In the real story, the first cabin he checked didn't have phone lines leading to it, so he went on to the next one. He called the owners from there and explained. They were fine with the situation and happy that he was okay, even though they didn't know him. They even told him where their hidden key was in case it ever happened again.
Personally, I've spoken to my neighbors about this and we all agree, in a survival situation "you can take whatever you want/need". In this case, Joe was considering the purchase of the empty cabin and hadn’t met the neighbors yet. I was just trying to get different perspectives on the matter.