[malamute]

Since they depreciate, you can do very well getting a used one.

When you hear of what some houses have dropped in value, it's not only mobile homes that depreciate.

When it comes to the park, if quality of neighbors is important, it might be good to pay a little more. But sometimes the neighbors are kind of trashy but benign in the very cheap mobile home parks. I think it's pretty much the same as looking where you want to live the same way as you would look for a house or apartment. What kind of other people are living there - employed, retired, families,etc, what else is offered like security or pools, yard space, privacy, storage sheds and so on.

You can save a lot of money living in a trailer - sometimes I wish I would have just stayed with the trailer and not got a house.

[hiphopcr]

Don't be offended, I'm genuinely curious... why would anyone want to live in a trailer park?

[ganto_2010]

i wouldnt live in a mobile home park cant do this cant do that and sometimes theres an entrance fee and i wont pay lot rent and have to cut my grass shovel the snow and pay all my own bills where a condo fee usaly includes water sewr and trash atleast

[Coldjensens]

My brother bought an old fixer mobiile home in a park near rochester. It cost $100. He spent a couple of hundred on materials and fixed it up himself. He lived there on and off for a while. However he changed jobs and cound not use it anymore, then he got behind on the lot rent and so he just gave it back to them. They sold it to someone else for $100. It was nto a bad trailer, just old and a bit run down. The park seemed decent.

That park is on Rochester Road. Go north out of Rochester to near Stoney Creek Metropark. THe trailer park is on the left side. It is pretty much by itself, there is not a lot around it. No idea if they still have trailers for $100.

THere is a trailer park in Trenton that seems pretty decent. It is on Jefferson Street, nust upriver from Van Horn. It is directly accross the street from Elizabeth Park. THere is an RV storage place next door. There is a train track pretty close, so that might get annoying. It is an older park, but it looks well kept and reasonably nice and being right accross the street from the park would be nice.

When you get north of LIvonia on either Middlebelt or Inkster road there are a lot of trailer parks, but they look pretty nasty.

My brother liked the trailer park becasue it was cheap ($225 per month including trash and water). It did nto require a downpayment of any substance. He liked the location. It was not a big investment and did nto requrie a loan. The people in his park were mostly friendly and helpful (except the heavy drinkers but they were generally passed out all day, worked at night then went to the bar, so they were only home when they were sleeping, so not much trouble). Some trailer parks have a strong sense of community.


Beware however, it is well known that tornados are attracted to high concentrations of aluminum and plastic, that is why they so often strike trailer parks and wall marts.

[chiroptera]

Originally Posted by hiphopcr

Don't be offended, I'm genuinely curious... why would anyone want to live in a trailer park?

Well for one, it's an inexpensive way to live in an area you couldn't otherwise afford - especially if you wanted your kids to be in that particular school system. Also fairly low-maintenance, if you're in a decent park that maintains the landscaping and so on. Also, some have amenities that would otherwise cost extra - clubhouse, gym, pool, tennis courts, golf course access etc.

That's off the top of my head...I have never lived in a trailer/mobile home park but know or have known people who do for some of the above reasons.

Not my thing because I don't like high-density living and also need a large fenced yard for my dogs...but I can see the attraction. Some parks are really nice.

[mike0618]

Get a condo or rent an apartment. If you are not going to home all the time our trailer will get broken into. Those communties are full of noisy neighbors. They will notice you are not home often. Lot rent is almost as much as apartment rent. Buy a condo or rent a apartment in anice community

[Bhaalspawn]

I did a Real Estate One search for condos in Farmington Hills. It's amazing what you can get for $50,000 or even $40,000 now. Some of them are over 1000 sf, weren't real old, and looked pretty decent.

It's possible to find used mobile homes for under $10,000, but the monthly mortgage payments on a $40,000 condo are probably less than the $350 or $400 lot rent for a mobile home in a decent park.

[tuebor]

Be careful. Some park operators are crooked. I used to hear complaints about them fairly often when I worked for a fair housing agency. When you own the home but don't own the lot it's on, you put yourself in a vulnerable position.

[us66]

Originally Posted by tuebor

Be careful. Some park operators are crooked. I used to hear complaints about them fairly often when I worked for a fair housing agency. When you own the home but don't own the lot it's on, you put yourself in a vulnerable position.

My friend got a similar deal to one that was mentioned earlier in this thread, but the home was free. I noticed that he didn't get his water bill from the township; instead, he got it from some private company, who probably added a middleman charge to the bill. Another friend lived in a huuuuge park in Macomb Township years ago and had cable television- not from the township's monopoly provider (I think it was Comcast back then) but from the park itself...again, I wonder if the park was making money off that.

Originally Posted by mike0618

Get a condo or rent an apartment. If you are not going to home all the time our trailer will get broken into. Those communties are full of noisy neighbors. They will notice you are not home often. Lot rent is almost as much as apartment rent. Buy a condo or rent a apartment in anice community

My friend with the free mobile home had a mobile home with extremely thin doors that could doubtlessly be opened by unsavory characters in a jiffy. He took his iBook everywhere he went and never left it home alone as it was probably worth about as much as the trailer itself. Speaking of unsavory characters, you meet many of those in some parks. His next-door neighbor had a habit of giving jailbait teens adult beverages, and another one stole the lawnmower I lent him.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by hiphopcr

Don't be offended, I'm genuinely curious... why would anyone want to live in a trailer park?

Probably because they don't want to live in a beehive type apartment or condo place. They want something like the suburbs where there is a little yard space around them. They don't want to have nothing but a half-inch wall between them and the people next to them. They want their own parking space next to their own home.

They might not be ready to buy a house in the suburbs, maybe they want to have extra money to travel with or just save.

I equate trailer park living with living in a suburbs or gated community. Some parks have strict rules, some have few rules.

I'd rather have any kind of home on some acres myself, but some people like living with other people around so they pick the city, the suburbs, apartments or trailer park. Some like just that tiny bit of space.