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Hi, just needing some opinions here, and I hope this is the right forum because it's also a "personal finance" issue I guess.
My older relative plans to leave me some property. It's in Shasta County outside of Redding, which is not an expensive area. The property has a very old 2 bedroom, 1 bath mobile home on it, and he rents it out to a low income lady. He lives across the street in his house right now. The neighborhood is not far from town, but it's all septic tank.
He suggested replacing the mobile home, or building a small house. (The area has a mix of both) He said if the house were bigger, (like a 3 bedroom, 2 bath) we'd need a new septic tank.
If we chose a mobile or a new build it would most likely be a rental at least for quite a while, but we'd be hiring a property manager because we live 500 miles away.
Any thoughts which would be more efficient to manage from a distance? Pros and cons? This is all new to me.
BTW, he's going to make it so the land has to stay in the family and "can't be sold" so that's not an option.
Why not allow a renter to bring their own mobile home on a yearly lease? That way you only need to provide water. The renter will pump the septic tank every couple of years. You will essentially charge only lot rent, although you will still be responsible for environmental protection--so be careful who you rent to. I have no idea how you deal with kicking the person off the land if they do not follow your lease/rules, though.
Hi, just needing some opinions here, and I hope this is the right forum because it's also a "personal finance" issue I guess.
My older relative plans to leave me some property. It's in Shasta County outside of Redding, which is not an expensive area. The property has a very old 2 bedroom, 1 bath mobile home on it, and he rents it out to a low income lady. He lives across the street in his house right now. The neighborhood is not far from town, but it's all septic tank.
He suggested replacing the mobile home, or building a small house. (The area has a mix of both) He said if the house were bigger, (like a 3 bedroom, 2 bath) we'd need a new septic tank.
If we chose a mobile or a new build it would most likely be a rental at least for quite a while, but we'd be hiring a property manager because we live 500 miles away.
Any thoughts which would be more efficient to manage from a distance? Pros and cons? This is all new to me.
BTW, he's going to make it so the land has to stay in the family and "can't be sold" so that's not an option.
Thanks in advance!
Hmmm, "plans to", "going to" that really does not sound that definite. While I hope that it does not happen what if he passes away tonight in his sleep? You won't ever own the land unless he does not have a will and you are his sole living relative.
Before you spend too much money putting a building on land that you do not own I would recommend that you think long and hard. As my Mom used to say "Don't count your chickens before they hatch". A lot can happen in the future. I was the primary beneficiary in someone's will for over 30 years, but she "out lived her money" and needed to go into a nursing home under Medicaid. Poof! Her house, the lot and all of her property needed to be sold before Medicaid kicked in. And, I can name several other people who that happened to as well.
I am certainly not complaining about not inheriting her estate, because I am very happy that she ended up in wonderful nursing home and they treated her very well until she passed away in her mid 90s. But, if I would have counted on owning her house,that city lot & her possessions I would have been out of luck.
So, before you spend a lot of money building a house on someone else's land make sure that it will not go Poof! in the future.
Also, unless you have a good friend who acts as "property manager" for a small fee it is often far more expensive than you can imagine to hire a property manager for just one or two rental units.
Hi, just needing some opinions here, and I hope this is the right forum because it's also a "personal finance" issue I guess.
My older relative plans to leave me some property. It's in Shasta County outside of Redding, which is not an expensive area. The property has a very old 2 bedroom, 1 bath mobile home on it, and he rents it out to a low income lady. He lives across the street in his house right now. The neighborhood is not far from town, but it's all septic tank.
He suggested replacing the mobile home, or building a small house. (The area has a mix of both) He said if the house were bigger, (like a 3 bedroom, 2 bath) we'd need a new septic tank.
If we chose a mobile or a new build it would most likely be a rental at least for quite a while, but we'd be hiring a property manager because we live 500 miles away.
Any thoughts which would be more efficient to manage from a distance? Pros and cons? This is all new to me.
BTW, he's going to make it so the land has to stay in the family and "can't be sold" so that's not an option.
Thanks in advance!
I also wanted to point out that the size of the house does not matter as much as how many people are living there. You could have a five bedroom, three bathroom house or three bedroom, two bath double wide mobile home but if only one person lived there they would use far less water (flush less toilets, wash less clothes, take fewer baths, wash fewer dishes) than if there were a married couple and a teenager or two living in the same 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house that is on the land right now.
Also sorry I wasn't clear... his suggestions were for the future, not now. My queary here was more general only because I'm curious since he was bringing it all up lately. (He just had his 80th birthday) and I'm clueless. He was telling me it was fun to build a house.
As it stands right now, we go up to hang out with him every year and it's been a family vacation spot for years.
So no, not jumping into anything, or buying anything, and of course anything can happen.
Again, thanks for the feedback, I'm getting edjamacated regardless
Managing a rental of a mobile home from 500 miles away...sounds like a bad idea. After the management fees, you might not make much money. If you have to fly out there even occasionally or spend time dealing with problems, it could eat up any profit. A common complaint I see everywhere is that property managers seem to on average not do everything rental owners think they should. You could end up being sued if the property falls out of code/regulation, could have to deal with evicting a tenant which might require you to hire an attorney in that state, etc.
It seems like a lot of risk for very little reward, maybe, depending on the rental price for a mobile home in the area.
Is there a more local relative you could sell it to, to keep it in the family?
Managing a rental of a mobile home from 500 miles away...sounds like a bad idea. After the management fees, you might not make much money. If you have to fly out there even occasionally or spend time dealing with problems, it could eat up any profit. A common complaint I see everywhere is that property managers seem to on average not do everything rental owners think they should. You could end up being sued if the property falls out of code/regulation, could have to deal with evicting a tenant which might require you to hire an attorney in that state, etc.
It seems like a lot of risk for very little reward, maybe, depending on the rental price for a mobile home in the area.
Is there a more local relative you could sell it to, to keep it in the family?
bingo,,,exactly what I was thinking,,,reading this thread
Hmmm... maybe just get a small 2 br 1 bath mobile, and keep it for vacations.
Maybe do some AirB&b?
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