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    #16
    Originally posted by Blistna View Post
    Thats the main reason I want a mobile home, its about the same price per month as renting, its mine, and it is new AND comes with the furniture i need. :-) But I just wanted some opinions. My parents like the idea, but my wifes dad hates trailers and is trying to get us to buy a 130K house....and I don't know if I can.
    For re-sale purposes, the house is probably your best bet....assuming it's in decent shape and in a decent neighborhood with good schools, low crime, etc. But, if you can't afford it then don't do it! You don't want to be strapped to a mortgage for thirty years that is beyond your means.

    My husband and I sat down and figured out our finances before buying our house 12 years ago. He's a professor so he has a very stable salary that isn't going to go up or down drastically. We can plan on about a 2% raise every year and have our retirement taken out and they pay much of the health insurance so figuring out what we have to spend is pretty straight-forward.

    Anyway, the number we came up with that we could afford every month was lower than what the mortgage company said we could afford so we had no problem getting our mortgage....and we stuck with the number we came up with ourselves which has turned out to be a very good choice because even with our stable income you never know when a bunch of expenses are going to pop up. Especially in regards to keeping a house in good repair. We bought a new house so we've only had basic stuff but that still adds up to at least a couple of thousand dollars a year after 12 years. If the house you're thinking about is over 15 years old, there's going to be a lot of expenses that could hit you at any moment.....painting (we just got an estimate of $5000 for that), new roof, water heater, carpet, basic repairs, etc., etc. If you do buy an older home, make darn sure you get it inspected first by an inspector you really trust. If there's water damage or dry rot or any of that kind of thing and you are right at the limit with your mortgage payments you could find yourself in big trouble.

    Also, with a baby coming you don't want a lot of financial worries. (Trust me, you'll have plenty to stress over without worrying about money all the time, too.)

    All that being said, if it is a good house in good shape and a good neighborhood with good schools and you can afford it without too much trouble, I think I'd go with the house.....assuming you're going to want to sell either the house or the mobile home at some point within the next twenty years or so.

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      #17
      Originally posted by LoneStar1836 View Post
      Well don't let him pressure you into getting in over your head because he won't be the one to have to make the monthly payments...along with all the other expenses.

      Buying a house is supposedly a good investment, but if you can't afford the payments, you won't be living there very long....
      Exactly! That's what he doesn't understand. And we all ready have student loands, a car loan (wives car broke down) so we don't need a 600+ monthly payment. And its like u said...we make the payments, so we make the choice -- not him.

      Originally posted by Callista View Post
      For re-sale purposes, the house is probably your best bet....assuming it's in decent shape and in a decent neighborhood with good schools, low crime, etc. But, if you can't afford it then don't do it! You don't want to be strapped to a mortgage for thirty years that is beyond your means.

      My husband and I sat down and figured out our finances before buying our house 12 years ago. He's a professor so he has a very stable salary that isn't going to go up or down drastically. We can plan on about a 2% raise every year and have our retirement taken out and they pay much of the health insurance so figuring out what we have to spend is pretty straight-forward.

      Anyway, the number we came up with that we could afford every month was lower than what the mortgage company said we could afford so we had no problem getting our mortgage....and we stuck with the number we came up with ourselves which has turned out to be a very good choice because even with our stable income you never know when a bunch of expenses are going to pop up. Especially in regards to keeping a house in good repair. We bought a new house so we've only had basic stuff but that still adds up to at least a couple of thousand dollars a year after 12 years. If the house you're thinking about is over 15 years old, there's going to be a lot of expenses that could hit you at any moment.....painting (we just got an estimate of $5000 for that), new roof, water heater, carpet, basic repairs, etc., etc. If you do buy an older home, make darn sure you get it inspected first by an inspector you really trust. If there's water damage or dry rot or any of that kind of thing and you are right at the limit with your mortgage payments you could find yourself in big trouble.

      Also, with a baby coming you don't want a lot of financial worries. (Trust me, you'll have plenty to stress over without worrying about money all the time, too.)

      All that being said, if it is a good house in good shape and a good neighborhood with good schools and you can afford it without too much trouble, I think I'd go with the house.....assuming you're going to want to sell either the house or the mobile home at some point within the next twenty years or so.
      Yea, I am going to my bank tomorrow and find out exactly how much the payments will be (Clayton homes should get back and tell me what their company said) and I will ask my bank (it's a very good local credit union) what they require and who knows, she might point me to a couple of houses that has foreclosed that wouldn't require a high down payment (we only have 2500 -- with a mobile home, thats ok, but with a house u usually put more down...right?). But we shall see!

      And yes... I am sure stress will be high in the months following the baby and then the following years will continue that trend.

      Comment


        #18
        We are in the process of buying ourselves here in Arizona and we are looking at both options
        House versus manufactured home

        the cost difference is not as vast here due to the weather here not taking so much toll on manufactured homes BUT here we are able to get more land overall if we look at manufactured homes as well.

        In our case we are more interested in the amount of land we can get along with our purchase and can look at upgrading the home itself as time goes on.

        We are no where near as young as you sound so personally I would say look at the option YOU can afford and what are the things you want to do in the future on the land

        In our case we want to be able to also have horses and at least two other buildings so if we have to go with a manufactured home at first we will in order to get the land size we want AND can afford.
        Life is short, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And live out loud with no regrets..

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          #19
          smart people go:

          ok, so i take home 4000 a month.....so i'll spend 1000 on my rent + utilities, which leaves me over half my check to live on

          or math to that effect.

          Honestly, if you can, your mortgage should be just under one of yours paychecks (one if you get paid every 2 weeks, half if you get paid monthly)

          so, if the worst happens and one of you lose your job, you can still pay for hte house with one of you

          I know a lot of people that have gotten in over their heads and were allowed to have mortgages that equal more than half their monthly salary. they're managing, but it's not easy. and it's often with some sort of free lance or part time work

          you're smart to make sure you are staying within your budget and allowing yourself plenty to live on. trust me, dr's bills, diapers, clothes, toys, formula,.....dude it adds up massively fast.
          Where in the World is George Hammond?


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            #20
            Great advice Skydiver
            That was the same advice my CPA Mom passed onto us when we started looking
            Life is short, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And live out loud with no regrets..

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              #21
              Originally posted by Blistna View Post
              Exactly! That's what he doesn't understand. And we all ready have student loands, a car loan (wives car broke down) so we don't need a 600+ monthly payment. And its like u said...we make the payments, so we make the choice -- not him.



              Yea, I am going to my bank tomorrow and find out exactly how much the payments will be (Clayton homes should get back and tell me what their company said) and I will ask my bank (it's a very good local credit union) what they require and who knows, she might point me to a couple of houses that has foreclosed that wouldn't require a high down payment (we only have 2500 -- with a mobile home, thats ok, but with a house u usually put more down...right?). But we shall see!

              And yes... I am sure stress will be high in the months following the baby and then the following years will continue that trend.
              When we bought our house, I think they wanted a 10% down payment. However, it looks like now they only need a 3-5% down payment. It used to be that if you put down less than 10% they'd stick on mortgage insurance with your monthly payment until you got up to the 10% mark on your principle. I don't know what the deal is now, but it has probably changed due to all the shake-up that happened in the mortgage industry.

              Actually, it's not a bad time to get a mortgage because the interest rates are so low.

              When figuring the whole thing though, don't forget about the points (which I'm still unclear on, but your bank will explain it to you), the closing costs, and try to find out what your property taxes will be. It's probably not too bad in Tennessee, but here in Portland mine are over $3000/year and my sister in New Jersey is paying over $10000/year in property taxes so don't forget to factor that into whatever decision you make.

              Also, whichever way you go, make sure before you close that you are clear on exactly how much you want to spend out of pocket total. We had a little miscommunication when we closed and they thought the amount we wanted to pay total at the closing was the amount we wanted to put down for the down payment....which is not the same thing. You have your down payment which all goes towards the principle of the house, and then you add on your closing costs and points and whatever other fees there are on top of that. So, we ended up spending more out of pocket right at the beginning than we'd planned. It worked out in the long run because it meant we were borrowing less money, but that first year was kind of tight (until hubby got his raise for the next year). It also meant we didn't have hardly any furniture or real window coverings for the first year because that was the money we had been planning on holding back at the closing.

              Whichever you choose, make sure you are very open with the loan people and make sure you come up with your own figures you can spend and don't go completely on theirs, especially if you like to have a bit of a cushion in the bank in case of unforeseen expenses or losses of income.

              Comment


                #22
                Callista... more great advice I had no idea about all that stuff either until I started talking a a friend about all this stuff and she said alot of what you did.

                She told me it can run close to any where from $1000.00-$8000.00 for closing is that realistic in what you did as well??
                Life is short, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And live out loud with no regrets..

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                  #23
                  i had a friend of mine that thought he was clear...but the bank messed up, miscalculated something, and he got the nasty surprise of a bill for several hundred dollars...something they misfigured.

                  which, i guess, is another reason to lowball what you can afford. say you can honestly afford 700 a month mortgage, put your foot down at 500, which sets aside a couple thousand each year for 'oops'

                  IMHO, it's better to have a 'lower' priced house and be able to afford living in it, than to stretch yourself on a 'higher' priced house and you then skimp and scrape to make ends meet and can't afford little things like going out to dinner or having a weekend away

                  a friend of my mom's used to babysit for people that lived in the nice pricy west side of town...and would go on vacation and hire her as a nanny while they were gone...and they'd be living in 2-3 rooms of the 15 room house, cause they couldnt' afford furniture for the rest.

                  better to lowball
                  Where in the World is George Hammond?


                  sigpic

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                    #24
                    Originally posted by TameFarrar View Post
                    Callista... more great advice I had no idea about all that stuff either until I started talking a a friend about all this stuff and she said alot of what you did.

                    She told me it can run close to any where from $1000.00-$8000.00 for closing is that realistic in what you did as well??
                    OK, I looked it up and in addition to the down payment we paid:

                    $350 appraisal fee
                    $195 home inspection
                    $199 first year homeowner's insurance
                    $350 property tax for the portion of the year we'd own it (this depends on where in the property tax billing cycle you hit)
                    $125 county transfer tax
                    $3450 closing costs

                    So, it was $4669 over our down payment and that was with no points and no mortgage insurance because we put down over 10% on the cost of the house. That was in December of 1997. (Boy! I hadn't realized how much our property taxes had gone up in 12 years!!)

                    We used a buyer's agent so his commission was paid by the seller, but if you're using a real estate agent, make sure who's paying him/her or you might have to tack that on as well.

                    We also paid a couple of hundred dollars to upgrade the dishwasher that came with the house because we didn't like the standard one.

                    Our house came with a one-year "warranty" where if certain things broke in the first year or we found they had been built wrong the builder or the sub-contractors came back and fixed those things for free. For example, the fixed window in our master bathroom leaked so they came and fixed that free and our shower stall had a little crack in it so they fixed that, too. If you're getting a new house, I'd check with other people who have bought from them to see how much trouble they give with the warranty. We were lucky and had a great builder (through no merit of our own, it was just dumb luck) but most of the people in our neighborhood were very unhappy with their builder because they found a lot of defects in their houses and found it difficult to get the builder to get the sub-contractors out to fix things. (The best story is that one of my neighbors leaned up against the shower wall one morning and found himself naked and wet in his closet and covered in bits of tile and dry wall because the contractor forgot to use the waterproof sheet rock instead of dry wall.....we all found that hilarious at the neighborhood Christmas party, but I don't think he found it all that funny )


                    ETA: Blistna, this was for a house at way over $60,000 (and way over $130,000 for that matter because Portland is really expensive) so I don't know if your costs would be anything like this. Either way, make sure you ask first what the total will be so you don't show up at the closing with your checkbook and not enough money to cover everything.
                    Last edited by Callista; 02 August 2009, 05:48 PM.

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                      #25
                      don't forget the 8000 dollar new home owner thingie from the govt

                      dunno if it applies to mobile homes, but that can take a huge chunk outta things

                      stuff just has to be done by november i think
                      Where in the World is George Hammond?


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                        #26
                        WOW Calista thanks for looking that up
                        and yup the $8000.00 tax credit does apply regardless of the home if the sale is CLOSED prior to Dec 1st

                        Do you know if the fact that being eligible for a VA loan will be helpful or not in some of those costs Calista?? We still plan on having the 10% or more down for ours but I don't want to pay points and such. Also thanks for that info about the Buyers agent. I was looking at one just the other day and wondering if that was a good idea or not... now I will go back and read more about him knowing what you pointed out.
                        Life is short, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And live out loud with no regrets..

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                          #27
                          I think a buyer's agent is a very good idea since in general their commission is paid by the seller. (I think the buyer's agent and the seller's agent split the standard 7% commission that the seller pays....at least that's the way they used to do it. I don't know if that's still the case.) Our buyer's agent also helped us find a mortgage broker and was very helpful to us since we basically didn't have a clue what we were doing.

                          I don't think we really checked into a VA loan or the other government assisted loans at the time so I'm afraid I can't help you there.

                          I should also point out that I think some of those closing costs can be rolled into the mortgage (which would add to the size of the loan) if you don't have that much cash on hand when you close.

                          We just happened to be moving from New Jersey where hubby made a pretty good salary but there was still no way we could afford a house (or even a condo) so we had managed to save up a fair amount of cash with just paying rent and having almost no expenses (I didn't even have a car at the time, I walked to buy groceries and there were only two of us then.) so we were able to borrow less by paying all that other stuff up front.

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                            #28
                            In reading what Blistna has already done and the fact that he has the land up front, I think they have a really good opportunity to do various things.

                            So I hope that you, Blistna definitely keep the information side of things going here Not so much the personal stuff since that is all yours, but just various aspects of what you have to deal with now in 2009 in regards to the various steps you have to take to purchase.

                            On my end, we have already done all the basic leg work up to the pre-qualify point. That we will wait for until closer to the point we are ready to buy. But we do plan on doing that so we can go into any deal already ready. The VA aspect covers some points and the like and there are select items that normally can not be rolled up into the loan that the VA loan allows a Vet to roll into the loan. So it has some benefits IF you want to use them.

                            In our case it is more just the over-all unknowns that I am still not sure about. In today's market more homes are foreclosures or short-sales then just straight out For sale sales. So there are some *other hoops* that need to be jumped through that I am not so keen on. Multiple bidders due to the Banks holding the actual notes and being the final say so on the purchase prices. Many of the sales are *As-Is* because of the foreclosures and the banks are not either willing or required to do any updates or repairs like you could negotiate in a straight for sale sale.... These are things I am wondering if a Buyer Agent can help someone navigate through. Because a lot of that legalese is like reading stereo instructions in Celtic written backwards
                            Life is short, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And live out loud with no regrets..

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                              #29
                              Originally posted by Skydiver View Post
                              smart people go:

                              ok, so i take home 4000 a month.....so i'll spend 1000 on my rent + utilities, which leaves me over half my check to live on

                              or math to that effect.

                              Honestly, if you can, your mortgage should be just under one of yours paychecks (one if you get paid every 2 weeks, half if you get paid monthly)

                              so, if the worst happens and one of you lose your job, you can still pay for hte house with one of you

                              I know a lot of people that have gotten in over their heads and were allowed to have mortgages that equal more than half their monthly salary. they're managing, but it's not easy. and it's often with some sort of free lance or part time work

                              you're smart to make sure you are staying within your budget and allowing yourself plenty to live on. trust me, dr's bills, diapers, clothes, toys, formula,.....dude it adds up massively fast.
                              The way I have always planned it is...the most important bills can be paid by the smallest check. And our jobs aren't really stable. Wife works for a fancy resort, but during the slow times (dec-april) she doesn't get more than 30 hours a week. I work for a school, so my slow times are when school is out. The good thing is, when i am out for dec, business picks up for her...when she has not a lot of hours, i have 40 hours. So we can always glide by with the skin of our teeth. And during the summer, she gets tons of hours and i work part time...20-30 hours. So it works out.

                              So thats why I do it where the important bills are always paid by the smallest check. Which is usually my wives. That is why we need the housing bill be around 300-400 dollars a month. We can afford that. Easily. If its more, then we are in trouble (and not 20-50 dollars more). :-)


                              Originally posted by Skydiver View Post
                              don't forget the 8000 dollar new home owner thingie from the govt

                              dunno if it applies to mobile homes, but that can take a huge chunk outta things

                              stuff just has to be done by november i think
                              That will help pay a lot of our debt and put a good savings into our pocket. But u can't get it till u are living in the home. And yes, manufactured homes does count.

                              Originally posted by Callista View Post
                              ETA: Blistna, this was for a house at way over $60,000 (and way over $130,000 for that matter because Portland is really expensive) so I don't know if your costs would be anything like this. Either way, make sure you ask first what the total will be so you don't show up at the closing with your checkbook and not enough money to cover everything.


                              Thank u for giving those costs and explaining these things to me. It will be asked if we decide we can afford a house (i have asked all the fees for a mobile home...12k extra).

                              And thanks for everyone giving great advice. This community is very friendly!

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                                #30
                                Originally posted by Blistna View Post
                                As some of you may remember, my wife and I are expecting parents. She is 19 months now and we are planning on buying a mobile home this upcoming month (we are waiting for the land to be ready -- grandparents are giving us little under two acres). My question is to you older, more experienced home buyers, is a mobile home so bad? I know it doesn't go up in value, but I also know that when we are done with the trailer we could always add on and give it a solid foundation, or even build a new home and rent out the mobile home.

                                But my question is: would it be a good choice if we want to stay in the 300-500 dollars a month, and have a nice home to live in? http://claytonehouse.com/# that is the mobile home we are considering -- it's very nice. With it furnished and all the extra fees, it will be around 60K.

                                What do you guys think?
                                Expecting parents? Dang! I hate when relatives drop by. Drives me crazy !

                                A mobile home is good so you can always be on the move so they can't find you.

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