3 ms·

in america, I owned a trailer or what's called a mobile home. what killed it for me is the places you can put one (lots of NIMBY) and the lots you can lease fo

in america, I owned a trailer or what's called a mobile home. what killed it for me is the places you can put one (lots of NIMBY) and the lots you can lease for one have exorbitant fees for water/sewage and land. its all the worst parts of renting rolled into a $60k home.

rootusrootus 4y ago
IMO the only good option for a manufactured home at this point is to drop it on a nice piece of acreage out in the sticks. No pesky zoning or NIMBY problems, and you can spend your money on the land instead.
- jamiek88 4y ago
  And those areas are harder to find unless you go waaaaay out there. Even then you need to invest in septic tank generally.
  - antisthenes 4y ago
    There is generally no free lunch when it comes to housing. It's just expensive in developed countries, unless it's in a dangerous/decaying area.
    - marvin 4y ago
      Well, it's "just expensive" because most developed countries happen to develop the same stupid incentives for making housing difficult. Even if you exclude everything that's health, safety and environment.
gscott 4y ago
And after awhile you trailer becomes to old to accept into a new park so it is captive in the park you are at and they can increase fees on you forever.
- StillBored 4y ago
  Even if you could find a park for them, after about 20-30 years they can't really be transported because the materials/glue/calk/etc they are manufactured with literally cracks, breaks and even disintegrates. AKA, moving one creates a lot of dynamic stress that breaks the roof seals, flooring, plumbing, etc. Leaving them sitting its possible to maintain them such that they remain waterproof, but as soon as you move it, they need a new roof coating at a minimum. Its largely why they lose value too. They need to really be treated as prefab, placed on a foundation and built around. Only one ends up replacing much of the thing over the long run as mobile home parts aren't as generic as normal houses, so one gradually has to replace the lightweight fixtures/windows/etc with normal builder grade hardware which weights significantly more before the mobile home specific parts become unavailable.
  - SyzygistSix 4y ago
    And then knowing this, investors buy the land and jack up the rent a ridiculous amount. It's a predatory business that produces no value.
- SyzygistSix 4y ago
  Buying up the trailer park/land is becoming an increasingly predatory business model for investors, precisely because it is impractical/impossible and a poor economic decision to move manufactured housing or trailers.
imtringued 4y ago
It's the land stupid.

rootusrootus 4y ago

IMO the only good option for a manufactured home at this point is to drop it on a nice piece of acreage out in the sticks. No pesky zoning or NIMBY problems, and you can spend your money on the land instead.

jamiek88 4y ago
And those areas are harder to find unless you go waaaaay out there. Even then you need to invest in septic tank generally.
- antisthenes 4y ago
  There is generally no free lunch when it comes to housing. It's just expensive in developed countries, unless it's in a dangerous/decaying area.
  - marvin 4y ago
    Well, it's "just expensive" because most developed countries happen to develop the same stupid incentives for making housing difficult. Even if you exclude everything that's health, safety and environment.

gscott 4y ago

And after awhile you trailer becomes to old to accept into a new park so it is captive in the park you are at and they can increase fees on you forever.

StillBored 4y ago
Even if you could find a park for them, after about 20-30 years they can't really be transported because the materials/glue/calk/etc they are manufactured with literally cracks, breaks and even disintegrates. AKA, moving one creates a lot of dynamic stress that breaks the roof seals, flooring, plumbing, etc. Leaving them sitting its possible to maintain them such that they remain waterproof, but as soon as you move it, they need a new roof coating at a minimum. Its largely why they lose value too. They need to really be treated as prefab, placed on a foundation and built around. Only one ends up replacing much of the thing over the long run as mobile home parts aren't as generic as normal houses, so one gradually has to replace the lightweight fixtures/windows/etc with normal builder grade hardware which weights significantly more before the mobile home specific parts become unavailable.
- SyzygistSix 4y ago
  And then knowing this, investors buy the land and jack up the rent a ridiculous amount. It's a predatory business that produces no value.
SyzygistSix 4y ago
Buying up the trailer park/land is becoming an increasingly predatory business model for investors, precisely because it is impractical/impossible and a poor economic decision to move manufactured housing or trailers.

imtringued 4y ago

It's the land stupid.