We Bought 10 Acres and an Old Mobile Home for $21,000: Was It Worth It?
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| Front of the home before and after |
We Bought 10 Acres and an Old Mobile Home for $21,000: Was It Worth It?
We paid $21,000 for 10 acres and an old mobile home in Central Michigan. Would you have bought it and fixed it up, or would you have driven right past?
I know what you might be thinking when you see the before pictures.
She's ugly.
And honestly? We knew that when we bought her.
But we also saw something else.
Potential.
Back in 2016, we bought this property with an older mobile home that had definitely seen better days. It needed a whole lot of work, and we knew we were taking on a project.
Ten years later, we've put in countless hours, spent plenty of money, and rented more than a few dumpsters trying to bring this place back to life.
And today? It's one of our favorite places to spend the summer.
We're not full-time residents. This is our seasonal getaway, so a lot of the work has happened a little at a time, whenever we could get up here and tackle another project.
Here's a look at how far we've come.
1. Fixing Up the Outside
When we bought the property, the previous owners had added onto the mobile home, but the exterior work wasn't finished. The siding needed attention, several windows needed replacing, and the roof had leaks.
We started by tackling the outside.
We reshingled the roof, finished the siding, and replaced almost all of the windows. The front deck was in rough shape, too, so we rebuilt that as well.
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| Siding and Roof Before & After |
Those changes made a huge difference. The mobile home finally started looking like a place we wanted to spend time in instead of a project we had inherited.
Of course, the outside wasn't the only thing that needed work. The inside was a whole different story.
2. Cleaning Up the Old Sheds
The property came with old sheds that had seen better days. One was sitting behind the mobile home, and it eventually had to go.
We tore it down and rented a dumpster to haul away the debris. Over the years, I think we've rented three or four dumpsters as we've worked through the cleanup and renovations.
When you're fixing up a property that's been neglected, the debris adds up quickly. There's old construction material, pieces of the interior, general junk, and all the things that have accumulated over the years.
One shed came down, and eventually the other one did, too.
Removing those structures gave us more usable space and helped the property feel cleaner and more open. It wasn't the most glamorous part of the renovation, but it was necessary.
And we weren't done cleaning up yet.
3. Gutting the Inside
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| Before All the Renovations Began |
The interior needed just as much attention as the outside.
Much of the mobile home was gutted down to the studs. At one point, you could stand in what would eventually become the kitchen, look into the living room, and see exposed walls and unfinished construction.
And it stayed that way for a while.
Remember, we don't live here full-time. We visit seasonally, which means the renovation has had to happen in stages. My husband has done much of the work during the time we can actually spend at the property.
We couldn't just work on it every evening after dinner or knock everything out over a couple of weekends. Sometimes a project had to wait until the next visit.
That has made this a much longer process than a typical renovation, but little by little, we've made progress.
4. Turning the Old Kitchen Into a Usable Space
The original kitchen was old, worn out, and, honestly, pretty gross. It wasn't something we wanted to keep, so we gutted it.
For a while, the kitchen looked more like a construction zone than a place to prepare food. Eventually, my husband got the drywall installed, and we could start putting the room back together.
We bought new cabinets and countertops, installed a new sink, and worked toward making the kitchen functional again. I believe we got the cabinets from Menards.
One thing you learn when renovating a seasonal property is that forgetting a supply can cost you a lot of time. When the nearest store is about 40 minutes away, a forgotten item can mean an hour and 20 minutes on the road for a round trip.
We eventually stained the cabinets and made another decision that works for the way we use the property: instead of installing a traditional stove, we use a cooktop and an air fryer.
And honestly? That setup works for us.
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| Kitchen Makeover Before & After |
For a while, we relied on grills to cook our meals. Getting a usable kitchen back made life at the property so much easier.
It's one of those things you don't fully appreciate until you've spent time without it!
5. Rebuilding the Bathroom
After making progress on the kitchen, we also had to tackle the bathroom.
The layout wasn't working, and pretty much everything needed updating. We installed a new water heater, new flooring, a new window, a new vanity, and a new toilet.
And let's just say you don't want to know what was in the old toilet. Whatever it was, it went into the dumpster, and I'm perfectly happy leaving that memory in the past!
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| Bathroom Before & After |
Running Water Is a Blessing
Before the bathroom was finished, we had a little portable toilet set up in a breezeway area. We also brought water bottles with us so we could wash up and wash our hair.
It was cold. Very cold.
So when we finally had a finished bathroom, I was incredibly happy. No more portable toilet, no more bottle baths, and no more trying to figure out how to wash your hair with a few bottles of water.
Running water is a blessing!
We also had to have a new well drilled, which added another expense to the growing renovation bill.
If you asked me how much we've spent on this property altogether, I couldn't give you an exact number. We've tackled so many projects over the years that I've honestly lost track.
Maybe it's better that way!
6. Building a Garage
The mobile home wasn't the only thing we wanted to improve. We also built a garage on the property.
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| Garage Being Built |
That was another big project, and it gave us additional space to work with at our seasonal getaway.
Even after all these years, we still have projects waiting for us. We're getting closer to finishing the mobile home, but we aren't quite there yet.
Ten Years of Work, One Summer at a Time
We've been working on this property since 2016. That's a lot of summers spent tackling projects instead of simply relaxing.
There have been hardware store runs, dumpsters, unexpected problems, and jobs that took longer than we expected. There has also been money spent that we hadn't originally planned on spending.
But we've made progress.
We bought a property with 10 acres and an old mobile home that needed a tremendous amount of work. Since then, we've improved the exterior, replaced windows, rebuilt the deck, renovated the kitchen and bathroom, drilled a new well, removed old sheds, and built a garage.
And we're still working toward finishing the last two rooms.
Once those are done, maybe we can finally say the mobile home renovation is complete.
Well, maybe!
If you've ever owned a home, you know that even when one project is finished, there's usually something else waiting around the corner.
But this property has become one of our favorite places to spend time during the summer. It's where we have campfires, ride our ATVs, walk around the property, enjoy the outdoors, and spend time together as a family.
That's what makes all the work worthwhile.
Would You Have Bought It?
Let's go back to that original question.
We paid $21,000 for 10 acres and an old mobile home. The roof needed work, the siding was unfinished, the windows needed replacing, the deck was falling apart, and much of the interior had to be gutted.
We renovated the kitchen and bathroom, had a new well drilled, removed multiple sheds, rented several dumpsters, and eventually built a garage.
Knowing all that, would you have bought the property and taken on the renovation, or would you have passed it by?
For us, we saw the potential, even when the place wasn't much to look at.
Ten years later, I'm glad we gave it a chance.
Tell me in the comments: Would you have taken on this $21,000 property project, or would it have been too much work for you?
And if you'd like to follow along with our ongoing projects, outdoor adventures, and everyday life between our Metro Detroit home and our seasonal Michigan getaway, join us on the Life Between Homes YouTube channel.
Thanks for following along with our journey. I'll see you in the next post!
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