I can't believe you're gonna live in a trailer to save only $4k per year. I hope it works out for you.
- Dec 18, 2001
- 24,036
- 21
- 81
It's not just the money though.
We figured everything out tonight. We'd end up saving $450 per month, that's 5400 per year. Then you have to figure in all the time we spend cleaning the house, taking care of the property (mowing, gardening, painting, etc.), the big expenses we can avoid (like replacing the gutters), the property taxes, etc.
Plus right now is the best time to sell our house if we want it sold. Otherwise when the rates go back up we can expect to wait several years before a buyer will take it. When I filled everything out on LengingTree, they made an online assessment of our home $20,000 over what we paid for it. If we could get that...
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
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Just don't forget to consider the tax shelter a house provides. You will lose that.
The first year after I sold mine and didn't adjust witholding I had to come out of pocket like $6k and I was making about $37k at the time (1997 or so) plus I was paying some in tax each paycheck.
I got gang-raped that year.
The first year after I sold mine and didn't adjust witholding I had to come out of pocket like $6k and I was making about $37k at the time (1997 or so) plus I was paying some in tax each paycheck.
I got gang-raped that year.
Originally posted by: SagaLore
We've had our house for about 2 years, it's actually a pretty good deal for a house. But we are fed up with our neighbors and all the kids on the block stold all of the fruit off our trees and walnuts/chestnuts.My wife is about to go psychotic because she can't stand it anymore here.
Although we have quite a bit of money rolling in, and a good cash flow, we're trying to pay off credit cards, car loans, school loans, etc. and we estimate about 2 years if we restrict our cash flow and pay off as much as possible (not counting the school loans). So when all the debt is gone, we'll have a huge surplus in cash flow, but then we still would have to wait awhile saving up for our next house. But I would like to build our next house which is going to be uber-expensive.
So I was thinking, since the interest rates are so low right now, we could put our house up for sale and even sell for more than we bought (because we've made quite a lot inexpensive aesthetic improvements). We then could buy a 2 bed room trailer and stay in that for a year or two and have everything paid of very fast with a huge savings.
There a few trailers I have found, one is 8500 with a lot rent of 250 including water/sewer/garbage and another one for 10500 with a lot rent of 210 including water/sewer. Both trailer parks have to have park owner approval of residents so the type of people that live there is somewhat moderated.
What do you think... am I crazy? Is this a good idea?
edit: We're going for it!
We looked out how much money we'd be saving per month on just mortgage/escrow alone, plus all the time we'd be saving on having to maintain the trailer versus our house and property. We talked to a real estate agent and after looking through the pros and cons, she thought it was a good idea.
1. Low interest rates means house will sell faster
2. Improvements we've made to the house so far will help sell it for more than we bought it
3. The trailer park we looked at is quiet, well kept
4. The money we save will help us pay off all of our debt one year sooner - in only 2 years, and that includes EVERYTHING
5. The trailer is actually closer to my wife's work which will cut on gas expense a little
6. The trailer comes with all appliances and furniture
7. We won't have to bother with our rude neighbors anymore...
We're getting our house assessed this Friday. The trailer has been on the market for awhile so we figure we'll wait as long as possible before making an offer on it.
You won't have a potential Neighbor issue in the Trailer park???
Getting rid of the debt will help you guys later when you want to go back into a house, congrats.
Being closer to work is a good thing too.
Best wishes and luck to you two. :beer:
I tried to do a similar thing, but I had several problems doing it. One, my wife said there is no way in hell that she'd live in a trailer, even if it saved us money to build the house on the lot we owned, and two, there were deed restrictions in the area I wanted to build which would preclude me from living in a trailer on my wooded lot until or while my house was being built. I mean hell, I wouldn't want to have a nice house on a nice lot in a neighborhood and have a trailer next door to me for a couple of years, so it made sense to me.
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
- 81
Just about any of the interest you will pay on a house is a tax write off. For most people this means the first several years you can almost get back 100% of the fed withholding you pay.
It is also one of the reasons it's not smart to buy a house with a lot of cash down sometimes. If you can realize a better net income with an interest write off, versus the payment savings a larger downpayment makes you should go the former route.
With a house you can also dump money into it to prevent that money going to the government....sure you may still have to pay it, but at least you'd get the direct benefit.
If you haven't used the interest as a write off you can adjust your tax filing back up to 3 years I believe (but I think they may cap the adjustment and you can potentially be audited, not that audits are bad, but just make sure you didn't fudge anything and can prove what you paid and didn't pay).
A couple of points:
1) You mentioned that the house will be needing some maintenance (e.g. gutters replaced.) The trailer will also require maintenance. Sure, it will be a little cheaper, but not that much. The furnace in the trailer is more than likely a cheap P.O.S. - that may not be adequate. The trailer may not be inusulated as well as your home - and might actually cost more for heating and cooling.
2) House upkeep. You also mentioned the up-keep and cleaning on your current house. Well, every house - even trailer homes need cleaning, too. The trailer will be a bit easier to clean due to less square footage.
Finally, this thread reminds me of my nephew. He was very irrational during the first few years of his marriage - and still tends to be. He's switched careers about 6 or 7 times over the last 10 years and has also gone through about 6 apartments/trailers/home purchases. :Q :Q
Personally, I would not sell the house and get into a trailer home. A few months back, I heard a good quote: "Make sure you are running towards something and not away from it." In your case, I see it as you are doing a lot of running away:
- Want to get away from the extra expenses
- Want to get away from the troubling neighbors, etc.
I think this whole plan is doomed.
1) You mentioned that the house will be needing some maintenance (e.g. gutters replaced.) The trailer will also require maintenance. Sure, it will be a little cheaper, but not that much. The furnace in the trailer is more than likely a cheap P.O.S. - that may not be adequate. The trailer may not be inusulated as well as your home - and might actually cost more for heating and cooling.
2) House upkeep. You also mentioned the up-keep and cleaning on your current house. Well, every house - even trailer homes need cleaning, too. The trailer will be a bit easier to clean due to less square footage.
Finally, this thread reminds me of my nephew. He was very irrational during the first few years of his marriage - and still tends to be. He's switched careers about 6 or 7 times over the last 10 years and has also gone through about 6 apartments/trailers/home purchases. :Q :Q
Personally, I would not sell the house and get into a trailer home. A few months back, I heard a good quote: "Make sure you are running towards something and not away from it." In your case, I see it as you are doing a lot of running away:
- Want to get away from the extra expenses
- Want to get away from the troubling neighbors, etc.
I think this whole plan is doomed.
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