Honestly not a bad deal if you live alone. Make an offer for 130k and settle for 145k then get approved for a loan with APR around 5% and you could be making monthly payments under 600 USD for 20 years. That’s a lot lower than rent, I’ll tell you that, and you can get your equity back at the end when you move.
Only issue is the loan term, variable property value, and if you’re actually buying the land or just the abode.
A shoebox like this should, in a reasonable world, be like 50k. Many years ago someone with a basic factory job could have a REAL home for a family of four on his income alone. Then boomers ruined everything and, now, people look at this bullshit as ‘good.’
Yes by 2024 standards it’s ‘good’. But that’s like saying only being 400k in debt after cancer treatment is ‘good’
Yeah, but American homes are unsustainable in their sizes. What you’re looking at there is already the norm in Japan. We don’t need as much space as we use for single family houses in this country. Sure we have the space, but we also have a homelessness crisis. These tiny homes are a very good solution for that.
I will agree that $150,000 seems a bit higher than it should be, but depending on how close to San Antonio this is, that is fairly typical for a major city in pricing. If this is some suburb in the sticks, then yeah, they need to be asking around $75,000
They are astronomical because we build too large. That accounts for the vast majority of home ownership cost increases. The average home size is up 230%+ from the 70s, or 300% per person.
This makes up the vast majority of the difference in prices seen since that time.
Other direct causes are that we add two or three car garages (30k+) and increased home construction standards ( which add cost up front but often save money long term).
When looking at a price per area, the price is almost static (after accounting for inflation).
I mean, if you’re making $12 USD an hour, which is considered very low, then you’re still only spending 28% monthly wages on the above example I gave, and you get to keep what you put in minus depreciation when you resell, sometimes at a profit. Like I said, it’s way better than renting. Plus, these aren’t trailer homes, they have an actual foundation and a connection to city sewer, so the probably don’t depreciate very much if you take good care of it.
Yeah, the boomers fucked up the American Dream and now family homes aren’t available to the majority, but the property in the image is not a bad deal at all and I stand by that opinion.
It’s unlikely at this exact moment, for sure, but USA national average 30 year rate was below that less than two years ago, 2.65% in 2021, and it was below 5% for almost the entirety of the 2010s.
dunno how it works in the US, but in sweden there are like 3-4 ways it can be done, and fwiw renting here generally comes with the right to continue renting however long you like thanks to very strict renters’ rights laws.
I know two of the ways to own an apartment is either straight up owning the actual apartment itself (with some asterisks obviously because it’s part of a building), and the most common form is to own the right to live there (and pay maintenance costs, which is why i find it pointless to own) and sell it on.
i mean you do realize that owning housing comes with maintenance costs, right? why would i spend money i probably don’t actually have to buy a house when an apartment would have about the same rent as the maintenance costs (and the ability to just move if the apartment is flooded or whatever)?
Home maintenance sucks, but its not that expensive. Certainty basics are on YT. If it were a real challenge then apartments wouldn’t exist either. How often does your building need a new roof?
Honestly not a bad deal if you live alone. Make an offer for 130k and settle for 145k then get approved for a loan with APR around 5% and you could be making monthly payments under 600 USD for 20 years. That’s a lot lower than rent, I’ll tell you that, and you can get your equity back at the end when you move.
Only issue is the loan term, variable property value, and if you’re actually buying the land or just the abode.
Ftfy
What would you propose is a reasonable deal, then?
A shoebox like this should, in a reasonable world, be like 50k. Many years ago someone with a basic factory job could have a REAL home for a family of four on his income alone. Then boomers ruined everything and, now, people look at this bullshit as ‘good.’
Yes by 2024 standards it’s ‘good’. But that’s like saying only being 400k in debt after cancer treatment is ‘good’
Yeah, but American homes are unsustainable in their sizes. What you’re looking at there is already the norm in Japan. We don’t need as much space as we use for single family houses in this country. Sure we have the space, but we also have a homelessness crisis. These tiny homes are a very good solution for that.
I will agree that $150,000 seems a bit higher than it should be, but depending on how close to San Antonio this is, that is fairly typical for a major city in pricing. If this is some suburb in the sticks, then yeah, they need to be asking around $75,000
Space isn’t the issue here. We have more empty homes than we have homeless people.
Prices aren’t astronomical because we’re running out of space.
They are astronomical because we build too large. That accounts for the vast majority of home ownership cost increases. The average home size is up 230%+ from the 70s, or 300% per person.
This makes up the vast majority of the difference in prices seen since that time.
Other direct causes are that we add two or three car garages (30k+) and increased home construction standards ( which add cost up front but often save money long term).
When looking at a price per area, the price is almost static (after accounting for inflation).
I mean, if you’re making $12 USD an hour, which is considered very low, then you’re still only spending 28% monthly wages on the above example I gave, and you get to keep what you put in minus depreciation when you resell, sometimes at a profit. Like I said, it’s way better than renting. Plus, these aren’t trailer homes, they have an actual foundation and a connection to city sewer, so the probably don’t depreciate very much if you take good care of it.
Yeah, the boomers fucked up the American Dream and now family homes aren’t available to the majority, but the property in the image is not a bad deal at all and I stand by that opinion.
Don’t forget the mortgage insurance for several hundred a month if you’re not able to put that 30k down to pass the 20% thresshold.
PMI would be roughly $70/mo in the example they posted.
Cool now you’re only locked into a closet for the next 20 years
You can sell before your mortgage is repaid, and when you do you get to keep what is left after repaying the bank. It’s called equity.
I live in an 800sqft home by myself. 1 bed, 1 bath. I have plenty of space.
You’re not getting 5% APR on a fixed rate.
It’s unlikely at this exact moment, for sure, but USA national average 30 year rate was below that less than two years ago, 2.65% in 2021, and it was below 5% for almost the entirety of the 2010s.
Good point
just get an apartment holy shit
That would probably be more expensive.
Fuck ownership! Rent everything!
You can buy apartments too. Specifically I think you buy the right to live there indefinitely and not the actual building.
dunno how it works in the US, but in sweden there are like 3-4 ways it can be done, and fwiw renting here generally comes with the right to continue renting however long you like thanks to very strict renters’ rights laws.
I know two of the ways to own an apartment is either straight up owning the actual apartment itself (with some asterisks obviously because it’s part of a building), and the most common form is to own the right to live there (and pay maintenance costs, which is why i find it pointless to own) and sell it on.
i mean you do realize that owning housing comes with maintenance costs, right? why would i spend money i probably don’t actually have to buy a house when an apartment would have about the same rent as the maintenance costs (and the ability to just move if the apartment is flooded or whatever)?
Home maintenance sucks, but its not that expensive. Certainty basics are on YT. If it were a real challenge then apartments wouldn’t exist either. How often does your building need a new roof?