For reference my mom is in the USA, I live about 7 hours away from her with my husband so all of my helping her has been through the internet/telephone.
My mom's house burned down a year ago, very few belongings survived. At the end of it all she has roughly $170k in the bank and no debt anymore. She wants to move and be closer to my husband and I for when grandchildren happen, basically to start a new life somewhere else. We are looking at southeastern Michigan. She's living on her own with a few pets.
There are some differing opinions on how this money should be used to achieve my mom's goal. My mom and I are both from small towns. My husband is from the city. He says my mom should invest some of the money. I don't think I could get my mom to do that, as she is not educated about investing, and neither am I.
My mom has what I feel are unrealistic expectations of how far this money will actually go. In her ideal world, she would buy a house outright (the areas we are looking at could get her a decent little house for $100k - $130k) that is new (less than 15 yrs old), ready to move in, has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a 2 car garage, a walk-in closet, a big back yard (for the dog), and neighbors that are a good distance from the house (as in she doesn't want to see them). The house can't be located IN the city, because she says she hates being close to people. She is also picky about how the interior looks but doesn't want to invest any money in renovating, she just wants it move-in ready. She also wants to get away with working part-time the rest of her life and live off of what money she has left over after the house purchase. She'd also have to buy some furniture, as she has none. She's also super paranoid about crime because she's a single woman living on her own and thinks that a place like Port Huron will have the same crime as Detroit because they are relatively close.
Personally, I think this is a super unrealistic expectation all around. I did some very rough math and found that she can't really afford to both buy a house AND work part-time to support herself. That money would be gone pretty fast. Also, trying to find a house with all her must-haves within her budget is impossible. I am trying to talk her into easing up on her expectations, like giving up on the idea of a walk-in closet or compromising in some way.
For example, in southeastern Michigan there's just not a lot of new housing going up, not anything my mom can afford at least. I was looking in the Port Huron area just because it's a bigger city with a lot of real estate results in Google searches. I told my mom she's not going to find a newer house out in the country, she could probably find one in the city though. I also told her she probably can't live off of the money and work part-time to support herself. She might be able to if she gives up on the idea of buying a house though and rents instead. Also, renting would save her money because she wouldn't have to buy a lawnmower or do any lawn care, there's maintenance you can call, etc. I have rented a townhouse before and know the perks.
I was hoping some of you more financial-savvy people could help me with some realistic advice or suggestions on how we can best use this money to get my mom as many things on her "wish list" as we can. My mom used to be paycheck-to-paycheck and works a full-time job, so I'd really like her to keep some of that money as an emergency fund so she doesn't have to worry about bills or taking the pets to the vet anymore. Are there any options we are not thinking of? Is it possible for my mom to buy a house and work part-time to support herself?
edit: She's a secretary. Any part-time job she'd end up with will probably pay minimum wage or slightly above.
Submitted February 27, 2017 at 10:08AM by ThrowAway945035 http://ift.tt/2l4uHYq
