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The drawbacks of this nice-looking park are potentially serious.
1. Riviera Beach has very serious issues with crime, so check the neighborhoods carefully, and be aware that you are in a less safe place to be driving around in at night.
2. Trailer parks are not safe or secure in hurricanes and you will have to not care too much if everything you have is blown away. Riviera Beach is not too prone to tornadoes, fortunately--those are more common a bit more inland. But it gets its share of flooding and windstorms.
There are pros and cons to every type of housing, and that does look like a pretty park. But I live in the same TV market as Riviera Beach and there are shootings on the news almost continually.
My Mom lived out her final years in her double wide in a very nice mobile home community. It was beautiful, and the area was safe, gated, and populated by upper class retirees.
The one downside here in Florida is hurricanes and severe storms. Hurricanes home in on trailers, it seems, and I have seen the damage done to them after a storm. Insurance might be an issue because of that.
I live in SW Florida and would definitely consider a mobile home except there aren't any in an area where I want to live except for one where the lot rental is $700+ a month! In addition, you are supposed to vacate them during a hurricane which would be a major pain in the ass. The up side is you have nobody on top of you and no yard work to take care of. I think I would rather live in a townhouse; you have the best of both worlds: nobody above you and the insurance won't strangle you.
So, that is a good illustration. My mtg is $648. and I have no HOA dictating what I do. My property tax is $2400. And my insurance is reasonable. At some point I may downsize again, but really, I prefer to be fee free. I expect to recoupe a bit when I sell. We like taking care of our yard.
Keep in mind a lot of the stories are about older mobile homes before codes were changed. After Andrew, when mobile homes directly in the path of the storm were about 10 times as likely to be destroyed as permanent homes, new requirements were put in place and most are much safer now (see info below). The other thing to keep in mind is that the odds are very good that you won't ever be directly in the path of a storm that puts you at risk; nobody talks about the hundreds of parks that have never had a problem. Yes, it is still a roll of the dice, but it is a tradeoff of having an incrementally higher risk of an unlikely outcome in exchange for being able to live where you want instead of suffering in slightly more safety where you don't.
The four hurricanes of 2004 – Charley,
Frances, Ivan and Jeanne – which hit Florida
in quick succession, were defining events to
test the strength of modern manufactured
homes. The newest homes passed the test,
with the vast majority of post-1994 homes
performing very well. Manufactured home
parks containing homes with a Wind Zone III
Rating actually performed better than many
of the permanent homes in the surrounding
area, according to one damage survey
carried out after Hurricane Ivan. The
permanent site-built homes incurred
damage to their sidings and partial losses to
their roof shingles, while the manufactured
homes suffered little wind-driven damage.
Keep in mind a lot of the stories are about older mobile homes before codes were changed. After Andrew, when mobile homes directly in the path of the storm were about 10 times as likely to be destroyed as permanent homes, new requirements were put in place and most are much safer now (see info below). The other thing to keep in mind is that the odds are very good that you won't ever be directly in the path of a storm that puts you at risk; nobody talks about the hundreds of parks that have never had a problem. Yes, it is still a roll of the dice, but it is a tradeoff of having an incrementally higher risk of an unlikely outcome in exchange for being able to live where you want instead of suffering in slightly more safety where you don't.
I agree also if you own the home outright just self insure and if a storm is headed your way just take your valuables and leave. There are plenty of these manufactured or mobile homes still standing that were built in the 70's and there have been plenty of storms since then. For a 45k home why not just do without insurance if you own the home outright.
Agree, if your paying 45k just take a chance without insurance. Just liability.
If a hurricane is coming take your valuables out and leave.
Yep, that is kind of where I was headed with my comment. It is especially tempting as a snow bird, second home option. Another option I am considering for that is an RV park. I couldn't handle a small trailer as a full time residence but for a few months at a time I think I could. I talked to one guy that has a 32' with a slide out room. He said when big storms have come that way, he went down and pulled it only a few miles inland and stayed at a motel. A few miles doesn't make much difference, right? Actually the first 5' makes all the difference in the world; it was insured when it was being towed, even when stopping for the night at a motel. And some of the RV partks have snowbird packages where you are on your spot with utilities for X months and parked in a nearby secured lot for the rest of the year at a greatly reduced rate.
My grandparents bought a mobile home around 1969 or so -- it's the only one I remember. Pappy died in 1972, and Nanny sold it and moved in with my aunt. Last year when I went home, my aunt said -- wanna go to the trailer park? We said yeah!
56 years later -- its still there. It's been repainted... but... still there...so they do last.
or 47 years later- but who's counting
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