# 1 in 4 renters must use half their earnings to pay their housing costs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098 "2015-05-02T14:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/81 "2015-05-05T04:27:15Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Actually, you yourself provided one in post #51. Your total expenses in your example are $380 a month, including $200 **lot rent**. You propose renting out one of the rooms in your mobile home for $100 **room rent** > > Clearly, not only is $100 way less than $380, it’s also less than $200. You’re paying more in rent than your hypothetical college student is paying in rent. > > If $100 a month is the going rate for a room in your area, you could simply rent a room for 5 years, put $280 in the bank each month, and walk away at the end with $16k+ There you go. You forgot the decreasing costs over time and sale of the trailer. But yes. Many college students go together and rent a house and split up the rooms. It requires someone with financial backing to cover the rent. That has a risk factor of being stuck with the bill if your name is on the lease. A 4 bedroom house is going to rent for over $1000 but that’s still $250 a head. It would have worked for some of my friends who went to school on the buddy system (same degrees/classes) had they gone to a school away from home. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/82 "2015-05-05T04:34:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Nope. Watched a guy pull one out with dually. Did a number on his clutch going up a steep hill. > > I’ve watched them do it properly. pull the skirt down, put 4 tires on it, disconnect water, sewer and electrical. Off they go. Real complicated. Maybe we’ve got a definition problem here. By “mobile home” I am imagining something like this: [http://www.jandmhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/1980-mobilehome.jpg](http://www.jandmhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/1980-mobilehome.jpg) Not a big travel trailer that looks like this: [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/45/17/2d/45172df2ba1fe38ebccd379547b8f945.jpg](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/45/17/2d/45172df2ba1fe38ebccd379547b8f945.jpg) (adjust for era accordingly) The top image is what I’m talking about as a singlewide mobile home, and there is no way in heck some dude with a truck is going to move that, at least not safely and legally. I know people do stuff like that way out in the sticks, but doing it anywhere near an incorporated area isn’t going to fly. Here’s an actual reputable moving company’s website: [http://jcjmobilehomemovers.com/rates.htm](http://jcjmobilehomemovers.com/rates.htm) You’re talking $2,400 in set up and drop off fees, plus $5/mile, plus whatever sundry permits and escort car services are required. It ain’t cheap. > [@Magiver](#): > > cite. I’ve seen one park close in 50 years in my area. It was closed because the well was contaminated. In that time I couldn’t even begin to count the new ones that opened up. Well, for one thing, there’s the fact that the business of actually selling mobile homes is nearly non-existent now. The companies have moved to “modular homes” which are almost always placed on owned land not leased land. Here’s but one article about it: [America's Fastest-Dying Business? It's Mobile Homes - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/04/americas-fastest-dying-business-its-mobile-homes/73336/) More generally just plug in “mobile home closures” into google and you will see there’s no national statistics, but you’ll see pages and pages of the same trends playing out regionally across the country where construction of new parks has been stagnated since the 80’s and those parks are gradually getting closed as real estate values go up. What new parks do open only want newer modular units. Maybe in areas where real estate prices are chronically depressed closures aren’t a problem, but in that case affordable housing isn’t really a problem either. > [@Magiver](#): > > 20 million people live in them. How much money do you get back from renting an apartment. ZERO. And there was no luck involved. It was cheaper than an apartment from day one. That was the first savings. Once it was paid for it was WAAAAY cheaper than an apartment. That was in increase in savings. I used a broker to sell it and got all my money back. Yes that meant I got more for it than I paid for it. It sold quickly because oddly enough there are people who can grasp the budgetary aspects of living in one. And while it was nice to get all my money back it wasn’t the point of buying it. Anything I got back was money on top of the savings over apartment rent. It became the down payment for a house. > > Campers are far more expensive per square foot than a mobile home and the accommodations are not comparable to an apartment. > > The reason 20 million people live in them is because they provide a reasonable place to live at a good price. > > But lets hear your fabulous idea for beating the high cost of rent. All I’ve heard is you might get hit by a tornado or have to move to Alaska because you are the only one with the job skills needed and it will be a total loss because trailers cannot be resold. We’ll just forget the reality that tornadoes are rare and so are out of town job offers to people who pay half their money in rent. In the real world ALL of your rent is gone. There’s no risk involved because it’s a 100% loss. > > So lets hear your idea to save money on living expenses. I produced a real world solution that literally millions of people have used. I don’t argue that your plan _can_ work but I think you have a massively optimistic idea of how generally applicable it is. In general, I’d argue it only really works in places that have really low housing prices _anyways_. For purposes of this thread, we’re talking about places where housing is really expensive. Trailer parks do exist in those places, but the problem is they’re the areas that are mostly likely to be hit by park closures. Like I mentioned earlier, I _did_ live in a trailer for much of my college career. I rented it for $350, but the lot rent for my neighbors was $250. In contrast my then partner rented a roughly similar sized studio apartment in town for $325. The difference is, like I said, utilities. Hers were usually about $30, whereas mine were sometimes over $400. I also probably spent another $100 in gas per month commuting. Even if hypothetically I’d bought and sold the trailer outright with no money lost in the process, I still would have been very far behind versus renting a comparably sized apartment. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/83 "2015-05-05T04:41:12Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > How about we give everyone here the medal they clearly want for their life choices and be done with it already? I’m 46 and I live with my father! Can I have gold? ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/84 "2015-05-05T12:23:23Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Where housing is cheap and affordable, there are few jobs. When you’re young, finding a secure job is at the top of your priority list. And so are social opportunities. Young people also want and need friends and significant others. Buying property means sacrificing the flexibility that enables these contacts. The housemate who had a job spent maybe 2-3 hours commuting every day to the only faintly “metro” area in their county. I still can’t wrap my head around that :boggle: Job security and social opportunities span generations. They’re both basic human needs. I know a few retirees who have downsized and moved back into the city rather than spend their golden years in the suburban house where they’ve lived for the past 40-some-odd years. They don’t want the local COA activities. They want the vibrancy of city living. Can’t blame them – I can see myself doing the same thing when I’m at that age. If they can afford it, more power to them! > [@](#): > > Young people are given a million different pieces of advice, a lot of it conflicting. It’s impossible for anyone to make the best choice all the time–but especially when you’re young and you don’t really know what you’re doing. I feel lucky that I was born when I was. I’d be a mess if I were just ten years younger, I think. I never made enough money in my 20s/30s to justify moving out even though there were many many MANY times I wanted to. Maybe if I’d been more foolhardy I would’ve tried it. Luckily I’m not, and I could see the economic disaster I would’ve courted had I done it. Staying at home involved many sacrifices, don’t get me wrong, but for me it was more important to keep a roof over my head and take care of my mother than have a lively social life :shrug: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/85 "2015-05-05T15:12:12Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > The housemate who had a job spent maybe 2-3 hours commuting every day to the only faintly “metro” area in their county. I still can’t wrap my head around that :boggle: Sometimes I wonder if the anxiety and depression that’s rampant in our society is the result of our commute times. Rush-hour traffic is stressful. Crazy drivers are stressful. Creeping gas prices and flat tires are stressful. Missed buses and stalled trains are stressful. The longer the commute, the most stressful these things are. Well-to-do people can afford to pay more to avoid this stress. But they are also the ones who can afford vacations, anti-depressants, and flexible work hours. The people who already have stressful lives don’t need to add a stressful commute on top of everything else. But that’s what happens and will continue to happen as housing prices get steeper. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/86 "2015-05-05T15:47:08Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The people who already have stressful lives don’t need to add a stressful commute on top of everything else. But that’s what happens and will continue to happen as housing prices get steeper. The other alternative to more, cheaper housing is to move the jobs to where the relatively cheap, plentiful housing already is. This wouldn’t work for all sorts of jobs, but technology (i.e. instant electronic communication and such) may make it more feasible for some companies to relocate to less expensive areas, or set up remote offices, or allow workers to telecommute from home. (There’ll still be people who want to live in expensive areas, but that, like wanting to live in a mansion, is a luxury, not a necessity.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/87 "2015-05-05T22:55:38Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > Like I mentioned earlier, I _did_ live in a trailer for much of my college career. I rented it for $350, but the lot rent for my neighbors was $250. In contrast my then partner rented a roughly similar sized studio apartment in town for $325. The difference is, like I said, utilities. Hers were usually about $30, whereas mine were sometimes over $400. I also probably spent another $100 in gas per month commuting. Even if hypothetically I’d bought and sold the trailer outright with no money lost in the process, I still would have been very far behind versus renting a comparably sized apartment. Guess you should have bought the trailer instead of renting it and taken the savings. And the coldest month I experienced had zero degree days. I used fuel oil and never came close to $400. Were you burning endangered butterflies to heat it? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/88 "2015-05-05T23:57:16Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Guess you should have bought the trailer instead of renting it and taken the savings. And the coldest month I experienced had zero degree days. I used fuel oil and never came close to $400. Were you burning endangered butterflies to heat it? Hmmm… ‘Trailers’ or what we are talking about mobile homes depreciate. The are titled like cars in the county I live in. Yep they are getting better. My family owned a mobile home park and sold them too. That was a long time ago, and we got into modular homes. Once set, modular homes where not moved. They can appreciate, but you don’t just tow these suckers around. Yes you can move a mobile home. Like Jack said though, it’s a big undertaking, and from what I saw when we owned a mob park, pretty dam rare. Most are ‘moved’ in the back of a few tandem dump trucks and a track hoe with a thumb. I do think you and Jack and I are talking about different classes of homes. I’m talking about at least a 10’x60’ the more common is a 12’x70’ or 14’x70’. Not something you hook up to a pickup truck. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/89 "2015-05-06T00:13:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Guess you should have bought the trailer instead of renting it and taken the savings. And the coldest month I experienced had zero degree days. I used fuel oil and never came close to $400. Were you burning endangered butterflies to heat it? It was just a natural gas furnace that was the same vintage as the mobile home (early 70’s I think). Granted, I only had a couple of months where it was in the $400 range, but my typical winter bills were always in the $250-300 range. Granted at the same time I lived there, there was a deregulation fiasco in my state that led to unusually high natural gas prices, but still, mostly the paper-thin walls and single pane glass was to blame. (and, yes, I had those shrink-wrap things over the windows.) I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mobile home with an oil-burning furnace. Do you have to have a buried oil tank? Maybe those are more common somewhere else and have lower costs, but around here they’re pretty much all natural gas or propane. If I’d bought the thing instead of renting it that would have saved me maybe $2000 total or so? I might have still been able to get out ahead (although I do recall many visits from the property management company’s handyman) but being able to just walk away from it instead of trying to sell it was definitely worth it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/90 "2015-05-06T01:15:12Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Sometimes I wonder if the anxiety and depression that’s rampant in our society is the result of our commute times. Rush-hour traffic is stressful. Crazy drivers are stressful. Creeping gas prices and flat tires are stressful. Missed buses and stalled trains are stressful. The longer the commute, the most stressful these things are. > > Well-to-do people can afford to pay more to avoid this stress. But they are also the ones who can afford vacations, anti-depressants, and flexible work hours. The people who already have stressful lives don’t need to add a stressful commute on top of everything else. But that’s what happens and will continue to happen as housing prices get steeper. In my metro area, the well-to-do people tend to have longer commutes, as they often live in the fancy leafy suburbs, rather than in the City proper. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/91 "2015-05-06T01:20:23Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > In my metro area, the well-to-do people tend to have longer commutes, as they often live in the fancy leafy suburbs, rather than in the City proper. [The rise of suburban poverty:](http://time.com/3060122/poverty-america-suburbs-brookings/) > [@](#): > > It’s easy to pin the growth of concentrated and suburban poverty on the recession, but the spread of poverty throughout the U.S. has broader and more varied explanations. The numbers of suburban poor have been swelled by low-income residents who might once have lived in urban cores, but have been priced out of gentrifying cities, and have moved into affordable housing more prevalent in the suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/92 "2015-05-06T01:50:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Guess you should have bought the trailer instead of renting it and taken the savings. And the coldest month I experienced had zero degree days. I used fuel oil and never came close to $400. Were you burning endangered butterflies to heat it? is it really beyond your comprehension that other people’s situations and experiences might differ from yours? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/93 "2015-05-06T04:51:00Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > There you go. You forgot the decreasing costs over time and sale of the trailer. But yes. Many college students go together and rent a house and split up the rooms. It requires someone with financial backing to cover the rent. That has a risk factor of being stuck with the bill if your name is on the lease. A 4 bedroom house is going to rent for over $1000 but that’s still $250 a head. It would have worked for some of my friends who went to school on the buddy system (same degrees/classes) had they gone to a school away from home. The what decreasing costs over time? Any loan I’m familiar with, your payment is the same each week/month for the term of the loan. My point is, at the end of the 5 year period, in the scenario you yourself proposed, you end up with an asset worth $10k (or less, depending on depreciation), and the hypothetical roommate ends up with $16k in the bank, for the exact same monthly expenses. The renting roommate is better off. Anyway, I think the larger point here is really not “renting versus buying”, it’s more “being frugal versus profligate”. In your world, you may be able to be frugal by living out of town in a particular sort of dwelling. In my world, the way to be frugal is to not own a car (which implies not living way out of town), and not try to occupy an entire dwelling by yourself. (And I doubt if there’s such a thing as a long-term mobile home park within fifty kilometres of me.) But however frugal you are, if your income is a lot less than the people around you, you’re in danger of getting priced out of the housing market, whether you’re talking about the renting market or the buying market. There may be individual good deals available, where people are liable to have “blind spots” about living a certain way (in my area this generally relates to whether you’re in a “good” suburb" or a “bad” suburb … but as house prices go up and up people are being far more savvy about not being swayed by emotional factors like that, and the good deals are disappearing fast). But you’re not guaranteed to have “good deals” in the place where you actually are, and you’re not guaranteed that the good deal is going to be a buying sort or a rent-and-stick-your-money-in-the-bank sort. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/94 "2015-05-07T12:05:09Z")
**Magiver,** take a look at [pictures](http://media.al.com/wire/photo/9719365-large.jpg) [like](http://s.imwx.com/common/articles/images/wichita_trailer_park_aerial_650x366.jpg) [these.](https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/tornado-aerial-5-2.jpg?w=940&h=628) This is what a tornado does to a mobile home park. Granted, it can also do that to stick-built and brick houses but it usually takes a more powerful tornado to do that. Tying down/attaching a trailer home to a foundation isn’t going to help in this situation. Yes, trailer parks in many areas are required to have storm shelters, but aside from it being a pain in the ass to have to leave your home during every severe storm, perhaps having to sleep in the shelter despite needing to get your ass up for your low-paying shift work job, if this happens to your home _you still have the loan on it._ You will STILL be paying for that wrecked piled of stuff, even though you have nothing left of it or any of your possessions. Maybe tornadoes are rare where YOU live, but Tornado Alley averages 1,000 a year. Granted the odds of one hitting any particular place in that region is low, but it’s not some bizarre freak occurrence when one does. Also - if you attach a modular home to a foundation then it’s no longer a _mobile_ home. Now, clearly, some people still wind up in such homes, and quite a few of them chose that for one reason or another. That’s fine. However, if you _rent_ a mobile home (not just the lot it’s on, but the whole thing) then if the crap hits the fan, or the tornado hits the park, you “just” need to find a new place to live, you aren’t stuck paying a loan for years on something that no longer exists. You don’t have to worry about how to move the damn thing if the lot rents go up or the park closes - you just find a new place. Some people prefer not to be encumbered with a trailer or loan, there’s not inherently wrong with that and it can be a good or bad decision depending on a lot of factors. A mobile home worked out for you. Bravo. I also suspect that you owned one in a part of the country NOT prone to tornadoes and south of the severe winter zones (my area regular gets to sub-zero temperatures and has gone as low as -30 F… pretty much NO homes have truly adequate insulation for those temps. Well, maybe in Alaska or Siberia.) It’s not a one-size fits all answer. Truthfully, the winter heating costs quoted, the ones you doubt, are pretty typical for this area and some years they go even higher. Where I live at present, between the severe storms and the low winter temperatures I would be extremely reluctant to live in a mobile home park. Now, if I moved down to where my in-laws live in Tennessee and Virginia, where tornadoes are extremely rare and winters are never as harsh as here, I’d seriously consider one - in fact, at one point when the Other Half and I were seriously contemplating such a move we did, in fact, do some shopping for just such a residence. It’s not that I would never live in such a place, it’s that I don’t think it’s a wise move in this particular region where I currently live. I’ve found an alternative for a comparable price, in a reinforced brick building that is much safer in bad weather. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/95 "2015-05-07T13:42:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Anyway, I think the larger point here is really not “renting versus buying”, it’s more “being frugal versus profligate”. In your world, you may be able to be frugal by living out of town in a particular sort of dwelling. In my world, the way to be frugal is to not own a car (which implies not living way out of town), and not try to occupy an entire dwelling by yourself. (And I doubt if there’s such a thing as a long-term mobile home park within fifty kilometres of me.) I spent most of my 20s in northern NJ, making $12K-$16K a year. The thing that saved me was low-income housing. I lived in a huge highrise complex where residents were not allowed to make more than a certain income. They weren’t the nicest apartments in the world. But the complex was situated near public transit, grocery stores, schools, and parks. There was a schul and an adult community center in the basement of my building. Immigrant families were able to get their start there. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/96 "2015-05-07T15:23:35Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I’d love to live in a mobile home. Seriously. Whenever I tell people this, they laugh. And my parents think I’m crazy. I don’t think you’re crazy. I wouldn’t mind living in one myself. A single-wide trailer is all the space I need. > [@monstro](#): > > But a lot of people get their credit ruined by doing what seems like the responsible thing at the time. Like taking out student loans or buying a house. Or getting married to someone that they are later going to divorce. Should these people have to suffer through sanctimonious lecturing about “poor choices” when–in an alternative reality–their choices would have led to financial success? Which is what happened to me. My ex-fiancé and I bought a house in 2004 with his inheritance from his grandmother. Then life interfered: he had to drop out of grad school due to health problems and was out of work for almost a year. I was having health problems of my own and was just barely getting by. We tried roommates, he tried renting the place out, and eventually (after we broke up), I told him just take my name off the damn place. I don’t own a house anymore but my credit rating sure has taken a ding from it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/97 "2015-05-07T17:34:16Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I’d love to live in a mobile home. Seriously. Whenever I tell people this, they laugh. And my parents think I’m crazy. I know I mentioned something like this upthread, but I think since the subject keeps coming up I should talk about tiny homes. Tiny homes are much like trailer homes in a lot of ways; but are have many features that are improvements, and they can be mobile or on a foundation. In the three plus years I have been involved in the movement I have seen tremendous growth and interest. In my area, their is strong interest from middle class professionals and a lot of interest from “millenials” as well. There are innumerable facebook pages and meetup groups dedicated to making tiny homes acceptable in more areas. Some of these groups have seen success in changing zoning laws to allow for more of these types of dwellings. There is even a 5013c nonprofit that formed about three months ago to champion the cause of tiny house living. Also, you will find plenty of support from these groups and they understand the issues and social conventions that make the transition difficult. In my area, tiny houses are not something people laugh at - actually when I tell people about my interest in them, people usually want to know more. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098/98 "2015-05-07T19:34:55Z")
For a year or so, I was seriously planning on building my own tiny house. But the desire to live so small conflicted with my desire to be frugal. It turns out I didn’t have enough money to build the kind of tiny house I wanted, where I wanted. So I had to put that idea on hold. The house I’ve got on contract is a not a tiny house, but it is small (810 sq ft.). It’s in a neighborhood of houses that are of similar sizes. There’s even one house that’s 475 sq ft. I’m actually glad that I didn’t drop all my money on a tiny house now. 810 sq ft will feel cavernous (my current dwelling is 700), but it will give me some wiggle room to grow. I have this lovely vision of folks putting together “tiny home” communities, situated in urban centers, geared towards hipsters and single, child-free folks. But then I have this other vision of investors buying them all up and renting them out on AirBnB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-in-4-renters-must-use-half-their-earnings-to-pay-their-housing-costs/719098.md?page=4)