hey mamas! you've all given such good advice in the past, i hope someone out there can help me on this one. my mom just recently bought my grandparents' land (to keep it in the family, help them out with their retirement, etc). well now she is all for just handing a hunk of it to us to build on. silly mom! i told her of course we'd work something out to pay her for it...anyway...long story short...we're in this situation and we want to take advantage of it!
we are on the dave ramsey plan, and are in the midst of paying off debt (which isn't a lot), making an allocated spending plan each month, etc. long story short we don't want to borrow for this if we don't have to, and our credit isn't great so that may not even be an option anyway. so we are thinking about buying a small cheap trailer, and living out there while we build piece by piece. (that's the theory anyway!) has anyone out there done this? my husband has an aunt who did something similar, but we are not close so i thought i'd ask you folks...ladies and gentlemen both! :)
i know we'd have to lay a septic tank, lines, etc...just have no idea where to start. do places that make prefab homes/trailers have used ones? we are looking to live as cheaply as possible right now. i would sooo love to do this by end of summer so my son could start kindergarten in that school district and not have to switch...we'll see. anyway, any advice you guys have would be SO appreciated! thanks in advance!
thanks so far ladies! Marilyn, i don't mean to sound like i am jumping up and down in glee at being handed something for free. this is going to be a HUGE undertaking and i understand that...but considering this is a piece of land in between two houses (my grandparents', and my mom's - who put a house out there 30 years ago too) i know it's possible. it's already been surveyed and rezoned, when she bought it. and there are people here paying $6,000 per acre for land. so whatever happens, this is a huge gift she is giving us, and i'd be a fool not to at least consider it seriously. i am not afraid of hard work or doing without. one thing i am proud of is that i work hard to attain goals. i'm good at it. once i set my mind to something, it generally happens. that's why i am here asking about what steps to take first. so bring it on! :o) thanks again for the advice so far ladies, sounds great!!
The thing that concerns me right away is that, like us, you're in prime tornado country and no mobile home or travel trailer will stand up to that. If you decide to take the chance, invest in a storm cellar near the house, just to be safe.
Please don't use your retirement or 401-K to borrow against for this. The reason you have a retirement fund early in life is so that you have something to live on in your older life when you are unable to work. You won't be able to put that money back, and it will be gone forever, including all the compounding that it can do between now and when you retire.
A mobile or prefab home will not go up in value - it will only decrease. Hopefully you can live there for the rest of your days and not sell before the mortgage is paid off, but you need to understand that this is not a money-making deal for you later on, using mobile or prefab homes.
If you can get a construction loan while you are building, it can be wrapped into a regular mortgage. Prefab and mobile homes have to pay higher interest rates to get a mortgage, but the good news is that the interest rates are generally low now for mortgages.
Dave Ramsey is great and all, but he surely wouldn't have you take retirement money out and put it against a depreciating asset such as you are talking about. He also doesn't say not to have a mortgage. And he wouldn't want you to try to do the work yourself when you don't know how to build.
Good luck!
Dawn
Not sure what is out there as far as used trailers go but the companies that sell them would know how to hook them up.
After you are on site and want to start the first thing you have to find out is what an architect costs. Unless you know how to build a house, which isn't easy, you need an architect to draw up plans. Don't do anything stupid like skipping this or your house can collapse. Once you have the plans it is fairly easy to build a house bit by bit. You can have the foundation poured and do nothing more for as long as you like. The only huge expense after that you will need in a lump is framing, trusses and roofing. You cannot let a house sit without it being under roof, the wood will rot over time.
Just saw Kris' post. If you are concerned about tornadoes then make the foundation a top priority. It would be silly to go through the expense to build a cellar and then build a house.
My cousin and his wife have a huge piece of land and lived in a trailer for two years on the property while building the house. It worked, but they didn't have children and weren't on a restricted budget.
If the land will still be there when you are out of debt, then build your home at that time. This is going to cost you a LOT of money no matter how you do it. If you can afford your current living situation while paying off your debt, then stick to your plan. Switching schools isn't the end of the world.
Once you start talking about lines and tanks, you are talking about inspections, contractors and materials (new or used) which will add-up quickly. Then you would need to buy or rent the trailer. After you build the house, what do you do with the trailer? Sell it, sure, but for about 1/2 of what you paid for it!
Just a suggestion... I know it's really hard to turn down "free land", but it's not "free"- it's "vacant". If you become the property "owner", you will have to pay taxes on it. You will have to pay all of the fees associated with building and living on that land, including ALL upkeep. If you are working your way out of debt, keep going and don't let a little temptation get in your way!
Oh, sounds nice to be handed "free" land, but may not be as free as you think. So sorry to bring you to reality, and I don't mean that in a bad way........ I truly hope this can work for you!
You know about the septic tank, but is there a WATER line to the property or will you have to dig a well? That will be a big expense to factor in. You probably need to check with the county to see requirements, permits, zoning, building a driveway or access road, running electricity and power lines, gas lines, or whether you will need a propane tank for gas needs. Survey's, property taxes, assessments, land title, etc. On "unimproved" land, there could be a lot of things that would be a lot of "up front" expenses before you ever think about the cheap house.
Do your homework BEFORE you shop for the house. If you are already in debt and don't have good credit, and don't want to "borrow", and on the Ramsey plan, I can't imagine getting started on this without at least $20,000 ready to go. I am no expert by any sense, but unless I am missing something, you will be in over your heads on this before you start.
Best wishes!
Mama:
IF you have an IRA or a 401K you can withdraw money from that account without the 10% penalty to build your home.
yes, there are many people who have purchased a motor home or a pre-fab house and used that while they built their home.
Talk to your local county for a land surveyor, the gas company and even the water and sewer to see how much it would cost to run lines, etc. then talk to an architect so you can get your dreams on paper.
Please keep in mind you will be paying property taxes. Have someone plot the land out so EVERYONE knows whose is who! No kidding - even family can squabble over a property line.
You should check with the county about the driveway and if they allow one or more entrances per whatever, if you have to have a water line, are the electrical lines all there and ready since you have parents/grandparent on each side, because we were paying bills before we ever moved into our home for those kind of things. I see you live not far from me so you know trailers don't do well in tornado weather. I would personally not do a trailer for that reason. There are small prefab for some type of homes you could put up and live in until you could either add on to it or use it for storage, etc. I just wouldn't do a trailer in KS. Otherwise sounds like a very generous gift. Remember too that land is still there down the road if you got on track with the Ramsey plan, debt free, credit up, etc. THEN you could build your home on the land.
When we bought our property it had septic, well and power. No buildings. We purchased a 2 bedroom single wide (it was just my husband and I and his daughter who came home 6x a year at the time) and lived in it for 6 years while we saved up to put a substantial amount down when we built our house. We paid about $7,000 cash for the single wide and bought it from someone in the area. You can look at trailer parks and in the paper. We had to pay an additional $1500 to have it moved and set up on our property. The cement pads were already in the ground, so that did save us some money. It was a pain to pull them out when we had the house built though.
Your first step would be to assess all of your what if costs. Is it inside the city limits? County? Find out what their building costs, covenants and requirements are and you will have your first layer of cost. Find out if they will allow a trailer on the land for an indeterminate amount of time. Price your utilities that will be needed for the build do you need nat gas, propane, electric and what they require bare minimumb to hook up a trailer with enough power to get a house built(future needs not just the amps that a trailer could consume). Liveable trailers can be had for cheap or free on things like freecycle, craigslist but remember this would def be temp housing but what happens if you can't afford to complete you build for like 5 years, will you be happy in a trailer? more complete modular homes are going to cost you a lot more and may need to look into it being permanent on the property as if you have a costly tear down or removal permit could end up staying awhile. The other option is to look at garages with small living spaces above them like at menards. This could later be used for Mom or company once your house is done and hubby could have a workshop or spare place for mower snow blower and if proprty is large enough a plow. If you are strapped for cash right now and paying down debt perhaps add mom as debt and pay her for the land like you are paying for the other things. Be careful in your steps and this could be your opportunity for a dream house.
It would be helpful to know what your current living situation is. If you are on the Ramsey plan, then how does this fit into it? You sound as if you are talking about taking on 2 additional debts (a temporary home and the expenses of building--which the building expenses may or may not be "debt" but will be an expense nonetheless). What will you be SAVING by virtue of this plan? Are you renting somewhere or already in a home of your own, or living with family at reduced rent expense?
You see... if you are living at low expense right now, then why take on the temporary home part of it? Why not just finish paying off your debt (Ramsey style) and then start saving for the permanent home? Then you could move INTO that home when enough is done that you could finish out the details on your own maybe... My parents did something like that with their last home. They left the basement incomplete. Yes it was sheetrocked, but no baseboards, window casings, flooring or anything not necessary for the certificate to occupy. They have spent the past 5 years or so making the basement as nice as the upstairs where they technically can spend all of their time. The basements is all extra space for them: sewing room, guest rooms, extra den space, etc.
I just don't think we can tell you what is a logical first step, without knowing what your CURRENT situation is. :/
Mobile homes can be bought for less than $10K if you look around. It is often the cost of hiring someone professional to come in, tear it down, hook it up and physically move it, safely I hope, set it up, professionally level it, etc...in Oklahoma that would cost about $2000-$3000.
Here is the google page for mobile homes for sale in Olathe Kansas:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...
This one searches by zip code.
http://kansas.mobilehomes-for-sale.com/
This one has several but I am not sure they are for moving them somewhere else. That would be the issue on most. If you buy from a dealer they move it and set it up. If you buy from an individual they just want it to go away and you have to find and hire someone to do the moving, setting up, leveling, etc....
http://kansas.mobilehomes-for-sale.com/MobileHomesForSale...
I have no experience but wanted to say, What a gift! Do it!!!!!!
If you are real adventurous, you could buy a cheap, used motor home. You would have to pay to go to one of the places that you can hook it up, clean out the tank, get more water etc. But seems like you could do that on the weekends since you work and are gone a lot during the week. Do you have a gym membership? I was just thinking you could shower a lot in a place like that to conserve water between times you get the home ready.
Way back in ancient time, when I was 5, we bought a piece of land, and moved a single wide trailer onto the property and moved in while my dad was building our house. It left me with great memories of that small little home with my big family and all the fun of helping dad build our home. I lived in an 8 ft wide, 35 ft long trailer with M., dad, 2 brothers and a sister from 5 to 9 yrs old while the huge 5 bedroom house was completed. (M. was pregnant with #5 by the time we moved into the house.) As a young kid it seemed like so much fun! Now I realize it was crowded and tiny, and must have driven my parents crazy, but it still was very doable, and we lived thru it just fine. You can find a little travel trailer to park out of the way and build a home without too much trouble. You just have to have patience and be willing to be happy in the small tight space for a while knowing how terrific it will all be when done.
My parents did this exact thing. Bought the property when I was 6 months old, moved the house trailer they were living in to the property (with my 6 year old brother). They dug a well, put in a septic, added onto the trailer with an A-frame structure because it was going to take a long time for them to build the house. We moved into the house when I was in first grade. I remember it very well. Because of the A-frame we had more space for all of us (added 2 more brothers to the scene).
My dad and youngest brother build homes piece by piece now. Just the two of them with the occasional drywall crew. It still takes them several months and they know what they are doing.
Do all of your research and if you have to do it piece by piece just know it will take longer than one summer unless you higher out. Menards sells building plans with estimates of what it would cost if you buy your supplies from them. Most houses cost around $25K. Then it depends on all your upgrades, plus having electric installed, septic and wells, driveways, excavating, etc.
Don't let all of this overwhelm you. It is an AWESOME gift and one not to be passed up. We have family property too, and that is worth more than anything. :) I think you just need to have a very realistic timeline if you plan to do it piece by piece. I think my parents could have done it in over half the time due to my dad's issues and my mom's working full time with 4 kids. And, we had livestock to care for, a garden to tend, etc. :)
A friend of mine growing up - her parents did this - paid a little, built a little, etc. They started when she was in Jr high and didn't finish until she had left for college?! Seriously, what's the point of "building" a home if those you want in it aren't going to live there.
On the other hand, my husband's parents took out a loan, had the work started and had a detailed plan for what was going to happen and when. My husband lived in a camping trailer in his back yard for about a year in 7th grade (lol) but they have enjoyed their home. His parents really saved $$ by finishing it out themselves - drywall, kitchen, carpeting, etc. His dad did it all, but they were in the house and enjoying it.
So, two examples, if it were me, i'd look at a really tight timeline - like what can be built in a year by saving and then with the equity in the land take out a loan to finish the rest in year two (if your credit is really terrible). That way you are in your home, maybe only have the house payment and those bills, but you aren't waiting forever to live in your home.
Best of luck with this decision - it is a big one, but a FUN one!
It will be an adventure! We bought land and continued living where we were until our house was finished. (As it was paid off, and the new house was being built.)
I will tell you first, before anything else...what county are you building in? Go and talk to the county treasurer (found out what property taxes run on the size of house that you are thinking, etc), I would highly recommend talking to a builder. (if you know one in the county that you are wanting to build in, even better!) Not to have them build it, more to find out what you might be up against with county codes. They are all different and some more "sticky" than others. We build in Miami county and I know there were a lot of "hoops" to jump through! ;-)
I wish you nothing but the best. It sounds like you have done some thinking on this already. I doesn't hurt to talk to others that build for a living, I don't know that I would flat out tell them that you have no intention of using their services (unless you know them! lol), but just let them know you are interested in their opinion. I will be honest, there are always unforeseen costs involved. We thought we had ours planned out, and lo and behold we found additional costs, here or there...
Good luck! Enjoy the experience, I am assuming that this is your dream home, so make it that! You've already got a head start, the land is a gift! You don't have to spend thousands on a lamp for it to be a dream come true...J.
