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A Home . . Maybe?

When Vince began looking at houses in Texas, I made him promise that he would not buy anything without me seeing it first.   Now that I’ve seen a few houses, I really don’t care if I see it or not.

There’s nothing to rent!  We’ve checked apartments, houses, “bungalows”.   Vince really cannot continue to live in a hotel.  He’s been here a week and there a week but when he goes back after this trip, he’s there for good.  There’s not enough time to build.  We have a certain number of months in which we have to close or we’ll lose some of the relocation benefits.

Vince looked a house last night that was very clean, had a large lot but was in the city.  It also had a big, nice, fairly new Morton building that could be divided so he could use half of it and I could use half of it.  But, the house was small . . less than half the size of our current house.  We don’t need a house as large as we have now but we need a bit more than half of this space — mainly so we can get decent sized bathrooms and bedrooms.  He took a bunch of pictures and yes, it was very clean and well cared for but we don’t want to be in the city and we would really have been crowded so we passed on that one.

This afternoon he went with the realtor to look at . .

. . mobile homes!  There were a couple I had found online that had some acreage and I think Vince, who swore he’d never live in a mobile home, has fallen in love with one. It isn’t the mobile home that he loves but the land and the extras.

I think the hardest part is that I love my current house.  When we left Kentucky, I didn’t dislike but I didn’t love my house and moving was easy.  We’re not going to find a house like this in TX in a price range we can afford.  We’re getting older.  We might be empty nesters . . but we might not be!   Without basements, it’s just hard to find the square feet we’ve gotten used to having.  We’re spoiled not only by the basement but by the real estate prices here.

Vince is supposed to look at one more house and if that one doesn’t work out, he’s going to make an offer on the mobile home property.  I suppose this is where I say “Anything you want, honey!“.  Seriously, we have a real neat realtor and she said that if they hadn’t already bought a home, she’d be making an offer on this place so that makes me feel real good! I’ll try to get some pictures from Vince and post those.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hey Judy – life is a series of experiences – and you are having one right now !!! Hang on tight… Kate

  2. Could you build on the mobile home land? You could live in the mobile home while supervising construction and get exactly what you want. You could then sell the mobile home, turn it into a quilting studio, or use it as a guest house and invite me to visit!

  5. PS…..I like the idea of keeping the mobile home and using it as a guest house for quilting friends to visit – your own B and B on wheels – I would PAY to come stay for a quilting weekend.

    Your guests could sew, knit, feed your future chickens and help gather the eggs; and drink chocolate wine…..sounds good to me!!!

    sao in Midlothian, VA

  6. mobile home/trailer, it’s all in a name. we are in a manufactured home (they used to be called trailers) and i’m here to tell you they just have some type of stigma attached from the old days. it’s a beautiful home, over 3000 sq. ft., 4 bedroom 3 bath, laundry room, living room. dining room, family room, woodstove, air conditioner. we bought property and put it on the land where we wanted it — septic and well, huge shop, nestled among the trees. i’m in heaven! don’t let the word “trailer” make up your mind for you.

  7. I soooo agree with Patti. There are some beautiful “fabricated” homes available. And a B & B…well…that would be a plus if you built a house! I would come visit too 🙂 Don’t give up. Remember that old adage about good things coming to those who wait….

  8. Judy, I agree with both Patti and Susan in TX. I always said “no way” to a trailer, but last year my husband bought a manufactured home (for an investment) that had been a foreclosure and had sat for over a year. It obviously had been neglected. We put a couple thousand $$ into fixing it up and immediately had a tenant. When we first got the trailer, a friend said it was horrible and would never want to live there. Once it was cleaned up – new paint on the outside and inside, new carpet and wood flooring, cleaned up the kitchen and put in new appliances from the Habitat “Restore”, new cabinets and fixtures in the bathrooms, new ceiling fans, new A/C and heating unit, etc. my friend said she loved it and would be okay with living there – we already had it rented so she didn’t get it! The new tenants agreed to clean up the outside yard and absolutely love it. When you walk into the house, you don’t feel you are in a trailer. You are in a home! Once you get there, you’ll make it your own. And, of course, if there is enough land, you can always build exactly what you want and rent out the trailer to Chad!

  9. I must disagree with some of the above comments. Mobile Homes and Manufactured homes are NOT the same. Mobile homes come with wheels and are placed on a pad of concrete. Manufactured homes are stick built homes that are built in a plant (where weather doesn’t stop production) and then transported to the site. When put together on site, they are just like a “normal” built house. They can be put onto a basement, crawl space or slab. Mobile homes cannot be put onto a basement or crawl space.
    No offense to anyone that has either one, but they are not the same.

  10. I live in a manufacturied home and I love it. 4 bedrooms and two bath fireplace and huge living room. Plus it is paid for. My sister is in a 120 year old house and it has many issues of disrepair. The storage in the kitchen is unbelievable. No shame.

  11. I’ve been in some really lovely manufactured homes. There are quite a few in our area. The previous owner of our home had a mobile home on this property until he built the house we now live in. It worked out well for us because when the mobile home was gone there was still an RV pad with full hook-ups, including sewer. Makes it nice for visitors who come in their RV’s, and it makes our own RV a perfect guest house.

  12. I’ve been in some really lovely manufactured homes. There are quite a few in our area. The previous owner of our home had a mobile home on this property until he built the house we now live in. It worked out well for us because when the mobile home was gone there was still an RV pad with full hook-ups, including sewer. Makes it nice for visitors who come in their RV’s, and it makes our own RV a perfect guest house.

  13. Slightly hilarious to read this… I’m the one who said I’d never live in a mobile home, and I’ve been looking… and could be convinced.

  14. We have a modular home and I love it! The floor plans are usually wide open and airy. We put a 24 x 28 addition on the home 7 years ago and have lots of space. If the lot and everything else is perfect – go for it!

  15. don’t know what part of Texas that you need, but I live 80 mi east of the metroplex and there are several nice homes for sale. our area is cheaper than the metroplex.

  16. i’m probably slow on the uptake and missed this part of the story, but why is it necessary for you and vince to move? what is his work that makes you have to move around so much? and once you move, how long will you stay there?

  17. You never know how life is going to turn. I think the place looks like it has real potential. Whoever built it did a nice job and it looks very functional.

  18. Just remember that if you all buy the place and absolutely HATE the manufactured home, you can always build a site build home and sell the manufactured home once the new house is built. 🙂

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