Please help me with this relocation ? (Monmouth: mobile home, to live in, price)

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by jjpop

This is wise. You may want to think about including McMinnville and Newberg a bit further north of your rectangle to explore.

I was just going to suggest McMinnville. I'd also consider Silverton and Dallas in the Salem metro area. Pottery Barn is in Portland so you'd have to drive up there for it, but Salem has everything else you'd need.

[Alinka]

Thank you for your helpful responses and I will explore the communities you suggested.

It must be regional usage- when rebelol and Steve Pickering posted about "parks"- initially I was thinking of what I guess I would call municipal parks: walking trails, ponds, picnic areas, that type of thing.....OK I can learn and laugh at myself too. It makes sense of course, manufactured homes but on foundations (?) or am I just mentally going in the wrong direction?

I would not be closed to the idea. I guess because I'm used to hearing "mobile homes" I generally picture a transient type of community. Are they safe?

I saw one that looked very pretty- Songbrook, in Eugene, but haven't asked about it here because I notice that Eugene has its own board. It seemed reasonable, but not inexpensive to me. The price for the home is very reasonable, but once the lease for the land (average $500 per month) is added to a mortgage for the home plus property tax and insurance it adds up. Landscaping isn't covered by the lease fee and neither are utilities except for water. A two car garage is also required.

Is that the usual way parks for manufactured homes are set up? As you can tell, this is new to me. I do like the leased aspect and think there is no real reason that I need to own land. Steve Pickering mentioned the Coos Bay area and rebelol the Brookings area. Are these communities found frequently elsewhere in Oregon?

[Steve Pickering]

We have a lot of Owned Lots in Parks here. I live in my 5th wheel on a private 1/3 acre lot in the woods in the middle of the city. Deer, and all maner of critters all the time. $230 a month includes water and garbage.

[hamellr]

Mobile Home parks can go either way, depending on the area. I'd check the crime rates in the immediate are. For instance there is one off of NW Killingsworth in Portland that is highest concentration of crime in all of Oregon. Police only enter in force and even then they'll still get shot at. I hear it's gotten a bit better, but not much.

But just down the road less then a mile is another park - totally different, nice families, well taken care of, etc.

Most are going to lean towards the nicer park type, but there was a pretty big push by a lot of people (and some rezoning laws thrown in for good measure) to get rid of mobile home parks in general. I do not know how the rest of the state faired, but in the Portland area there are half a dozen that have been bulldozed down and have been sitting as empty land for over two years now.

[Alinka]

Thank you for your responses. I've never really thought about mobile home parks except for the one I saw on the net in Eugene (Songbrook). I'm not exactly handy to say the least. I'm looking for a quiet and safe place and will sacrifice space and a view for that. Unless, of course, I am the next lottery winner.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by hamellr

Mobile Home parks can go either way, depending on the area. I'd check the crime rates in the immediate are. For instance there is one off of NW Killingsworth in Portland that is highest concentration of crime in all of Oregon. Police only enter in force and even then they'll still get shot at. I hear it's gotten a bit better, but not much.

But just down the road less then a mile is another park - totally different, nice families, well taken care of, etc.

Most are going to lean towards the nicer park type, but there was a pretty big push by a lot of people (and some rezoning laws thrown in for good measure) to get rid of mobile home parks in general. I do not know how the rest of the state faired, but in the Portland area there are half a dozen that have been bulldozed down and have been sitting as empty land for over two years now.

This isn't Portland.

[rebalol]

There are lots of mobile (technically manufactured) home parks all over the Brookings-Harbor area and they run the range of a gated more expensive newer community to smaller mixed between newer and older home parks. In the newer community, you can buy an existing home where you lease the land or you can buy a lot where you own the land and put on your own home.
However, the norm is the home is already sited, landscaped, etc and you lease the space it's on. In these other parks, your rent can run $300 to $500 average and that will ususally included water and sewer, sometimes trash. In this area, they are all electric so your only other utilities would be your choice of phone, internet, tv, etc. All in all, much cheaper than a typical site built home. Property taxes are based on sales price and sales price can run from $15,000 on up, depending on your budget. Homeowners insurance is cheaper and probably car insurance, too
When I asked about your age, the reason was because the "senior parks" are over 55. I know mine is very quiet and safe. I also moved from an inland desert area and absolutely love it here!
You can research on different realtor sites - a generic one is best like realtor.com - put in your price range, city of choice and be sure and specify to include mobile homes. It's how I found mine -- I did LOTS of research before I made my move -- 2 years worth. I watched the weather every day, looked at web cams, etc. and also visited in person twice - once to make sure it was where I wanted to live and the second time to pick out my home and I've never regretted it for 1 second!!!!

[Nell Plotts]

The key to avoiding a lot of rain is to locate on the east slope of a ridge. Our prevailing winds come from the west. As the clouds are forced up over mountians/ridgeline they drop moisture on the west slope and top.

[Mclaurin]

If you like libraries, maybe a college town would be to your liking. They have good libraries. Corvallis, Eugene, Monmouth, Ashland are all smaller than Portland communities with people you might like too. Corvallis and Eugene and Ashland tend to be expensive, but you could look around. Monmouth is tiny, but affordable, near Dallas. I think you might like them. For the coast, don't assume you can't find a home if you don't need the view. I would be concerned about having the resources you like and we all need health care. There are towns with hospitals. Newport comes to mind....not the best care, but at least it's something. Places like Port Orford are so isolated, oh my gosh, it might be hard. You could find a place.

[Mclaurin]

If you want Pottery Barn then it has to be within the range of Portland. So go west from there. Dallas would be more than an hour from Ptld. Just google and go. The coast has the larger shopping in the relatively larger towns....Newport Lincolin City, Coos Bay. You are not in the Pottery Barn demo. though. If you want that demo. go to Corvallis, Eugene, or as the previous poster suggests, west of Portland.