The Manufactured Housing Forums

I have always wanted to buy a MH ever since I used to visit my grandma as a child and saw how nice they are, and how affordable. Problem is, my fiancee has never been inside one and wont even consider buying one because he has that whole "trailer trash" mind set about them. He said maybe he would consider one on its own land, but wont even go to look at one in a community.

Our income is only around $35,000 a year, I am 21 and my fiancee is 20. So we cannot afford a regular house (which I wouldnt want even if we could afford one), but I think we could afford cheap ugly condo or a nice MH.

The bigger problem is we live in LA county (California) and he works in Orange county. I know we could afford to buy land in Corona (riverside county) and put a MH on it, but he refuses to live in Corona, just because he is going to have to take a very busy freeway (the 91) to and from work.

The communities in Orange county are between $700-$950 a month for space rent! Who the heck can afford paying that on top of a mortgage? For instance there is a year 2000 4 bed 2 bth 1600sq ft home for sale in Anaheim for $90,000 and the space rent is $895!? No yard and no garage, are they crazy?

The communities in Corona are between $350-$650 so they are slightly more reasonable and they actually give you a small yard and a garage, with the houses being around $60,000. There are also communities in Corona where you own the land and the house w/yard and garage for around $140,000 and pay $60 HOA dues.

My fiancee wants to buy a condo, they're around $138,000-$169,000 for an attached 2 bed 1 bth, w/garages but no yards. Plus on top of that, $150-$250 HOA dues. But I dont want a condo, they're small, ugly, and you have common walls with your neighbors. You dont get a yard, and there is no privacy whatsoever.

I guess my question is what should I do? What can I say to convince him a MH is the way to go? And can someone tell me good MH dealers in my area. Plus, will a dealer help me to find land or do I have to find it myself?

Oh yeah, we have good credit and no other loans out and no balances on our credit card. Do a lot of dealers give loans with no down payments? Do you think we could qualify for $140,000 or so?

Thank you in advance!
Cheryl

I forgot to add, the reason we want to buy a house so soon is because we have been living with my parents for 3-4 years and we want to get married this year, and move to our own place. I refuse to waste money renting, and since the interest rates are so good right now it would be a great time to move. What I REALLY wanted to do is buy a plot of land 1-3 acres in Corona, put a 1800 sqt ft MH on it, and live there the rest of our lives. I feel like if we buy a condo, we're just going to move in a few years to a bigger condo or to a small ugly regular house, but who knows what the rates will be then? It will end up costing more to move place to place.

Another reason he doesnt want to live in Corona is because he is going to be applying to LAPD next year and then it will be an even farther drive to work. So I told him to apply to a different police department like somewhere in Riverside or Orange county, but he has his mind set for LAPD.

HELP!

I understand your concern about "wasting money on rent" but this is by far your best option now..
It seems you and future hubby have many early relationship issues to settle...includeing carrier and location of future carrier...
Until these are all settled...a year or two..rent is probably the best direction to go...I know at 21..1 or 2 years seem like a lifetime...but you will soon learn this is nothing but a blink of the eye...There are plenty of issues for young relationships besides financial problems...

Geez...how can any young couple get started in CA...If I were you I would consider moving somewhere else all together...

I would suggest that you seek out a mortgage broker to find out what your finance options are. This will give you a heads up as to the realites you are faced with and what your options are.

I would also suggest that you have a serious talk with your fiance(sp?). One of the biggest mistakes a young couple can make is buying when they are not emotionaly ready. If he is addament and set in his ways then the question is are you with the right person? How important to you is where you live, is it a relationship breaker?
From the sound of your post each of you has a "It's my way or the highway" take on your future housing options. Untill you guys can come to an ammicable compromise I would suggest you rent.

Once both of you have a common goal in mind, then both of you can work towards making it a reality .

Good luck,

you could make payments on $140,000 with only $35,000/year income. My hubby only makes around 30K and there is no way we could do that. Of course, we have two children and you don't, but still...just an example, payments on $140K at, say, 7% interest for 30 years would be $931.44. That's a big chunk out of a $35K salary. But, if you can do it now, it would most likely get easier later if your income rises as is usual. And it is easier to already be used to the house payment before the kids start arriving!

There are advantages to renting....for example, the house I rent right now needs a roof and is fixing to get a new one. Do I have to pay to put it on? No. When the septic tank needed pumping, the landlady paid. When it needs painting, she'll pay. When the tax and insurance bills come due, she pays...I don't have to trouble myself about it at all. And it's especially nice not to have to worry with all that in the first year or two of marriage, when you are getting adjusted.

I hope everything works out for you.

I'd rent until you have things settled down - a year or so. Buying a MH and putting it in a park is STILL renting - I would rather rent an apartment, so I don't have an investment (my MH) at the mercy of park management. Best of luck!

Thank you for all your help. I laughed about the relationship issuesthough, we've been together for 5 1/2 years already its not a new relationship! And plus, we've lived together for over 3 1/2 years we know what living together will be like. I suppose we could wait to buy, when he applies for LAPD his starting salary will be about $48,000, plus I am in the process of starting my own business, and that will bring in some more income. And, I know we do seem young but I already graduated college, and he is already a supervisor, and has all the certification and most of the training finished to become a police officer.

I think we will go and talk to a broker, we talked to him a year ago and we qualified for $108,000 but since then, he has had two raises, so I dont know what we qualify for now.

Thanks again everyone!

You won't like this, but take it from an old lady - - - - - - one of the MAIN ingredients of a good marriage is commonly-held values and goals. If one of you wants to live in the city and one of you wants to live in the country - it's not going to work. If one of you likes Bill Clinton and the other one likes Harry Browne (libertarian), no matter how great the sex is now (and how great can it be in your parents' house?) - - - - - - the relationship is NOT going to work.

Even if you talk hubby into buying the M-H, he's going to bring that into every fight you have - - - and you will have many! Cops have a very, very high divorce rate!

My advice? Move into that M-H you like, dump the fiancee and wait for Mr. Right.

If your fiance' is not too proud to live under your parents' roof and sleep with you there without benefit of marriage - sweetie, you're young and you don't know it - but you've got BIG problems!

I shudder to think what my father and mother would have done to me and my paramour if I even SUGGESTED such a tacky arrangement!

And Lover Boy is talking about "TRAILER TRASH" ?!!! Sorry, but he has no room to talk!

Well being in a relationship with him for 5 years and 7 months we know each other inside and out whether we are 21, 31, or 41 doesn't make a difference. In our whole relationship we've fought maybe 4 times and they were minor. We've been engaged for 5 years, and the reason he lives here with my parents and I is because his mother was moving far away so he moved in with his cousin and her husband, but her husband died, and she ended up moving as well. He moved in with us because we had the room to provide him with, and him living here gave him a chance to get his life going better. He got a job and moved all the way up to supervisor/sergeant position within 3 years. We are very happy together and we dont have any issues, and he's wanted to marry me since the 2nd week we were dating, it was MY decision to wait until we had enough money to get married and move out. Plus, we agree on everything and get along perfectly. And, I have been in more relationships then just the one, I know how relationships work, just because we're in our 20's you think all we care about is how the sex is? And no, neither of us is trailer trash. HE never called anyone trailer trash either, I just meant he thinks other people will call US trailer trash for living in a MH park.

Anyway back to the topic, the reason I thought an apartment wasnt a good idea is, apartments here are $900+ so I figured the mortgage payment would be the same thing. And to rent a house is $1000+. We did find a one bedroom apartment for $800 once, but within the first 2 weeks of living there, our car got broken into so we moved outta there that very same day. He's getting another raise around the 20th of this month so I think we'll go and talk to our broker again.

Cheryl
You should not defend yourself. It is darn difficult to get started as a young person without everyone throwing there 2 cents in. I am 25 my wife is 22 and we just purchased a land home package for 225,000.00 that was future appraised at 262,000. Its not even complete and we have equity.in CA you need to just get into something. the best advise is get pre approved and base your decision on how much you can spend. To give you an idea for what we spent you can't buy a condo around here. I just did a search on realtor .com and the least expensive site built home in town was $311,000.00 . this was for a 750 Square foot cottage. the zip is 94559 take a look yourself. We were able to get a 2024 sf home with 1/3 of an acre for what we spent. tell your husband about that. plus if you shop carefully there homes that look better than site built. I hope the moderator deletes any of the posts that are not geared towards your question and give you relationship advise.