Renting a house in Iowa for a grassroots base of operations

[Eric21ND]

Had the idea of setting up a base of operations for grassroots supporters on the ground in Iowa. I'm playing with the idea of renting a large house and filling it with supporters who want to help out and campaign in Iowa. I'd like RP supporters to show up from anywhere and everywhere and stay for however long they could, be it a few days, weeks, etc. It would be nice to be able to instantly plug people into a working volunteer effort and do something productive. Would any of you be willing to donate to something like this?

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Yeah I'd Chip in for that. Were you thinking of renting in Ames or maybe Des moines?

A big, old house at 1000/month for the next 8 months would be $8,000 (isn't math great?) that seems doable with enough promoting.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

My thought would be on or near a major bus route in the Des moines metro area. Then keep track of all the houses canvassed and the response, etc etc.

 

[thehighwaymanq]

I think this is HUGE! If we can set up one of these houses in all the important, early Primary states, we really could hone our capabilities. Let's get a chip in going and do it! This could be so big for networking!

 

[UtahApocalypse]

This is an excellent idea. It would be really good if we could find someone to be the "Liberty House Advisor" that is on site to keep the machine oiled. That person could also do daily/weekly YouTube updates of the activities, and other items of interest.

Close to Des Moines: $1000 / 4br Photos and Full description

 

[MelissaWV]

This is an excellent idea. It would be really good if we could find someone to be the "Liberty House Advisor" that is on site to keep the machine oiled. That person could also do daily/weekly YouTube updates of the activities, and other items of interest.

Close to Des Moines: $1000 / 4br Photos and Full description

They lopped off a bedroom on ya.

Be very careful of the number of bedrooms. In the end, that isn't a number that matters. What matters is square footage, floorplan, location, and the number of bathrooms.

You could have a 2 bedroom house that's 2,000 square feet, which most likely has a massive great room/living room area you could camp many people in... or you could have a 4 bedroom with the same square footage that has a lot of divisions and awkward spaces, and fits fewer people.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

This is an excellent idea. It would be really good if we could find someone to be the "Liberty House Advisor" that is on site to keep the machine oiled. That person could also do daily/weekly YouTube updates of the activities, and other items of interest.

Close to Des Moines: $1000 / 4br Photos and Full description

Nice find. Eric, you signing the lease? Here's the house's location in Des Moines (population 500,000):

 

[MelissaWV]

Erm... why does the link take me to a 3BR house that needs a WHOLE lot of work in the basement to create a 4th bedroom? And why is it only 1100 square feet? I guess that's what I meant to say with my earlier caveat.

Not to mention:

Maybe the best part is that this home can be purchased directly from the owner for 129,900 OR possibly lease/optioned with rent of $1000 when you put up 10K for an option to purchase in the near future.

 

[Mallory]

Melissa, I've been toying with the idea of doing this...I'm in Florida so it's a bit of a long haul, but the idea started off tiny and has been growing. I'm still undecided, but I want to leave my options open. You're in my area, so if you do this, can you keep me updated? Maybe we can carpool or something....send me a PM?

 

[MelissaWV]

* * * No I'm not going to Iowa, but just offering a little advice on rental real estate * * *

 

[erowe1]

I kind of like the idea. But I would recommend getting in touch with grassroots supporters who are already living in Iowa and active in campaigning for RP there to talk this idea over first. Get their input about where you could go and what you could do to get the most bang for your buck, and minimize redundancy with what is already being done (although, I have a hunch the vicinity of Ames would have the most advantages for this kind of thing). I wouldn't recommend trying to go in as an outsider with no connections and try to do your own thing. In fact, I'd suggest that whatever you do there should be something where the leaders of the group are people from Iowa.

 

[thehighwaymanq]

We need more of these houses in all important states!

BUMP

 

[thehighwaymanq]

Bump

 

[Mallory]

How much would it cost to spend a week or so staying in said house in Ames around August? Aside from gas costs; just the house itself.

 

[Ray]

I could definitely come down and help for a week or so during the summer.

 

[LibertyEagle]

* * * No I'm not going to Iowa, but just offering a little advice on rental real estate * * *

Yup, and it is good advice.

That house is not the one, guys. Look for another.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

How much would it cost to spend a week or so staying in said house in Ames around August? Aside from gas costs; just the house itself.

I could definitely come down and help for a week or so during the summer.

Awesome. +rep to you both. If this is going to happen we probably should have a way to keep track of pledges on who might come and when just so people who donate know its being used.

 

[Eric21ND]

This is still at the idea stage. Ames or Des Moines would be the ideal cities. In the grand scheme of grassroots projects, I think this would provide the biggest bang for the buck. If this does come to fruition I'd like to rent the largest house possible so we can have 10-20 hardcore RP supporters there at all times. Of course this would be contingent on people helping fund this project. All finances would have to be transparent.

 

[dbill27]

This is a great idea. Maybe there is a liberty friendly person in Iowa that rents houses, since I assume it would only be for a few months maybe we could get a discounted rate. This has endless potential though. With a rotation of volunteers coming and going over the course of a few months we could cover a lot of ground.

 

[tekkierich]

Folks did this in NH around primary time. Although they rented a large vacation house on the sea for a few weeks. It was great and a ton of fun the 3 or 4 nights I was able to stay. I drove up with 3 others from Maryland. The first night we stayed in the dinning room. The other nights I found a rare treat of private accommodations in the laundry room. I think we night have had over 30 people staying at this place the night before the primary.