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I live in PA, and I'd been researching retirement homes for 3 years. Mobile homes, (no longer called trailers) have come a very long way. You have to be very careful where you locate the homes. Experience was kind of in my favor...meaning, I had moved several times in my life, and was a home owner. I was looking earnestly for peace and quiet. A small community, no loud kids or dogs.
I found 3 and moved to the one where I am now. Lovin it with a passion.
My home is 28 wide by 60 long, 1600 sq. feet. It is a large oak kitchen, dining room and family room combo. A large master bedroom, master bath with jacuzzi tube, 2 guest bedrooms, a full guest bath, and a formal living room. All drywall, gas fireplace, laundry room, and closet space galore. With the home came an 8' x 16' deck, and a 10 x 12 shed, which matches the home. Also, there is an 8'x 16 foot concrete patio. The home is brand new...everyone who comes to visit me is so shocked at how beautiful it is.
I paid a little over 100,000.00. The community of people are tremendous people...the owner of the land it helpful and strict, which I like, as every lot is perfectly manicured and he works with his tenants. I love him!
Mine is a Fleetwood, which I like over Palm Harbor and the rest. You can pick your wood throughout....your floors, what kind of windows, counter, etc.
I had a contractor come out for an estimate for a roof over deck and patio...he told me, these homes are build to code that any home is built, and are more efficent then most homes being built today. And it is...I cannot believe my electric bills, they are so cheap. I'm total electric with a heat pump. I got the entire insulation package, a bosh washer, dryer, front loaders, side by side refrigerator, garbage disposal, profile flat top stove, dishwasher...with the home.
I love it...all on one floor and a very nice community.
Best thing to do is take time like I did to investigate. And, mark my words, before you say yes to the sale, take a pen and paper and write down EVERYTHING that the salesmen says is going to come with it, and I mean EVERYTHING from insulation, to type of heater, to the kind of appliances, to with windows, what the exterior and enterior is going to be built on, counter tops and make certain your kitchen cabinets are solid wood. Write everything down and get him to sign and date it. Do not buy it otherwise.
I wanted a small lot, not much to mow...
I think the Palm Harbor home that was posted above me, is way to much money?
[quote=nancy thereader;5211058]I'd like to thank all of you for this wealth of information . I would not be afraid to buy a manufactured home now. ( Some of them look so pretty .)
Nancy I purchased a manufactored home put in on an foundation on 5 acres of land, this home is the nicest and the biggest home I've ever lived in and by far the cheapest. My son who lives in a $400,000 home in Alaska absolutetly loved it.
We are currently headed to Alaska for two weeks and both of us hated to leave our home, it's so comfortable.
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Rockford's fictional address was "29 Cove Road, Malibu", because the site was actually in Paradise Cove, a private gated community, northwest of Malibu Beach. The trailer was parked and filmed just behind the Sandcastle restaurant. I used to eat there when I lived in Topanga Canyon.
That must have been great. Those were the days. And, whatever happened to Jim Rockford anyway?
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People may not recall what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel .
I have been investigating tons of places for my eventual move (as soon as this spring). I have heard about many places that sound wonderful ; I have read about many from this site. There seems , for example, to be a wonderful sounding community in San Clemente , CA (hello, Richard Nixon ???) . Often the homes are described as "manufactured". Is that a polite way of saying "trailers" ? Some of them look beautiful , cozy and pretty with flowery yards.
I could be very happy in many of them, but I have heard that you do not own your own land and that often the owner sells the land and you and your pretty little home are left without anywhere to go. They do not appear to be moveable like traditional trailers (well, the ones that Lucy Ricardo had).
Is that what manufactured homes are? That would be just my luck , to fall in love with an area , fix up a new home & then find out that my home and me have to get out of town.
Has anyone had experience with this type of home ? I notice that they are more popular in some areas of the country than others. I don't think that we have any here on Long Island.
A "manufactured" home is anything that is not built on-site. A "mobile" home is anything that has an I-beam construction and is brought in on wheels. A "modular" home is a house built off-site and trucked in on a flat-bed trailer (no wheels, no I-beam construction), and usually placed on a traditional foundation or basement.
If you set your manufactured home on leased land, then you must read the lease VERY carefully (better to have a real estate attorney do it). If the lease guarantees that the lessors' "successors, heirs and assignees" are obligated to honor the terms and conditions of the lease, then they cannot sell the land out from under you. However, you must follow the letter of the law insofar as the terms and conditions of your lease is concerned because one little, teeny violation would be enough to boot you out. And believe me when they want to boot you out, they can generally find something to justify it.
There are many, many communities such as these in Florida, California and Texas. Usually there are clauses in the lease that protect the lessor in case some developer comes along and offers him a bazillion dollars for the land. I'm sure that in that case your lease would be "bought out" according to the terms and conditions, however, it might not be enough for you to start over. Also, depending on the configuration of the manufactured home you live in, it might be costly to move it. If it is a mobile home, usually axles and tongues can be attached and the house can be moved easily, but if it is permanently affixed to a foundation or is a modular home, it could be very expensive to move to another location.
Usually these types of land leases are iron-clad and usually the Lessor prevails if things are taken into court. If it were me, I'd rather purchase a small piece of land that a mobile can be put on (or is already on), that you OWN instead of dealing with the uncertainty of leasing. JMHO
20yrsinBranson
Last edited by nancy thereader; 09-19-2008 at 05:01 PM..
I think there is something to be said about manufactured homes. You can usually afford them outright. You own your land. No HOAs and housing mess and all that other noise. Just seems the best of both worlds
Rockford's fictional address was "29 Cove Road, Malibu", because the site was actually in Paradise Cove, a private gated community, northwest of Malibu Beach. The trailer was parked and filmed just behind the Sandcastle restaurant. I used to eat there when I lived in Topanga Canyon.
That must have been great. Those were the days. And, whatever happened to Jim Rockford anyway?
This is sad, but I saw James Garner (Jim Rockford) doing commercials for a "reverse mortgage" loan outfit. Maybe he needed to tap the equity in his trailer to pay for his gambling losses as Maverick.
On a more helpful note, if you are going to buy raw land in any subdivision
make sure to read the CC&R's carefully. I have property that I plan to put a retirement house on, and the CC&R's specifically state "no mobile homes or trailers". However, manufactured homes are acceptable". Good luck.
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" Charleston South Carolina"
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Location: home...finally, home .
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This is sad, but I saw James Garner (Jim Rockford) doing commercials for a "reverse mortgage" loan outfit. Maybe he needed to tap the equity in his trailer to pay for his gambling losses as Maverick.
That is sad. I always liked him and thought he was so cool & trustworthy.
__________________ ******************
People may not recall what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel .
Last edited by nancy thereader; 09-19-2008 at 05:02 PM..
We have manufactured homes in our area. There used to be one to the north and one to the south of us. They come in two parts, on a trailer. No 'crane' is required to load or unload them. They are jacked up, and the trailer backed under,and unloaded in a reverse action. We have witnessed both. We call them "zipper" houses, because they are lined up side by side and "zipped" together.
The one to the south was removed from the acreage it was on because the owner's wife died, and he sold the land, and turned the house back to the company. He had built porches on the front and back. The company ripped them off and left them laying on the ground. I would not want to buy it after what it went through getting it back out from here.
I think these homes are manufactured in this area...at least not too far away. I don't know the name of the company.
They had similer ones in Idaho over thirty years ago.
From my experience, I would rather have a house that was built on the homesite.
We have manufactured homes in our area. There used to be one to the north and one to the south of us. They come in two parts, on a trailer. No 'crane' is required to load or unload them. They are jacked up, and the trailer backed under,and unloaded in a reverse action. We have witnessed both. We call them "zipper" houses, because they are lined up side by side and "zipped" together.
The one to the south was removed from the acreage it was on because the owner's wife died, and he sold the land, and turned the house back to the company. He had built porches on the front and back. The company ripped them off and left them laying on the ground. I would not want to buy it after what it went through getting it back out from here.
I think these homes are manufactured in this area...at least not too far away. I don't know the name of the company.
They had similer ones in Idaho over thirty years ago. From my experience, I would rather have a house that was built on the homesite.
Can you expand on your experience and why you'd prefer stick built ?
We priced a stick built home versus a manufactured home and found that a stick built home would cost an extra $200,000 for a complete packagae that you would get in a manufactored home not to mention the time frame for completion along with all the permits required for a stick built. Manufactured homes are regulated by the HUD program and must follow all the HUD rules for your area. Our home is on a foundation and has been transfered as real property now, some banks like Bank of America won't loan on a manufactured home but several others do and then you have a challenge with finding inusrance to cover it as real property.
But like I said in previous post my new home is beautiful and the biggest and least expensive that I have lived in, I recently sold a home in Alaska for $350,000 and it was 600 square feet smaller and 30 years older than my new home.
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