Location: South Carolina
Income:
80k + 5-7% bonus.
Wife makes 600-800/mo under table otherwise shes a SAHM.
Debts:
58k chattel loan on house. Started at end of 2020. 8% interest. 640/mo
3.2k credit cards.
4.5k Student loan.
1.8k 0% loan for kids braces.
2.8k 401k loan.
25k vehicle (4yrs left) 568/mo
13k vehicle (2yrs left) 505/mo
Cash:
1.2k savings (liquidated in January for wife's surgery)
105k 401k (401k loan was 3k to cover rest of wife's surgery)
790+ credit score
The gist.
We live on her parents property. They live on 12 acres. When we were looking for land to put our manufactured home on, he offered. Or i should say, begged us to move out here. Pretty much said we could do anything we wanted. Treat the land like its our own. He just wanted his little parcel to mess around on and didnt care what we did with the rest.
Turns out he definitely cared.
The only stipulation was that we couldnt get a loan and tie in the land. He wanted to keep it in his name and didnt want to risk losing it if I lost my job or whatever. After a LOT of debate I relented and we moved out here at the end of 2020 (brand new 2020 manufacturered double wide home). He cut out an acre to have rezoned to residential (but still in his name). However the home does not have its wheels or anything anymore. It sits on bricks. This was required by the county even with it being on a chattel loan.
Fast forward to now. Hes now refusing to let us do anything, and is growing increasingly toxic and unstable. Basically we need to leave and we have a strong suspicion that is his intent for reasons I wont go into. I know it wont be much longer until he forces the issue, and hes making things extremely miserable. Hes made mention of kicking us off the property because its "his land". Idk the logistics of that or the legality but I have no interest in fighting to stay.
My question is, what are my best options?
Land around here has skyrocketed the last few years. We need at least 2 acres (we are very rural and do a lot of homesteading) which is running 12-15k an acre even in rural areas unless youre buying 15+ acres. Im just trying to figure out the best way to go about it.
Im aware of the costs associated with moving the house (moving, septic, well, etc) which is another concern.
We are looking to do this in the next 12 months or so. I hope we can hold out that long. By that time we should have the credit cards and small loans paid off and another 5-6k saved hopefully.
Im just not sure the best way to go about doing this. Is there refinance options? Am I stuck with the chattel? Can I do a withdrawal against my 401k? USDA loans? I honestly dont know what my options are as I assumed this land was going to be my wife's inheritance. Hes now gone off the deep end and we are 99% certain hes going to lose the land in the next 5 years. If not sooner.
Any advice appreciated because im a little overwhelmed right now trying to figure this out. Though emotions are also running high so that doesnt help.
Honestly if I could just sell the damn thing for what we owe on it and get out of it I would love to do that too and just start over and find us a stick built home instead. But I assume that would be a huge deal with it not having its wheels anymore?
Need help navigating moving and/or selling a manufactured home.
byu/MasterPip inRealEstate
Posted by MasterPip
2 Comments
You need legal advice before anything else. Not because you should fight him but because a manufactured home permanently attached to land gets messy fast when the landowner is someone else. You need to know exactly what rights you have before emotions escalate further.
>brand new 2020 manufacturered double wide home
Ouch, sorry you are in this mess. But you cannot move a manufactured home and get a conventional mortgage on it. You would have to do another chattel loan, and so would someone who buys it from you. You basically have a fancy, depreciating car you can live in. With no wheels.
I guess your best bet is to try to find a buyer who would be willing to move it, but I suspect you aren’t going to get anywhere near what you owe unfortunately. I guess I’d try advertising the structure only and see if you get any bites at near what you owe.
If you can’t get what you owe then I’d figure out how to “yes sir” him on whatever he wants. Figure out how to disengage and just keep to yourself and ignore him. Stay there as long as you can, and pay off your debt.
IMO your finances are unlikely to support a loan for the land + costs to move and install the manufactured home. You can never make it real estate in the eyes of a lender (tax assessor has a different opinion but they aren’t loaning you money on it). I guess you’d have to see what the cost would be. But I don’t think you should borrow any more money. Pay off your debt first.