[pathseeker]

I'm interested in learning more about mobile home living in terms of the pros and cons and about the mobile home communities in the tri county area. I like Lapeer County but There seems to be more parks in Oakland and Macomb, so I'd be curious to hear from anyone with any insight about the various MH Parks in those areas.

I've done some research, already and the one takeaway so far is that lot rents average about $400/$450 per month. My question to anyone with insight is how well mobile home living compares to living in a regular house after one factors in lot rent and any other hidden fees.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by pathseeker

I'm interested in learning more about mobile home living in terms of the pros and cons and about the mobile home communities in the tri county area. I like Lapeer County but There seems to be more parks in Oakland and Macomb, so I'd be curious to hear from anyone with any insight about the various MH Parks in those areas.

I've done some research, already and the one takeaway so far is that lot rents average about $400/$450 per month. My question to anyone with insight is how well mobile home living compares to living in a regular house after one factors in lot rent and any other hidden fees.

Well first off your going to have people say a manufactured home is NOT the same a s a mobile home. Not sure which your looking at. My wife and I just recently purchased a manufactured home. It's 2300sqft, very open floor plan, great kitchen set up with a fire place. 3 bedrooms. Our lot rent is $385 a month with the dog. Purchase price was $48,000, we put $15,000 down and have a $300 payment ( financing sucks on these things, about the only down side)
So with that said, ALL of the homes in our community are manufactured homes, not mobile homes. A lot of them with garages. I had a small 14X70 mobile home on some property up north and that place was nothing like our new home. We have been here for about 4 months and we love it here. My lawn at my old house would take me almost 2 hours to cut, now about 10 minutes if that lol . My swimming pool would require attention daily and cost well over $1000 a summer to maintain and run the filter. Our pool here is gorgeous and I don't have to do any maintenance on it. Our home is 2X6 construction and it's pretty darn solid. Our electric and heating bills are much lower than our house was as well. Our electric has been about $110 a month and gas has been close to the same. At our old house it was much higher. Our community is run by a really nice couple who have rules set up that really keep out people nobody really wants to live next too if ya know what I mean.
I never pictured myself living in a home or community like this but we really like it. neighbors are great, halloween was great here. A lot of kids, playground and the park is very well kept. This was not our plan and we were kind of forced to buy when we did not want too. But now it will allow us to afford our dream vacation home we have always wanted up north. I don't think that could have or would have been possible if we bought and owed 200k both down here and up there. So for us, it has worked and we love it here. Oh and we also bought a home that is dry walled throughout.

I guess I left out the cons. Kind of like some neighborhoods there are rules. But these rules are good because it keeps the neighborhood nice. Like pick up after your dog, no parking on the street, garbage cans must be put away ON garbage day. Any illegal activity voids your lease and they will evict you. You own the home, but not the property it sits on. Some may see these as cons but they are still a good thing even though I hear people gripe about some of the rules. Parking can be a bite, we have 3 cars and 3 drivers and it gets a bit old moving them around. But on the bright side I can shovel my drive and deck in less than 15 minutes.

[pathseeker]

Originally Posted by JGatti

Well first off your going to have people say a manufactured home is NOT the same a s a mobile home. Not sure which your looking at. My wife and I just recently purchased a manufactured home. It's 2300sqft, very open floor plan, great kitchen set up with a fire place. 3 bedrooms. Our lot rent is $385 a month with the dog. Purchase price was $48,000, we put $15,000 down and have a $300 payment ( financing sucks on these things, about the only down side)
So with that said, ALL of the homes in our community are manufactured homes, not mobile homes. A lot of them with garages. I had a small 14X70 mobile home on some property up north and that place was nothing like our new home. We have been here for about 4 months and we love it here. My lawn at my old house would take me almost 2 hours to cut, now about 10 minutes if that lol . My swimming pool would require attention daily and cost well over $1000 a summer to maintain and run the filter. Our pool here is gorgeous and I don't have to do any maintenance on it. Our home is 2X6 construction and it's pretty darn solid. Our electric and heating bills are much lower than our house was as well. Our electric has been about $110 a month and gas has been close to the same. At our old house it was much higher. Our community is run by a really nice couple who have rules set up that really keep out people nobody really wants to live next too if ya know what I mean.
I never pictured myself living in a home or community like this but we really like it. neighbors are great, halloween was great here. A lot of kids, playground and the park is very well kept. This was not our plan and we were kind of forced to buy when we did not want too. But now it will allow us to afford our dream vacation home we have always wanted up north. I don't think that could have or would have been possible if we bought and owed 200k both down here and up there. So for us, it has worked and we love it here. Oh and we also bought a home that is dry walled throughout.

I guess I left out the cons. Kind of like some neighborhoods there are rules. But these rules are good because it keeps the neighborhood nice. Like pick up after your dog, no parking on the street, garbage cans must be put away ON garbage day. Any illegal activity voids your lease and they will evict you. You own the home, but not the property it sits on. Some may see these as cons but they are still a good thing even though I hear people gripe about some of the rules. Parking can be a bite, we have 3 cars and 3 drivers and it gets a bit old moving them around. But on the bright side I can shovel my drive and deck in less than 15 minutes.

Thanks for the information. If you don't mind me asking; What park are you in and what are the procedures for moving in/establishing residency?

One pet peeve I've found in doing my research is that many of the parks run credit checks. I understand why they do it but the idea of giving out personal financial informaation makes me a bit leary.

Another pro/con question I'm curious to have answered is how advantageous mobile homes are, now that conventional homes in many areas cost the same or even less than many mobile homes.

[detwahDJ]

Keep in mind that even though you may own the building, you are still a renter and subject to periodic rent increases or even changes in rules (like car washing, lawn care, exterior cleaning, etc). You can expect a rent increase after you move in.
Though the plot is owned by someone else, the occupant is responsible for its upkeep. The owner's responsibility is only for the infrastructure.
You must get permission from the owners for any changes you want to make (meaning you are subject to their tastes and whims), and they may require changes by you, at your expense (like adding a porch or tool shed).
Manufactured homes are like automobiles - they depreciate in value (value is actually determined by the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA)). You can never recoup the original price of the home.
Many people are ok with all this, so judge for yourself.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by pathseeker

Thanks for the information. If you don't mind me asking; What park are you in and what are the procedures for moving in/establishing residency?

One pet peeve I've found in doing my research is that many of the parks run credit checks. I understand why they do it but the idea of giving out personal financial informaation makes me a bit leary.

Another pro/con question I'm curious to have answered is how advantageous mobile homes are, now that conventional homes in many areas cost the same or even less than many mobile homes.

I'm not sure how you expect to buy any home or rent somewhere without a credit check being done.
To answer your 2nd question. For us to get a house we could afford ( and we did try but were beat out on every home we liked) we could have swung around a $120,000 home. In the area's we liked and wanted to move almost every house was a handy man special fixer upper. I don't mean just a little work here and there, the ones that were left on the market were there for a reason. Needed roof, drywall falling down, water damage, decks rotted, broken windows. These places needed some work. The move in ready homes in our price range were either scooped up or way too small. When we found this house we were thrilled all it needed was our paint color inside. We fell we got twice the house for less than half the money, and with the plan to stay here long term we will be able to afford a lot more in our lives. Better vacations, 2nd home up north etc.
I agree with the other post as well. You do need to ask to do any upgrades but they don't really care. Your basically improving their community by adding things like landscape, deck or garage. So even though the rules are there they are very loose when it comes to home improvements.
Our community is an AJR home community. There is one in Milford and one in Hartland. Both very nicely kept.

[zthatzmanz28]

For us buying a mobile home was an easy decision. We owned our home when the bubble burst and we ended upside down when we lost 70% in market value. The mobile home gets us out of paying taxes--yeah we have lot rent that might be equal to taxes, but it is also equal to paying rent.
In the end we feel we are in the same postition as owning -- our rent equals taxes and neither are recoverable. The cost of the trailer will be the same of slightly increased when / if we sell just as most real estate will probably stay the same. The biggest differnence is we are not putting out a large sum of cash for a residence and probably will not have the same upkeep expense.