My fiancee and I are currently looking to purchase a manufactured home. We are looking at homes in the range of $25,000--$35,000. We currently have a lease at an apartment complex here in Houston and we are paying $715 each month in rent. The reason we pay so much in rent is because: 1.) The apartment complex is NEW... 2.) The furniture we have is pretty big and takes up a lot of space... Our 1 bedroom apartment has 990 square feet with a large master bedroom. Believe me, we need it. There are two main reasons we are trying to get into a manufactured home and out of paying rent each month... 1.) We are planning on getting married and wanted to get into something more permanent. In other words, we are tired of throwing our money away on rent when we can be spending it toward something we will own and can later use as an investment (renting it out...). 2.) Together we have a pretty large credit card debt (somewhere between $10,000-$20,000 just to give you an idea). We currently pay $500/month towards the credit card but it doesn't seem like it is going down fast enough. I have been looking for a second job and it has been difficult with the way the economy is these days. Our thinking was that if we could get into a manufactured home for about $250-300/month...we could pay off the credit card debt in a shorter amount of time. After going and talking with the dealer he said that it was possible for our payments to be that low on a manufactured home, but that we would have to have our own land in order for it to happen. He said that if he had to find the land himself and put it together with the manufactured home, that it would be at least $200-$250 more per month over the same amount of time it would take to pay off the manufactured home (15-20 years). In other words, we would be getting screwed. We would be paying just as much for the land as we would be for the manufactured home if we get the land through them. Our other option would be to buy the manufactured home from the dealer and put the home in a community that rents out mobile home lots. The problem with this is they can run from anywhere between $125-$300 per month depending on how nice the park is and where the lot is located in the community. And even if this were the option we chose, we are still back to the point of throwing our money away. I am tired of paying my hard earned money towards rent on anything. Now to the question: I would really appreciate it if any of you could recommend a route to finding some cheap land to put a manufactured home on. I have scoured The Green Sheet and The Houston Chronicle and haven't found much. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions? And for you guys who don't know...manufactured homes is fancy for mobile homes or as a lot of people like to call them: trailers...
Just me two cents. Dont skimp on your home just to pay your credit cards off more quickly, if anything hold off on your purchase until after you are more secure in your credit card debt. I currently have a home and recently bought 5 acres outside of Omaha, which will be paid off in 3 years. Once I have it paid off I will have equity in my land to be able to build my own home on the land. Dont think short term when it comes to purchasing your home, afterall it will be your home for many years to come.
Credit card debt first, housing second. When you switch housing options, buy used. Try to have the opportunity to see your asset grow in value, not decline. I'm not sure where you live, but you should be able to buy a used trailer home in ok condition in a park for less than 25000. You can fix it up and resell it. Or save your money longer, increase your income, and buy a real house in a reasonable location like sagemont or almeda-genoa. There are houses for sale there around 55000. I don't know how much y'all put away a year in savings, but if you can establish two incomes, you can probably qualify comfortably in about 3 and a half years. That would give you a chance to kill high interest debt and build savings and income history, while shopping smart for a reasonable deal.
