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bko • today at 12:42 PM • 5 replies • view on HN

This is cool, but isn't owning property bordering public land undesirable?

Sure, there's the ability to hike directly from your home, but I imagine you'll regularly have people wander on to your property. And if something illegal happens on your property by a different party, you might be liable.

Seems like the cons outweigh the pros. Or is there something I'm missing?


Replies

qzw • today at 12:51 PM

I think for an individual owner there are some downsides, but if you're a big developer buying a large piece of land it can become a selling point. There's a private residential development in my state where they completely enveloped the entrance to an existing state park trail/boardwalk. So to access it, you actually have to go through this gated community. Supposedly anyone can go in if they say they're going to the state park, but I'm not sure that's true in practice and you have to interact with the private guard gate and show ID. I was able to go in with my family, but we look like a typical suburban family, so that doesn't mean others wouldn't have more trouble. It's a pretty gross case of effectively privatizing a public resource.

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gwbas1c • today at 1:22 PM

> but I imagine you'll regularly have people wander on to your property

Well, that depends on how large and obvious your property is.

Assuming you have a typical suburban 1/2 acre or 1 acre property, the simplest thing to do is put up a fence, or otherwise make sure that there are no trails that go over the property you use.

Otherwise, you need some kind of bounds marking and obvious "no trespassing" signs.

FWIW: The site identified public lands near my house that have a lot of trails on it. There are trails that go right behind peoples' yards, and most of them either have fences or sheds that make it obvious where the bounds are.

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bluGill • today at 1:05 PM

That is going to depend on location. Most public land is way way out. There are often only a handful of visitors per month, and most of them won't get close to your land. Most of them are locals who know where the bounds are (and probably know you)

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dboreham • today at 12:58 PM

It means that nobody can build more houses "up the road" from you. That's the primary benefit. Unless the government sells the land, which this government has been trying to do in various places. This one issue is responsible for much of the reduction in republican support in Montana, for example

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otherwatersflow • today at 12:49 PM

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