h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As some of you may recall, we've been looking for housing again the last few months. We've looked at all options this time--renting, buying a manufactured home in a park, buying a manufactured home on its own land, and buying a stick-built (ie "real") house. At every turn, we've run into walls. Rent is rather high, especially compared to our income. We *are* on a waiting list for assistance, but our spot in line won't come up until November, with a moving deadline of May. The other type of rental assistance (not-HUD) is problematic, too. The places that are run by the same company that runs our current apartment are out, since they all operate on the same government program that we're no longer eligible for. Of the 2 places that are left, one is for seniors only, and the other has a waiting list over 2 years long...

Buying was looking bad, too. We couldn't get financing high enough to actually buy any home with land, stick-built or manufactured. The only place doing mortgages on manufactured homes in parks wants 25% down and 7-8% interest (half-again to twice the interest on stick-builts). Plus, of course, if you buy a manufactured home in a park, you have to pay rent on the land. We could've tried for the loan program we almost got a place with last year, but, since we likely would've qualified for the same amount, I could find nothing eligible for the program in our price range. I looked at foreclosures--the place I found was already in escrow (being sold) to someone else before I asked for more info. Oh, and we couldn't get financing for foreclosures anyway, I found out.

So our last option was to find a seller willing to carry the loan. I'd spotted a couple of places that wouldn't work for us, as well as one that maybe would--all manufactured homes, all but 1 in parks (and that one was tiny, with only 3 photos, all exterior shots from very similar angles). However, yesterday I asked our real estate agent (the one that's been working with us since the summer before PaperKid entered preschool, which would make it the summer of 2007) if she knew of any stick-built owner-carries, not expecting any--and certainly nothing in our range. I received an email a couple of hours later, with a link to all the owner-carry listings in the county. On it were the ones we'd already rejected, and the place I already had an appointment to view. There was a nice big farm, and some houses well out of our range, though a lot less than the farm. And there was this house, which I looked at today, since I was already meeting F to look at another place anyway.

The house sits on .27 acres (1092.6 m²) in the country, out of the tsunami evacuation area by some miles, and it appears to be out of the wind, as well (sunny and clear today, so couldn't tell if it's out of the overcast). It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house, with the bedrooms big enough for the girls to share. It has forced air heating, but it also has a good-sized wood stove. There's a well and a septic system. There's a greenhouse with a sink in the back, as well as raised beds in the garden (currently fallow). There's a large tool shed/shop wired for electricity, and something called a "hobby shed" in the listing that's also wired and has a sink. There's a covered area for RV parking, also wired for electricity, so you can hook up said RV. And there's a garage for normal cars. Between the garage and the house is a laundry area with a pantry. In the yard, there's a firepit and a porch swing that looks a little old, but it held my weight firmly when I sat very slowly, lifted my feet one at a time, and then swung. According to the mortgage calculator, which includes tax and PMI, monthly payments would be quite a bit less than renting a place and about the same as buying a cheap manufactured home and paying space rent along with mortgage payments.

Oh, and it's fully fenced

mini

Go for it, Amy! This may be the rare, elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Oooooooooh. That's sounds great! Fingers crossed and good luck!

Fingers, toes, knees, elbows and eyes crossed that this works out for you.


MC

Good Luck, Amy! Sounds wonderful!

Good luck to you. Sounds just like the sort of place you need.

Oops, forgot that the house would actually be on a different section of the tsunami evacuation map than our current place is... *looks* Yep, out of the evacuation zone, by about the same distance as where we are now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oU3ftA-Qx8 for a quick virtual tour

Hello there Amy! It looks like a nice place, I really hope you can get it and that it will suit you well in all ways.

Good luck Amy That house looks as if it will make a fine family home, its got lots of potential . The kitchen looks smart

When will you hear?

with it all, Amy & family

and break a leg (just in case)!

Break a leg? That means good luck if you're in a theater. Just don't say Macbeth.

Surely the Theatre of Life is playing everywhere? And now you've gone and done it, mentioning the Play That Must Not Be Named...

We actually are submitting the offer tomorrow--we did meet with F yesterday, and decided to try a lower offer with a lower downpayment first--the worst the owner can do is say no and give a counter-offer. F had an appointment to show a house to some other folks, so didn't have time to rewrite the offer. She was going to finish up the offer after she was done with the showing. She called 5 hours later, and was still with the people We decided to finish things up tomorrow. So after that, it's however long the owner takes to decide to accept or offer a counter offer.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get to bed before 2am, though I didn't the last 2 nights...

presudent Obama visited Ford's Theater [the place where Anraham Lincoln was assassinated] and said "Macbeth" there. Nothing bad happened. As long as you aren't an actor, it must be all right.