TL;DR – Working from home in the tech industry, so we’re moving to small town America and planning to go off-grid. We’re looking for a couple of people who may want to be housemates (in a shared room). If you’re interested, submit a request here.   

• Photos are from former owners, so ignore furnishing.

More detail: 

Over the last couple years we’ve wanted to start our exit from the rat race and get a large property that is less populated near a great/cute small town.  Now that working from home is an option in the tech world, we did a bunch of searching and have located an amazing place in La Grande Oregon.  It is *almost* off-grid. There is electricity, but with a propane generator or solar it would be completely off grid.  

We’d like to prepare for the possibility of needing to go off grid, while also enjoying life with the current conveniences we have like groceries stores, home improvement stores, and online shopping. 🙂 

I’ve also been craving a more fulfilling life with people who are similarly minded.  It’s hard to describe what this means.  Let me try.

1.  A yearning for less screen time & and more creative outlets that actually produce something.  i.e., food, design, crafting, building, possibly selling stuff on Etsy… etc.
2. A desire to live with people who are generally middle of the road; or any extremes they have are helpful to the group.  Like food growth & preservation, security, animal care, preparedness, etc. 
3. A natural teamwork vibe.  Ready to roll up the sleeves and lend a hand as we discover all of this together. 
4. Sense of humor is a massive plus.
5. Honesty and integrity a must. 

We take possession in April or May so we have a little time. 

There are 3 people so far, one couple (who’ve been together forever) and the best friend a person could have.  We’re looking for 2 more people.   It could be a couple, best friends or strangers, but they would share a room so we can keep one guest room for the whole house to use. Note below the room is good sized and the closet is ridiculous. 

Benefits: 

1. The house is beautiful by any standard of the word – 8K sq. ft. with Pool, Hottub, exercise room, Elevator, 22 acres, beautiful views (that we’ll make better as we need to clear some trees for fire hazard.
2. Tons outdoor activities, like hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, gardening, building stuff, raising animals, etc. 
3. La Grande seems like a great place to live with fun events (in a non-COVID year) and that feel of small town America without the empty storefronts.  Plus, a lovely farmers market on the weekends.
4. Eastern Oregon University and Grande Ronde Hospital are within a few miles.
5. A smaller population of people around you and fairly easy transition to fully off-grid living. 
6. The bedrooms are pretty big (14’7”x14’7” ) (with built in storage/desk space) and walk-in closets are big (11’ x 8’) and fully outfitted with wood organizers. 
7. There is a shop and garage and we like to do stuff with our hands.  The hubby can build, plumb, fix, just about anything and does electrical work. So there are a lot of tools and opportunities to do the same.  Wife is crafty & creative with machine embroidery, sewing, beading, painting and paper. 
8. Bedroom can be furnished or unfurnished. 
9. Lots of room, so if you aren’t feeling social, you have lots of space/rooms to choose to hang out and read or whatever you want. 🙂
10. We also have pets (2 cats, 1 rabbit) already that don’t do well with other pets right now.  In the future we plan to get a dog; maybe two.  There is plenty of room (with some pasture) for outdoor animals like horses, goats, llamas, etc. if you have or want to have animals like that. It is cold in the winter so keep that in mind. 

Possible drawbacks: 

1. Internet – we don’t live there yet, so the best quote we got was 30 MB up and 30MB down with wireless broadband.  Until we live there, we can’t give a better report. 
2. It’s in the hills and cold in the winter.  We will probably only set temp to between 69 & 71 degrees.  I wear onesies and highly recommend them. Depending on what it costs to heat the place, we may close off the formal living room and mainly use the library. 
3. 4WD car is probably the most practical during the winter, the road is pretty steep.
4. If the pool is ridiculously expensive, we may not keep it warm in the winter. 
5. It is in an area that has a risk of forest fires in the summer. 
6. There are no children under 21 in our family, so they would only be visiting on occasion. We have nothing against younger children, but we’re kind of done with that part of life and it would be a pretty exceptional child that would make us change our minds.  

Expectations:

1. Without open, honest communications, this won’t work.  Please communicate freely about anything, especially your expectations. 
2. This is the first time we’ve done anything like this, so I did some internet searching and this seems pretty straightforward as roommate rules, happy to discuss and make something that works for all of us. 
3. We’re thinking ~$1,250 rent (depending on if it’s a single or pair), which includes utilities & garbage, etc.   We don’t plan to get cable and you would be on your own for internet service. 

Interested?

Follow this link to provide some information on yourself:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1K4NLptHJYvvqKEXv5KXlX7kAboPR5YczFeSMvvjN7MQ/edit

*The wife made this questionnaire, and the hubby still hasn’t stopped laughing at some of it.