Long-time lurker, first-time poster. TL/DR: look outside of the usual for unusual deals. This is my personal experience in the past, so obviously prices have changed but the principle remains the same.
I spent the first 20 years of my adult-ish life getting high, so when I suddenly found myself in need of an actual home {baby, yikes!} traditional areas of credit weren't available to me, as 'credit score' wasn't high on my list of priorities during the traditional credit building years, so to speak. So I decided that like King Moonracer (from the movie Rudolph the red nosed reindeer) who oversaw the Island of Misfit Toys, I'd seek out the unloved and unwanted properties, as the sellers were desperate to unload them and so willing to consider offers that nicer properties wouldn't dream of. My first place in 2006 was a 1970s mobile home/house trailer on 1/2 acre lot in a neighborhood of houses in a very nice suburban city. The for sale sign that was so old and faded I had to get out of my car to read the number. Asking price was 35K, and as mobile homes that old have no loan value, that meant that folks willing to live in it couldn't pay cash OR get a loan, so it wasn't moving. Offered 30K with 20% down and 5 years owner financing, got a hard no. Next day it was accepted with a 15% interest rate, so I just doubled up payments and paid it off in 2 years cuz fuck that. I stripped it down to the wall studs and replaced everything with house-grade materials and fixtures. So basically it looks and functions just like a small house on the inside. My mom moved in when I got married in 2011, she still lives there.
In 2013 when I got divorced {just.....don't ask} I bought a mobile home with 2 acres for 30K in a very nice suburban city with same terms, even though owners were vehemently opposed to owner financing at first. But again, nobody who'd be willing to live there could pay cash.
2019 I sold the 2 acre place and paid cash for a 1950s tract home that was a failed rental house in a not-so-nice suburban-ish city that had been vacant for years due to disrepair. It needed more work than it was worth unless you were going to live there. The doors were gone and I found an ancient for rent sign in the kitchen and tracked down the current owners, a property management group. They quoted me 30k, so I asked when was the last time she had actually set eyes on the property. Yada yada yada, two days later she takes 6k, I spend an equal amount on repairs and moved in a month later. It's in a sketchy area, consequently the houses across from and next to me were likewise empty. Homeless would trash repairs quick as property managers made them, until I moved in and dropped a few hundred bucks on lights and cameras online and lit up my yard like a basketball court at night, ran a wire fence around my yard complete with gate, and I've had zero issues. The other houses around me got repaired and rented out after I planted my flag in the desert of vacant houses, all except the one directly across from me, in about the same shape as mine when I bought it. Being today's crazy market, they were asking 45k for this wreck. Much as I hated paying that much, that's not too outrageous. I offered 30k cash and they just took it. Gonna offer it to my nephews and nieces if one wants to live there, but not to flip.
My point being, there are still places to be had if you think outside the box and bust your ass finding the hidden quasi-gems. Yes, the deals won't be as great as they might if you search forever, but you can possibly find a home, even if you don't stay there forever. I got blind bullshit lucky over and over again, and if my dumb ass can have that happen you can too if you keep asking. Worse they can do is tell ya no!
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/t3e796/alternative_properties/
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