I spent a couple of eye-opening days in the hills east of Chico and Oroville earlier this week with a lady and her son from Alaska. They are doing what I call ‘survival shopping’…looking for a cheap piece of land upon which to build some retirement plans.
In other words, they want low cost, low risk, low additional investments and minimal amenities. It just makes sense (for some people anyway). Sitting it out is no strategy – renting doesn’t build any ownership towards one’s retirement location. And with prices down significantly it would seem like a low-risk proposition.
There are some bargains out there, especially if one is willing to do a little work. Acreage within 30 minutes of Chico starts at $5,000 but will need power, water and various other investments of time, energy and cash. Properties with well and septic are going for well under $100,000. Manufactured homes on land start in the $30,000’s. Many sellers of bare land and mobiles grudgingly agree to seller financing due to the difficulty of bank financing, and the initial investment (down payment) is typically as low as 10-30%.
So, me and my new friends from Alaska looked at land and manufactured homes from Bangor to Yankee Hill to Forest Ranch. Most in this price range had some challenges – needed a well or had questionable neighbors or a remote location. To their way of thinking a 2003 single-wide on over an acre in Bangor for $79,000 with existing well and septic was the most appealing. Here they could escape Alaska’s cold winters, raise their own food, buy for well under what a home in town would cost with perhaps $20,000 down.
Maybe some day they’d build a home and sell the trailer…for now it seems like a pretty cool place to survive.
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