Senior Mobile Home Parks....Where are the Best? (2009, states, manufactured)

[MotleyCrew]

Actually there are 3 roads out of Paradise, Skyway the main road, Clark, then Neal rd. The fires recently were near the airport and they had them contained in a short amount of time. The fire department is a great bunch. I would rather live in Paradise than Magalia, because Magalia is choked with Pines and the two, or three exit routes there, only one, Skyway is really drivable. The Nimshew road is for 4 wheel drives and not the faint of heart. The other way is to continue norht to Sterling City and then cut over, again on a dirt road. So you could become trapped up in Magalia. We lived there for over 15 years and had many fires, but again, the fire departments are awesome and they do not hesitate to use tankers to dump water from the nearby lake.

[valleyhomedevelopment]

Wow! I've been reading the conversation regarding available moblie home parks in California. I'm a Manufactured Home dealer in Nothern California, but I'm not your typical MH Dealer. I mostly sell 'Granny Units' or In-Law units to clients that have senior parents ready to retire, but not quite ready for assisted care. I think you are doing the right thing and the right time for you. Don't let anyone tell you where you should be looking or when. They don't live in your shoes or know what it's like being you to tell you what you should have done! In any case, there are many parks in California and yes some of them are expensive, but many are also affordable. We have a park near Napa, Ca in American Canyon that seems to be adverage in lot rents. There is also a nice park in Santee in Southern Ca that is also affordable. I guess it really comes down to doing a search on the Yellowpages for a list of parks in an area and then take a look at it from an ariel view using Google Earth to see if it's worth a trip to preview your new home location. As for mobilehomes and their values. For the most part older mobliehomes were constructed with inferior material and building codes. These days manufactured home are sometimes built better than an on-site built home. The difference is that an appraiser won't value the manufactured home the same as a built on-site home because the Bank lenders don't lend against the manufacted homes the same way. Mobilehomes are now referred to as 'Park Models'. I hope this information helps in your search.

[brightdoglover]

I'm a Manufactured Home dealer in Nothern California, but I'm not your typical MH Dealer. I mostly sell 'Granny Units' or In-Law units to clients that have senior parents ready to retire, but not quite ready for assisted care.


How interesting! I've seen ads for "apartment in a box" that can basically be added to one's garage over two days, in the event of an elder coming back from hospital, etc. What kind of units does your company make? Could you post a link, or is that in violation of CD rules?

[whowants2know]

Originally Posted by valleyhomedevelopment

Wow! I've been reading the conversation regarding available moblie home parks in California. I'm a Manufactured Home dealer in Nothern California, but I'm not your typical MH Dealer. I mostly sell 'Granny Units' or In-Law units to clients that have senior parents ready to retire, but not quite ready for assisted care. I think you are doing the right thing and the right time for you. Don't let anyone tell you where you should be looking or when. They don't live in your shoes or know what it's like being you to tell you what you should have done! In any case, there are many parks in California and yes some of them are expensive, but many are also affordable. We have a park near Napa, Ca in American Canyon that seems to be adverage in lot rents. There is also a nice park in Santee in Southern Ca that is also affordable. I guess it really comes down to doing a search on the Yellowpages for a list of parks in an area and then take a look at it from an ariel view using Google Earth to see if it's worth a trip to preview your new home location. As for mobilehomes and their values. For the most part older mobliehomes were constructed with inferior material and building codes. These days manufactured home are sometimes built better than an on-site built home. The difference is that an appraiser won't value the manufactured home the same as a built on-site home because the Bank lenders don't lend against the manufacted homes the same way. Mobilehomes are now referred to as 'Park Models'. I hope this information helps in your search.

Valuable information and I greatly thank you!!

[MacAttack_]

There are some beautiful retirement mobile home communities in Zephyrhills, FL. The one my father and I looked at had a central rec area with an inground pool. The homes were all very nice looking. The common grounds were all very well maintained and the streets were nearly pristine. The individual lawns were small but they were all beautifully maintained as well by community maintenance (which is included in the lot rent).

There were several home for sale and they ranged from around $40,000 - $80,000

I think the one we looked at was called Spanish Trail or something similar. There are several in the area.

[MotleyCrew]

I think buying a mobile home in Florida would be about as wise as building next to the lava flow in HI. I don't mind taking chances, but holy moley. Can you even insure them right now?

[maggiekate]

I think if you search the web under mobile homes it will bring up states,
homes for sale there etc. in Ma the plymouth area there are alot where people 55 and over live. Alot of them people in the park do own the land.

That I do think is a good idea. However MA is expensive, also the Kingston area has mobile homes where the park is owned by the people. even New Hampshire area. I also was checking and found this builder Jensen
where you buy the home, but get it cheaper since you rent the land. They appear to have many communities in lots of states. They had a nice one in the Charleston area.

[betrdaze]

A very nice gated MH park is TrailsWest in Las Cruces NM. I am not sure about the lot price anymore because its been awhile since visiting there. If you like NM, Amber Skies at Alamogordo is also very nice and perhaps a little less expensive. Both of these have websites.

[maggiekate]

plymouth MA and Kingston, MA has alot of 55 and older M.H. I also thing the people own the land. they are real nice also.

[Tau]

An old topic, but wanted to answer anyway.

We live in a 55 and over park; Federal Way Wa about 22 miles south of downtown Seattle. It's a golf country club, beautiful. the club house has room for 181 people, full kitchen, men and women's bathroom with 3 showers for use of the Spa, hot tub and year round indoor pool. Great views of Mt Rainer. My partner is one of the managers, I am 10 years from being 55 and she is 1 year, but you can be under 55 with no children, but no more the 20% and we are far from even having that. I think there is only 1 lot available, but the owner has put in several new houses, very nice ones. It is located behind the local mall with a Target, grocery stores very close, a bus stop right outside the park and the transit center is about 1/2 mile away. I love it here, we had been here 5 years transferred from a family park in eastern Wa. I'm sorry for those with kids but I hate family parks, I hated trying to keep it looking nice and landscaped only to have the kids trash everything. It was considered a 4 star in mobile home parks. The one we live at now would be considered 5 stars. The golf course is located through out the park and I believe it is set up as 9 hole, but can be played as 18 holes, and it's called an executive par 3. they have community dinners on Weds through the winter, then burger BBQ's and whatnot through the summer, and if it is important to you they have a non-denomination Sunday church at 9am.

There is a card/game room with 3 pool tables, a laundry room down stairs along with a decent gym. Weekly water aerobic classes, arts, craft, ceramics; all free I think. Those are just the things I can think of on the top of my head. The owner lives in Vancouver BC, and I do not like him, he raises the rent every year, but then so do all other parks. I think rents starts around $650ish and goes up, depends on view or if you want to live on the golf course. It is next to I5, we live on the row next to it but can't hear the traffic when he windows are closed, and it doesn't bother me. When we lived in another part of the park I heard a lot of planes fly over from Sea Tac (which is 15 minutes away) but soon I forgot they were even there.

As far as mobile home places this is the cream of the crop in the Puget Sound compared to the ones I have seen, and you won't get any cheaper unless you move into those "trailer trash" places.