"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[Xist]

If so, this person has paid more in HOA fees than for the tract of land itself! https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...08312549_zpid/

[Xist]

Did I ever post this? Is it still relevant?

If you told me that someone in your family opened the sliding glass door while the AC was running I would have thought it was a child.

Good. This is the thread where someone asked about retirement. Is it me or do I have two active threads where we discuss the same stuff?

JSH, I do not have any retirement, and I am forty-one, so if I got 10.53% on 13.6% I would need to work until I am sixty-eight to have be worth $230,619.

The job that pays more does not do retirement, it is 1099. I do not have enough hours with the other job to receive retirement.

The office just assigned me a temporary client twenty miles west of Phoenix. Good thing that I am telecommuting!

It is twice a week and that area is the base rate, but we will see what they pay me.

I will not complain if it is 36% less, since the state pays significantly less in that area.

[Xist]

I bought and read Homemade Home's book. I was wondering what information it would have that I did not already pick up from his videos or from wholesalers. He did have a few, which I am not sharing here, because I only found it after paying $5, but not only does he find distressed properties, but some of the stories that he shared were of people with deadlines, and he communicated that he could take care of everything and write them a check for two to five thousand, or they could lose control of the property, and not receive anything for it.

At the end he indicated that he wanted to go bigger and faster, getting into flipping larger houses in nicer neighborhoods. He could turn a much larger profit than he would buying $7,500 houses and subcontracting was faster than doing everything himself.

I don't know, it feels like those car channels that start out modifying Civics, but they become popular, and start buying exotic cars. I believe that Strong Bad said it best: "I can't relate."

[Xist]

I am not saying this is my plan A, but it is possible. I found this while roaming around looking for trouble:

This boarded-up 14x67 double-wide from 1972 is on a good-sized lot, a little bigger than Mom's. Zillow guesses that it is worth $65,000, but I do not believe the structure has any real value. Sure, it can be fixed up, but I hate to see the interior.

It would be easier to tear it down. This says that it costs $3.50 per square foot to demolish a mobile home, which would be around $3,283 for this one:
https://www.hometowndemolitioncontra...e-home-removal.

I looked up the owner through the county's website. She supposedly lives somewhere in-town. Mom warned me that the owner might not be alive anymore, but the Internet told me the owner is in her early 60s and posts frequently on Facebook.

The county says that she did not pay her property taxes last year. Based on my earlier math the property is worth $29,000, but if you need to spend $5,000 to remove the mobile home...

People ask Homemade Home why he doesn't buy a lot and build a house from scratch. He always says that the utility connections are worth as much as the lot itself.

This has connections.

I looked up how much it costs to build a house yourself and this wasn't the top result, but looked the most interesting: Are You Built for a Do-It-Yourself House Kit?

We are back to that?

We discussed that in the commercial shed thread.

Apparently there were a number of articles about this lady building her own home from a kit:


She doesn't look forty-eight to me!

The company the lady used only has one kit with a garage, I had difficulty finding anything that looked good until I searched for "house kit with garage," and I found this:

Three bedrooms, two baths, and a two-car garage. 1,195 square feet plus 224 square feet of a covered porch. $55,089 for the kit, but that does not include shipping, the concrete foundation, electrical, plumbing, insulation, dry wall, flooring, cabinets, counter-tops, bath tubs, toilets, lights, appliances, paint, and roof.

That sounds like a lot!

Dave Ramsey [or one of his minions] says that on average it costs $153 per square foot to build a house. The average house size is 2,800 square feet, so 1,195 square feet would theoretically cost $175,835.71. Eighteen houses that sold recently between $125,000 and $200,000 averaged $168,578 for 1,457 square feet or $123 per square foot, but some of those are outside of town and\or have a converted garage, so maybe $153 is close to what the going price for houses is, or at least was.

Wait, how did I get to a $175,000 project? That is assuming buying a lot and demolishing the mobile home at least breaks even with buying an empty lot.

Or does it? Dave does not include the cost of land! How Much Does It Cost to Build a House?

Here is the rest of what I figured out before realizing the other dealbreaker:

This kit, $55,089 plus shipping, does not seem to include much besides framing, and again we are trading money for convenience. Dave's estimate is $17,500 for framing, so we are paying more than triple, increasing the final cost by $37,589, which is more than I made last year.

However, $81,089 would include the Sales Price, which seems like a weird name. It includes $19,632 for builder and vendor profit, $9,389 for overhead and general expenses, $7,255 for sales commission, $3,414 for financing, and $2,134 for marketing.

The kit may break even with savings elsewhere, like labor.

The wall panels and trusses come preassembled, they just need to be attached to each other. They have a video showing that in 1996 in front of a convention they had one team frame a conventional house while another house assembled an identical house right next to it using their system.

The kit house saved over $3,000 and finished significantly faster.

They say they have their own lenders, but what rates would they have?

Wait, I am supposed to use their lender for the kit. I would need to get a Construction-To-Permanent Loan, which are supposedly difficult to get because financial institutions do not want to financially responsible for Tim Taylor, although Quicken says they do them with similar rates to conventional loans.

They just require 20% down.

I spent my entire evening tilting this windmill!

[Ecky]

My experience was that I was declined for a renovation loan at 75% of the amount that I was approved for a normal mortgage, and was told the interest rates would be much higher on a renovation even if I were. My wife's credit score is over 800 and mine is in the upper 7's. The bank has nothing to secure the loan, so their requirements are more strict and the terms are much worse.

I'm not saying you couldn't get one, just that you probably won't get one, and if you do, it'll be a much higher interest rate on top of a lot more money down.

[oil pan 4]

Yes HOA will charge for an empty lot that has no services provided by the HOA.

[Xist]

It is official: "Hi [Xist],
Yes, the position has been filled."
Did they hire the first person to apply?

I signed up for Deal-U-later. I figured that I could find anything that I needed before the trial ran out, but it is a big huge complicated machine, and I am unsure how accurate it is. It shows a few vacant houses on my street, but I know for a fact that people live there. I tried watching instructional videos. One by a different guy showed an older version and the options had changed. The ones the guy that I shared suggested watching before signing up do not seem to really show how to use it.

I asked them to cancel my account and went to bed.

I do not feel that it was fair to say that I was waiting, I was actively looking, but technically waiting for someone to post an opening.

I decided that it was time to make an opportunity.

The problem with Homemade Home's plan is that the houses need to be paid off already. If the house is free and clear, but they owe back taxes then it would work, but if they are headed to foreclosure the bank has dibs.

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by Xist

If the house is free and clear, but they owe back taxes then it would work, but if they are headed to foreclosure the bank has dibs.

It can still work, the margin is just a lot thinner. The bank and the town are just lienholders that are close to seizing the house, and you're looking at being a middleman who buys out the owner, pays off the lienholder and then has a house for well below market. The main difference is that the bank's lien is probably going to be much larger than the town's.

Depending on the market, you could look to foreclosed properties that banks are trying to cut their losses on- they're bankers, not property managers.

[Xist]

I believe that I started looking for houses in the $125,000 - $200,000 range because there are only two houses for sale for less.

Do you remember how 14 houses sold in the last 12 months for $125,000 or less?

42 houses sold in the higher price range.

For the 14 houses between $125,000 and $157,000, they varied between 584 and 2,250 square feet.

We will call those outliers and throw out them.

That leaves 12 between 930 and 1,658, but the second-largest is 1,378, and 3 are 1,250, so I will throw out another.

Two houses were around $160 per square foot while the rest were $97.97 - $143.06, so I will throw out those, too.

That leaves 8 houses that sold for $147,687.50 with 1,194 square feet, for $124.58 per square foot.

For the 14 houses between $157,000 and $179,000, they varied between 1,056 and 1,653 square feet for $132.03 per square foot. These seem more homogeneous, but five did not have garages.

For the 14 houses between $179,000 and $200,000, one house was 4,445 square feet with a 2,000 square-foot unfinished basement--$43.19 per square foot, the lowest that I have seen, and it seemed to be in good condition. It also had a second two-car garage. The rest vary between 1,032 2,424 square feet. The largest was the most expensive, almost 12% larger, for less than 1% more than the next-most-expensive. It was also the cheapest per square feet. Not by a large margin, but 12% larger, and 8% less per square foot?

Out.

I do not have any idea why the 1,032-square-foot house sold for $182,000. Out!

Now we have 11 houses between $179,900 and $197,500, 1,284 and 2,172 square feet, and $88.86 and $153.82 per square foot, but two are around $150 per square foot, and the average is $112.

Out, along with one that is $138.46 per square foot.

Now we have 8 houses between $179,900 and $195,000, 1,631 and 2,172 square feet, $88.86 and $112.85 per square foot, averaging $189,300, 1,925 square feet, and $99.44 per square foot.

$1 - $125,000: $83.16 per square foot.
$125,000 - $157,000: $124.58 per square foot.
$157,000 - $179,000: $132.03 per square foot.
$179,000 - $200,000: $112.85 per square foot.

Why is there such a huge jump above and below $125,000?

Why is the price-per-square-foot so much lower once you pass $179,000?

Would I rather have two 1,203-square-foot houses or one with 1,772 square feet?

I did not look too closely at today's houses, but none needed any obvious repairs, while some cheap houses definitely did, but the most expensive were $103 per square foot.

The easiest thing to tell right off is which house is under $100 a square foot--just one, although I swear there was another.

Three bedrooms, two baths, and 1,820 square feet for $174,900. $96 per square foot on .31 acres. No paved driveway, lawn, or garage. It is on the corner without curbs or sidewalks, so they just drive through. It is weird, the rooms look cramped, but each should be around 50% larger than Mom's.

There are sixteen other houses for sale under $200,000, the blue house with the bad foundation.

The weird two-story 912-square-foot A-frame has a $2 HOA and they want $130 per square foot.

The house with the second-lowest price per square foot has been on the market for over four years.

The third one is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,672 square feet with a one-car garage. It has been up for 61 days, is on .26 acres, was built in 1968, and they want $115 per square foot. It has an 8x12 shed in the backyard. It looks dated, but nicer than Mom's house. One room has wood paneling and most rooms are a shade of pink.

However, $115 per square foot x 1,672 square feet = $192,000.

It was last sold three months after I was born.

20% down is $38,400. Zillow estimates $714 payments at 3.777%. I do not have any idea what goes into its rental guestimate, but that is somehow $1,250.

It seems plausible.

It estimates taxes at $126 and insurance at $67 monthly. That allegedly leaves $343 a month for repairs and profit.

Next is a 3-bedroom, 1-bath log cabin with 1,284 square feet for $150,000. It does not have a carport or garage. It has been up for 26 days, is on 8,712 square feet, and they want $117 per square foot. It looks fine, a little small, but no pink paint. Strangely, there is a chip in one door frame.

Next is a 3-bedroom, 1-bath house with 1,581 square feet for $194,900 without a carport or garage. It has been up for 313 days, is on 10,454 square feet, everything looks nice, and they are asking $123 per square foot.

They reduced the price $5,000 6 weeks after they put it on the market almost 9 months ago.

Someone should be able to talk them down, but how far?

If you talk them down to $175,000 it would be around $110 per square foot, the down payment would be $35,000, payments would be $651, $827 with taxes and insurance.

Allegedly you could rent it out for $1,300 with $473 for maintenance and profit, but could someone talk them down $20,000?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7...8410185_zpid/?

[oil pan 4]

My inherited rental has in 2 years cost a gas hot water heater, some R-410a and some plumbing.
Didn't cost much, just took time.
But we had lived there from 2011 to 2017 it took some work and I know what was wrong with it when I rented it out.