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I have a lot to learn about land and the expense of it, etc.
But on the subject of townhomes, or even condos. I will never, ever understand the logic behind purchasing one of them. You never know who is going to move in on the the other side of what is sometimes a very flimsy wall. I'd only buy a house, personally.
Typically townhouses are built with a double layer firewall between them so little to no noise unit to unit.
Who designed the folding house, George Jetson ? (Cartoon guy with folding car.) No way that would survive a New England winter!
Many here seem to confuse "Mobile homes" with RV's. Most units I've seen are 14 or 16 feet wide and 40 to 70 feet long. I can't imagine hitchin' up a Silverado and towing across the street, much less the next town. They ain't very "mobile".
We were considering one due to the housing crunch in NH but you cannot get replacement value on homeowners insurance. Only contents, similar to renter's insurance. So that's out.
I have a lot to learn about land and the expense of it, etc.
But on the subject of townhomes, or even condos. I will never, ever understand the logic behind purchasing one of them. You never know who is going to move in on the the other side of what is sometimes a very flimsy wall. I'd only buy a house, personally.
Ok, so your mind is partially made up.
You seem to imply you will rent apartments or townhouses, but not purchase them. Presumably you will purchase a house.
Are you looking to rent, or to buy? Sounds like that will push you into a decision one way or another.
It was a mortifying blow to my ego (growing up affluent) but I lived in one for 10 years as that's what DH had when I met him. BUT, it was on 5 gorgeous acres with a to-die-for view so didn't mind it too much. Put a really nice deck on (worth more than the MH, lol). Had a well and septic.
The MH was flimsy but we made it work. Pipes would freeze so we had to anti-freeze them every winter when we took off. Paper-board everything that we replaced with solid wood. We thought briefly about building but decided we were content there and nice having no debt.
Now we live in a condo and love it. Solid concrete block, no noise, no upkeep, ocean and pool. It's another phase of life.
It's true, though, you can't get a loan or anything else with a MH. Even with paid-for land. And I was always embarrassed in front of my SFH friends, lol. I just focused on the view. I'd never live in MH park, too sketchy.
Renting or owning a mobile in a park can be a great way to have just a little more room between you and the neighbor, or enable you to have a pet, or a little yard. I have many friends who did this as their first place.
There are nice parks and bad parks. Just like apartment buildings.
I live in a vacation destination and the mobile home parks around here are in much demand. There are senior parks (55+), and parks where you own your mobile home but rent the land, and parks where you own a percentage of the park (and all of the home), and parks where you own the home and the land beneath you. I think mobile homes are a great option. You're not too, too close to neighbors and there are some really nice parks.
Just ask about the ownership details (real estate property taxes are different on the percentage ownership vs land ownership), and if there is no ownership, and you have to pay rent for the space, ask what comes with that (sometimes utilities, park maintenance, etc.)
Just look into the costs. When we move to California 40 some years ago, we looked at mobile homes because they were kind of nice and the parks that we had seen back in Pennsylvania were also nice.
In California it was a completely different thing. If you wanted to buy land to put a trailer on that was very expensive. If you wanted to be on a lot in a park, that was more expensive than a two bedroom apartment. And the lots were very very tiny, and a lot of the parks were not well-kept. The ones that were well kept were even more expensive.
Just like anything in any sort of real estate, location matters. Where you are might be completely different. Which was what we experienced moving from Pennsylvania to California.
Renting or owning a mobile in a park can be a great way to have just a little more room between you and the neighbor, or enable you to have a pet, or a little yard. I have many friends who did this as their first place.
There are nice parks and bad parks. Just like apartment buildings.
Agreed. I lived in a park in FL for a while. It was mostly retirees, a few working couples like us. Very community minded, well regulated, and the owners kept the common areas well maintained and landscaped. Here in east TN MH parks range from huge landscaped lots to trailers packed so close together there's nothing but a driveway between homes, then there are also tons of manufactured homes on nice, privately owned land. There doesn't seem to be the same kind of stigma attached to them here as I've seen in other places.
Well, OP, you really haven't given us much to go on. Two extremes:
- Living and working in the middle of a big city means mobile parks will be far away and usually in less desirable parts of far flung suburbs.
- If you own 10 acres in the country near where you work, you can live there in a mobile for a lot less than a stick-built house.
And there are many scenarios in between these. I wouldn't hesitate to live in a new mobile on my own 10 acres; I would absolutely hesitate to move into a well-used one in a skanky mobile park in a crummy section of a crummy town just to avoid an apartment.
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I just focused on the view. I'd never live in MH park, too sketchy.
Solly says — Be nice!
