Buying a Log Cabin on 5 acres in Mendocino

Buying a Cabin In Mendocino ~ Purchasing Rural Property

There’s a lot to think about!

In 2020, with one of my dearest friends, and greatest collaborators, we set out in search of a place to call home and ended up buying a log cabin on five acres in Mendocino. The journey took us many places up and down the West Coast in our mind’s eye, but our feet landed us squarely in Mendocino. The enchanted one-and-only coastline with unprecedented blue and white water, cliffs and beaches, towering redwoods, verdant meadows, and a long-lasting arts scene.

I had lived there before, back in 2011, and knew the territory. Yet, my confidence was no match for the sheer number of unique places and microclimates. Of the many magical properties, some dated back to the 1880s and homesteaders that came with the logging rush that built Victorians across the nation, other homes relics of a bygone era of hippie communes. Other parcels were still undeveloped land, held in family trusts, or newly hitting the market after years of ownership by logging companies. *

We lucked out, finding a 5 acre parcel, 5 miles inland, out of the marine layer, which means out of the fog, mostly level, private, yet not too too far from town.

Below are a list of things I wish I’d considered when buying this log cabin in Mendocino. I hope they’ll help you think through the pros and cons when you evaluate buying a rural property, or log cabin of your own.

THE ROAD IN

Private or Shared? Dirt or Paved? How Steep?

Even it if is paved AND a county-maintained, it still may be full of potholes and wash out in the winter. Look at steepness and grade, if it is steep, are there culverts to divert water off? If there is a road agreement, what are the dues? Who does the maintenance? Gravel can be costly and needs to be replaced after it washes away. If it is too steep and not paved, storms can render it unpassable, and you’ll need not only friends and neighbors to help you repair the road, you’ll also need a vehicle built for muddy terrain.

GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS – if possible, before you buy

Friend or Foe? Country living can be tough. A tree can fall across your driveway, you can realize you’re an hour away and left the hose running in the garden. Things happen, and in the vicissitudes of life, It absolutely matters that you can befriend and trust your neighbors. Frankly, this isn’t always possible, and sometimes it can get ugly. If there is any way to get a read on what the neighbors are like, do so. If not, all you can do it hope and pray and do your best to be a good neighbor. The worst-case scenarios can turn into weaponized code enforcement, aka redtags, or calling the county or inspectors on one another. Analogous to tattling, it can be triggered by the accumulation of trash, or anything one might find suspect. The trouble is, any, if not most, rural properties have additional units, cabins, yurts, barns, additions, decks, etc that may or may not be permitted. Calling the county can rob people of their homes, livelihoods, and entire properties if they are forced to comply with costly, and often cost-prohibitive regulations. One long-time farm in the area had bad renters who refused to pay a dime for two years. When they finally evicted them, the renters called the county, and since two cabins have sat empty after being retagged, adding to what is already a dismal housing shortage. This particular case highlights the perils of renting, but in a place where most properties have some aspect that is not up to code, calling the county is actually worse that calling the cops. Most people aren’t hateful and vindictive, but there are those that can be.

Which leads me to my next two points:

Averse to Outsiders

Let’s face it, most people who live deep in the woods do so to avoid other people. At least in part. Some rural areas are friendlier than others, and some folks are born community builders and kind to the core. However, there are also those who are hermits, those who don’t like change, and those who are outright hostile to newcomers. Any highly touristed place is more likely to have an insular element. People who grow up there have seen lots of tourists come and go, and they can sometimes respond to new residents as likely to pass through for months or a few short years. Who can blame them for not opening up immediately to folks who may not last, especially when they have strong lifelong bonds with others from the area. A word of caution: it takes time. This is not city life where the newest thing is the best thing… rural living is not for the faint of heart, and those with useful skills, often given freely to neighbors will be seen as more trustworthy than a friendly unfamiliar face. Don’t rush it. Take care of your property, contribute to the community, and you’ll find friends over time.

Cannabis Growers

The collapse of the cannabis industry has hit Mendocino hard, just as it has hurt the economies of much of Northern California. Many long-time farmers can no longer make ends meet, and many have been forced to sell their land. The element that affects people moving to the area most is twofold: 1) Your neighbors may still grow cannabis. 2) The history of cannabis cultivation has influenced the community culture. Exactly how it has influenced the culture is debatable, but being that for decades, such cultivation was illegal, it has encouraged a high premium on privacy.

WILDLIFE

Don’t underestimate the Bears

We were silly enough to think having a bear listed in the disclosures was “cute.” Little did we comprehend the wreckage a bear breaking through the fence in different sections daily throughout the summer months would do to the garden. Less than the pears or apples eaten, plops of bear poop all throughout the meadow, the true damage was done by the dozens of deer the bear let in behind him. (We assume it was a him?) Chasing the deer out, patching the fence, was near insurmountable while holding down any sort of a job. An electric fence was nothing for the bear to break through, so that added to our wasted money on fencing. The deer and the bears got the berries, fruit, and the majority of the veggies in the garden — except the Kale. They didn’t seem to care for it. Even the snails left it alone. Go figure!

THE ELECTRIC PANEL

Check Distance to the Drop and Capacity

Having electricity doesn’t mean you have enough electricity. For example, say you’d like to build a barn, or put in a hot tub, or even build a cabin. The current capacity of the PGE box may not be sufficient to power those additional structures. Perhaps even more importantly than the current capacity is the distance to the drop. It is costly to upgrade your panel from 100 to 200 amps. The quote I received was around 4000 dollars. However, if the distance between the PGE drop and the structures themselves is long, say in our case 80 feet, upgrading would be rerunning all of the electrical wire that was buried in conduit in the ground. The wire itself and conduit add up in cost at that length, but the majority of the charge is for the labor of unearthing and redoing all of that infrastructure, which can run well above 30,000 dollars in cost.

ZONING OPTIONS

Residential Zoning, Timber Harvest, Agricultural Zoning – Pros and Cons

Luckily, because we are on a county maintained road, that is not private or shared road in the inland zone, we could airbnb our house. However, if we want to host a wedding, or a concert, we are not allowed to do so.That would require a group use permit, which cost tens of thousands of dollars and can take years to obtain. Even if one is successful in getting a group use permit through the lengthy county application, the process will include a chance for each of your neighbors to speak publicly and to place restrictions upon your permit.

Timber Harvest zoning has far lower property taxes than plots zoned residential, so if that important to you, you may want to only look at Timber zoned parcels. Ag zoning has some perks, but can be trickier when it comes to riparian (water) rights.

LOOK INTO MICROCLIMATES

Solar Window, Slope, Wind Patterns

Think about solar window: When you have tall trees, you have more hours of shade. If you want to grow food, you’re going to need sunlight and lots of it.

Think about the slope of the land: Is it south-facing? North facing? South is typically desired for cooler climates for the longer days and most possible sun exposure. North-facing can be ideal for dry, hot, fire prone areas. It is also worth noting where the house is placed on the lot. I find it somewhat maddening that our home was placed on a subtle north-facing slope, especially when just another fifty feet back, and we would have been able to place the house at the top of the hill, and onto a south-facing slope, with far better sun, and a noticeably drier climate.

Lastly, I always recommend learning about permaculture, which is a wonderful system of design that helps humans live in harmony and sustainability with their environment. Elements often discussed in permaculture are wind patterns and fog patterns. If you aspire to grow tomatoes, coastal living will not provide such for you, unless of course, you construct a greenhouse. Especially when there are significant elevation shifts, wind can travel quite differently across a stretch of land. You may not want to put your cabin facing the onset of a northern wind. Something to contemplate!

CHECK DISTANCES — So you never get everything in one property…

There’s no such thing as the perfect person, like there’s no such thing as the perfect property… You can have it all, just not all at once. So, the farther out you go from basic services like a gas station, post office, and corner store, and the farther away you are from essential services like medical care, a gym, or schools, the more you get for your money because the desirability lessens. It is costly and time-consuming to drive upwards of 45 minutes for goods and services, and it times of emergency, it can be dangerous or even deadly to be farther out. There are air-based medivac services such as the ones they have in Mendocino that will fly you to the hospital, but in emergencies, time is of the essence. This can be more of a concern for those who are elderly or raising young children, as medical needs shift over a lifetime.

WIFI CAPABILITY

Satellite Internet is Best for Rural Properties

Further Reach and Starlink have made having high-speed internet possible in the deep woods, but don’t expect it to be cheap. It starts at 110 a month, and goes up to 230, and start up costs are usually well over 600 dollars. In our case, it involved hiring a guy named Wally to climb high up into a tree in a harness and aim a dish transceiver device at our modem. Thanks again Wally!

About Log Cabins

The Good, The Bad, and The Different

The Bad

A log cabin is not the average structure. It is one of a kind, and the majority of the time, it is neither simple or affordable to modify.

In other words, you can’t easily change where the windows or doors are. The logs run lengthwise and it would be noticeable to have a bunch of shorter pieces, and that’s if you can find logs that match. In our case, we certainly don’t have any extra log pieces lying around, and the kit the logs came from back in 1990 Lincoln Brand prefab kit, well, they don’t make it anymore. When we replaced our heater from 1990, with an updated direct vent propane wall heater, we needed to more than double the size of the vent. This proved very problematic as the HVAC guys who came to our house to do the job broke one of their electric saws attempting to get through three feet of solid wood.

You can rest assured there are no rats or mice inside the walls, but as far as rodents, I’m told there are lots of ways they can run along the tunnels created and burrow through, depending on the method of construction.

The Different:

Non flat surfaces on the walls changes the way you might decorate.

You’ll have wood-colored walls vs white. Some people might go so far as to whitewash the logs themselves, but many others would consider this sacrilegious… that the wood is what makes it beautiful and unique.

The Good:

The inside of your walls do NOT have mold. Logs don’t rot from the inside out. And unless there are problems with the roof, foundation, or gutters, well frankly, they shouldn’t rot.

One positive is that THE HOUSE FEELS STURDY! I do feel some semblance of security as far as trees falling on the house. Maybe a branch or piece of a falling tree could break through the walls, but the walls are so think I’m not sure a bullet could get through. (According to a quick search on the internet, no a bullet can’t get through a log cabin. Rather it could take up to 50 rounds of ammo to make a dent that might allow pass through.) Perhaps that’s why log cabins were the preferred method of construction in the wild west?

Written by Jade Raybin, who learned so much during this process she became a realtor, raybinjade@gmail.com