[macguy]

Originally Posted by Southside Shrek

sounds like a sad state of affairs, especially when rising private health insurance premiums are also factored into the picture. Many folks end up working just to pay all their income out to insurers and the government.

I am one of those. I have no mortgages, I pay cash for cars so I have no car payments, no children, my property taxes are reasonable. I have an at home office and hardly even drive anywhere. Shopping, banking is less then a mile so I could care less about the cost to fill my tank. Wife and I are vegetarians and even grow much of our food, our grocery bills are very pretty low.

All in all we could actually live on hardly anything and get by. Insurance is the only thing that really cost me. Health for wife and I is $1150. a month. car is pretty cheap, $785.00 a year. Home owners insurance was not too bad about $4500 a year. Insurance's cost me around $19,000 a year, more then we spend on everything else combined.

[lulu]

It's terrible that w/some people all of a person's social security check has to go to pay medical & home insurance - plus, all these brand name prescription drugs that cost a fortune. At my husbands job, people in their 70's and early 80's are working just to be able to pay these things - 2 of 'em are not in the best of health either.

[CDianeV]

Originally Posted by macguy

I haven't read it but mobile homes aren't worth anything so I doubt they would be charging $10,000 to insure something worth $20,000, who would pay it?

Manufactured housing, is the most affordable homes on the market. Albeit the earlier ones did create negative connotation, and those that lived in them were looked at as "trailer park trash". However for the past 15 years the industry has made strides to improve the image and the quality of homes. Most reputable manufactures make their homes consistent to that of a stick built home. Most homes are built with 2" x 4" on the 16, with OSB wrapping and flooring (just like a stick built home) the difference is they are built in a controlled environment, and the building materials are not exposed to the rain and humidity during the building process. A stick built home in Florida goes for approximately $125.00 per sq. ft. (this does not include appliances) A manufactured home goes for approx. $55.00 per sq. ft and includes appliances.

The average manufactured home in florida costs approximately $65,000.00 and has approximatley 1700 sq ft, how does that stack up against 1700 sq. ft for a site built home?

[McKeesCat]

Originally Posted by CDianeV

Manufactured housing, is the most affordable homes on the market. Albeit the earlier ones did create negative connotation, and those that lived in them were looked at as "trailer park trash". However for the past 15 years the industry has made strides to improve the image and the quality of homes. Most reputable manufactures make their homes consistent to that of a stick built home. Most homes are built with 2" x 4" on the 16, with OSB wrapping and flooring (just like a stick built home) the difference is they are built in a controlled environment, and the building materials are not exposed to the rain and humidity during the building process. A stick built home in Florida goes for approximately $125.00 per sq. ft. (this does not include appliances) A manufactured home goes for approx. $55.00 per sq. ft and includes appliances.

The average manufactured home in florida costs approximately $65,000.00 and has approximatley 1700 sq ft, how does that stack up against 1700 sq. ft for a site built home?

My husband and I are considering moving from TN to Venice FL area. I lived there before joining the Navy and my husband and I love the area. However, after months of research and numbers crunching, we've decided the only option we have other than renting is buying a new small manufactured home. Unfortunately, I could not find information on HOI or property tax rates for MHs. So I have several questions....

1) are the HOI rates any better for a new smaller (1200sqft. max) MH than older site built homes?
2) do MHs in SW FL keep any of their value or do they depreciate like any other area?
3) Do you pay the same property tax rates on MHs as you do site built homes?

Thanks for any insights and info anyone offers. js3cats@aol.com

[macguy]

Originally Posted by McKeesCat

My husband and I are considering moving from TN to Venice FL area. I lived there before joining the Navy and my husband and I love the area. However, after months of research and numbers crunching, we've decided the only option we have other than renting is buying a new small manufactured home. Unfortunately, I could not find information on HOI or property tax rates for MHs. So I have several questions....

1) are the HOI rates any better for a new smaller (1200sqft. max) MH than older site built homes?
2) do MHs in SW FL keep any of their value or do they depreciate like any other area?
3) Do you pay the same property tax rates on MHs as you do site built homes?

Thanks for any insights and info anyone offers. js3cats@aol.com

At a point they are worthless. When parks close up around here they usually just give a token amount to the owners and bulldoze them. I am not sure once they have sat on site for any period of time they can even be moved very easily. It may cost more then they are worth. If I got one I would not even insure it, I would consider it disposable. One thing I am recently learning is what fire traps they are. They seem to burn up in a few minutes. There must be a story in the paper at least once a week around here about Mobile home fires. That kind of scares me, I really don't know if I would want to live in one at all. We have been considering recently getting a motorhome. They can be parked and also moved with no problem.

All you have to do is google and you find one almost everyday. So many people die in these things it is hard to believe they can build them.
Fire Destroys Mobile Home

[kort677]

Originally Posted by macguy

At a point they are worthless. When parks close up around here they usually just give a token amount to the owners and bulldoze them.

did you forget about that park near palm beach?
each owner got around a million or so each to get out

[macguy]

Originally Posted by kort677

did you forget about that park near palm beach?
each owner got around a million or so each to get out

That was for the property, not the home. Most parks the home owners just rent, when the property gets sold they give the owners a dead line to get out. Right near me a park just closed and the property sold for 4.2 million. They had been trying to get rid of the home owners who had leases for a couple of years then hurricane Wilma took care of that. They whole place was deemed uninhabitable by the city when it was over.

[kort677]

Originally Posted by macguy

That was for the property, not the home. Most parks the home owners just rent, when the property gets sold they give the owners a dead line to get out. Right near me a park just closed and the property sold for 4.2 million. They had been trying to get rid of the home owners who had leases for a couple of years then hurricane Wilma took care of that. They whole place was deemed uninhabitable by the city when it was over.

it goes back to the rent vs own battles, in this case it was clear that the owners made out while people who rent came out on the short end

[McKeesCat]

Originally Posted by macguy

At a point they are worthless. When parks close up around here they usually just give a token amount to the owners and bulldoze them. I am not sure once they have sat on site for any period of time they can even be moved very easily. It may cost more then they are worth. If I got one I would not even insure it, I would consider it disposable. One thing I am recently learning is what fire traps they are. They seem to burn up in a few minutes. There must be a story in the paper at least once a week around here about Mobile home fires. That kind of scares me, I really don't know if I would want to live in one at all. We have been considering recently getting a motorhome. They can be parked and also moved with no problem.

All you have to do is google and you find one almost everyday. So many people die in these things it is hard to believe they can build them.
Fire Destroys Mobile Home

Do you mean even the new ones are fire traps? I would have thought the new building codes would have made them safer. Well, in any case, after reading other forum threads about FL, I'm pretty sure we'll just rent. Take the difference between rent and mortgage and invest and let somebody else have all the HOI and property tax headaches for a change.

Because I've experienced similar problems here in Shelby County TN. We are in the New Madrid earthquake fault zone and last year Allstate dropped earthquake coverage entirely. Hartford covered us with a 10% deductible so big out of pocket expenses for a homeowner IF a disaster occurs with that and the expense of living elsewhere while home is being rebuilt.

I love the idea of a motorhome but was told by one couple who live the RV life, you need a home base somewhere to operate out of. We cannot afford both right now but we'll work on it. Thanks for the insight.

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by McKeesCat

:
I love the idea of a motorhome but was told by one couple who live the RV life, you need a home base somewhere to operate out of. We cannot afford both right now but we'll work on it. Thanks for the insight.

You could always just use a relative, friend or neighbors' address for your home base. there are many services out there aimed just for RV'rs on the go too. I don't see why you would need to actually have a home when your not even going to be living there half the time.