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How do you find cheap homes? There are too many ways to list here, but there are five basic principles to learn. Understand these, and you can save thousands of dollars on your next home.
1. Cheap Homes Are In Cheap Towns
Yes, there are still beautiful towns in this country where you can see a good movie, put the kids in a good school, go shopping, enjoy nearby natural beauty, and buy homes for under fifty thousand dollars. One investor bought a beautiful little home with hardwood floors, a full carpeted basement, and a garage, in a pretty mountain town, for $17,500, in 2002. You can still get homes for under $35,000 there.
What you can’t get very easily there, is a good job. These towns with the cheapest homes usually have a bad job situation. They are great places to retire to or to move to if you have a business or profession that isn’t location-dependent. Writers and internet entrepreneurs are beginning to discover them. Of course, if you’ve already determined where you’ll be living, or need a town with high-paying jobs, you can skip this idea.
2. Some Homes Are Just Cheaper
Another way to save when buying a home is to find a less expensive alternative that still fits your needs. This can mean buying in the inexpensive parts of town or buying the inexpensive types of homes. Don’t set your mind on one type of home or one neighborhood before you know what all the alternatives are.
This doesn’t mean buying a cheap dump to save money or buying in a dangerous part of town. It is more about a philosophy of defining your true needs so you can find the least expensive way to meet them. You may be surprised at what is available for less.
3. You Can Offer Less
No matter what you buy, you can save a lot if you know a few basic negotiating techniques. Is it worth a few minutes reading and an hour or two of practice to save thousands of dollars? Anyone can learn a few simple negotiating techniques that are used by the masters of negotiation. Somewhere, every day, people get cheap homes come through good negotiating.
4. Financing Can Make Homes Cheaper
You can pay the full asking price on a home and still spend thousands less than another person might. It isn’t just price, but financing too that makes a home affordable. Pay a lower interest rate, and you can save many thousands of dollars. You can pay low or no loan fees, avoid mortgage insurance, save on appraisals, and more.
5. Save Money On Everything Else
Start learning the insider secrets to saving money at each step in the home buying process. You can learn tricks like how to use a walk-through inspection list to present with your low offer. You can learn ways to get cheaper inspections, pay lower taxes, pay less for homeowners insurance, and save on closing costs. I even financed a home without an appraisal once. There is more to buying cheap homes than just getting a low price.
Here is a great article that shows where you can find houses for under $6,000: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/ultra-cheap-houses-under-6000
Bill Manassero is the founder/top dog at “The Old Dawg’s REI Network,” a blog, newsletter, and podcast for seniors and retirees, that teaches the art of real estate investing. His personal real estate investing goal, which will be chronicled at olddawgsreinetwork.com, is to own/control 1,000 units/doors in the next 6 years. Prior to that, Bill and his family lived in Haiti for 11 years as missionaries serving orphaned, abandoned and at-risk children.
