Housing

[Lindsey]

Thanks Diana. My parents were kind of pushing me to buy, but as long as I'm splitting rent here I can save enough money for Europe. I just really really want to travel. In a few years I might have a family and not have the opportunity anymore.

[gja1000]

This is just my personal opinion - but I would never take out anything more than a 15 year loan on a mobile home. Why? It won't last too much longer than 15 years, it certainly won't last 40 years - they are just not that well made. Also, with the cold weather that you have, I would not want to be in a mobile home. At least in the U.S., they are not nearly as well insulated as regular homes, so the cost to heat it will be much higher!

My opinion is that since you want to travel, and if you buy the home, you will have to give up or drastically scale back your travel plans, and you may come to hate that mobile home because that is all you can do - make the mortgage/rent payments.

I agree the housing prices are insane there! That is just awful - regular persons cannot afford a home!!! I could not afford a $250,000 mortgage and I make pretty good money as a college professor. I would continue to rent, even though you are "throwing your money away" - but you are not really, you have a nice place to live.

I would be too scared of the mobile home de-valuing - even though the area is growing - at some point the mobile home is going to decrease in value because they are not built to last forever.

I really understand your wanting your own home - everyone does, but in certain instances, it is just not possible. I think Judy just bought her first home - I bet she'll have some great advice for you too.

Good luck, Lindsay!

[Lindsey]

Thanks Gayle. It is pretty much impossible to take out anything less than a 20 year mortgage here unless you have at least a hundred thousand sitting around for a down payment. It's not that you would have the place for 40 years, but it makes the payments low enough to afford, and the bank ends up making a lot of money on interest.
The reason for getting it would to have something to live in for 2 or 3 years and maybe by that time have another somebody to buy a real house with. I would hopefully be able at that time to sell the property for close to as much as I bought it for, so I wouldn't be losing a lot of money. With renting, sure I have a nice place to live, but when I move I don't get anything back.
Oh and mobile homes up here are built well for winter I actually know one family who lives out there now, and we also have a very old mobile home as our current cabin at the lake. We do use it in winter and have a nice wood stove to keep it warm The main thing is to make sure you insulate underneath the home as well as using insulated skirting.
But... my heart is set on travel. I think I may end up spending half my paychecks on rent for the next few years.

[gja1000]

The problem with the 40 year loan and payments that you can afford is that with mobile homes that do not increase in value as quickly as homes or even lose their value, is that you are paying such a tiny amount in principle each month, that in the first few years, you owe more than the mobile home is worth. So, when you sell it, you either do not make any money, or you lose money. That happened to friends of ours. They lived in the mobile home for 3 years and it cost them $2000 to sell it.

I'm glad you are opting for travel!

[Lindsey]

Thanks again Gayle! I just told Scott everything I learned and he agreed... we're both still young and I want to travel, and he wants to still go on his winter snowboarding trips, and the longer we both wait the more we'll have paid off (his car, my college line of credit and motorbike)... and if things work out between us we may have the optioin of buying something nice together. And if it's not together, there may be other people in our lives by then. Eventually I'd hope to be married and then able to afford a nice family home on two incomes instead of just one.

[Blueyes]

Originally Posted by Lindsey

Thanks again Gayle! I just told Scott everything I learned and he agreed... we're both still young and I want to travel, and he wants to still go on his winter snowboarding trips, and the longer we both wait the more we'll have paid off (his car, my college line of credit and motorbike)... and if things work out between us we may have the optioin of buying something nice together. And if it's not together, there may be other people in our lives by then. Eventually I'd hope to be married and then able to afford a nice family home on two incomes instead of just one.

Great decision

[Janet]

I think Gayle's advice is good. I'm glad you're going to travel too, so much more fun...lol

[Lindsey]

lol yeah... and I'll be spending most of my weekends this summer working on fixing up my parents' new (old) cabin. So when would I even have time to enjoy a house of my own??

[DianaB]

I think that Gayle gave you some really good advice. I know that mobile homes are not a very good long term investment because they're not built to last or maintain their equity.