Advice on Mobile Home vs Renting (Cincinnati, Green: apartment, rental, mortgage)

[priusgal]

Hi,
I can use all the advice I can get please.

I am 56, divorced and my income is SSDI and Unum disability. I lose my UNUm at 65.

I have a very small savings and I'm trying to decide whether to rent an apartment or purchase a used mobile home in Princeton Crossing in West Chester. Have friends telling me to rent and not waste money on a mobile home but renting is the same.

Lot rent is about $500 which is cheaper than an apt but I also know I'd be responsible for upkeep of the home. With renting I wouldn't.

I'm really stressed about this and confused. I don't have the money for a down payment for a regular home so these are my only choices.

Kay

[Wilson513]

You need to call Pro Seniors and ask for help from them. They are not housing specialists, but they are elder care focused which is really what you need.

Pro Seniors (513) 345-4160

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

You need to call Pro Seniors and ask for help from them. They are not housing specialists, but they are elder care focused which is really what you need.

Pro Seniors (513) 345-4160

That sounds like solid advice. Also, please keep in mind that oftentimes mobile homes don't hold up too well. So in 10 years or so, you might find yourself in something that's not meeting your needs. I'd be really careful of that option.

[blickcd]

My starter home in '96 was a new mobile home. It offered more amenities and square footage than any apartment I had ever rented, and I had no neighbors on the other side of the wall, above or below me. The combined mortgage and lot rent was lower than rent I had been paying. The "trailer park" I lived in felt more like a subdivision filled with mobile homes and was a nice place filled with young working families and retired folks. (Greenbrier Estates, Batavia. Still not bad, but not as good as it was in the late 90's) Was there for five years, paying off some debt and saving for the down payment on a conventional house.


The problem with buying a mobile home is that unless they come with land, you can't get a conventional mortgage. If it is on a rental lot, the mobile home will be purchased on an installment loan. The interest rate could be anything, depending on the lender and your credit rating. It will be higher than mortgage interest rates. You will want to check around for the best possible rate you can get.


If this is a used home, find someone that inspects mobile homes and have them check it out, just as you would have a home inspector look at a conventional house. Quality for mobile homes has come a long way, but like any other house, if previous owners have not taken care of it, you may have problems lurking.


If you are thinking that if the neighborhood goes bad you will simply have it relocated, forget it. That costs thousands of dollars and is not as simple as pulling a camper out of the local state park.


Moving it to your own land that you buy? Zoning will keep you out of most places. Especially a 'single wide', if you want to put that on private land you will likely have to go to Brown County in Ohio, not sure of KY and IN, and need to have at least 5 acres, and have it installed on a concrete foundation. Not to mention the cost of having all utilities set up on that property. Once again, not a self contained camper that you easily park and that is it.


Resale is tough. Those potentially high interest rates I mentioned? When I sold mine I had plenty of people look at it, and want to buy it, but they simply couldn't afford the payments. At that time interest rates for conventional mortgages was at an all time low, so anyone with good credit was buying regular homes. My asking price was what I owned on it, which was book value for it at the time. I couldn't afford to sell it for any less at that time. My mobile home sat vacant for over a year, during which time I still had to pay on it, the lot rent, cut the grass, keep the heat on at a low setting in the winter, etc. Financially I was prepared for that at the time because I had planned for such a worst case scenario. However, it stunk!


The mobile home loan was not assumable so no one could simply take over the payments, and all homes in that park had to be owner occupied so renting it out or running some rent to own scheme was not an option. The mobile home was eventually sold to a retired couple that was downsizing. They paid with cash.


Christopher

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by priusgal

Hi,
I can use all the advice I can get please.

I am 56, divorced and my income is SSDI and Unum disability. I lose my UNUm at 65.

I have a very small savings and I'm trying to decide whether to rent an apartment or purchase a used mobile home in Princeton Crossing in West Chester. Have friends telling me to rent and not waste money on a mobile home but renting is the same.

Lot rent is about $500 which is cheaper than an apt but I also know I'd be responsible for upkeep of the home. With renting I wouldn't.

I'm really stressed about this and confused. I don't have the money for a down payment for a regular home so these are my only choices.

Kay

I don't know what Unum is and don't have time at the moment to explore the matter, but if you are on disability, you probably qualify for HUD backed housing and it doesn't have to be labeled "disability housing." If you are 56, it can be housing specified as "over 55." And, it can be privately owned (owner has a HUD contract).

If you have enough resources, you do have to pay market rate rent be it HUD backed or not, but with renting you do escape maintenance for things like plumbing and HUD does check places for upkeep. Most assuredly it doesn't have to be great to qualify for HUD, but there are relatively nice places and (most important) there are a lot of them and most likely will include people in circumstances similar to yours.

Dig out the HUD website and look through it for locations, then go take a look at the outside of them.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by priusgal

I'm trying to decide whether to rent an apartment or purchase a used mobile home

I agree with your friends. If you buy a mobile home you will responsible for the upkeep, and the park can also close down on you and you will have to move at your expense.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

You need to call Pro Seniors and ask for help from them. They are not housing specialists, but they are elder care focused which is really what you need.

Pro Seniors (513) 345-4160

Don't be too sold on Pro Seniors. I tried them a couple of times. The friendly, smiling lawyer (?) wasn't interested in doing anything but helping me with a living will if I be in Cincinnati. Well, la da. I'm not interested in a living will and don't need a dead one as there should be one properly filed away up in Montgomery county (goes with the paid up cemetery plot also in Montgomery county).

Living wills seem to be a big deal these days. And, how you are disposed of should be secondary to staying alive.

[Gingercoyote]

I would go with an apartment. With a mobile home you will be responsible for appliances, water heater, furnace, roof etc. Those expenses can be significant. Also, you aren't "stuck" in an apartment. When the lease is up you can move if you need to.