You can get a mobile home on land and own both. Even if the home doesn’t gain value, the land will. And if you’re in the Southern US, you can definitely get something under 150k. Hell, I can find small condos or even just single family houses that need some major TLC right now for under 100k, and I’m in a major city. If someone is willing to a) have a small home, b) put a lot of work into their home, and c) live in the miserable hellscape of the South, then the options are plentiful.
I don’t know how realistic getting away with a 3k down payment on its own would be, but with an assistance program, a 3.5% down payment, and getting a seller to cover most/all of the closing costs - I could see it being a possibility on a cheaper home. Whether any of this is a wise investment is hard to say, but some people aren’t so concerned with that and just want to own their home.
And of course, neither of us knows anything about StrawberryAlex to say whether any of this applies to them - they could have just bought an beat up RV for all we know or conveniently left out the part where some rich relative covered the other 30k of their down payment. If we’re critiquing them for making weird assumptions about Toxx’s financial situation, we probably shouldn’t be doing the same about their housing situation.
AYRT Agreed, if u buy both home and lot, the land will gain value. Most mobiles I've seen (in my area) are in mobile home parks and do not include the land they're on. (I was seriously considering a mobile, because those were almost in my price range.)
I'm in the Northeast US, tri-state area-- things get cheap in more rural areas but anything in my area is pricey, including mobile homes. Sometimes they get listed in the 50k range, but most are 75-100k+, and they're not even new builds and only some are double wides. There used to be a market for standard homes sub $150k around here, but post-covid people have listed literally burnt full teardowns for $100k+ and they're not even on big lots T_T
wrt investment/accruing value, I mentioned in another comment I think i got another anon commenters point & Strawberry's comments mixed up, I don't think Strawberry explicitly said anything about better investments exactly-- not too far off, but not exactly, iirc. but afaik mobiles or RVs themselves aren't good investments, buuuut if you can truly save money and invest that (in whatever way, be it in standard housing, stocks, 401k, etc., or just irreplaceable life experiences tbqh), very cheap housing that loses value can still definitely be worthwhile, and obvi any housing is worthwhile housing. (i was also looking at tiny homes as a possibility I could afford, but this area is very unfriendly to tiny homes, and even if I could buy the lot and get utilities set up, there were issues with zoning wrt the minimum size of a house-- anyway, point being, I'm not passing any judgment on someone getting whatever housing they can afford, I have looked into non-standard home options myself cuz shit is fucking expensive up here.)
Also, yes, you're right, we shouldn't be making assumptions about Strawberry's situation. Perhaps I've made too many tbh. I just get flabbergasted sometimes when I'm confronted with how cheap housing can be in other areas of the country, shit fucking hurts. That's my L to hold tho.
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(frozen comment) Re: 100x777 argument
(Anonymous) 2025-01-08 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)I don’t know how realistic getting away with a 3k down payment on its own would be, but with an assistance program, a 3.5% down payment, and getting a seller to cover most/all of the closing costs - I could see it being a possibility on a cheaper home. Whether any of this is a wise investment is hard to say, but some people aren’t so concerned with that and just want to own their home.
And of course, neither of us knows anything about StrawberryAlex to say whether any of this applies to them - they could have just bought an beat up RV for all we know or conveniently left out the part where some rich relative covered the other 30k of their down payment. If we’re critiquing them for making weird assumptions about Toxx’s financial situation, we probably shouldn’t be doing the same about their housing situation.
(frozen comment) Re: 100x777 argument
(Anonymous) 2025-01-09 12:01 am (UTC)(link)Agreed, if u buy both home and lot, the land will gain value. Most mobiles I've seen (in my area) are in mobile home parks and do not include the land they're on. (I was seriously considering a mobile, because those were almost in my price range.)
I'm in the Northeast US, tri-state area-- things get cheap in more rural areas but anything in my area is pricey, including mobile homes. Sometimes they get listed in the 50k range, but most are 75-100k+, and they're not even new builds and only some are double wides. There used to be a market for standard homes sub $150k around here, but post-covid people have listed literally burnt full teardowns for $100k+ and they're not even on big lots T_T
wrt investment/accruing value, I mentioned in another comment I think i got another anon commenters point & Strawberry's comments mixed up, I don't think Strawberry explicitly said anything about better investments exactly-- not too far off, but not exactly, iirc. but afaik mobiles or RVs themselves aren't good investments, buuuut if you can truly save money and invest that (in whatever way, be it in standard housing, stocks, 401k, etc., or just irreplaceable life experiences tbqh), very cheap housing that loses value can still definitely be worthwhile, and obvi any housing is worthwhile housing. (i was also looking at tiny homes as a possibility I could afford, but this area is very unfriendly to tiny homes, and even if I could buy the lot and get utilities set up, there were issues with zoning wrt the minimum size of a house-- anyway, point being, I'm not passing any judgment on someone getting whatever housing they can afford, I have looked into non-standard home options myself cuz shit is fucking expensive up here.)
Also, yes, you're right, we shouldn't be making assumptions about Strawberry's situation. Perhaps I've made too many tbh. I just get flabbergasted sometimes when I'm confronted with how cheap housing can be in other areas of the country, shit fucking hurts. That's my L to hold tho.