Category: Retreat Locales

The Basics of New Zealand’s Firearm Laws, by SurvivalistSam

New Zealand firearms laws seem rather restrictive when compared to those in the USA but they are generally liberal when compared to Australia’s. In New Zealand one can own normal firearms such as shotguns and rifles with a normal A class Firearms Licence but for pistols one must acquire a “B” endorsement to that licence. Even then one must join a pistol club and partake in shooting events at least 12 times a year. You must also never fire a pistol in any area that is not an approved range and you must store it in an appropriate safe that …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Summary

Today we are pleased to present: a market analysis for Northwest Montana and Part 1 of our initial analysis of New Zealand. Northwest Montana Market Analysis This analysis is presented by the newest Approved Retreat Realtor, Viola K. Moss in Libby, Montana. Congratulations Viola! Overview The market for properties in beautiful northwestern Montana continues to compete for retreat-minded buyers. As the real estate market goes, the good news is that this is the second most desired location in the nation (after the southwestern Arizona area); the bad news is that many have to sell their current property to relocate here. …


Letter Re: Resources for Researching Retreat Locales

Hi Jim, My wife and I will be moving to Montana in the near future. While researching a location for our future home, we found the following links to be especially helpful for state tax and cost-of-living comparisons. Overall Tax Burden by State State Income Tax Rates State Sales Tax Rates Cost of Living Comparison Sincerely, – Jeff H. JWR Replies: Thanks for sending those very useful links. I just added them to my Retreat Areas web page.


The Future of the U.S. Suburban Real Estate Versus Rural Retreat Real Estate

In recent months I’ve been asked by several consulting clients if it is still a good time to buy a retreat property. The answer is yes. If you find a really phenomenal property, the answer is always yes. (Yes if you can buy it without going deep into to debt. ) In fact, some close family members bought the place of their dreams after consulting with me this last year. Say that you find a property that is in the region that you’ve selected, and it has all of the features that you’ve been looking for–such as gravity fed spring …


Letter Re: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Retreat Locale

Dear Mr. Rawles, I am a recently retired auto worker, electrician by trade, currently live on 5 acres 25 miles north of Detroit. We have plenty of woods and a nice garden area. When we built the house back in 1987 it was out in the boonies, in the past 20 years developers have bought most of the surrounding property and subdivided it. With the exception of the two 5 acre parcels to the north of us we are completely surrounded by houses. Most of the neighbors are nice people who we get along well with. We do get some …


Book Excerpt–Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse

Geographically distinct units were formed from the Northwest Militia, as planned, late in the April of the fifth year. To avoid confusion amongst the local citizenry that they protected, they designated those at the original retreat as “Todd Gray’s Company” and those at Kevin Lendel’s house as “Michael Nelson’s Company.” The responsibility for patrolling was divided along a line east-west between the retreats. Todd Gray’s Company was to patrol the northern half of the sector, while Michael Nelson’s Company patrolled the southern half. Separate CB channels were assigned to each Company for locals to use to contact either Company. On …


Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Summary

Welcome to the Weekly Survival Real Estate Update. This new column will feature news, statistics, market analysis and opinions. We plan to feature one or two retreat locales each week. Typically, we will report on one locale in the Continental United States and one internationally. Our first full length update will appear next Friday and feature Northwestern Montana and New Zealand, both locales have excellent characteristics and qualities for the retreat shopper. One quick note this week: The Northern Idaho market seems to now be feeling the combined effects of the real estate market crunch and liquidity crunch. Over the …


Letter Re: Suitability of Missouri as a Retreat Locale?

Dear Mr. Rawles, In response to your post replying to ‘Marie R.’ regarding Missouri as a retreat location; here is some information that other families on this blog may find interesting. I’m writing this as someone who has a wide venue of travel and associations across the country. I am a professional trucker, a licensed ham radio operator for over 35 years, and was employed in the defense electronics industry for many years. I have been preparing for TEOTWAWKI here in the mountains of the Arkansas Ozarks for some time. With no disrespect to your research and personal choice(s) for …


Letter Re: Recent Floods in the UK and the Impact on Our Preparations

Further to my recent post about the recent flooding In the UK, things in the immediate area are pretty well back to normal now, aside from some continuing disruption to the road network due to land-slips, undermining and in some cases, bridges across water courses being washed away. Here, we got off very lightly, compared to some. No loss of life, no injuries, very little property damage. There are many families, however, who will be counting the cost of this incident for a long time, both in terms of loss of loved ones and of property and livelihood. One’s heart …


Letter Re: Suitability of Missouri as a Retreat Locale?

Dear Mr. Rawles, I noticed that Missouri is not listed as one of your top 20 [states ranked as] desired retreat locations. Please tell me why you think Missouri would be unsuitable. Is there any possibility of meeting like minded people on your Survival Blog? Thanks so much for your help. Sincerely, – Marie R. JWR Replies: I consider Missouri unsuitable mainly because of its population density. It is also down-wind of some nuclear targets. So if you plan to stay there then I recommend that you construct a fallout shelter (like the ones that Safecastle builds), and have plenty …


Letter Re: Garage/Shelter for RVs as a Retreat Option?

Jim- A few days back a contributor asked about hardening up her mobile home. That reminded me of a plan I have been considering over the last couple of years. This might work for those who can’t relocate now to their retreat. I was motivated to write because I just saw a news report of a family offering a considerable reward for the recovery of their ATVs which had been stolen from their vacation cabin.[My idea is to] develop a retreat location with: 1. A water supply and septic tank and [leach] field (all disguised, to discourage squatters.) 2. Underground …


Letter Re: Canadian Retreat Locales

Hi Jim, I am new to survival/preparedness and was curious if you have any resources for Canadians? In particular places to source out retreat locales? I just found your site, and love it. Keep up the great work. – Brent A. JWR Replies: Just like the US, my advice is go west! The eastern provinces are at risk from nuclear fallout from strikes in the US, in the event of a full scale nuclear exchange. Of course the population density is much lower in Canada than in the US, so population in and of itself is not as great a …


Letter Re: Suggestions on Northern Nevada Retreat Locales?

Jim: I’m a former Army Ranger living in Salt Lake City, Utah and I’ve been considering Nevada as my bug out / retreat location. I was wondering if you had any resources regarding land for sale or lease in the area north or south of Elko. Any information would be most appreciated. Keep up the outstanding work on the Blog. I love it and read it every day, Thank You and God Bless., – Jason JWR Replies: As mentioned in my book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation, rather than the Elko area, I recommend the Jarbidge, Nevada area. Jarbidge is …


Letter Re: Going Into Debt to Purchase a Retreat Property?

Jim, I read your blog nearly every day and benefit from it greatly. I am sending by “snail mail” my Ten Cent Challenge. Thanks for a great site. My wife and I both are 55 years old and have been “survivalists” for about 10 years. We have been able to create a preparedness larder of 8-to-12 months of food, water and other necessary supplies. For self-defense, we have several shotguns, two AR-15s, two SKSes, a .22 [rimfire] rifle and one handgun – plus several thousand rounds of ammo for each. We hope to take some of the Front Sight courses …


Letter Re: On Spring and Well Water, and Some Water Treatment Basics

Mr Rawles: You are dead on with the advice on water on July 19th. Even a fairly small spring is a great resource. We have used ours for 25 years now, even though I had a well drilled last year as a backup. Sometimes in the fall, our spring gets down to less than a pencil sized stream of water output. Several other points to mention for springs. For gravity feed, figure about 1/2 pound of pressure on the output end for each foot of elevation between the spring and the output. Also, run at least a 1″ line if …