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Resident Owned Communities (https://rocusa.org/ https://rocusa.org/) are by far the more human option here. "your home that you own depreciates like a car and

Resident Owned Communities (https://rocusa.org/ https://rocusa.org/) are by far the more human option here. "your home that you own depreciates like a car and you merely rent the land under it and we can raise the rent whenever we want" is a crock, and needs to end. Resident cooperative ownership of the land is superior in every way, and Buffett should honestly be ashamed of himself for playing this game.

fjsolwmv 8y ago
The only thing special about a mobile home is that usually (non-mobile-home) you either rent or own land+house as a bundle, not rent land and own house (or the far less common vice versa). Besides that it's just the classic trade-off between owning and renting, paying for liquidity. Is owning better in general? Probably, because it has powerful rights in a finite world. Even home owners are subject to disposession due to HOA/COA, property tax, and condemnation/eminent-domain.
- hprotagonist 8y ago
  Once your doublewide is up on cinder blocks and functionally immovable / hasn't rolled in 20 years, things do actually get more complicated. "this is my land, you're tresspassing, get that "mobile structure" off in 24 hours or you'll be arrested" is not something you can do to a renter with quite the same level of cruelty.
  - lazyasciiart 8y ago
    As far as I'm aware, mobile home owners have renters rights on the land, which means you can't exactly do that to them either.
  - abfan1127 8y ago
    its usually handled as "you're evicted. To cover back rent, we take ownership of your stuff including your trailer. Once we sell your stuff, you may have any proceeds after back rent and fees are paid."
ip26 8y ago
"your home that you own depreciates like a car [...]" is a crock I agree the organizational structure of it all can lead to some very bad outcomes, but it's not some grand design that a mobile home depreciates. It's a material good, it wears out. The only reason e.g. a SFH appreciates is because the land is appreciating faster than the structure is depreciating.
- DubiousPusher 8y ago
  The value is also affected by perception. Older mobile homes were built with materials and processes that made them more difficult to update and maintain than site built homes. I believe this is largely not the case anymore but the idea that a mobile home has a shorter life span persists.
  - yardie 8y ago
    Older mobile homes turned to kindling during extreme weather. Newer ones are built much better because now there are building codes they have to meet. But reality is you pay for what you get. Newer mobile homes are treated like custom homes. Including being cemented to the floor, permanently. They cost more, mortgages are larger, so banks treat those homes as permanent. Going so far as making sure the undercarriage is completely dismantled and removed. If the owner defaults bank employees have shown up to take possession only to find an empty lot!
MoveMyMobile 8y ago
I work in this industry and can tell you alot of the mobile home value is determined by the lot rent it sits on in land-leased communities. For example if you had a $70,000 mobile home in a mobile home park and lot rent is raised from $300 to $400 then the value of the home will also fall since purchasing it comes with an increased rent payment. There is arbitrage opportunity in moving a home (In only some instances since this can cost anywhere form $3k-$20k) into a park with lower lot rents or even private land.

fjsolwmv 8y ago

The only thing special about a mobile home is that usually (non-mobile-home) you either rent or own land+house as a bundle, not rent land and own house (or the far less common vice versa). Besides that it's just the classic trade-off between owning and renting, paying for liquidity. Is owning better in general? Probably, because it has powerful rights in a finite world. Even home owners are subject to disposession due to HOA/COA, property tax, and condemnation/eminent-domain.

hprotagonist 8y ago
Once your doublewide is up on cinder blocks and functionally immovable / hasn't rolled in 20 years, things do actually get more complicated. "this is my land, you're tresspassing, get that "mobile structure" off in 24 hours or you'll be arrested" is not something you can do to a renter with quite the same level of cruelty.
- lazyasciiart 8y ago
  As far as I'm aware, mobile home owners have renters rights on the land, which means you can't exactly do that to them either.
- abfan1127 8y ago
  its usually handled as "you're evicted. To cover back rent, we take ownership of your stuff including your trailer. Once we sell your stuff, you may have any proceeds after back rent and fees are paid."

ip26 8y ago

"your home that you own depreciates like a car [...]" is a crock I agree the organizational structure of it all can lead to some very bad outcomes, but it's not some grand design that a mobile home depreciates. It's a material good, it wears out. The only reason e.g. a SFH appreciates is because the land is appreciating faster than the structure is depreciating.

DubiousPusher 8y ago
The value is also affected by perception. Older mobile homes were built with materials and processes that made them more difficult to update and maintain than site built homes. I believe this is largely not the case anymore but the idea that a mobile home has a shorter life span persists.
- yardie 8y ago
  Older mobile homes turned to kindling during extreme weather. Newer ones are built much better because now there are building codes they have to meet. But reality is you pay for what you get. Newer mobile homes are treated like custom homes. Including being cemented to the floor, permanently. They cost more, mortgages are larger, so banks treat those homes as permanent. Going so far as making sure the undercarriage is completely dismantled and removed. If the owner defaults bank employees have shown up to take possession only to find an empty lot!

MoveMyMobile 8y ago

I work in this industry and can tell you alot of the mobile home value is determined by the lot rent it sits on in land-leased communities. For example if you had a $70,000 mobile home in a mobile home park and lot rent is raised from $300 to $400 then the value of the home will also fall since purchasing it comes with an increased rent payment. There is arbitrage opportunity in moving a home (In only some instances since this can cost anywhere form $3k-$20k) into a park with lower lot rents or even private land.