then). 'Course, things change.

Anyway, my thought would be: if you go past 18 months, what are they going to do? Send you a "get it done letter" and give you 90 days to finish. Probably not much teeth in the CC&R there - unless the culture in Homer has changed.

My friend who lives there told me "Homer is the greatest place on earth - it's the only place I know where people's greatest ambition is to be unemployed. And everybody is fine with it!"

That's looking pretty good to me right now! (Looking at my own impending dis-employment after 9 years in January!)

Leigh

[spiralsands]

There are a couple of covenance articles on my property too...the square footage, no temporary structures, visible vehicles must be registered, etc, etc. But you may find that you can apply for variances or extensions on things. Like some of my neighbors here, if they want to build a fence but want to put it a little closer to the sidewalk than code allows, they go get a variance approved and then they can build it. Where my property is in upstate NY, I understand that it is very simple and cheap to get permits for stuff. I had to call the state office to find out how to attach my driveway to the state road and the engineer told me that all I had to do was to draw what my intentions were on the form and to pay a small fee and then I could build the attachment. I didn't have to specify anything particular like the depth of the pavement or whether I was putting in a culvert.

Frances

[Ed Rohr]

Thanks Everyone for your replys.
Seems that ya focused on the18 months construction time, and i was more concerned about the code and inspections, since the electrical and plumbing seem like the big deal to me...
If I attend the class and put up a foundation, 4 walls and a roof - I can probably call it recreational not residential and get by...

And about Homer AK, easy to fall in love... the locals describe it as "A quaint little drinking village - with a fishing problem." a.k.a. = halibut fishing capitol of the world and this year's derby winner was about 384 pounds.

Thanks again..
Just Ed

[Yuhjn]

Well regardless of what the PoA says, you're going to have to meet all local county and state codes anyway. Building your own home doesnt mean you can skip out of codes and more importantly inspections.

The members focused on the 18 months because that's your real bottleneck. Building your own home can take a lot of time, especially if you are not working full time on it. There are also things you cant change, like the tempretature you can pour your foundation at, or the availability of logs, and so on.

As far as the PoA, you'll probably be ok breaking the 18 months by a little bit, assuming you are making good progress. They are just trying to protect themselves from someone pouring a foundation and letting it sit for 2 years. If you are making constant progress on an LHBA log home, they will probably allow for an extension and/or look the other way. Please note this is not legal advice and you should prepare for the worst case scenario which is that you get sued 18 months in for not having your home complete.

Bottom line on the codes is that you have to meet them anyway. If you do decide to violate building codes and kick the inspector off your land, you can in fact do that. If you take the class this will be covered briefly, but it will be strongly recommended against and you will be advised to prepare to mount a legal defence. (Note that Skip's log mansion was never inspected and was done without building permits or meeting any codes other than the ones Skip decided were important). That said, it's not a very good idea and will invite a lot more trouble than just meeting codes and complying with inspectors.

Hope this helps. Also all this is covered in the class.