Housing is so screwed up right now.

[FreshStart1]

I've lived in apartments 3 years and I'm sick of it.
Wanted to find a cheaper house, but there are so many people "flipping" it is impossible.
Also anytime a cheaper house pops up, a slum lord buys it to rent out.
Houses than rent for $1200 a month here can be mortgaged for HALF THAT.
Renting a house..a lot of people want EACH ADULT TO GROSS 3X the rent.
So if a house is renting for $1200 a month, they want the couple to make $7,200 combined.
Ridiculous.

This country has turned so greedy it is going to be the eventual ruin of itself.

[guillaumeb]

1. Welcome to DU.

But the very rich are doing very well.

And the very rich own the media.

So all is well.

[D_Master81]

2. I agree

Around here houses that aren't worth anywhere near what our house is worth (we live in a house thats valued about $165,000) are renting for $1000 a month. There's so much info out there anymore that anyone with money and a little bit of desire can learn about house flipping or renting. And little to nothing is for sale, most people seem to be building. I dont know how much longer this can continue, but it seems to be the norm for the foreseeable future.

[Blue_true]

9. The houses that are more stable in price are the ones that the flippers have

trouble turning over fast. In my region those houses are the $500,000 and up houses. The lower cost two-three bedroom, two bath houses get flipped fast or bought up and rented out with little more than cleanup, new paint, new carpet.

[mopinko]

12. not many will make any money flipping, tho.

the prices in the housing market are well attuned to the condition of the property, and to the cost of rehabs.
there is almost never any real slack in the numbers. the only way to make money on this is if you can do a fair amount of the work yourself.

[pecosbob]

3. Well come

[democratisphere]

4. Rome is fully engulfed.

It is only a matter of time before the WH wall street gang finishes US off!

[Trailrider1951]

5. Welcome to DU FreshStart1! I hope you're finding it to your liking

I hate apartments, too. Yes, the housing situation where I'm at SUX. I moved here to the Seattle area because my family moved here, and finding affordable housing is a major ordeal. The decent apartments here are small, cheaply built, and at least $1100 per month for a one-bed/one-bath model. I'm semi-retired (age 67) and I cannot afford that! I settled for a used manufactured home in a Age 55+ community that is quiet, well-kept and anything but "trailer trash" (God, how I hate that term!). I didn't want a mortgage at my age, so I paid cash for my house from my retirement savings. I only have the $650 per month lot rent. So now I have a two bedroom/one bath 940 sq ft house with a nice covered patio, covered parking, and a small yard where I can garden to my heart's content. I am having fun redecorating, and I am currently painting the interior, and will be painting the exterior this summer.

A manufactured home might be the answer to your housing needs. You might look in your area at what is for sale. And for the truth about manufactured housing, try Crystal Adkins blog: mobilehomeliving.org

[Progressive Law]

6. PLEASE!! Be very wary on purchasing a mobile home, but paying lot rent! PLEASE

Large corporations are buying up mobile home lots, and raising rents because they know the mobile homeowners will likely not be able to leave!

[Trailrider1951]

8. Thanks for posting that video. It was highly informative and very entertaining.

However, I found that buying a manufactured house for $11,000 cash and only having the lot rent works for me. And if this ever becomes unaffordable, I'll sell this house and move to a more affordable place (I don't mind being in a more rural setting). After seeing what's for sale in this area (mobile homes only), there is no doubt that I could sell this place as is for twice what I paid for it. My solution may not work for everyone, and it's good to be acquainted with the possible pitfalls of such a purchase. Oh, and welcome to DU!

[Blue_true]

10. John Oliver is always on target and entertaining as hell.

That mixture of British wit and American urban humor.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. Chances are you won't be able to sell that place for as much as you think. Keep in mind that

manufactured homes decrease in value, and that those who choose to finance that purchase pay vastly higher interest rates than do actual home purchasers.

It is good that your solution has worked for you.

[Trailrider1951]

15. It is just not true that manufactured homes always decrease in value

although, granted, if the home is on land and not in a park, it has more of a chance of appreciation in value, this is true. However, the most deciding factor in whether or not a given home will appreciate is Location, Location, Location. Here in the Seattle-Tacoma area, absolutely everything is increasing in price, apartments, houses, manufactured homes, you name it. Why? It's just a great place to live and the economy is booming. Here are some recently sold homes in my immediate vicinity that are manufactured homes comparable to mine:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/fsba,fsbo_lt/mobile_type/60848612_zpid/47.144109,-122.233866,47.138001,-122.245399_rect/16_zm/0_mmm/1_rs/



https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/fsba,fsbo_lt/mobile_type/2140134269_zpid/47.144109,-122.233866,47.138001,-122.245399_rect/16_zm/0_mmm/1_rs/


https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/fsba,fsbo_lt/mobile_type/60861713_zpid/47.145346,-122.233978,47.139238,-122.245511_rect/16_zm/0_mmm/1_rs/


And these are the cheapest ones. The prices go up for larger, newer homes.

[GemDigger]

7. You must be near me. That has been my problem for months and months.

Exactly like here. House flippers, Airbnb, garages (old garages) redone and charging the same amount as a new place, I have never paid 30% in rent. Not in 45 years of renting. I have always had to pay at least 50% if not more. We have been looking for a place since January and cannot find one. Luckily we need to be out at the end of June and at least the campgrounds are cheap.

I have excellent long term references, zero debt, but can't make that 3x threshold.

Thanks for ranting for me, I have been wanting too. I feel much better now. Good luck on your search.

[Blue_true]

11. I was about to suggest moving out away from the city.

But that does not work. Either people building estates buy up the outland or developers buy it up and build "retirement" housing complexes that most locals can't afford to live in. The two closes cities in my region are slowly merging along the main highway via a strange mix of leanto-shacks and multi-million dollar farm estates.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Where do you live? That makes a huge difference.

Although I am aware that housing costs are high in many places.

Several thoughts. One is that I've never understood why someone would rent for decades and not buy. Yeah, I know that coming up with a down payment can be tough, but I've also known people to finance that down payment with a second mortgage.

Mobile home parks. While I cans see the genuine appeal of buying a mobile/manufactured home, there can be a huge down side. One is that the home will decrease in value, not increase. And if you finance the purchase, it's at a vastly higher interest rate than a regular home.

Space rental. That goes up every year. When I first moved to Santa Fe I had a temp job at a local mobile home park, and I was genuinely appalled at what the residents paid. The space rent combined with the home payment was a whole lot more than I paid in rent for a two bedroom apartment, and later for my mortgage on a two bedroom townhome. The owner of the place raised the rent every single year. I only worked there for a few months, but I remained friends with the permanent staff. A year later, when, after promising not to raise the rent, the owner did so, my friends quit in protest. They'd been telling the residents there wouldn't be any space rent rise, because that's what the owner had told them. He lied.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. I live in Santa Fe, NM, which is supposedly so expensive no normal person

can afford to live here. I moved here from Overland Park, KS, which according to friends who lived across the state line in Missouri was so expensive no normal person could afford to live here.

I've long been puzzled by these attitudes. For one thing, you have to look closely at what's involved. Or what the numbers say. When I lived in OP I owned a home that was above the medium home price there. Here in NM my home is significantly below the median home price. That sort of thing matters.

[Rambling Man]

17. There's cheap rent out there

but it's in places that have ghost towns for main streets, rusting hulks of former industry, plenty of poverty.

And no concentration/proliferation of retail except for Wal Mart, the dollar stores, payday loan places, and shabby local businesses with senseless crap boutique products, thrift stores, and mostly shitty restaurants that go out of business.

Did I mention zero opportunity in these places? Yeah, that too.

These are the places where the military gets most of their cannon fodder.

[FreshStart1]

18. n/t

One thing I forgot to mention to, I think the real estate market is doing this whole "artificial scarcity" act to drive up home prices.

There are close to 19 MILLION vacant homes in the US.