Hey everyone, I appreciate everyone responding to my last post about frugality when it comes to vehicles and I thought I would ask another question seeking advice about our housing situation. As we all know, COVID-19 is really taking a toll on a lot of things. One of the main things we are seeing its toll being taken on is the jobs and housing. Right now, where we live, things are looking shaky at best(as our entire city is based on tourism with a splash of other jobs in between). This leaves us making some tough decisions about the current state of where we live(apartment wise) and what our next move will be.
Like a lot of people, I am currently trying to figure out ways to cut back and scale back on our living situation. Right now, we are living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment paying $1200 in rent(rent here is on average between $850 - $1200). When we first moved to our apartment, we paid $1075 which was affordable to us at the time. But now, things are being scaled back. Pay is potentially being cut and we are now having to rethink our entire living situation for the next year. We will be able to muddle through until the lease is over. A few months ago, before COVID hit full force, we took a look at a newer apartment that was nice but close to $1400. I was not only shocked by the sticker price but was adamantly against spending that type of money on an apartment in this area when there are cheaper(however slightly they may be) options available. Given how things are now, it would be crazy to spend that type of money given that you don't know whether or not you are going to be able to keep the pay that you have.
I then started taking a look at some options like mobile home parks. I had found a nice and rather clean mobile home park on the other side of town that was charging $895(lot rent included in that price) for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom mobile home and $995 for a 3 bedroom/2 bath. This is almost $300 less than what we are paying for in a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment that is older and thought that it may be less financially stressing to pay a little less rent once our lease is over. It is also still within walking distance to a bus stop(under 35 minutes) which is important to me. I also took a look at the crime map in that area via Trulia, and surprisingly there is much less crime over there than where we live currently as well. I have plans to take a look at it within the next few months because I want to be able see where it is and what it looks like and gauge how traffic is.
So my question to you guys is should we consider hopping on this potential rental opportunity if one of the mobile homes becomes available? Truth is, even before COVID, I was becoming fed up with this place anyways. We have one maintenance man on the entire property of over 350 units, the crime in this area has spiraled out of control(we had our license plate stolen; have many suspicious individuals passing through, drug addicts and homeless camps on the property), a neighbor who's dog goes on endlessly and for what is being charged, it simply isn't worth the hassle anymore if we can find something more affordable. Any input would be graciously appreciated!
April 18, 2020 at 08:25PM
