A home of my own.

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I'm in the market to make a purchase, being young and the market being in the gutter and all.

Trying to keep it below 100k. But basically my options are a condo(townhouse) in a nice gated/private community with a private garage. Or go higher and get in the same community but a house. Or I can move very far away (70-80 mile trip to work). And get a house I'll truly love in the middle of no where with plenty of land. Or I can purchase a motor home I found for about 5k and travel place to place as I see fit. An 85 Overland, 36ft class A.

Basically my question being - what would be/is ideal, for you?

We purchased 20 months ago.
It sucks.
Our house is now worth 100K less than when we bought it.
We are looking for a nice rental and plan to just walk away from this place. We will never see any equity in it so the bank can have it back.

Go for the land. You can buy an RV later.

Well, the prob is the RV is there and I need a place to stay.. lol. It will provide cheap affordable living and its there now and I can get it/get it paid for rather quickly.

The land isn't movable and is a 60-80 mile commute to work but has everything I want to be happy.

Then of course the other option is to buy a home in town which would be easy/simple and not cost a arm and leg - but I'm having a problem - i enjoy living in town, but when thinking about buying my own home - I want to be no where near town. Crime is horrible, people suck, and the houses are dirt ugly..,

The RV is almost seeming to be my best option as a temporary fix - its not out of need but out of necessity. but then I'd only need about 11k to purchase the land with a trailer/10 years at a 500 dollar payment to pay it off - and it'll be worth 200k by then. But its not doable... NOW... So I'm feeling the pressure, lol.

seems like a good time to buy in the US, so...

some things to consider: I only lived in flats (apartments) until I was about 40. Free standing houses with yards are a lot noisier, mostly people with kids buy them and you've got BBQs and kids yelling and screaming and you've got the lawn to mow. However, if you like gardening (i did) you might want to try it, and you do own the land freehold (or something like that), unlike strata titles where you only own the airspace.

Generally it's good to buy stuff that will appeal to the average buyer because if you need or want to sell it's easier. Corner blocks are better because there's less neighbours but more lawn to mow (two corners).

80 mile doesn't sound THAT far for a place you like - that's less than an hour commuting to work?, lots of people do longer trips than that, but if that's you nearest shop or petrol then that's a problem, you need goods and sevices to be closer than that. I recently bought a neglected small acreage and a rundown old house and it's been hell, but it's close to a small town (about 2k/1 mile). i'm old and on my own so it's hard and there's a lotta physical labour. I think the first year on a neglected property is pretty hard. you may need a tractor (expensive) or a neighbour who will help out with their tractor for the slashing (mowing) if you have pasture. There's also rabbits and other pests (i'm in Australia) you have to deal with, so there's really a lot of work involved but it's got it's good points too as you can imagine. These sort of places are a lot slower to sell if you decide you don't like though.

I had to live out of a camper van for 5 months when I moved states and I didn't really like it, you have to do all the driving and there's very little privacy, it's a very public life. but some people like it. It sounds like you think it will work.

Have you actually started looking at any houses or vans? Where were you thinking of parking the van because van parks can be hell. You can get finance?

I'm no expert on real estate, but you should take into consideration that motorhomes never gain in value. They only depreciate. I suppose the big plus is that you could have it paid off more quickly and start saving up for the land, but will land prices start rising again? Maybe faster than you can save for it? But an 80 mile commute costs more than money for fuel and wear and tear on the car. It costs time. How much of your life do you want to spend driving? Any possibility of finding land closer to where you work?

yup. mr garyww beat me to it.
man of taste. and good advice.

now you really should go with what you love. f**k all the other options as they will disappoint you.
even if you have to drive to work...if you love it it will be worth it. hopefully you can afford the petrol.

i would go for solitude and nature every step of the way.

Rent close to work and save. Everything is going to get cheaper.

It will be much different in a year. Have cash.

Motorhomes cost a lot to maintain, long drives you work for gas.

The fastest drop is going to be in raw land. Now is not the time to take over losses.

Lease the condo, have the lifestyle without the risk.

I used to live on a beautiful 5 hectare farm 9 km from the nearest village.
I loved it but I became a complete hermit. Now I have a terraced house on
a quiet street in a small town. I have a lot of casual contact with my
neighbours and it's easy for my friends to visit.

I often want to run away and be by myself but I think it's better like that than to
have to make a huge effort to see anyone. I never managed to make the
effort - there was always something else I wanted to do.

I know we're all different but if I was doing it again I would make sure I could
always find solitude quickly when I needed it but that my day to day life was
social enough to be challenging.

(and just in case you don't get it right first time - make sure you will be able to
sell on. I made that mistake first time too)

Frank LLoyd Wrights formula for finding a place to live consisted of marking the location of your likely job market area on a map and then drawing a circle having a 20 mile radius. Then rent but or build something that was actually another 20 miles further out than the original 20 mile circle as in 10 years society will be all around you and your job market area also expands.
Progress is similar to cancer in that it likes to spread uncontroled so you have to be light on your feet to stay ahead of it.

When it comes to finding a good house, it's all about location. I know a lot of people say apartment living is nice to start off with, but there's no way anyone would want to live in some of the apartments on the east side of town. The north side would be okay. Just remember that when it comes to choosing something. Location, location, location!

If you want to buy a house according to financial factors, I say go for it. It's most people's first and foremost reason after all.

I just think other things matter just as much or more. Like how happy you'll truly be in a place, since you have to live there and be prepared to make a commitment to living there. And, for the independent adult Aspie, whether you would be vulnerable in a neighbourhood.

If your buying power stretches only as far as vulnerable places - each individual would be the best judge of their local area - I wouldn't commit to buying. I think in that case an independent adult Aspie should probably only commit to renting, when it would be easier to change residences if you get into bother, as opposed to buying when it might be harder to shift.

I'm not saying don't buy. Just don't commit to a more vulnerable situation that might be harder to get out of, where the financial factors might not be worth the other troubles of living somewhere.

For example I wouldn't feel able to commit to buying on an American trailer park - at least based on what I know about the typical American trailer park.

trailer parks are good. That's where the real weirdo's live. It's fun.

I thought we we're the wierdo's...

But a couple years back I took out a car loan, its still eating me alive and I can't get out of it unless I go crash my car, lol. And no one seems nice enough to steal the thing from me...

But at the moment I have no real bills per say except for 600$ or so a month. I have random credit card stuff but all together around $2000 to get myself "Even" with everyone. So I'm being hit from a side where - I need a house. And a side where I am finally after years and years... finally gaining some financial freedom with the ability to pay off what I do owe. But at the same time I need a place to stay and can get one - so... I'm at a bit of a turning point, do I buy, do I not buy... do I purchase something livable and suffer for whats ahead?... Do I pay off everything and save in cash/purchase in cash?...

*shrugs*

If I didn't have a car I'd have 2k in my pocket right now from the last 3 months.