Category: Retreat Locales

Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

We have seen the first significant snowfall in northern Idaho and northwestern Montana which from the scuttlebutt around town has sent sellers into a panic, in which they rightly should be. Although some folks around my locale understand the engineered crash of the Dollar, most are still of the opinion that pulling their property off the market and waiting until spring will yield them either a better price (good luck) or a faster sale at that time (maybe so, with a plethora of SurvivalBloggers arriving?). This makes for more detailed work for your agent as they now must search the …


Letter Re: Advice on Buying AR-10 Rifles

James, I live outside of Boise, [Idaho] on 40 acres with a deep well and have most everything ready for a jump to my brother’s new ranch in Montana, if (when) the SHTF. While my place will be occupied by my friends that don’t have anywhere to go and /or want to stay in the area. I will leave for a better Bug Out Location where I and my family can better survive long term. I only live here because it is a good job and I can’t find anything even close to pay in the part of Montana that …


The Upright Spike in Technology Dependence–Changing “Grid-Down” from an Inconvenience to TEOTWAWKI

If someone were to construct a chart showing human dependence on technology, it would portray an essentially a flat line from Biblical Times to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. From there, there the line would curve upward slightly until the 1890s, when the line would tilt up to perhaps a 10 degree slope. The curve would further steepen in the 1950s (with the advent of computers). The line would then turn into an almost upright spike, starting in the 1990s. In this new era, with each passing year, our dependence of electronic technologies grows greater and greater. Some technologies, …


Letter Re: Updated Nuclear Targets in the United States

Jim, In support of some research on retreat locations, I wanted to learn more about the locations in the CONUS of our strategic nuclear weapons. Guesswork at best, but the older FEMA maps are certainly obsolete, or wrong. A link from late 2006 describes the probable locations and density of the current nuclear arsenal. It is thought that the sites in California, South Dakota, and Virginia have been eliminated, and that the ballistic missile submarine base in Bangor, Washington has been expanded significantly. The next link describes the stockpile (and its reduction) and illustrates the probable nature of the projected …


Preparedness While on Business Travel–What to Pack, by LP

If you’re like me, there are times when you have to leave almost all your preparedness stuff behind as you journey by air to strange, far-off places on behalf of your employer. No access to your well-stocked SUV. You are alone, and home is hundreds if not thousands of miles away. But disaster will not be consulting your personal travel itinerary before it strikes. How best should you prepare? Let’s first discuss the objective, as it determines the approach. For most of us, we leave family, friends, and a (more-or-less) well-stocked homestead behind. This means Your primary objective is to …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Isolation, Neighbors, Security and the Golden Rule This week we’ll look into some characteristics of retreat shopping that normally won’t become an issue until you have actually spent time “in theater” and have narrowed your search to several possible retreat properties to purchase. After taking the time to look at the properties available through SurvivalRealty.com and/or working with an experienced local agent in your selected retreat region, you should eventually work your list up to perhaps a half dozen prospective retreat properties that are on the market. . Then it is time to whittle that list down, by selecting the …


Letter Re: Preparedness for Urbanites on a Tight Budget

Jim: I just finished reading “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”, and it was great. It was very enjoyable and also worthwhile which is a rare combination in fictional literature these days. While considering my own situation I had some thoughts which might benefit other people or at least be food for thought. I am a college student and with that comes little expendable income and living in a relatively small space in a relatively large town. in short just about the worst situation possible from a preparedness standpoint. Like many readers I am not in a place where buying 40 …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Today we are featuring Northwest Arkansas. One of our readers Jaina B. highly recommended our newest SurvivalBlog Realtor, Jeff Allen. Congratulations Jeff! Some of his listings may soon be featured on SurvivalRealty.com. The following is a review of the area written by Mr. Allen: Welcome to Northwest Arkansas! The market in Northwest Arkansas is surviving the downturn very well. Land prices in rural areas are holding very steady on the very few sales that are taking place. The housing market has been overbuilt and we have 8-10 months of inventory to work through before things can look more “optimistic.” I …


New Zealand’s South Island Readies for “the Big One”, by SurvivalistSam

The whole South Island has been told to prepare for a massive earthquake in the near future. This is due to the Alpine Fault Line which is where the Australasian and Pacific plates meet on the West Coast of the South Island. The boundary between these two plates is locked and the pressure building up needs to be released. A release of such pressure would result in an earthquake about the size of a number 8 on the Mercalli Intensity scale. Such a earthquake would last for minutes, not seconds. Canterbury University Associate Professor Tim Davies was quoted at a …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

This week in our weekly review of Survival Real Estate, I’d like to mention that we are in need of your help. We need you, the SurvivalBlog supporter that lives in any retreat locale in the world, to refer us to your local agent that understands what survival real estate shoppers are looking for. We have North Idaho and Northwest Montana covered but we need to locate and contact trusted agents elsewhere in the US and world-wide, so they may be featured in the weekly reviews in SurvivalBlog, and on our spin-off site: SurvivalRealty.com. If you have a friend or …


The Demise of the US Dollar–The Handwriting is on the Wall

The major news outlets have finally started shouting about the collapsing value of the dollar and the bull market in precious metals. (Looking at the charts, $820 per ounce seems to be the new floor for spot gold.) Just as I predicted, it was a move by China that precipitated the latest drop in the dollar. Thanks, BTW, to the five readers that all sent that link. I should mention that several SurvivalBlog readers mentioned that article. Reader Mike the Blacksmith noted: “The remarks by Cheng on world currency status is the most important point in this article.” The currency …


Two Letters Re: Colville, Washington as a Retreat Locale

JWR: Important consideration on Colville. It is near a very large Indian Reservation (Colville Tribe) and while there is a considerable amount of private property within it’s boundary, you have no hunting rights there. The First People are friendly, but distrustful of outsiders and in a SHTF scenario, would likely view you and yours as fair game. Unless you are a tribal member, buy outside the reservation. I was near to closing a deal on a very nice property [inside the reservation] when another agent took me aside. – EAG Hello Jim, I have been reading your daily letters, comments …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Today we will be reviewing Colville, Washington as a possible retreat location. The city of Colville (population 5,000) is located about an hour and a half drive north of Spokane Washington (Pop. 200,000) and lies within Stevens County (Pop. 45,000). From many personal visits to the city and surrounding towns during my retreat search I can say that the Colville and surrounding area came a close second to our current locale of Northern Idaho. In 1811, the valley was explored by a man working for a fur trading company working the Columbia River. During the first year of operation nearly …


Letter Re: Advice on Resources for Canadian SurvivalBlog Readers?

Hello Jim, I am wondering if there is anyone here in Canada doing the great work that you are doing? I have just introduced my husband to the idea of getting prepared. I don’t know if I’ve seen one too many movies or if I have a premonition, but I would like to devise a plan sooner rather than later. I am also looking for a place to escape to, if we (probably) have to get out of our area (which is just on Lake Ontario ). We are thinking that we should go north. I live less than 30 …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Thanks to all of you for your patience as I dealt with some important family issues, several visiting SurvivalBlog real estate clients, and the opening of Idaho’s Deer and Elk season, all in the past two weeks. Sometimes there is no such thing as the slower-paced life at a higher altitude! Well the financial news these days just keeps getting darker and for those of you who are actively searching for your retreat, just press on, you’ll make it. As we get back into reviewing actual retreat locales (next week) it’s important to have a solid standard operating procedure (SOP). …