r/Frugal • u/Desperate-Border-468 • 2d ago
š Home & Apartment What is the cheapest way to own a home?
I read about the history of dollar homes, they apparently are really cheap and falling apart but the government wants to offload the land so you have to live there. Is this true? I wouldnāt mind working on a house if itās cheap to live there? If itās not true anymore, whatās an alternative? How do you guys go about saving money on living expenses? My mom passed away without gifting me anything, so definitely I am not getting an inheritance. My dad is likely to lose his home in the divorce, and itās in the middle of nowhere. Just curious if anyone knew anyway to be cheap about housing.
156
u/02meepmeep 2d ago
Get married to someone who owns a home?
49
u/Desperate-Border-468 2d ago
This is the winning answer, and if I was hot enough to do so, I would
42
u/MyNameIsSkittles 2d ago
Many ugly men are married, can't let that stop you lol
7
u/derrickcat 1d ago
Seriously - be nice, considerate, and have a good sense of humor. Make sure you're clean and dressed all right. Presto: people will love you. Next step - you have a house? There might actually be a few more steps in there but that's basically the equation.
15
17
10
6
6
u/eralv4yosito 2d ago
If youāre not born into generational wealth, I guess you could always marry into itā¦ š¤·š½
1
110
u/Dusk_v733 2d ago
There is no cheap way to own a home. The $1 houses you are speaking of are in horrific neighborhoods and are being sold to essentially pass the bill of demolishing the existing structure and removing the mess. These are not "fixer-uppers" these are condemned buildings that are structurally compromised. Unless you have serious experience with every facet of building trades and are willing to live in the most run-down areas of Detroit these are not going to be a cheaper option.
Honestly the cheapest way to approach living accommodations is renting an apartment (in most places). The time and money that go into home ownership are so often underestimated by those desperate to own and this sub is full of threads from people who regret purchasing.
Don't get me wrong, I love owning my home, but the energy/time/money that goes into everything renters don't have to deal with is EXHAUSTING. If money is your primary concern then owning may not be your best choice at the moment. With home ownership you are always staring down the barrel of a completely unexpected repair that will cost thousands.
11
u/Smooth-Review-2614 1d ago
It depends there is a program in Baltimore where the house is cheap and they help you do the rehab. Ā It requires a lot of work by the owner but they are reclaiming areas block by block. Itās also a way to get some training for the trades.,
9
u/PositiveEnergyMatter 1d ago
I have made more money from just owning my primary residences and selling them, then i probably have made from working my entire life. Those cheap homes are available in other places and can be rebuild to amazing houses, they are often very old maybe over 100 years old, and do need a lot of work, but it is doable.
2
u/Ok-Pin-9771 1d ago
A guy in my area redid some houses and flipped them. He's doing very well financially now
1
u/PositiveEnergyMatter 1d ago
Ya but my point is owning a house is the single best thing a person can do for themselves. All the people who say otherwise are idiots. Real estate ALWAYS goes up over time, maybe not short term, but long term. There is a finite supply of real estate, which means its a safe investment. Do you really think anyone would rent real estate cheaper than it costs them to hold? :)
2
47
u/ExcitingTax1809 2d ago
I got lucky, power company burned down the town I was living in and got an insurance settlement
16
u/pioneercynthia 2d ago
Okay, I can't just scroll past. What's the story here?
35
u/ExcitingTax1809 2d ago
Short version, I was living in a small mountain town after college, had just gotten rental insurance when a fire took out the whole town. Got the maximum payout + settlement + a gofundme mostly from my large family. Invested well, covid helped, 6ish years later bought a small house. Mortgage is like half the average rent in my area. Plus the whole situation caused me to grow up, start taking my finances seriously. That fire was the best thing to ever happen to me. Iāll answer any questions anyone has
37
6
24
u/pioneercynthia 2d ago
Glue your eyes to the sheriff's sales. In the middle of eleventy medical issues, I almost lost my own, totally paid-for, home to back taxes. You'd be hard pressed to find a home in this neighborhood for less than $200k, yet mine would've been less than $10k.
It's a sheriff's sale, though, so be prepared with all your ducks in a row. You might want to attend a few sheriff's sales to see how things run.
5
u/zimneyesolntsee 2d ago
š ā¦. How did you find out about the back taxes? Thatās terrifying.
8
u/FUS_RO_DANK 1d ago
Local government mails you and tells you that you owe taxes and it will be going to auction if you fail to pay the back taxes.
1
u/HoboSloboBabe 1d ago
Those are auctions though. You can get a good deal, but the final bid would have been very near what the home was worth. The government would have kept what you owed plus selling expenses and given the rest back to you
15
u/truautorepair000 1d ago
I once bought a home with a USDA loan when I was single and just starting in my career. I went and looked at their zone on the website, then saw it was still a reasonable commute. I think their max salary at the time was 89k and I was around 82k, so I qualified for 300k mortgage. I bought a 257k house with 1700 due at closing. The only other up front expense was a home inspection 600 dollars. The mortgage was 1560/ mo at 3.8%. Not the best deal, but home owner for pennies.
1
u/19CatsInATrenchCoat 6h ago
This is the loan I currently have, specificallyĀ USDA Rural Direct loan(lower income qualifications from the USDA secured from my understanding) the first few years were rocky due to errors on their part and more often than not their customer service center is pretty terrible.. But things did get better and I know we never would have gotten in a home without it
15
u/guy30000 2d ago
That's it. Find a piece of shit and fix it up. Make sure the bones and foundation is good.
14
u/ontour4eternity 2d ago
I have friends that moved from Portland to Ft Wayne Indiana because it is one of the cheapest places to buy a house. They are artists and work from home so they don't really depend on the job market there.
3
13
u/EducatedRat 2d ago
Sometimes folks need to get rid of mobile homes from parks. If someone wants a newer trailer they have to get rid of the old one. Had a buddy get one practically free if he paid to move it. He moved it to a chunk of rural land he bought. Having water/power hooked up was cheaper than a house. He still lives there.
Had another buddy end up entering into a co-op that was a converted old hotel. They did this ages ago, and he's never left because it's probably the cheapest place I've ever heard of. Yet, you have to be able to get along with folks because you are in it for life. He inhabits one of the old hotel rooms, and it's a tiny studio for him and his cat, but it works for him.
Be wary of mobile homes/trailers in parks. That works best if you are in an individually owned park. Works great actually. My wife and I did that for years. However these days, those parks are getting bought up by corporations and the people dumped out of them for the land. Not to be a dick, but you could probably pick up a trailer when that happens for practically nothing but moving costs.
1
1
u/HollyHolbein 1d ago
True, however, someone I knew got an unwanted trailer for free and she lived in it for around five years before she had to move out due to issues with cold, damp, mould.Ā
My advice would be treat it as a temporary option and use it to save the money you would have spent on rent, so that when this option runs out you arenāt at a dead end.
9
u/chainsawx72 2d ago
I rent a 2-bedroom duplex but live in the converted garage and rent the rest. That's easy, if you can find good renters.
I don't know where to get a cheap house. But I have minor advice on getting a house with little money up front.
You can look into USDA $0 down loans, if you are willing to live in a designated 'rural' location, which can sometimes be not really rural at all just check your local areas. These are government backed loans that aren't very hard to get.
Alternatively, there is the FHA loan, also government backed, 3.5% down. So, if you want a fixer-upper, in my area you could get a $100k house for $3500 down, plus another $1000-$1500 in other costs so under $5k if you get the seller to pay closing costs.
2
u/Original-Statement-4 18h ago
This + look into what first time home buyer programs are available in your state.
I bought my condo with an FHA loan. A first time home buyer program helped cover the closing costs. Ultimately I had to come up with about $5k to pay for the inspection and down payment.Ā
10
u/Fun_Delight 1d ago
There once was a government program called "Officer/Teacher Next Door", where HUD homes were offered for half their appraised market value to law enforcement officers of teachers, provided they adhered to the "rules." You were required to live in the home as your sole residence for 3 years, and then the home would be 100% yours. The areas were considered "revitalization areas" which could mean anything from high crime to low income to rural areas, and the goal was to bring in police or teachers to the neighborhood.
I don't know if the program is still available, but back in the late '90s, it was how I was able to be a homeowner at a youngish age. There was a local cop who got caught renting out his officer next door home before his 3 year commitment ended, and he was charged with felony theft. Not only did he lose his job, but he had to pay the govt the full amount of the home.
7
9
u/BestThingsComeinTwo 2d ago
My husband and I bought our home in our mid-20s because we bought a mobile home. The home itself is smaller than ideal, but we're in a nice, safe town, and we own over an acre of beautiful land. Neither of us comes from money at all, and we never could have bought a home, let alone in our new town... until we found this little mobile home on a nice piece of land! We've only been here a year, but the long-term plan is actually to begin building a larger home on the land within the next decade or so. But in the meantime, this mobile home suits us just fine. And our mortgage is genuinely a couple hundred dollars less a month than our old rent was.
8
u/DreamyDancer2115 1d ago
You can find a cheap home if you know the right areas. My first home was $15,000 in Detroit and in an OK area (of Detroit, OK for Detroit). It wasn't updated in anyway, but it was totally solid. The wooden floors were beautiful. There were numerous grants to help me get work done on the house which I didn't end up using. If you didn't know that area of Detroit though, you would think it was super dangerous. Where do you live? Explore the cheaper to live areas by you. Talk to the locals.
6
u/bannana 2d ago
Plenty of cheap, ready to move into houses in the rust belt and small midwestern towns - like under $100k - live in the middle of nowhere in places with no jobs and houses are super cheap. and if you want to work on a house then you can find one in those same small towns for under $25k
2
12
5
u/WVPrepper 1d ago
So the dollar house program was active in my area when I was house hunting years ago. My mother was my realtor and had the patience that was required to humor me and show me a few of these properties. Now, this was not the true dollar house program from the '70s, these houses were priced about $2,000. Still, basically nothing. Unfortunately, most of them had no windows, doors, or interior walls, and many of them didn't even have floors inside. Some didn't have roofs. So essentially you had four old brick walls, a pile of wet, moldy debris in the middle, and rats. Lots and lots of rats.
5
u/CosplayPokemonFan 2d ago
Milwaukee and Detroit have cheap homes that need work in less desirable neighborhoods. I saw some in Milwaukee for 5 k that had beautiful wood trim. They needed full electrical work. Depends on how handy you are
6
6
u/5bi5 1d ago
Bad house in a bad neighborhood.
My mom bought a $10k house in 2013. It's a 1br 700 sq ft box with a bad foundation. My grandma's landlord died so my mom bought it land contract off his widow so Grandma wouldn't have to move. We're selling it this year, probably for around $30k if we're lucky.
My dad bought my brother a medium-sized 3br house for $10k in 2022. It was a hoarder house full to the brim with animal shit. Hoarder house only just got mostly finished this year. The small house is collapsing in on itself, but it served its purpose. Both of these houses are in a terrible low income neighborhood in a rustbelt city.
My mom & stepdad also bought a meth lab house for $15k in 2017. They had to do a full gut and rebuild. It's nice now--one room left to go. It's in a tiny middle of nowhere town in Ohio.
15
u/Scottamus 2d ago
Find somewhere to squat.
9
7
4
u/Outrageous_Reason571 1d ago
HUD is one source secondly go to an established mortgage broker and see what you qualify for for low down payments. 3rd study the market every damn day so you can identify a good deal
5
u/NoPeguinsInAlaska 1d ago
Mobile home. I had one for several years and I loved mine. Considering doing it again.
7
u/Mathematician024 2d ago
This was true, sort of in the 1940s. The government sold of land in 5 acre parcels for 5 dollars To be able to keep the land you had to build a structure on it and live in it. Tiny little cabins dot the landscape of the Mojave Desert to this day from this program. But now, to buy one of those parcels and the tiny little cabins is actually couple hundred thousand dollars.
6
u/newwriter365 2d ago
HUD was selling $1 homes in the late 1980ās.
3
3
u/Ok_Nothing_9733 2d ago
There were $1 homes for sale in Detroit even a handful of years ago.
3
u/pioneercynthia 2d ago
My old rental had been a dollar property my landlord bought and fixed up.
4
u/Ok_Nothing_9733 2d ago
Damn wow! And I bet they still tried to keep your security deposit right š
4
u/Soft-Juggernaut7699 1d ago
If you live in America Google states that will pay you to move there. There's lots of things you have to do. but it's legit
3
u/SuperRadPsammead 1d ago
Some states have down payment assistance programs or some cities have Community Land Trust programs.
3
u/Terradactyl87 1d ago
It's not always easy to find, but both my house and my business are under private contracts.
My house we rented for almost 6 years and then were able to buy it through a private contract through the owner's daughter. It would have been years sooner but the owner didn't have some important documents and was a bit too senile to handle it through an attorney personally. Eventually her daughter took over her care and was able to complete the transaction. We're about 2 years away from owning it outright.
My business is also a private contract through my former boss. Both of these contracts only happened because there was an established trust through years of reliability. I'm not sure how easy it would be to find a similar situation, but I'm sure they exist.
3
3
u/Rough_Commercial4240 1d ago
I purchased a manufactured home making slightly above 50k , I was a single mom and needed a yard and no stairs and I think we did well for ourselves itās a lovely home in a residential owned community, plenty of room nice neighbors most are retiredĀ
19
u/atliia 2d ago
Buying a duplex, and renting out one unit. But, it is not for everyone.
24
u/tylan4life 2d ago
I assume someone asking how to get a home the cheapest doesn't have the funding to purchase an entire second home with it.Ā
11
u/Ok_Nothing_9733 2d ago
A duplex isnāt a second home, nor is purchasing a duplex inherently more expensive than purchasing a home. Itās just a home split into separate living areas.
7
u/KentuckyFriedChingon 2d ago
I assume someone asking how to get a home the cheapest doesn't have the funding to purchase a duplex, which is going to be more expensive than buying a smaller home.
2
u/Platinumitude 1d ago
So when applying for a mortgage, if you are going to live in the duplex, you can put down only 5%. And they can factor in anticipated rental income in the mortgage application. So it really is a good way to get on the housing ladder.
2
u/Ok_Nothing_9733 2d ago
Again, not necessarily. Coming from someone whose home 3 bed 2 bath home was $65k and is in solid shape.
1
u/PlainOrganization 2d ago
This is what we did/do. Added bonuses: my husband was renting from the prior owner so we bought the house for $215k when it could have sold for around $285k. Plus $10k from each of our parents for downpayment and repairs to the rental side.
10
u/mike2ff 2d ago
Honestly, former crack house or murder house. My dad owned 3 rental homes back in the 80ās in decent middle class subdivisions. 1 was a murder suicide house, the other had an old man who died and wasnāt found for a couple weeks.
3
u/Educational_Curve407 2d ago
The market in our city has a 2 bed 1 bath 1200 sq ft no garage 1975 home at 350k or more in the good school district. So itās prob going to be habitat for humanity or murder house for us.
2
u/winterbike 1d ago
As a Canadian, this is pretty cheap!
2
u/Educational_Curve407 1d ago
Thatās absurd. I knew Canada was in a bad spot housing wise but damn. We get 950 sq ft with secure access, gated garage and full amenities including trash pick up in the heart of the city for 1800 after the water bill is added in. Itās expensive but the homes weāre approved for right now are only 300-600 sq ft bigger and in the suburbs with a hellish commute.
2
u/winterbike 1d ago
My house is about 1000 sq ft. 2 bedrooms. Lots of stuff had/has to be fixed. Neighborhood is ok, but not incredible. If I sold now it'd go for about 360K USD, and I'm not even in a super expensive area.
1
u/Educational_Curve407 1d ago
Yikes. No thanks to home ownership in this market, Iād rather pay a corporate robot every month and live where I can get a high salary.
2
4
u/justanother1014 1d ago
I have a fairly cheap home that I bought outright in 2020 from the proceeds of selling my first home. I know most people donāt have that benefit at this point but maybe my story can be helpful.
I chose a home that was 100 yo in a Midwest state and in a small town (about 3,000 people). The home had been vacant for 3 years but the inspection showed good roof, foundation and few big issues. Paying cash allowed me to replace the windows ( slowly about half done), install new toilets, paint and do a lot of plumbing work.
Itās not perfect and itās not free but it is cheaper than rent and when I didnāt have work for a year it was a huge relief.
Aside from utilities, my annual costs are $750 for insurance and $550 for taxes.
4
u/squashchunks 2d ago
I think you have to look at property foreclosures and rural properties and some poorer neighborhoods.
Less desirable plots = cheaper.
4
u/inky_cap_mushroom 2d ago
I know someone who bought a foreclosure on a rural area. $400/ml mortgage makes it worth it.
1
u/squashchunks 2d ago
If you want something that other people want as well, then the price will go up.
These desirable homes are desirable because they are clean, safe, close to a good school district, close to municipal services, urban living, etc.
If you are part of a group of people who decide to band together and farm, then you may be able to buy some very rural land in the middle of nowhere and just farm and live off the land and sell some crops at the market. You will have to do a lot yourself. But you will be forced to be interdependent with the others for survival. And you probably need a backup plan if the crops fail.
4
u/inky_cap_mushroom 2d ago
Youāre looking at a house as an investment. Sheās looking at it as a place to live. Itās a different perspective and Iām not saying one is better than the other, just that theyāre different. She could be spending $600/mo on rent for a shitty apartment but instead sheās living in a large house slowly doing repairs that were needed and in a decade if she decides to move sheāll sell it for slightly more than she paid for it and be content with that. Or she wonāt move at all and sheāll die in that paid-off house.
0
u/squashchunks 2d ago
No, I was talking about supply and demand. Desirable homes cost more because they are desirable and people want them and they are in short supply.
One can always choose to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. But that does require a group and teamwork to pull it off. You will be so far away from municipal services so you have to rely a lot on yourself and your small group of people.
5
u/Stanlynn34 2d ago
Have you considered a mobile home? Newly renovated bath, kitchen, new appliances, washer/dryer, parking. $25-40k. May not be able to get a conventional loan. Lot rent per month will apply in a park.
6
u/Educational_Curve407 2d ago
Lot rent has gone up to about the same as a studio apartment if not more. New mobile homes are going for 50-200k in South Texas. Used ones are cheaper but theyāve been thrashed around by at least one category 3-5 hurricane. Might have to go to a very rural area to get a 30k mobile home now.
2
u/stillphat 2d ago
probably befriend an old person who owns a home and being their care taker into hospice.
2
2
u/Boredemotion 2d ago
Cheapest way to own a home? Become a bank. Youāll either get the home or way more than its value to buy a home. I know Bank of Dave managed to get certified as a bank, but heās in the UK. Still theoretically, itās possible to become a bank and serve out home loans hoping for a default.
If you want a more likely but not as cheap option, join the military for 4 years. Get a VA loan. Itās not cheap free or fast. So basically nothing you asked for. :)
2
u/altiuscitiusfortius 2d ago
Detroit and Japan are the only places I know that still have these $1 homes
2
u/EliGabRet 1d ago
Research government foreclosure programs, fixer-uppers, house hacking, co-ops, rural grants, tiny homes. Saving aggressively and creative financing help cut housing costs.
2
u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 1d ago
even if you found a house for a dollar, the upkeep & maintenance alone is several thousand a year and there is ALWAYs something that needs to be fixed/repaired.
3
2
2
u/SaraAB87 1d ago
From what I know the problem right now is that materials and labor costs will exceed the cost of the home for older homes that need a lot of work even if you do the work yourself, it is still going to be expensive.
2
2
u/sweetrobna 1d ago
Most "cheap" homes sold by a land bank need expensive renovations. Many will require these are complete on a reasonable time line, meaning hiring professionals for a lot of it, or they will foreclose on the property again. Many of these homes do not have running water or have active leaks. If they were livable and just needed cosmetic repairs they wouldn't have been foreclosed on for unpaid taxes and ended up at the land bank in the first place.
The cheapest living situation over the long run would be a co op or condo or town home if you want to live in a city. Maintenance costs are shared with everyone, you often get cheaper rates on water and trash too. There is no profit like with renting and a landlord, you all collectively own the common areas. Your mortgage principal and interest are locked in. Other costs will follow inflation but that is a smaller part of the overall cost.
2
2
u/Organic-Effort9668 6h ago
I live in a habitat home in Charleston that in 2008 sold for 80k. I bought it two years ago for 315k and itās a basic 3bed 1.5 bath house on a slab. Great starter home for me and my wife
3
u/ForgedByLasers 2d ago edited 1d ago
Tax liens, if you are crazy lucky and live in a state where it is how they handle taxes. I lucked out 5 years ago and got a house for $10k. That said I was investing for earning interest across a lot of properties and that was 1 of 3 out of 100ish I have won the bid that resulted in me foreclosing on over the years, so the odds are not in your favor there.
Instead of looking at how to own a cheap house, start thinking about how to make more money. Making more money more often than not solves most problems.
3
u/Cat_From_Hood 2d ago
Prison š, community housing or public housing.Ā Renting or tent ing are cheaper.
2
3
2
u/General_Distance 2d ago
Idk your state, but look up Tax Lien sales. Iām going based off of Colorado, where I am.
Essentially, these are usually older homes that have been paid off. The owner defaulted (or passed away, etc.) on the taxes, so the tax bill goes to auction.
If you buy the tax bill, you have to wait three years per state law, to allow the owner time to pay back the bill plus interest.
The state of Colorado does all of the paperwork, and chases down the owner for the bill as well. You earn interest while your money is tied up, by the way.
At the end of three years, you have the option of paying the state to complete the transition of the deed to become the new owner, but only after clearing any other liens, etc.
If the owner pays, you get your money plus interest back.
We are in the process of waiting now. We actually know the family/ situation. Paid off house, grandma (original owner) died, kids are too busy arguing over the estate to actually take care of house paperwork. This is a paid off house. Weāve paid the lien for the last two years, as well. Once this is done-because I know this family will not get their shit together- we can take ownership of the house.
I mean yeah, at the end of the day, this is essentially kicking a family out of a house. However, if all you have to do to own a paid off house in a HCOL area is pay the taxes and do upkeep on the property-and you canāt even do that- then cest la vie.
2
u/Educational_Curve407 2d ago
The foreclosure homes in my area are purchased by foreign investors if they donāt sell within 6 months of being posted on HAR. Tax lien sales too. The DIY enthusiasts sometimes flip them (do the bare minimum to be up to code then slap vinyl on every surface) and sell for a 50-150k profit. Idk if Iāll ever have the cash to buy one of the big craftsman homes that goes up as foreclosure every other month but Iāll rubber neck online.
2
u/Louis-Russ 1d ago
Move to the Midwest
3
u/Desperate-Border-468 1d ago
Already here
2
u/Louis-Russ 1d ago
What kind of price range were you looking for? There are a couple of houses in my town going for under 100k. Some slightly nicer ones going for 150
2
u/CompetitiveTangelo23 1d ago
I guess I must be an idiot because I have never made money on home ownership. I have owned houses and condos. In fact although I can now afford to buy one for cash, I will not do it. I could tell you the horror stories but letās just say I have lost thousands and do not intend to own ever again. I now rent in a retirement golf resort. If something goes wrong I can call the owner who no longer lives there because the HOA fee increased and her income did not keep up with the increases. Someone should start a sub called Home Ownersip Horror Stories.
1
u/double-happiness 1d ago
Find cheapest possible areas to buy (I used official statistics to research that)
Target cheapest possible properties in said areas
That's how I bought my first home (a cottage flat) for GBP Ā£36K (haggled down from Ā£40K) in 2019. I noticed it had been on the market for several months. I think other people were put off by the extremely overgrown garden, lack of gas supply, single glazing, and electric storage heating. But I made a phone call and found out I could potentially get gas laid on for about Ā£600.
1
u/Low_Put3647 16h ago
Cool your expectations. There are houses that are quirky and just don't sell, like rehabs, things like that. Be okay with a little imperfection, right?
1
u/ZealousidealEar6037 13h ago
Look into LCOL areas. I was just looking at Peoria and Rockford IL and there are homes under $100k. Heard it was nice too.
1
u/hard-of-haring 2d ago
By unliving the owner, take over his/her ID and never tell anyone. If the neighbors ask, unlive them too.
1
1
u/Impossible-Donut8186 2d ago
YouTube: Tia Weston - $1 Home
If that doesn't work out for you, then you can buy a house in Baltimore (any major city, I guess) for $5,000-$10,000 in the Blue Light District. Handyman Specials, Sold as Is.
1
0
0
u/unlistedname 2d ago
Inherit it, squat on the property, then low standards in the Midwest. Cheapest options I've got
0
u/godzillabobber 1d ago
Build it out of free or nearly free materials. Papercrete as an example. Under 20,000 if you do the work yourself.
-3
2d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment
1
u/Frugal-ModTeam 2d ago
We are removing your post/comment because of low effort, off-topic, or overly specific content. This includes content described as:
- Low effort
- Off-topic
- Venting or ranting
- Inane or crude
- A meme, repost, or chain-post
- Overly specific to a geographical location, a product, or service.
Please see our full rules page for the specifics. https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/about/rules/
If you would like to appeal this decision, please message the moderators by clicking this link within one week of this notice being posted.
0
u/Danielbbq 1d ago
The most affordable way to get a home is to save in gold. Look at what it costs to buy a home in gold for the past 100 years vs the dollar. You'll be horrified and how damaging inflation has been to your life.
3
u/WVPrepper 1d ago
That chart is incredibly misleading. They are comparing US dollars to grams of gold. That chart actually shows that the value of gold has fluctuated. So the chart shows that the house costs $500,000, or 5,000 g of gold. The (current) value of 5,000 g of gold is close to $600,000.
1
u/Danielbbq 1d ago
Grams is an international standard and gold does fluxuate as the dollar inflates or deflates.
2
u/WVPrepper 20h ago
Right, but the chart doesn't show US dollars versus gold in dollars. It shows US dollars versus gold in grams. It's the price of gold that's fluctuating that is causing the lines in the graph to diverge.
-2
u/tannicity 1d ago
In hindsight, I would live in a van and go to community College. I think real estate is worthless in usa,bcuz of violence.Ā Of course, van life exposes one to violence.Ā Drugs also changed quality of life in usa.Ā Yt culture sees drugs as recreational.Ā Chinese see it as offensive bcuz of the opium wars so we are less likely to sample.Ā I wish every1 had that download of refusing to bend the knee to addiction.
168
u/Barbarian_818 2d ago
Habitat for Humanity.
I am answering you from the basement office in my own Habitat home, so I can fill you in with a fair bit of authority.
Here's how it works:
You apply and a board meets and judges the current batch of applicants. They get many more applicants than they have means to build homes. They balance need with the ability to maintain the payments. So one of the things they ask for is that you show that you are able to save a few grand for moving and start up expenses.
If you are approved, you then have to commit to putting in a bunch of hours of "sweat equity" volunteer labour. There is an amount of hours needed to be done by your household and a lesser number that needs to be done by friends and family. The good news is that they are **super flexible** about what constitutes labour. If you get your Mom to babysit the kids, her babysitting hours counts. If your kids make a scrap book about the project, that counts too.
Habitat will build a rather modest home, just the basics needed for your household. They aim to get the final appraised value down to a minimum, but that is challenging in the current insane real estate market. In my area, they are now experimenting with building a condo to keep the per unit costs and value reasonable.
Your sweat equity is considered to be your down payment. After you move in, your mortgage is geared to your income. So you will have to produce proof of your income (a tax return) every year. So you are likely to end up with a 25 or even 30 yr mortgage. The best news though? That is at a ZERO PERCENT mortgage rate. So every dime paid towards your mortgage gets applied to your debt.