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I am looking to purchase a home in Kentucky to retire and die in! I have noticed that I see a lot of mobile homes for sale on land, along side regular homes. In Calif., most of the mobile homes are in mobile home parks, but this does not seem to be the case in Kentucky.
Is a mobile home on a foundation as good as a regular home???? What problems might arise that would not make it a viable choice?????? I am wondering if I should be considering mobile homes in my search. Thought you all could give me the pro's and con's of this question
I am looking to purchase a home in Kentucky to retire and die in! I have noticed that I see a lot of mobile homes for sale on land, along side regular homes. In Calif., most of the mobile homes are in mobile home parks, but this does not seem to be the case in Kentucky.
Is a mobile home on a foundation as good as a regular home???? What problems might arise that would not make it a viable choice?????? I am wondering if I should be considering mobile homes in my search. Thought you all could give me the pro's and con's of this question
No. They're very expensive to heat and cool and their value only goes down, stick with the house.
A mobile home depreciates, in normal times a regular home will appreciate in value. Mobile homes are not a good investment, especially now when you can get such a good deal on a regular home. They are also harder to finance, especially pre-owned mobile homes.
Since you want land, you may find land with a MH on it and if the land is worth the price, it might be a good thing and worth it. But don't expect to get your money out of a MH.
Another thing we found out in our house looking, if the mobile home isn't on a concrete block foundation. We almost bought one overlooking Barkley Lake and that's what the realtor and 2 banks told us. This one had underpinning. And it's true about the value of a mobile home.
My brother used to work in a manuFRACTURED home facility around here (Fleetwood) that has since closed and I got to tour the facility once. After the tour, I vowed to never purchase a manufactured home. The walls were paper-thin, the wood used in the rafters looked like kindling, they use few, if any nails, instead use a ton of glue that emits formaldehyde. Absolutely the cheapest finishing, including all-plastic sinks and faucets. I could go on all day. Sure, you can find more expensive manufactured homes that "look" like real stick-built homes, but they are all the same underneath...cheap.
If you can find a good deal on a piece of junk mobile home that sits on alot of acreage, go for it. Build a house and have the mobile home towed to a dump.
Actually, you can have a mobile home built anyway you want it...from the quality underneath to a regular roof just like a home. However, you have to have it built that way, and of course, you will pay for it. The worst part is, it will still depreciate faster than a regular home.
With the storms we get in this part of the country, a mobile home can be a death trap. Even if they have underpinning, they just aren't structually as sound as a house. Cooling them in our summers as hot as it gets is horrible also. It is also difficult in some of the counties to find land that is zoned for them now. Warren County has hardly any land left, not in a mobile home park, where you can place a mobile home.
A manufactured home placed on a solid foundation will appreciate in value, just like a "stick built" home. My husband and I are going through the USDA Rural Development program to purchase a home, and after alot of consideration we decided to go with a manufactured home because we would get the most room for our money (as a growing family, that's very important.)
I've lived in mobile/manufactured/whatever you wanna call em homes most of my lifetime, and they've always been fine. There are repairs that may crop up just as with any other home.. A leaky roof, a squeaky floor.. but it's no more expensive to repair than with a site-built house. Just pay attention to what you're looking at and ask plenty of questions (are those 2x4 floor joists or 2x6? for example)..
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