We were told we did everything right...

It started in 2021.

My mother and I wanted to move somewhere dryer and milder to improve our poor health. In August we had the money to travel to sunny and cool Northern Arizona to find a place to call home.

We had over $322,000 from my mother's retirement and our combined savings.

By June 2024 we had lost 74,631.67 to pay for permits, taxes, and storage on our home while we lived in a twenty-foot trailer with barely enough to eat.

We incurred subsequent medical debt and struggled to make it day to day.

This wasn't supposed to happen. But it did. Here's the breakdown.

• Property: $35,000 for 2.3 acres
• My mom's house: $139,800 for factory model + upgrades for her disability. The original model floor plan before upgrades is pictured below.

• We paid the builder $25,080 as part of a 60% deposit to have the home affixed to the property
• We had septic put in for 2 homes and had dirt work done for 25,500

See the plan was always to build one home and take a loan out on it to pay for the second home, my home. Which is why we also had this expense -

• Deposit on second home: $15,000 (now gone).

Early in the process, our builder asked us for additional money for the electricity (why, when he can't put it in until the house is set, I don't know).

• Electric APS: We paid 60% of the total due at $5,220

The two of us had big plans in 2021. And by 2022, with the majority of our crew hired and paid for upfront, we thought we were set. But the pandemic and changing weather had other plans, pushing back progress on septic and dirt work until May while mom's (now our) home was done in February. That's right, a four-month difference.

We had no choice but to pay for storage

• Storage fees and insurance on stored home: current total $26,336.67

Mom had to take from her retirement. It turns out tax percentages had changed on IRA retirement accounts.

• Income tax on her Retirement Accounts: $15,000

If you're sensing a pattern here you might feel that it would be just our luck that my mother and I moved during a big change in permit law. The permitting process proved to be long arduous, and expensive. It is the core reason we are still camper-bound a year after our home was built (but not put together.) You can't affix a manufactured home without having the foundation plans drawn by an engineer and the plans approved by the state and the county! It makes sense, on paper, but in practice, it leads to a huge backlog of permit applications. Not to mention, sellers and builders who knew next to nothing about this new law.

We were not prepared. How could we be when all our research and advisers had told us we would be fine?

• Engineer: 2,800
• Permit fees: Arizona Department of Housing $1,000. County 2,058.40

But both permits are approved! It seems our destiny to no longer be on the edge of homelessness! Only our money is gone and our current living conditions are not compatible with our health and disabilities.

It is dire that we get into our home; the home we paid for. A home we would have by now had fate been kinder. We need some help to get there.

We still owe the remaining money to the builder and the fee for the last inspection. The money we had when we started.

Lenders do not lend to manfactured homes, you are our last hope.

You don't have to give a lot, any bit can help us reach our goal. But please consider aiding us in our plight. Share this post.

After all, the lawyer, the bankers, they all said we did everything right.

Sincerely Allyson and Cindy Finke