Trailer park living in the Austin *area* - serious question (San Antonio: apartments, rental)

[Lije Baley]

Alright everyone calm down. I'll give you a few seconds to allow those well-worn jokes and scenes from various movies fade from your mind when that mode of living is brought up.

O.K..............

Considering how bad the economy is doing, lately I have been curious about this particular sector of the housing market as far as 1) is it increasing in popularity; 2) is it still relatively affordable and 3) what ARE the prices like these days?

I've lived in a trailer once (a single wide - not sure if that's the right term) back in the 70s and other than the thin interior walls & echos from underneath the floor when you walked , I didn't notice anything particularly bad about the experience. We had a real lawn, a concrete driveway and full-size kitchen. Bedrooms were a tad small but that's it.

[compSciGuy]

I've never lived in a trailer in Austin. That being said, I think the main negativity from the experience is your neighbors when you are living in a trailer.

[JayBrown80]

My understanding of living in mobile homes in the *Austin area* is that most lots close to Austin that are zoned for mobile homes are in "mobile home communities" IE trailer parks. Whether or not you would like to live there is a personal choice, however, there are some problems that spring to mind for me.

1) You don't own the land your house sits on. You rent it. The slip fees are monthly and can get rather high. Since you will never own "outright", which is an advantage to stick built homes, I don't see why you wouldn't just rent an apartment.
2) Your neighbors are usually within a few feet of you. Now, while this can be typical of ANY type of home ownership in Austin, it is something that grinds on some people. The people I have met in the past who own mobile homes, are the type of people that want to live out in the country FAR away from other humans. Also, because the price point is much cheaper on mobile homes, it can attract far less desirable people. This could be a generalization, but it has held true in my observations. So you tend to have neighbors that either hate people, or are the dregs of society. It makes neighborhood barbeques difficult. Some of the nicest people may live in trailer parks, but that is not usually the case. Crucify me if you want.


Basically, there is ALWAYS a catch. Yes the economy is bad, so people might be seeking lower cost housing solutions. But Mobile homes are not typically lower cost solutions. They are not built to last 30 or 40 years. So if you buy some land and park a mobile home on it, you are not going to be able to spend your twilight years there. The cost of upkeep soon becomes more than the house is worth. Resale on mobile homes is typically abysmal, so you are not building up an equity "nest egg". If you want to live in town in a "mobile home community" you will be paying slip rental fees, and probably home owner fees, for as long as you live there. So why not just rent an apartment?

If you don't mind the above, and you are looking for the square footage a mobile home offers (the one advantage I think they have over apartments) then it might be a good solution. But I don't think that situation will apply to many folks out there.

I can't tell you what current prices are. I can only tell you why I wouldn't consider a mobile home as an option, regardless of how cheap it was.

[10scoachrick]

There are a couple of larger, spread out mobile home 'neighborhoods' that I've ridden past on bike rides. One is just west of 183A off Park St. in Cedar Park, the other is along Forest Wood north of Ditmar(IIRC) in south Austin. Hard to get a 'scale' for the size of the lots, but they are quite spacious compared to the manufactured homes sitting on them.

It brings up an interesting question since some of the mobile homes look like they've been in place for decades. Who developed these properties? Was the land sold many years ago or have these mobile homes been 'renting' all this time?

I have similar questions regarding duplexes in the Austin area. Don't want to hijack the thread completely; however, it is interesting to ride through entire neighborhoods of duplexes(that appear to be from the '60s to '70s). Was there some 'enticement' to build the more affordable homes during that period and who the heck owned all that land?

[Zembonez]

The economy has not been "bad" in Austin Texas. Stores are full. Restaurants are busy. People are working. The city is still growing at a good pace. The Austin / San Antonio area has been very fortunate at a time when others did indeed have setbacks.

Much of the "bad" exists only in the media. It's their job.

Point here is that not much appears to have changed in the mobile home communities. There aren't many of them in the immediate area... There is one located at the end of Slaughter lane that appears to be very well kept. I haven't driven around in it but from the outside it looks pretty nice.

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

There are a couple of larger, spread out mobile home 'neighborhoods' that I've ridden past on bike rides. One is just west of 183A off Park St. in Cedar Park, the other is along Forest Wood north of Ditmar(IIRC) in south Austin. Hard to get a 'scale' for the size of the lots, but they are quite spacious compared to the manufactured homes sitting on them.

It brings up an interesting question since some of the mobile homes look like they've been in place for decades. Who developed these properties? Was the land sold many years ago or have these mobile homes been 'renting' all this time?

I have similar questions regarding duplexes in the Austin area. Don't want to hijack the thread completely; however, it is interesting to ride through entire neighborhoods of duplexes(that appear to be from the '60s to '70s). Was there some 'enticement' to build the more affordable homes during that period and who the heck owned all that land?

That mobile home park off of Ditmar existed before the city was ever out that far. I believe those are lots that people own. They have been there a LONG time. William Canon was built in the 70s. Prior to that, Austin didn't extend that far out.

[Lije Baley]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

My understanding of living in mobile homes in the *Austin area* is that most lots close to Austin that are zoned for mobile homes are in "mobile home communities" IE trailer parks. Whether or not you would like to live there is a personal choice, however, there are some problems that spring to mind for me.

1) You don't own the land your house sits on. You rent it. The slip fees are monthly and can get rather high. Since you will never own "outright", which is an advantage to stick built homes, I don't see why you wouldn't just rent an apartment.
2) Your neighbors are usually within a few feet of you. Now, while this can be typical of ANY type of home ownership in Austin, it is something that grinds on some people. The people I have met in the past who own mobile homes, are the type of people that want to live out in the country FAR away from other humans. Also, because the price point is much cheaper on mobile homes, it can attract far less desirable people. This could be a generalization, but it has held true in my observations. So you tend to have neighbors that either hate people, or are the dregs of society. It makes neighborhood barbeques difficult. Some of the nicest people may live in trailer parks, but that is not usually the case. Crucify me if you want.


Basically, there is ALWAYS a catch. Yes the economy is bad, so people might be seeking lower cost housing solutions. But Mobile homes are not typically lower cost solutions. They are not built to last 30 or 40 years. So if you buy some land and park a mobile home on it, you are not going to be able to spend your twilight years there. The cost of upkeep soon becomes more than the house is worth. Resale on mobile homes is typically abysmal, so you are not building up an equity "nest egg". If you want to live in town in a "mobile home community" you will be paying slip rental fees, and probably home owner fees, for as long as you live there. So why not just rent an apartment?

If you don't mind the above, and you are looking for the square footage a mobile home offers (the one advantage I think they have over apartments) then it might be a good solution. But I don't think that situation will apply to many folks out there.

I can't tell you what current prices are. I can only tell you why I wouldn't consider a mobile home as an option, regardless of how cheap it was.

Thanks for all this info, especially all the longevity and renting vs. owning issues. I lived in that trailer when I was just a kid and was not aware of anything finance-related.

I think the main negativity from the experience is your neighbors when you are living in a trailer.

As far as who lives there: yea, I was kinda afraid of that. While I am one of those people that don't care about huge homes and the latest car and mostly just want something comfortable with enough space for my La-Z-Boy and set up my music/HT system, having to worry about dirty looks from neighbors or open hostility definitely puts a damper on things.

I was just theorizing that some others that were like myself - underemployed, college debts to pay, etc etc etc - might have migrated to these places temporarily and then we'd all be poor together and could at least enjoy each others' company while we whined about the economy, our bills and how to reliably fix the holes in our worn-out Asics running shoes.

[Lije Baley]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

I have similar questions regarding duplexes in the Austin area. Don't want to hijack the thread completely; however, it is interesting to ride through entire neighborhoods of duplexes(that appear to be from the '60s to '70s). Was there some 'enticement' to build the more affordable homes during that period and who the heck owned all that land?

Meh, go ahead and hi-jack because this thread is basically about finding low-cost but livable housing.

I wouldn't mind living in an efficiency apartment, duplex whatever - I lived in 12ft x 14ft dorm rooms for years and am still sane so am not conncerned about having a place crammed full of foo-foo amenities. Just want a clean, relatively safe place to live in and, as a famous comedian used to tell us, "a place to put my stuff."

[Lije Baley]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

The economy has not been "bad" in Austin Texas..

I assume that's at least partly because of all the computer-related companies that make their homes there, so y'all are very lucky to have things go so well there (I recently found out there's a Samsung memory chip plant there that sell products to Apple - talk about a healthy industry!).

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by Lije Baley

I assume that's at least partly because of all the computer-related companies that make their homes there, so y'all are very lucky to have things go so well there (I recently found out there's a Samsung memory chip plant there that sell products to Apple - talk about a healthy industry!).

That is partly it. I actually live nearer San Antonio than Austin but our economy has been thriving here. Subdivisions are still going up at a steady pace and people are waiting to move in. All areas of the country are not in crisis.