My own interest in cheap housing ideas started because I never liked having a job, or working too many hours per week. I worked full time for perhaps just nine months in my life (I'm 43), so it was necessary at times to keep my expenses low. My first house was a mobile home on a small lot in a Northern Michigan town. The $257 payments were easy enough for a while, but I paid off the mortgage early during an unusual period of 30-hour work weeks (almost full time for me).
However, I wasn't just a buyer of cheap housing - I was also a supplier. I rented the other rooms in the mobile home. In this way I lived for free and even had a little extra income after paying the household bills. I also built a shed for $250, carpeted it and put in a light, and then rented it out at times for $50 per week - now that's a good ROI (return on investment).
In Mexico, when I was 17 years old, a group of factory workers gave me a ride and let me spend the night in their extra bunk (I was hitchhiking). They had a futuristic plastic apartment, big enough for four bunk beds and not much more. In the bathroom, the floor, toilet and bath tub were all made out of one continuous piece of molded plastic. Outside, the grounds had tennis courts, as well as cement paths with benches, that wound through flower beds.
An efficiently designed 300-square-foot apartment works for single young people. If such construction was allowed in some parts of the United States (there was only one door and other code issues) these kinds of apartments could probably really solve some problems. With twenty of them on a small property, an investor could make money renting them out for $240 per month, utilities included. Split between four single young men or women, this would be just $60 each, or $15 per week. That's really cheap housing.
Other Cheap Housing Ideas
In those places where there is no big snow-load to worry about, tent-style housing, like that used on the Mongolian plains might be okay. Normal walls and roofs cost a lot, but insulated fabric would be a fraction of the cost. Even if it needed to be replaced every 12 years it might cost a lot less than using traditional walls and roofs.
There was an indoor ice rink in our local park for years before I noticed that its roof was held up by air pressure alone. It worked well enough, which makes me wonder if this kind of construction might be used for houses too. Think inflatable houses...
How about 10-by-12-foot cube-rooms that fit together easily in many different ways? A buyer starts with a bathroom cube, a kitchen cube and a bedroom cube, and then add more as he can afford to. Having them pre-made with a uniform design would keep the costs low. The electrical would be built-in and ready to plug into the next cube-room.
My friend was thrown out of the home he built on his own land, because it wasn't large enough to meet the county building code. We discovered however, that it would have been legal for him to camp on his property in an Recreational Vehicle, even if it was smaller than his shack. This makes me wonder if an entrepreneur could buy 40 used RVs for $4,000 each, put them on a piece of land, and then rent them to low income tenants. Just call it "camping," and this cheap housing idea might be okay with authorities.
If you can live where you like, you can start by looking at towns where houses or apartments cost less, and cut your housing costs by as much as half or more. For example, an apartment which rents for $500 in Tucson, Arizona might be $1,500 in New York or San Francisco. A house you would have to pay $400,000 for in California might be $120,000 in many other cities.
Once you know which city you'll be living in, find the neighborhoods where prices or rents are lowest. If they aren't clearly unsafe or otherwise undesirable, start your search here. Only move on if you can't find what you need after carefully looking at what is for sale there.
Some types of housing are cheaper than others. Normally mobile homes on property are the cheapest options for buying or renting (although I have seen exceptions). Beyond that, the relative value of various types of houses can vary a lot in different cities. In some, classic old houses are valued more than new homes, while in other towns they're seen for the trouble they are and priced lower. Start cheap and work your way up if you don't find what you want.
There are often just plain good deals that can be found in any area or with any type of home. Putting a price on homes (or setting rents) isn't an exact science, and some sellers won't even use what decent tools are available for this, so keep your eyes open for an under-priced house. If you're willing to deal with a fixer upper, this could mean paying $20,000 less to buy a home that needs just a couple thousand in repairs and deferred maintenance.
Also, you can always offer less than the asking price. Learn a few good negotiating tactics if you are going to be talking to the sellers yourself. Otherwise you can make a bunch of low offers to see if one of them is accepted by a seller. If your first ten are rejected without a counter-offer, though, you might need to adjust your sights.
How To Compare Housing Costs
Don't make the mistake of thinking finding cheap housing is all about the lowest price or monthly rental charge. A house for $10,000 less may mean paying $60 to $90 less per month on the mortgage, but if it means driving 10 miles more to and from work, and your car costs 30-cents-per-mile to operate, that's an extra $120 per month right there. Look at the following when comparing options:
- Loan costs. A higher interest rate on a small house may make the payments higher than those on a lower-interest owner-financed home which costs more. Consider the interest costs.
- Home owner insurance. Really cheap housing may not be so cheap if you have to pay more because of old heating systems or being in a flood or earthquake area.
- Taxes. A block or two can be dramatic in the cost of property taxes, depending on whether you are in or out of the city or township.
- Car expenses. It is not only your job, but also stores that can be further away if you are too far out of the city. Estimate your monthly car expenses based on the location and your habits.
- Gas, electric and other utilities. Your heating bill can be twice as high on a drafty old house versus a new energy-efficient one. Consider electricity, water, sewer and garbage collection expenses too.
- Repairs. Some homes are truly ready to live in without any work needed. Try to estimate the next three-year's repairs and divide by 36 to get a monthly figure to compare.
- Other regular costs. Does the home, condo or apartment have association dues? How about special assessments, snow removal costs or lawn care expenses?
Write down any and all expenses for each home you consider, so you can meaningfully compare them. Estimate as closely as you can if no records are available, and find a monthly average total for each. In this way you can see which are really cheap housing options.
Steve Gillman has sinced written about articles on various topics from Camping, Hypnotherapy and Entertainment Guide. Copyright Steve Gillman. For inventions, new product ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and a free course on how to have