I am looking to buy in the CA state housing market. Is it better to buy : a house, condo, or mobile home?

Answer 1

House is best if you can afford it. Then condo.

Stay away from mobile homes. As land increasingly gets more valuable, owners of mobile home parks are charging ever increasing space fees or kicking out tenants and selling it to home builders.

Answer 2

ALWAYS a house. But location location location is the first and foremost guage of real estate and the resale market. All issues equal (i.e. location), a SFR (single family residence) will be your best buy.

1. In most cases you won't pay association dues (PUD's are an exception to this) with condo's or townhouses you do.
2. When the market makes it change (like now), condo's and townhouses (as well as mobile homes), get hit the hardest and the soonest.
3. With a booming market, SFR's appreciation has a much higher rate of increase vs. those other property types.
4. With a market that's stagnant you can always foster appreciation by adding additional square footage to your home. For 99% of townhouses, condo's, and mobile homes, remodeling can't be done.

Bottom line... a house

Answer 3

If you can afford to buy a house then buy a house. Houses currently appreciate about 20% higher than condos and condos can be very difficult to sell as they're often purchased by investors with the intent of renting them out. Because of this they tend to become run down and unattractive to potential buyers. As for mobile homes - I would steer clear. Mobile homes can actually depreciate and you could lose money on the deal.

Answer 4

lol I can only answer you ba asking anouther question.

How much do you have?

I live in Cali. and the way things are looking wait a few years for the housing market to go down more to find a better deal.

I got a clue if you want!!!! A ton of people are losing their houses in really nice areas in Southern California in forcloser. Sounds sad but you can get a huge deal on a nice house in a nice area if your willing to fix and problems the house might have. Lately I have seen some GREAT deals in Santa Barbera that make me want to almost cry (not enough money right now).

Also look at growing parts of Cali that aren't a big city yet like in San Bernardino County. I live in the high desert area and you can buy a huge house with lots of land (I'm talking acers here) for the same price as a tiny house in L.A. , Pasadena, or Santa Barbera.

If your interested in the high desert just know that it gets really hot (up to 105 at the peak of summer) and really cold (It snowed my first winter!!) I love it here your in the middle of everything! (20-30 min to Ontario, 20-40 min to the mountains, 1hr-2hr to L.A., and about 1hr and 30min to Las Vegas) If your interested try Hesperia or Apple Valley there are other surrounding towns that are even more tiny that you can look at, exept Victorville you need to be careful, some parts are bad while others have a golf course and anouther a lake.
Here are some links about the area
1st link city of hesperia
2nd same facts and real estate on hesperia
3rd City of Appley Valley
4th Century 21 listings of homes in the high desert area ( you can also change the search to meet your needs) its going from most expensive to least okay so don't get scared at the first page most of the houses aren't that much.

All in all to answer you if you have kids get a house, single and want to be in the middle of everything and close to work get a condo. I don't know about other areas but mobile homes are not that nice unless its temperary.

Opps almost forgot when buying a forclosing home there are some major things to know please go to the 5th link and read the best anwser this dude is really good.

Answer 5

The housing marketplace is in a correction, the costs rose swifter than peoples income ans unsustainable situation which has now come living house to roost. i do no longer see it bottoming out till a minimum of spring of 09. instructions discovered in it really is that they gained't get excitement from quickly as they did in the ninety's because too many people and speculators were given burned, and it replaced right into a man made appreciation fueled with assistance from speculators, and undesirable loans, and individuals in simple terms seeking to make a speedy dollar. it is going to go back to what it will be 2-3% in step with 3 hundred and sixty 5 days. residences should be a lengthy time period funding it truly is what replaced into forgotten, and that is what led to this mess we are at present day in.

Answer 6

House will appreciate in value, your best bet if you are financially able.
Condo comes in at a close second, if you don't want to worry about maintenance and up-keep.
Mobile Home will decrease in value and you have issues with safety.

Answer 7

The house. Hands down.

Mobile homes not only depreciate, but you have to pay rent! No value in rent paying, just flushing your money away.

Condos are really hard to unload because they usually have a HOA fee that counts against the buyer, and again, is money that does not end up back in your pocket.

Answer 8

house or condo

mobile home is a depreciating value - that will one day need to be replaced - not repaired