Housing conundrum....

[milner351]

Good point on the electric Beags - hopefully the property has 200 amp service coming to it.

[STINEY]

John makes several good points. Out there I imagine water is a rather large consideration?

After spending 4 hours a week mowing 5.5 acres in Ohio

Oh, and to this I have one word - - "Moo"

And "Moo's" are tasty.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I did forget to mention one bit. If you buy #2 (which I still think is the best deal of all), and you get a new home, you'll have to get rid of the other home - and that can be pretty expensive. Remember the rabbit MH that I mentioned before, cost the bank 30,000 to get rid of it. You couldn't burn it - hazardous waste, so we had to pay hazmat people to come in and clean it up. To get rid of it the bank had it torn apart and hauled away to the dump. That old of a trailer will have asbestos in it somewhere so you'll probably be in the same boat (unless, of course, you can convince someone else that this is an upgrade to them - then you might get $1,000 for it).

When you're bidding for the property - just keep that thought in mind... in fact, in your inspections (contingent, of course, to allow you to negotiate after you know about the skeletons) make certain that the inspector looks for, and is liable for any omissions regarding hazardous waste... most inspectors won't do it, and those who do need to be paid extra for the insurance they'll need to buy.

[TheSilverBuick]

Have you looked inside #2? It's got a real roof... the biggest enemy of any home / trailer / camper is leakage. My trailer at Texoma was built in '59 , a 12x56, and very little leakeage ever before I got it. It was as tight as my first house, which was built in '61. What it didn't do very well was deal with fire and 10 minutes from the fire department... poof. No house is going to deal well with fire but the old style wood panelling is really flamable compared to the sheetrock in modern stuff.

That thing is big - I bet the den will hold a 4x8 pool table comfortably. I've been in a couple of big trailers, you can't tell they are a trailer from the inside.

I think there is a stigma attached to trailer that is really undeserved. I'd be perfectly happy in one. Carter did that for us... 2x6 walls. Damn good insulation. The anchors that held down my trailer were 8" screws six feet into the ground. It's not uncommon for 70+ mph winds by the lake. It never moved.

The best part of #2 is Turn Key... imho, building is a huge pain in the ass if you have to deal with inspectors and permits. I don't have all that much free time to begin with and I sure don't want to take off work to spend it with them. Contractors are notoriously flakey - no offense to those of you who do what you say you will for what you said you will when you said you will. You're rare.

The10 acres is great, particularly if your neighbors all have 10 or more. You can make a ton of noise and not disturb them too much. I'm feeling it a lot more than the other prospects. I bumped my offer down 20% from asking on the last property, expecting them to counter with 10% lower than asking, which they did and I jumped on it because I wanted it. It took all of 10 minutes to negotiate, which is to my detriment except I hate that part so much that I kind of I planned it that way. I expected it to come back in the middle, I think most sellers will go 10% in a heartbeat these days.

I don't know that there is 150,000 in buildings if property there is 4k an acre, but I can say this based on what I've done in the last couple of years:

a) Water well is expensive to drill
b) city water is expensive to use
c) septic is expensive to install
d) Electric can get HUGELY expensive courtesy of current copper pricing, they wanted 7k for my last property just to run it to a pole inside the property line. 7 bucks a foot. ouch.
e) concrete pads are insanely expensive here. The pad I had quoted for a 40x60, 6 inches thick was 14k. That's a bunch of concrete at 6" instead of four, but I wanted a couple of big pieces of machinery and didn't want the whole floor shaking or cracking.

All of these things have gone up several times over in the last few years. When they tell me there is no inflation, it falls on deaf ears. I'd check out the inside of the house, if it's as clean looking as the rest of the joint based on the couple of pictures I saw, I'd not worry too much about it being a "trailer." If the barn already has 60amp service or more, it'd be a real bonus.

A leaky roof is a concern. It's hard to say from the inside pictures if there is a problem or not, as I doubt they'll use those photo's in advertising. Now that it's Monday (though holiday) I'm hoping to hear from the realitor. The lots out there have always been 5 acre parcel's, so I'm guessing this one was bought as two parcels combined. There are two 4 acre lots out there with big modular homes on them for sale in the $230k-$250k range, no fancy shops with them.

Basically your assessments of "A" through "E" mirror what I've heard and been quoted 6 years ago. The shop has lights hanging from the rafters, so it has power of some sort.

I have no problem really low balling an offer since I have an adequate house to live in and don't have to move.

[Beagle]

Mineral / water rights conveyance?

[TheSilverBuick]

I did forget to mention one bit. If you buy #2 (which I still think is the best deal of all), and you get a new home, you'll have to get rid of the other home - and that can be pretty expensive. Remember the rabbit MH that I mentioned before, cost the bank 30,000 to get rid of it. You couldn't burn it - hazardous waste, so we had to pay hazmat people to come in and clean it up. To get rid of it the bank had it torn apart and hauled away to the dump. That old of a trailer will have asbestos in it somewhere so you'll probably be in the same boat (unless, of course, you can convince someone else that this is an upgrade to them - then you might get $1,000 for it).

When you're bidding for the property - just keep that thought in mind... in fact, in your inspections (contingent, of course, to allow you to negotiate after you know about the skeletons) make certain that the inspector looks for, and is liable for any omissions regarding hazardous waste... most inspectors won't do it, and those who do need to be paid extra for the insurance they'll need to buy.

Good advice. I've seen mobile home trailers at the local dump. They are hauled to a separate section and dismantled by some company. From what I've gathered, it was still legal to dispose of asbestos at our local dump, or at least in certain forms. The siding on my current house and many houses around here are made of asbestos and it was still legal to dispose of at the dump. Side note is, the 10 acres is out in county land with very little land laws. I could drag the thing to some corner of the lot for eternity if I wanted. It's not uncommon around there. Maybe dispose of it piecemeal wise over the course of a few years, depending where I set it, it may actually be legal to shoot at it too

[TheSilverBuick]

Mineral / water rights conveyance?

Would have to be checked of course, but I'm fairly certain on the water rights, don't have any idea on the mineral. Definitely no oil, and from the geo-physic aerial surveys I've seen I'd highly doubt copper.

[BBR]

Linky to #2

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3453-N-109th-W-St_Ely_NV_89301_M11186-59382?source=web

[TheSilverBuick]

Linky to #2

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3453-N-109th-W-St_Ely_NV_89301_M11186-59382?source=web

Yup. Hmm, this ad calls it a manufactured home. The inside layout (by the pictures) looked more double wide trailer than manufactured to me, but I guess I'll be able to tell more when the realitor show's me the place.

Here is a google view of it. The white roofs are the shops. Grumpy tried googling the address and decided the whole town was in the Federal Witness Protection Program

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ely,+nv&hl=en&ll=39.354343,-114.900164&spn=0.003227,0.006947&geocode=+&hnear=Ely,+White+Pine,+Nevada&t=h&z=18

[STINEY]

Grumpy tried googling the address and decided the whole town was in the Federal Witness Protection Program

That would explain a lot, actually!



To my understanding, manufactured IS trailers. Double-wides are simply 2 trailers side by side, so that ad seems honest to my view.

Its Modular that is built in a factory and brought in. No steel trailer frame, never titled as a trailer with BMV.

[Beagle]

Your major intersection street name is the same as my motivational state right now. Lackawanna. Awesome.


Do you have a picture of the lot? There's a suprising bunch of trees next to it? Is that part of it? Wood is expensive, and a great resource to have. With a fireplace and keeping the trees trimmed, you can heat for cheap! I miss having way too many trees, except when I want to drive around on the lot.

It's got plenty of room for a pool table. That and electric for the fridge (cold beer) and it more than meets my criteria for a house. That's as big as my house in the city is. 2000 feet is a lot of room for a single guy!

[TheSilverBuick]

To my understanding, manufactured IS trailers. Double-wides are simply 2 trailers side by side, so that ad seems honest to my view.

Its Modular that is built in a factory and brought in. No steel trailer frame, never titled as a trailer with BMV.

I think the trivial difference is a manufactured home has no wheels,axles or hitch under it and the frame sits right on some kind of foundation or solid posts, as opposed to having wheels and a hitch. Splitting hairs, IMO too.

I have no hate for trailers. My Dad lives in a single trailer in a trailer park in the ghetto of Fontana, CA. His concern is he doesn't think I'm "real trailer trash" LOL!

[TheSilverBuick]

Your major intersection street name is the same as my motivational state right now. Lackawanna. Awesome.

Do you have a picture of the lot? There's a suprising bunch of trees next to it? Is that part of it? Wood is expensive, and a great resource to have. With a fireplace and keeping the trees trimmed, you can heat for cheap! I miss having way too many trees, except when I want to drive around on the lot.

I don't have any pictures beyond the low resolution google street view and realitor's ad. I don't recall seeing any significant trees. It's perfectly legal here though to go into the woods up in the mountains and cut firewood. A ton of people I know do that.

[ls7gto]

Around here the difference is a steel frame, or wood floor joists. ( Mobile home axles are popular for the build your own car trailer types ).

[Orange65]

After reading the posts so far, if it were me in your shoes, I would have a question and an action that needed to be done:

Question- can I afford to live on half of my take home pay and live the way I want? i.e. continue to play with cars, eat, drink and be merry like I have been?

Action- contact your realtor (if you haven't) and ask about the benefit of a shop on your existing land. Can you get your investment back? I just bought a house- the appraiser told me it depends on location as to the benefit of an outbuilding.

What would I do? Build where you are. Sure, you may be able to rent your current house, but then you have to deal with tenants. I have never met anyone that has rented to others that doesn't have a horror story to tell. If you buy house #1, you have to build a shop and you will not have as much $$ to work with since you are paying two house notes. House #2 carries a larger house note and since it has been on the market for about 2 years, is either in a non desirable location or is priced too high. If you buy it, you will face the same issues when you sell it.

Another option- look for low cost warehouse area to rent for your shop. Could be cheaper in the long run!