Buying a house, mobile home, or building a metal house/shed?

Houston home buyers from https://bitly.com/3uvJPy6

One option you didn't mention was a camper or travel trailer. Not for everyone but something I am considering as I develop.a property. They're completely equipped and easily moved + available in all sorts of price ranges.

In my own situation, I am remodeling a 5,300 square foot structure for rental apartments & office/work space. I'm nearing the point of having two apartments ready to rent but the office & work space doesn't have plumbing or kitchen equipment. However, I can purchase a new camper for as low as $13,000 with enough space for me and customer convenience & park it near enough to the existing office space & with only a new door & movable small structure can seal things up for all weather conditions + hook it up to existing water, electrical & septic systems easily.

Later I can expand with a permanent addition & use the camper elsewhere, for recreation or resale-they hold their value pretty well.

Like I say, not for everyone but an idea worth considering depending on your needs and situation.

Mobiles will not appreciate in value. You'd be better off renting.  Resale of a metal building converted to home may not be that easy.

I doubt you can legally build a metal shed and live it =

if you do this, be mindful that you won't get utilities...

You are approaching the purchase incorrectly.  You see it as a cost evaluation rather than what it really is, an investment in real estate.  You need to consider how you improve the property for the next owner because I can assure you, you won't live there forever.  So how much will your eventual buyer value the cement and metal shack you want to build? Probably less than the cost it  took to build it.  But if you took out a loan and built a proper house, that would likely increase in value, then you would come away making money from your effort to provide yourself with comfortable housing.  That is a better proposition than a mobile home that depreciates like a car or a concrete and metal shack that no one but you will value.

Talk to a local realtor about the resale value before you decide.

Zoning might have something to do with it. I am unware of exactly what you are talking about. But near my subdivision there is an access road and a few years ago a guy put up a mail box, moved in a small metal building, a tent and a whole bunch of junk. And he lives there. With no power. The building is small but bigger than a shed and it has a window. I would have thought what he is doing is illegal but the guy is not hurting anybody and he has been there for years. His building is not far from the road but its a wooded area. I am pretty sure there is no concrete.  The guy was living in a tent before the building came in.

Down from him on the same road there is a bunch of wooded land but there is a pretty steep incline. It had a for sale sign by it for a year or so. I saw a few cars parked near there a few months ago and then shortly after that a bulldozer or some kind of heavy machine sort of made a path up the steep incline. A few days later, in came what looked like 2 mobile homes and some kind of truck that brought them there. I remember being amazed that he was able to get them up there. A few days later, the truck and one of the mobile homes was gone and the larger one remained. Sometime after the home was put in they went in and put some asphalt down so that a car could get up there. And a few weeks later I saw a few small pickups up there, one was from the county. Since then, its just been sitting there. No power, no mailbox. Just a mobile home by itself. No evidence that they ran water to it but I may have missed it. I presume there is water near the road.

Around here, mobile home parks charge about $290 a month. So I viewed buying the land as smarter than paying that every month and they have a a house a short distance from where most houses are in the $140-200k range for a fraction of that. But nothing has been happening for a few months now.

The problem with mobile homes is they tend to decline in value.

I don't know enough about mobile homes to say much except it appears to be a decent size. Maybe it came in 2 pieces and they put it together so there was only one up there to begin with?  I could only see the front because its on a steep incline.

I am in the southeast and hurricanes are not the big issue. Tornados are.

I think you're under estimating the improvement costs.  All of your sinks and toilets would have to be on exterior walls so as to accommodate the proper drainage.  You'll have to use back flush toilets.  You will still have to elevate the tub and shower.  Again to have proper drainage.  The alternative would be to have the drainage lines installed before you pour the slab.

I say buy a house or build your own house from scratch! Congratulations on the next step of your relationship