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Everyone should consider a manufactured home (mobile home) as an option. I lived in New Jersey where house prices were very high ($200,000 minimum for anything

by yboris 5y ago

Everyone should consider a manufactured home (mobile home) as an option. I lived in New Jersey where house prices were very high ($200,000 minimum for anything on the market). I bought a mobile home (1st house for me) for $50,000 and lived there for 6 years. Thanks to the crazy prices recently, I was able to sell it for more (this is not typical). But during the time, I paid significantly less in per-month costs than I would have, had I been renting.

BeetleB 5y ago
Be wary of mobile home parks, though. The owners of the parks are increasingly selling them to two types of folks: 1. Those who are looking to jack up rates and price people out. 2. Those who are looking to replace the park with, say, an office building or a mall. Particularly in the 2nd case, you are being evicted. And despite the name, mobile homes are not mobile in most cases. You will lose everything. Some states are passing regulations to protect the homeowners, so check your local laws.
dragontamer 5y ago
I have some friends in Texas who had their first home as a manufactured home in a trailer park. But note that the validity of mobile homes / manufactured homes depends strongly on your local culture... culture that's quite different from state-to-state, or city-to-city even. There are plenty of locations where mobile homes were driven out by NIMBY laws, and are simply not an option.
rascul 5y ago
I do a lot of work on houses, many of which are mobile homes. Many of them are made as cheap as possible and don't last well. The newer ones tend to be much better, as standards have improved. I would highly recommend having someone who has experience with mobile homes give it a thorough inspection before buying a used one. They can be great, though. I have an 1800 sq ft double wide built in 1993 that is in pretty good condition, but it had been fairly well maintained and I've had to do only minor repairs.

by yboris 5y ago

BeetleB 5y ago

Be wary of mobile home parks, though. The owners of the parks are increasingly selling them to two types of folks: 1. Those who are looking to jack up rates and price people out. 2. Those who are looking to replace the park with, say, an office building or a mall. Particularly in the 2nd case, you are being evicted. And despite the name, mobile homes are not mobile in most cases. You will lose everything. Some states are passing regulations to protect the homeowners, so check your local laws.

dragontamer 5y ago

I have some friends in Texas who had their first home as a manufactured home in a trailer park. But note that the validity of mobile homes / manufactured homes depends strongly on your local culture... culture that's quite different from state-to-state, or city-to-city even. There are plenty of locations where mobile homes were driven out by NIMBY laws, and are simply not an option.

rascul 5y ago

I do a lot of work on houses, many of which are mobile homes. Many of them are made as cheap as possible and don't last well. The newer ones tend to be much better, as standards have improved. I would highly recommend having someone who has experience with mobile homes give it a thorough inspection before buying a used one. They can be great, though. I have an 1800 sq ft double wide built in 1993 that is in pretty good condition, but it had been fairly well maintained and I've had to do only minor repairs.