Failed to realize my lifelong dream.... for now!

On a Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago (4-23-2018), I searched for the lowest priced homes in Laguna, hoping one of those piece of feces 1-2 bedroom shacks on the mountainous two-lane highway to Laguna Beach would pop up on Zillow.  Lo and behold, I came across these manufactured homes across from the Montage Beach for an average price of less than $200K! One in particular - pictures to the left - caught my attention.  It was a 600 sqr. ft. one-bedroom newly built unit for $147K.  The catch is, you don't own the land, and you pay a hefty $3K a month rent for the land, which includes association fee.

So I excitedly plunked down my $5K deposit, obtained the lease contract from the builder/land owner whom we shall not name here, and began reviewing the terms..... O M G!!!!  I stopped reading and taking notes on page 9 of the 40-page agreement.  The terms were so egregiously stacked in favor of the builder at the expense of
the buyer that I saw no chance of negotiating this monstrosity to anything resembling a balanced contract.

The contract term was 20 years, which was a relief at first because seemingly, I the buyer, would have a long term commitment from the land owner to stay in their location.  But everything else royally blew.  The worst provision was that the land owning company had the latitude to make any changes to the contract at any time, which would leave the seller to either accept the amended terms or pick up his house and move it off premises.

Pluck that!  So to make a long story short, I got my deposit back and didn't look back; quite relieved, actually, that I didn't get myself into a regrettable and long term massive financial commitment.  Now, I read and write contracts for a living, but what about the rest of the unsuspecting population who don't read or understand the fine print???