Wisemen tell us time and again that land belongs to no one.
So when I hear people say “I own land/house in…” or “I bought/own a house” I roll my third eye.
For the record, if you live in a house or upon land that you claim to “own” in a so-called “commonwealth country” you really don’t own anything except a little thing called title, or an estate-in-land, if you want to get technical. All we can do is try to possess a home and keep it from being taken from us.
The Crown—the militant conglomerate of the old German Windsor family—makes it clear in so much of their legislation that they claim absolute ownership (see: sovereignty) of all land in their “realms.” Your property tax bill, land transfer tax, and other loathed yet normalized rackets are evidence that your house and home can only remain yours if you make regular payments to a third-party (i.e. the state) on an annual basis.
Real estate titles are mere commodities, albeit valuable ones. When we talk about the housing market, we’re really just talking about the the real estate title trade. Now these title rights are out of reach for much of the middle-class, at least in most of the urban/suburban areas of North America, Europe, and elsewhere.
Most people when told to jump will continue to ask how high? But if mortgage or rental serfdom is not for you, here are six alternatives available to you and your family to consider.
1. Purchase undeveloped land and build your temple.
Plenty of acreage remains available and affordable all across North America. Caveat: if you expect to find raw land at a fair price in desirable areas then I’m afraid you will be disappointed.
Land near populated areas and service districts are the least affordable, naturally, because they are in high demand for their conveniences. Cheap acreage, on the other hand, is typically found in remote or economically depressed areas. For example, raw land in Atlantic Canada and northern latitudes across the country can be had for as little as $5,000-$10,000 per acre. Building in “unincorporated areas” where permits are not the custom might also be attractive to you simply because the permit industry will become even more restrictive than it is today.
The overhead for all this seems high, and indeed it is, in a way. But the security and freedom latent in true homeownership far outweighs the yoke of paying monthly mortgage or rent payments in perpetuity.
2. Join a landtrust, an intentional community, or start a model of your own.
It is not common knowledge that thousands of alternative communities exist today in North America that present more dignified ways of living than in servitude to banking institutions and governmental bodies.
Landtrusts exists for ecological/conservation purposes, but these are not actually trusts in any legal sense. They are nonprofit corporations, which can be a lot more approachable of a model than an actual trust, but too tied up with the state for my liking. My preference would be to use an actual trust model rather than a corporate-state nonprofit model.
All things considered, you could incorporate a nonprofit and purchase the land through that entity—jointly with others or on your own. Likewise, a land title could be held in trust by the nonprofit, as a trustee, for example. This stuff can get technical, but knowledge is power at the end of the day. If you really want to live with more freedom than bondage, do your homework.
3. Find rural landowners willing to donate land, or reach a private agreement with someone who believes in a better future.
Believe it or not, some farmers or large landowners are willing to donate a bit of acreage to young people who wish to rusticate and carry the torch forward. Especially those without children, or with children who have no interest in managing the property.
You’ll have the ear of farmers who are aware of the current state of real estate racketeering.
If a donation is out of the question, then enter a negotiation where an exchange can be made for a portion of their land. Maybe you could be given a ground-lease, a life estate, or beneficial use of some property with the right bargaining chip.
4. Get your mortgage tossed out
Very few people are aware that during the 2008-2009 mortgage “crisis”—a swindle of massive proportion laughably disguised as an error—intelligent people privy to how the industry worked realized their mortgages were being bought and sold by shadow organizations. At the time, mortgages that were sold to parties excluded in the original contract between mortgagor (you) and mortgagee (the bank) would actually serve to invalidate the agreement on the basis of fraud. Thus, people who challenged their mortgage made it easy for a judge to cancel it. Presto change-o!
As far as I know, a similar mortgage swindle is still ongoing today in the G8 group of countries, specifically in Canada. Why not call up your lender and ask them to send you a copy of the original mortgage note?
5. Stop paying property taxes
There are only a handful of nations left in the world that do not collect a property tax from its people.
The rest of us are put in the unfortunate position of having to resign to the extortion inherent in compulsory property taxation. Most people submissively rationalize the crime away as a “necessary evil” that they are powerless to resist.
Nevertheless, there are those peaceful souls whose conscience will not allow such a base trespass as a condition to merely have a place to live.
Land, or territory, is still the source of all value in human systems. If your conscience commands you to claim your land as your own without making payments to people who have no loyalty or care for you, be prepared to defend it from thieves and invaders who will be sent to your door! Just be sure to have some really good friends and a strategy. If you think it can’t be done, look to the Zapatistas for inspiration.
6. Adverse possession
Otherwise known as ‘squatter’s rights,’ this dicey technique can be completely different from one nation to the next.
Basically, if land is occupied by someone other than the owner, openly and without permission, for any period between two and forty years, the one squatting gets title to that land. It sounds crazy, but it happens, and can still happen.
That said, this provocative way of acquiring title to land is quickly vanishing as an option as many policymakers and legislators are erasing the prerogative of the squatter or “disseisor.”
A Final Word:
There will be new ways to preside over land. How that is done is up to us.
Rusticators are in a fantastic position to think laterally and vertically about how to acquire territory without sacrificing one’s natural rights and dignity. What will you do to honour the future of your children, your family? Will you do your best to provide a home for your loved ones now and into future?
Or will you kowtow to technocrats, crime families, and oligarchs who intend to alienate you from a life rooted in the land, so that they can funnel you deeper into debt slavery and make you the next inmate in their ‘smart’ prisons?
Know that there are alternative ways to live with a degree of freedom ordinary people can’t begin to conceive of.
The rusticator of tomorrow is destined to discover it.
therusticator.com 