Expanding the house search... manufacturered?

klb67 wrote: Look at the new listing at 242 Elm St. Steelton on realtor. com - maybe an option. I know Harrisburg area generally and lived outside of Middletown for a summer. I think your issue is that most of the Ag area is not poor Ag. area, but dying to be the next high end subdivision if development is allowed there. I have to think either Harrisburg city or in one of the small towns, like Steelton, would give you the most house for your buck. I also wondered about a warehouse type property.

It will give me bang for buck if I can tolerate the small garage space. I would be condensing down from a 40x40 AND a 32x48 shop at Dad's place. 4 cars, shop tools, boat, trailer, motorcycle...

The other thing that gets me about Steelton/Highspire is that there is little or no industry/commercial. That $5k/year tax bill is a big slap in the face compared to $1500 if I go just one mile down the road to Middletown or 5 miles to Elizabethtown. That's like the equivalent of two LS1 swaps, or an NA Miata every year.

pheller wrote: I'd sooner live in the city with an older home that needs some work and a gigantic garage behind it, locked up tight with a living space above the garage, have a 10 minute commute, and spend my weekends out in the sticks. My current place is 8 minutes from work, super low taxes, but unfortunately not enough land or garage space. Next house, I suppose.

I have done that. I don't mind living in the city at all especially since PA has rural areas everywhere, but Harrisburg isn't a "garage-y" type town. Most houses have a shed with a garage door that will fit a Camry if you climb out the window. They call it a garage, but its a shed to me.

Ian F wrote: I really don't understand how anyone can afford to live in the more "normal" houses that sell in the $300-$500K range with $10K or more in taxes. So in essence: my long commute equals security, which like time is hard to put an absolute value on.

I guess in that regard I'm winning. Expensive newer home with new windows, new kitchen, new appliances, etc, but my taxes are $1800 a year.

And I'm 8-minutes from work.

The only reason I didn't end up with a huge garage is because I was impatient. First home lessons learned.

My brother had a place in duncannon that had a monster garage and a nice house that he couldn't sell forever at 99k. I don't see it listed but it looks like some decent prices out there.

chandlerGTi wrote: My brother had a place in duncannon that had a monster garage and a nice house that he couldn't sell forever at 99k. I don't see it listed but it looks like some decent prices out there.

If you don't mind my asking, address? Maybe PM me? I just want to see if it sold. If it didn't I'll buy it. If it did, its comparative research.

curtis73 wrote:

pheller wrote: I'd sooner live in the city with an older home that needs some work and a gigantic garage behind it, locked up tight with a living space above the garage, have a 10 minute commute, and spend my weekends out in the sticks. My current place is 8 minutes from work, super low taxes, but unfortunately not enough land or garage space. Next house, I suppose.

I have done that. I don't mind living in the city at all especially since PA has rural areas everywhere, but Harrisburg isn't a "garage-y" type town. Most houses have a shed with a garage door that will fit a Camry if you climb out the window. They call it a garage, but its a shed to me.

Also, Harrisburg doesn't have that much sprawl, so it's not at all difficult to be out in the sticks and still have a reasonable commute (<30 min).

curtis73 wrote:

pheller wrote: I'd sooner live in the city with an older home that needs some work and a gigantic garage behind it, locked up tight with a living space above the garage, have a 10 minute commute, and spend my weekends out in the sticks. My current place is 8 minutes from work, super low taxes, but unfortunately not enough land or garage space. Next house, I suppose.

I have done that. I don't mind living in the city at all especially since PA has rural areas everywhere, but Harrisburg isn't a "garage-y" type town. Most houses have a shed with a garage door that will fit a Camry if you climb out the window. They call it a garage, but its a shed to me.

Jeebus I need not to look at housing prices for the area I just left.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/712-S-29th-St-Harrisburg-PA-17111/86415837_zpid/

pheller wrote: Jeebus I need not to look at housing prices for the area I just left. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/712-S-29th-St-Harrisburg-PA-17111/86415837_zpid/

Yeah... that's about a $500K house if 8 miles from my office. And the taxes would be around $12K/year. Gotta love central NJ...

You want cheap houses? Look in Pittsburgh. I bought my 3bd/2ba on 1.09 acres for $51,900.

Growing up in the 70's and watching the Rockford Files, I always thought living in a single wide would be kinda cool. Maybe because it was on the ocean and Jim driving a cool car had something to do with it lol. But seriously once my kids move out in a few years and I no longer need lots of sq ft, I'm pretty certain I'll be looking at the housing options mentioned in this thread.

This is close

2 acres, good size barn , down in York though. It came across my Facebook page and I thought of you

A popular way to do it here is to build your dream shop with a suite above or on one side. Then you can sell it as is to someone who wants a nice house with a shop and a mortgage helper, or build the house yourself eventually.

In reply to MDJeepGuy:

Wow, that looks nice. There appears to be a second driveway with an existing pad for a potential second garage. Plenty of paved parking as well.

Oddly enough, when you plug the address into Google, it shows the location across the street from where it actually is.

Good find. I'll look into it.

If there is one potential downside, it appears to be a rental so the next buyer may have to wait until the current lease (if there is one) runs out before being able to move in.

In reply to MDJeepGuy:

I'd buy it just for the giant elephant shower curtain.

Damn, that is nice.

that looks pretty damn good

Dallastown to Harrisburg would be a trek though, wouldn't it?

Shouldn't be much more than 40-50 min, I would think. That's about what my commute is and I don't mind it. I-83 every day would suck, though.

I did Lancaster to Reading (50 minutes) for two years and it was enough to make me move across the country for better pay and a 8 minute commute. The ability to go home for lunch and ride bicycle back and forth to work far outweighs the increased cost of housing.

If I had twice the budget I still would've lived close to work, but I would've had a bigger garage.

So long as I'm the main income earner I'll do my best to live within such distances unless the position allows for remote work, work from home, flexible schedules and pays substantially more.

pheller wrote: Dallastown to Harrisburg would be a trek though, wouldn't it?

Yes, a trek... but it might be worth it for the property. Once I get this show built and opened I'm planning on driving down to see it at a time that will put me in rush hour traffic. That will give me an idea of how terrible it is.

And Furious_E is right. I-83 is a b!tch.

I can't read a bunch of a thread without commenting no matter how old it is, so... 

To be clear, a modern Manufactured Home usually has a 2x6 floor and has to remain on the trailer frame it is delivered on. Usually two 14' wide halves.

Some people put their manufactured home on a basement by laying W12" beams spanning laterally over the opening every 8' or so with a post in the middle and then placing the home on that and filling in the voids later.

A Modular Home is the exact same upper structure only it has a 2x10 floor and is meant to sit on a foundation or basement with a center bearing wall and the trailer frame is removed on site and the two halves are rolled out onto the basement.

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

Those distinctions are often true, but do not define the difference between manufactured homes and modular ones. 
 

Manufactured homes is a more modern term for mobile homes.  They are basically large trailers that can be relocated (sometimes more than once). Newer ones are far better constructed than older (pre 1974) ones.  They are now governed by HUD, and their construction standards meet Federal guidelines (HUD).  They may or may not be set on a foundation.

A modular home is fabricated in a factory in modular components, and is intended to be assembled at the site in various configurations (including stacking them for multi story applications).  They are NOT designed to be relocated again after the initial installation. They must meet state and local building codes.  They are almost universally on foundations.

Either of them could have 2x6 floor joists (depending on span), but manufactured homes would almost never have 2x10 floor joists (because they are designed to be inexpensive, and their spans would almost never require more than a 2x6)