First Homes

select-fire

Bronco thread got me thinking of my very first home for the family. I don't consider the student housing at the University rent ..it was way way cheap with utilities included.  I purchase a single wide mobile home for 2600 dollars and repaired it for about 400. 3 grand first home. It sufficed for 1 year till I sold it to the Mobile home park owner and  bought a 1800 square foot real home.  How about y'all how did you start out?

SW0320

We are still in the first home we built 35 years ago.  We bought a larger piece of land as builder said buy more land you can’t add on to land but can add onto house.  We did just that we have done two additions to the house over the years.  We have now been considering downsizing but just can’t seem to find a piece of land yet.

love2shoot

1958 10x50 house trailer.  Lived in it for 2 years, bought some land outside of town and hauled the trailer to it.  Curvey driveway, up 43 feet and around a corner.  One wrecker and two large tractors got it to the top.  Lived in it another year till I built a house up there too.

jimdeere

1977 I bought an old two story house from a widow for $21,000. I was making about $4/hr. Remember the movie “The Money Pit”? That was that house, except I didn’t have any money.

William81

In 1978 I bought a 12 X 60 trailer for 2800.00 to live in while I was in college.  I rented the other two bedrooms out to cover costs so I was able to make 2400 a year from the rents.  I got married right after graduation and my bride and I lived there for about 18 months while I finished graduate school...we were able to sell the place for 1200 more than we paid for it.....

It was a perfect place to start and got us though those early years.  It beat the heck out of living in dorms and married student housing...

Over the next almost 40 years, we owned 3 different houses.   We retired almost 7 years ago and moved to a small farm that has been in my bride's family for over 100 years.  Hope to be here until the end  because I do not think there is a nursing home that will allow a gun safe in my room !!!!!

pulsarnc

First wife and first home both in 1979 . 14x70 Mobil’s home . Seems like $10500.00 was the price . Wife and I split in May 84 And sold the house a week later and cleared about $2000.00 on the sale and divorce. Moved in to a tenant house on the family farm also walked away with a new motorcycle in the deal

kimi

Bought a small residential home in '78 for about $35,000, sold it six myself six years later for about a 35% profit.  We are in our fourth home now.

Bubba Jr.

I rented an apartment right before we got married. Live there from Sept 1970 - July 1971 when we bought our first house for

$23,500. Lived there for 31 years until we bought our 23 acres in 2001, built our new house and moved in 2002. Sold our old house for 3 times+ what we paid for it. We inherited my inlaw's house after MIL died, then wound up making the biggest mistake of my life when we rented it to my mother and her husband. We had it sold, then  the buyer got cold feet and backed out at the closing. So I became a landlord until we moved Mom and her husband into a nursing home as their minds and health declined. Took almost 8 months to clean all the crap out and get it sold.

BobJudy

Bought my first house in 1981. As we were moving the furniture in the elderly next door neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves. Told us welcome to the neighborhood and brought us cookies. Said they were leaving the next day to spend the summer at their cottage and gave us a phone number to contact them there and a key to their house so we could keep an eye on it. This was after knowing them for 10 minutes. Times sure were different back then. Bob

susie

Being an Army family, Uncle Sam provided our houses or subsidized our rent. The best one he ever provided was the single family two-story in Besigheim, Germany. Our backyard was a vineyard on the Neckar River.

First house we bought was a split level with basement when stationed at Ft. Gillem, Georgia. Bought in '95 for 69k, sold it in '98 for 85k.

Aztngundoc22

OK : 
First House was an old (100 year old) house that I grew up in that had belonged to my Great-GrandMother : "bought" it from the 'family' after Her death : Costs Me $5500 ,,,, tried to remodel for a few years , Nothing was square or straight in that place ! lol !
Lots of memories there !!!
Thanks !!!

mogley98

Wife and I bought our home after I got out of the Navy in 1981, paid 29K for it and we still live in it today.

Raised both daughters here, it was originally 800 Sq. Ft. one bath but I added 200 Sq. Ft. and a half bath years ago. (Got tired of peeing in the yard with three girls in the house!)

We recently (last Nov)  bought a small 2006 double wide and had it set up on the 25 acres we bought in 2000.

Works for me.

gruntled2

Bought my first house about 1974. Paid $21,500. Back then you could take over an existing loan. My dad loaned me $5,000 & the seller took a $5,000 second & I took over his remaining $11,500 loan. A few years later I sold it for $46,000 & I had paid off the second by then. The next house I used the profit from the first & took over the loan on a $56,000 house.

Brookwood

Any of you folks remember those dang high interest rates back in the late 70's\early 80's?!!  I locked in on a two story 3 bed one bath bungalow with a full basement and 24 x 24 garage that we paid 35K for in the spring of 79.  I felt lucky the interest was only 9%.   Just a couple years later the rates went up to 15% plus in our area and I felt even luckier!   

That was not my first house though.  Had already owned (or was paying for) two others before this. In 1976 bought a brand new 14 x 70 Liberty mobile home and lived in a trailer park for a year.  Paid 11K for that one.   Then my FIL wanted us to move closer to them and lent me 10K for a down payment on a brick upper and lower duplex rental place that was across the road from them.  Got that place which came fully furnished with a lot of antiques (former residence had died) for 31K.  This was in 1978.  We really had it made there as we rented the upper flat and the rent made our house payment.  However! Living right across the road from your inlaws is not always an ideal situation!  Before the year was out in that place I had it sold making enough money to pay my FIL back his 10k and another 10 down on the house above! 

Now it is 2020 and three houses later!  

select-fire

gruntled2 said:

Bought my first house about 1974. Paid $21,500. Back then you could take over an existing loan. My dad loaned me $5,000 & the seller took a $5,000 second & I took over his remaining $11,500 loan. A few years later I sold it for $46,000 & I had paid off the second by then. The next house I used the profit from the first & took over the loan on a $56,000 house.

The old assumable mortgages.. How I got my first home. Seller had it listed with Realtor. Realtor showed it to us, we liked it. Homeowners were home when we looked. I went back two nights later on a Sunday evening to speak  to the owner. They were behind on payments, fixing to get foreclosed on an were moving to Oregon.  Owner had lived in the home 21 yrs. out of the 30 yr mortgage. He said just take it over for the balance and you can buy it. Done deal. Home didn't sell for listed price or even near it..Realtor wasn't happy they didn't get as much commission. Seller actually thanked me for not having his credit ruined.

Mr. Perfect

Mine was a site built in 1995, 1254sqft 3 bd 2 bath 2 car garage on a .3 acre. I think I paid $116k for it in 1998 and made a killing when I sold it myself.

SW0320

I remember those high interest rates.  Our first mortgage was 14%.  Not bad because my FIL was paying 21% on the LOC he needed for his business.  All thanks to that peanut farmer.

Mobuck

First home was a rented 12 x 60 trailer that we lived in for a year. Then  bought a 12x 44 trailer and parked it on a rented farm. Three years later, we bought a farm and still live in that house. 
A house is nothing more than shelter from the weather. It's not the house, it's what's in the house that matters. Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.

select-fire

SW0320 said:

I remember those high interest rates.  Our first mortgage was 14%.  Not bad because my FIL was paying 21% on the LOC he needed for his business.  All thanks to that peanut farmer.

Peanut Farmer made me a bundle with my CD's at the time in the bank. Locked those baby's in for as long as I could.

dcon12

I lived rent free for almost a year in this one fellers place until he found out about it.  Don

jar

In 1989 a friends dad was a realtor in our small town. I was on my way home from an elk hunt in eagle co.  he called and he said its 900 sq ft needs a roof and its owner financed and has 4 city lots with it cheap. I agreed to buy it for $12,000 sight unseen. my wife to be was speechless when I got home and took her to see it. it was a bit worse than I was told but we spent the winter remodeling it lived there for 2 yrs and bought a new 30x60 doublewide and put it on the 2 back lots rented out the little house . in 2003 we bought our 40 acres and my uncle and 2 real good friends helped me build our forever home. sold both houses in town and that paid for our new house , couldent beat back to town with a stick!

JimmyJack

I borrowed $12000 and built an A frame 24 by 40 on the river, in 1968. ,  Lived there until I found out how inefficient A frame construction really is.  

Toolman286

In '81 I took over a 13% - $45,000 mortgage on a 1000 sf house that had been vacant & vandalized. That was good since rates were at 18% . I refi'ed to 8% in '87 years later & paid it off in '90. Anyway, it sat on landlocked acreage in town that I knew would be developed some day. I didn't put much into it & people laughed at me for years until I traded it to a developer for a new 4 br, 3 ba + cash for a second in Va.  Meanwhile, I bought acreage in Va where we built our forever house & then sold the 4/3 house.

mohawk600

My first home was also a mobile home......Clayton. It was actually pretty nice. Second home was sold during the divorce. Now I live in an efficiency apt. and love it. Cheap rent and cheap utilities.

pickenup

First house was my next door neighbor's house, from where I grew up, in 1975. He was in some legal trouble and offered us the house for $13,000. We did some fixing it up, and sold it a few years later for a healthy profit.  We spent the next few years living in and traveling around the country in a 1964 Ford van. Renting places when we slowed down enough to get a steady job.

That is why I say that I don't think any new car sells for $13,000.

bpost

I bought my first small home in Aurora Ill in 1984, two years later I bought the house next door for a rental investment.  Soon thereafter I moved to Alaska and sold both homes for a tidy profit.  They were torn down in the early 1990's to build high dollar mega homes for rich folks.  I hated Illinois, the stupid gun laws and the cesspool of Chicago made my guts ache.

mjrfd99

1st $45 K  1982 
Sold $90K 1992

MIKE WISKEY

1st was in 1973, $5,500.00 1 bed, 1 bath (sort of) + 10 acres, rebuilt it before moving in. wife & 3 kids later + a 2 bed addition it burned down in '96. built my dream home with the insurance $$ and a note. also bought the joining 120 acres with a lake.

gruntled2

SW0320 said:

I remember those high interest rates.  Our first mortgage was 14%.  Not bad because my FIL was paying 21% on the LOC he needed for his business.  All thanks to that peanut farmer.

Don't blame the peanut farmer. It was due to the help Nixon gave to Israel in the Yom Kipper War. That led to the rise of OPEC & the Arab oil embargo. That caused a world wide economic crisis & led to massive fuel costs, collapse of the Savings & Loans & the sky high interest rates.

buddyb

First house in Asheville NC in about 1976 for $7000 sold 2 years later for $11000. 2 years ago the same house sold for commercial property for $350000. 

Brookwood

Looking back from here, I once thought 100 thousand bucks was a fortune and a 6 dollar an hour job a career goal!    

select-fire

Funny how you look back on sales and non buys. First home I subcontracted out was built for 35k dollars an extra 3 car garage for 9k . Land was a gift.  Sold that home for 115k one yr after being built and came South. I was so happy almost bought a subdivision that was just zoned but passed on buying it. Could have bought those little 1/3 acre lots for 5k apiece... there were 45 of them. Went back thru the area later when it was developed and they had sold half of the lots for 35k each.. now it is full of those city lites folks living close to one another.  Should a Would a Could a...

allen griggs

My first home, I built this 3 br log cabin on Lake Sinclair Georgia.   Cypress logs.

danielgage

I still live in mine we built it in summer 1996 and I carried by bride across the threshold November 2 1996

My Uncle Bert helped me I would come home from work and he would have things marked and laid-out and I would start nailing and standing walls until dark thirty every night that summer

$42,000 easiest money I ever borrowed could not believe it was that simply

learnt a lesson in usury

wife has made it a wonderful home to me and my 2 boys

mjrfd99

us55840 said:

mjrfd99 said:

1st $45 K  1982 
Sold $90K 1992

Looks like a nice profit but clearly did NOT subtract the years of real estate taxes and insurance paid nor repairs/upgrade costs. 

Yep.  Rat over taxed city.  Just one of reasons we moved  60 miles away.  Then there was the rat ruined schools my kids would have had to go to.  

NeoBlackdog

allen griggs said:

My first home, I built this 3 br log cabin on Lake Sinclair Georgia.   Cypress logs.

I think you win, Allen!  That's just downright beautiful.

Toolman286

Allen, hope you still have it.

allen griggs

No, I sold it in 1995 for $137,500.
And here it is today.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/136-Old-Plantation-Trl-Milledgeville,-GA,-31061_rb/128853787_zpid/

Brookwood

Beautiful home Allen!  Those Cypress logs should last a few centuries too!   

ridgleyart

We lived in an apartment for the first year after we got married. We decided we wanted a dog.  The apartment manager said that was fine as long as we paid a pet deposit.  So we bought a dog and about two weeks later called and told us the new owners didn't want dogs in the apartment and that if we had already gotten one we needed to get rid of it.  By this time our contract was up and we were month to month, so we told the manager this would be our last month and we went out and bought a 2,100 sq. ft. house with a big fenced backyard that week.  We lived there for 15 years until we could afford a place in the country with some acreage.  So essentially we bought our first house for our dog.

allen griggs

When I sold that cabin in Georgia, I took the cash and bought 38 acres up here in the mountains and built this house where I now live.   These logs are white pine.

I have heard horror stories about upkeep problems on log cabins.  Most of these problems are cause by bad design.
As you can see here, on the gable ends I have a 4 foot roof overhang.  On the long wall, a 6 foot roof overhang.
You want to keep the rain and sunshine off of the logs.  
Also, some people plant bushes next to the cabin.  Folks, this is not a brick ranch house.  Bushes will trap moisture and can cause the logs to rot.
When my cabin was 10 years old I put latex stain on  the logs.  That is the only maintenance I have done.
I must admit I have a problem with carpenter bees.   They make a little hole in a timber, and then the woopeckers make a real big hole to get the bee larvae.    I have 8 or 10 holes, maybe 2 inches by 5 inches, and one inch deep,  where these woodpecker have made holes.
Interestingly, only one such hole in a log,  the rest are in the big timbers that form the roof of the porch and the roof overhangs.  No structural problems from the bees and woodpeckers but I must admit it is a problem you wouldn't have with a brick ranch house.
One day, I killed 78 carpenter bees with a badminton racquet.  You can get faster racquet speed with a badminton racquet than with a tennis racquet.  Also, it is great sport to shoot carpenter bees with a Ruger Single Six and rat shot.