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but i realized that buying a Mobile home is way cheaper than saving up alot to get a house
these are four trailer parks im thinking of, im going to schoolcraft in the fall
Sherwood Village- Canton On Haggerty, the first trailer park south Of Michigan Ave
Academy/West Point- Canton On Haggerty the Third trailer Park South Of Michigan Ave, closest to the railroad tracks and Van Born
Metro Commons- Romulus On Van Born Between Middlebelt And Inkster
Rudgate West- Romulus On Ecorse Between Cogswell And Hannan
Huron Estates- Brownstown On Inkster Between King And West
PLEASE HELP ME!, what are these trailer parks like.
Last edited by Eclipse07; 06-05-2012 at 07:22 PM..
Buying into a trailer park is a very poor investment. You get the worst of both worlds: you're continually renting a lot, plus your "house" is continually depreciating. You should look into some of the lower cost housing which is now available, both in terms of foreclosures and HUD houses. You might even consider buying in the west side of Detroit. The Warrendale area, just north of Dearborn, has some good housing values, perhaps even cheaper than buying a mobile home. You'd have a much better chance of making some money off of buying a lower-cost house now, than you would by buying a mobile home. Garden City and Westland also have some good housing deals if you can find them.
Buying into trailer is the best of all worlds. First, lot rent is typically LESS than most property taxes you will pay. Depending on where you buy, there can be near ZERO depreciation.
LOW maintenance costs.
The "trailer park" we bought into has been selling units for $7K-$10K for the past 5-6 years. In fact, since 2003, sale prices have actually increased.
Is it lake front? Almost as we have lake access. Is it 3500 sq ft? No, but the 1000 sq ft is just enough.
Now would we have bought in a $70K park? NOT. But for what we are paying, the sale price is less than 12 months apartment or house rent (including lot) for 1 year. After that we will be paying less than 50% the cost of yearly rent and just about what you might be paying in property tax in Wayne County.
And if by some bizarre twist we cannot sell after 3 or so years, we can walk and give the unit to the park and still be better off than if we had rented an apartment or a house.
And no matter what we will not loose 60% of its value overnight and leave us upside down.
So I would say look at ALL your options in trailer parks and consider how long you will be staying and the difference between buying (initial cost) and that of a trailer / modular and the money you might save towards eventually buying a house
There are still a few parks you can get a unit in need of rehab for $2K or less, Spend $5K to restore, lot rent around $150 a month first year ($350 after 12 months).
Or buy a turn-key rehabbed unit for less than $10K.
Don't automatically rule out an option because you might have only looked at 1 or 2 examples.
I don't know about those two in Canton. They have garbage dumps on either side of them. I could smell the one East of I275 as I drove by this morning and my windows were closed.
Buying into trailer is the best of all worlds. First, lot rent is typically LESS than most property taxes you will pay. Depending on where you buy, there can be near ZERO depreciation.
LOW maintenance costs.
The "trailer park" we bought into has been selling units for $7K-$10K for the past 5-6 years. In fact, since 2003, sale prices have actually increased.
Is it lake front? Almost as we have lake access. Is it 3500 sq ft? No, but the 1000 sq ft is just enough.
Now would we have bought in a $70K park? NOT. But for what we are paying, the sale price is less than 12 months apartment or house rent (including lot) for 1 year. After that we will be paying less than 50% the cost of yearly rent and just about what you might be paying in property tax in Wayne County.
And if by some bizarre twist we cannot sell after 3 or so years, we can walk and give the unit to the park and still be better off than if we had rented an apartment or a house.
And no matter what we will not loose 60% of its value overnight and leave us upside down.
So I would say look at ALL your options in trailer parks and consider how long you will be staying and the difference between buying (initial cost) and that of a trailer / modular and the money you might save towards eventually buying a house
There are still a few parks you can get a unit in need of rehab for $2K or less, Spend $5K to restore, lot rent around $150 a month first year ($350 after 12 months).
Or buy a turn-key rehabbed unit for less than $10K.
Don't automatically rule out an option because you might have only looked at 1 or 2 examples.
When it comes to trailer parks, your mileage will vary, I guess. When you're getting something that cheap it's not so bad, but there's parks out in Macomb and Clinton Township where people were paying $100K for the trailer, er, manufactured home, plus all that lot rent. Doing it that way makes no sense to me, but yours doesn't seem so bad. The one caveat I offer is from a friend of mine who had one in a Rudgate park: utility costs may be much higher than a house or an apartment. The water bill did not come from the township, but instead came from some third party, who doubtless padded the bill somehow, and in his words, heating the place in the wintertime was "like heating an aluminum box with a space heater." Another friend I had back in the day had one in the huge Chateau park (now Hometown) in Macomb Township and I remember they had their own cable TV system, not whoever the township's cable company was. The park's rules are usually as nasty or even nastier than a condominium HOA, too.
We would not even consider a place in a park for over $20K. That is house territory and you might as well buy a house. If you are looking for a place to live cheap, a traditional trailer park (a GOOD one) is a better value. We know a park in Brownstown on Telegraph (not at Pennsylvania) that we would never consider at any price because it is the stereotypical trailer park dump. IF you want to shell out 10%-20% down on a house and will be staying in it--that is better than any modular that is priced over $20K. So far the utilities have been reasonable--all we have is electric. The windows might need to be replaced this fall as they look original to the 1989 unit.
If there are low cost units (below 5000 dollars) and you are okay with living in an older trailer, it is a good way to get into a better school district (if that is an issue.) I know a family that picked up a low cost trailer in the Utica school district because they really wanted their kids in that district. If you have an external motivation like this, go for it. Lot rent usually ends up being more expensive than the property taxes on a house of comparable square footage, so do keep that in mind. Jackmichigan's advice to look into Warrendale is also a good lead. If you can stay close to Ford Rd. there are some great bargains to be had and the location is one of the most central in the area. I just saw a lovely near move in condition home at Ford Rd. and the Sfld Fwy for under 10k, so do consider what would fit your needs the best in the long term.
My brother bought a trailer for $99. They just wanted someone to fix it up and to pay the rent for the lot. The trailer park was like a trailer park. Eventually his job ended up being too far away, so he just let them have it back. It was not a bad park, but it was a bad trailer. Needed a lot fo work. But they are very easy to work on. Not much to them.
When it comes to mobile homes you get exactly what you pay for. Low cost living and your community is filled with people that can only afford low cost living. It's not stereotypical it's fact. The cheaper the homes and rent the more trash and low lifes will live in the community. Sorry but that is just a fact. I won't say everyone but there tend to be a lot more.
We bought in a manufactured home community. Every home is newer and 1400sqft+ The homes in our community start around $30,000 and go up to about $55,000. These are not mobile homes and they are not built cheap. Many will say the value does nothing but drop. We bought ours for $38k ( it was listed at $44k) last October and smaller and older homes have sold for up to $50K this summer. Supply and demand I guess. Our community is well kept, people take pride in their yards and their homes. We have a great club house, a gorgeous pool, playground and a lot of common area's. It is a tight community and just this past weekend we raised over $2500 for a single mom who just had a fire in her house. We also put in a community garden this year.
My advice is to shop around, drive through these places. Figure out what you can afford and if you can buy in a better community do so. A lot of people will tell you HUD homes, or short sales etc. But we lost out on every home under 125k that we looked at in Milford, Highland, Howell and a few other cities. They were getting scooped up faster than we could look at them or they were dumps that needed a ton of work. Our home is 2300 sqft, 3 bed, 2 baths, living room and a family room with a fireplace and pergo floors throughout the open floor plan. We love our home, electric and heating bills are lower than the smaller homes we have owned.
If all you can afford is a mobile home, make sure you find a community that is still nice. There are some out there from what I hear. I'm not sure how far you can drive, but check out this place. They have some single wides but it is owned by the same company that owns our community. From what I understand their communities are all pretty clean and decent. This is in Plymouth, so is Canton is a possibility Plymouth is pretty close.
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