WOW ML That is amazing. Wish I could get my mom to move. That Florence AZ house is pretty. she has been in a manufactured home for close to 25 years. That house would be a castle to her.

There are several houses sitting empty here. Unfortunately two of them have their roofs collapsed from the heavy snow we had this year. They are goners. Makes us very thankful we spent the extra money for the 120 pound roof load and metal roof.

I wish there were houses like that in my area. Those are some nice houses.

Honestly, I'd be more impressed if they showed the inside, too. There are beaucoup houses out there right now that are listed in that price range because they've even been stripped of the piping, let alone appliances, doors, flooring and anything else the foreclosed owners could craigslist. Also sometimes really nasty things happened inside out of sheer revenge.

Not saying these are like that, but there's no way to know one way or the other.

wow, that'd be a fix and flipper's dream!

You are so right, Writersblock. A couple of houses around the corner from us were stripped by vandals while waiting to be sold. All the copper, and that includes the air conditioning coil or the unit sitting outside.

Neighbors were sitting on the front porch across the street from a house which had a moving truck pull up, and they emptied the whole house while being observed. If it had been the "old days" when neighbors knew what was happening in the lives of neighbors, I think they'd have called the law right away. Now I consider that brazen, but it can happen on a large or small scale anywhere.

There are some houses here in Alabama which are going in the $28,000 range, according to a friend who is in the real estate business.

Yeah, moccasinlanding. Over in SW FL, I've seen whole subdivisions (never even lived in) where that happened--no neighbors, so they could take their time and be thorough. Actually, most of them look a lot like the AZ house in that article.

When we were looking at houses, we went to a property on a cul-de-sac in a very nice neighborhood with higher-end homes. That particular house was in foreclosure.

The occupants had destroyed the inside of the home, and they were still living there. There were holes in the walls, pulled out outlets and light switches, smashed and cracked tile, and they had destroyed the kitchen and let it pile with garbage and filth. There were empty beer bottles everywhere and empty beer cases stuffed in the marble fireplace, some partially burned, and the ash was spilling out all over the floor. The kicker, though, was when we ventured into the basement and were assaulted with the smell of sewage. That was when we noticed that the carpet beneath our shoes was actually squishing. We couldn't get up the stairs fast enough. Our realtor surmised that they probably broke the plumbing in the basement bath and let it flood.

A year later, we noticed that home was still for sale. Really, really sad.

I would be curious to see the condition of the inside of those homes as well because they certainly are cute on the outside!

GADS we have one of these here. This house is across street from the school and next to a church. Still it has river frontage and a large lot. Some where I read it was 500 foot or so deep.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another car house. LOL

X and I bought our home for just a little bit more than that. We got a 3 bed 2 bath 1300 sq ft brick home on 3/4 of an acre for $55,000. I love that my house payment is less than the rent of a studio apt. It needs a lot of fixing up but it was very much livable when we bought it.

Anyone know how the heck you get one financed? I'm low income and I've found one of these homes. It meets my needs, its a respectable debt to income ratio, and the payments fit my budget. Including a down payment. So everything is great right? Wrong, there is a law about the cost of loans that limits the amount the fees can be by percentage of the price. It is considered a High Cost Loan when closing, loan origination fees, etc..= more than 5% of the purchase price and the system will automatically flag/turn down the loan due to the law. The lower the price of the home the more likely it is this law will affect it. Not a single place I've talked to will finance anything remotely under $50,000.00 because this law gets in the way. The other reason I am hearing is that they just won't make enough profit off it. I just wanted to give a heads up as I am currently dealing with this situation and it looks like most houses in this category would require a cash purchase.

I just bought a house in March.
After looking since November and going from one house to another in the 30 to 70 range that looked beautiful on the outside, I changed the way I looked at them overall after seeing the insides.

The houses I saw with my agent were in need of insane amounts of repair. Wiring, electrical, plumbing, windows, roofs, water heaters, furnaces, leveling floors, taking things up to code.... the price of the home just keeps going up!

Those houses are a great deal if you're looking to invest a ton of work / money right away on just about everything and you plan on staying a very long time. Since I wasn't looking for my "forever home" I bought a house that was only $36,000 (with a standard FHA loan).
It didn't have the eye catching grandness the homes pictured have but it has great bones.

High efficiency smaller home vs. beautiful looking money pit?
I've gone from $700 a month renting a 2 bedroom apartment to $400 a month owning a 3 bedroom house with a 2 car garage. Its great to not have to worry about a mortgage payment taking a big chunk of your salary and still having cash for upgrades.

Jay, does your realtor have any suggestions for financing? You might try a locally owned bank rather than a national chain. They are more likely to look at the whole picture rather than just crunch numbers.

I just found out our ,another, neighbor has gone and her little house is for sale at 36 or 37 K. Darling little cottage kind of house. Needs work but would be a doll house. The septic is questionable so that could be an issue. Nice lot at 50 by 140 or 150.

So this makes three houses bordering our long property line all for sale. Sad.

I agree these "good deal" houses are for cash buyers. This is how back in the day we were able to flip so many houses. I think those flip days are pretty much gone. For us for sure. Although I would love to fix this little house up next door. It is a cutie.