Thinking of purchasing a manufactured/mobile home in a park setting (Mesa: for sale, rent)

[heavensangel1964]

Hello there,

I've been seriously considering a purchase of a manufactured or mobile home that is located in a mobile home park.

Both my soon to be 92 year old Father and myself (46) are currently searching for a summer home. We just want something simple to live in during the summer months, and thought a mobile home park would be a great choice.

I've visited Prescott, Payson and Flagstaff, and my first choice would be Prescott. Prescott has everything we need, while still maintaining a friendly small town image.

I was wondering if anyone on this board has ever (or currently) lives in park, and what is their overall experience? Are you very happy living there, or wish you can leave?

I already found four manufactured/mobile homes available for sale in parks. Already spoke to the owners of the home. So, far, all the homes have been well taken care of, and would be a perfect fit for the two of us.

I plan to call the owners/managers of the parks and ask questions.

After speaking to the Owners/Managers of parks, if they still sound like an ideal place to live, then I plan to make a day trip to visit the homes and do a thorough inspection.

Any information that anyone would like to share would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time!

Have a wonderful day!

[BriansPerspective]

Walk around and talk to the residents. Since you do not own the land, you are at the mercy of the landlord. The landlord might be benevolent or tyrannical. You are basically paying rent for the space and the rent can fluctuate (up). Also, you will be buying a depreciating asset, so keep that in mind. Once the mfg home ages long enough, it may need to be replaced. Ask the landlord if there are future age restrictions in place for the mfg homes. E.g., if you buy a used 1980 model today, will they force you to replace it in so many years to keep the park looking nice and new? Finally, keep in mind that you are buying personal property. Lenders do not like to give people loans to buy personal property, so when it comes time to sell it, you will be looking for a cash buyer unless you want to carry a note.

[pollockh]

Best way to gather information about the mobile homes is going online. You will get various deals and can have options before going personally.

[mohawkx]

Another option is to purchase a manufactured home on private land. This is considered real property and you're not subject to the restrictions and oversight of a park landlord. The Verde villages in Cottonwood have a mix of stick houses and manufactured homes on their own land. some with thier own wells and water rights.

[heavensangel1964]

Thank you everyone for all your help!

I purchased a beautiful Mobile Home in Prescott, in a very friendly 55+ park for an astronomical price!

The owner decided to sell, due to his wife's illness, and he was planning to move in with his son in Prescott Valley.

The park is just a few minutes from Downtown Prescott, and only a few miles from the Prescott National Forest and several beautiful lakes, which I love to visit on a frequent basis.

I look forward to my regular visits and spend some quality time resting, hiking and canoeing.

I plan to eventually relocate here on a permanent basis on the near future from East Mesa, AZ.

Have a Wonderful and Blessed Day and May God Bless YOU All!

[gentlearts]

I know two people who live, or have lived in them. The thing is, they are impossible to resell if you only rent the land they sit on. The monthly fees can be $300.-$500.+, so at that rate you could almost buy a little house and have a mortgage.
Many people are just fine with this arrangement. They just want to turn the key and come and go without any maintenance worries, etc. Just realize that, as someone else said, you are at the mercy of the owner, either because he lets the place go to pot, or even that he might sell it out from under everyone.

[heavensangel1964]

I am not worried at all about the MH park going to pot, nor the owner selling out someday.

I have visited a couple of parks in the Prescott area that were not well taken care of, because of the Park Manager's 'I don't care attitude.'

However, this particular park has both, a very caring owner, who has owned this park for over 12 years, and a wonderful park manager. The owner implemented very strict rules for its tenants to abide by, and both, the owner and the park manager, diligently enforce them.

This was extremely important to me, and the first consideration, when I was searching for a Mobile Home in a park setting.

I was originally trying to purchase a MH on its own land, but I could not secure either a conventional or a FHA loan.

Right now, most lenders are not willing to finance a 'vacation home' that is a MH, unless you are able to come up with at least 30 per cent down (if the MH was not an older unit or a single wide) and a high credit score of at least 750. Some lenders I spoke to had loans that only required 10 per cent down, but the MH had to be a newer model, 1995 and up.

The MH's I was intersted in purchasing on its own lot/land were older units, and not eligible for financing, but were in excellent condition, as many were remodeled.

I also tried to convince the owners to do a OWC, but they were not interested in carrying a note.

Anyway, I am very, very satisfied with my beautiful 'vacation home,' and have not regretted my purchase!

Hope to meet all of you in Prescott very soon!

Have a great day!

[BeautifulPa]

Hello, it is gloryseven. Wow, I am so shocked to see that I found your post as I was just randomly searching the internet and joined this forum, which I never do.
So glad you found that nice place at a good price! God is good!

Take care. We are here in East Stroudsburg, Pa near the NJ border, and next to the Delaware State Forest. God bless you! Julie

[keninaz]

I owned a nice one on a nice piece of land down south for about 7 years. I had lots of improvements to the property too.
The problem with a mobile home is that when you go to sell them financing is almost impossible to find. When you do it requires excellent credit, a large down payment and then the interest rate will not be close to what you can buy a home for today.
For this reason you can get an excellent buy on nice homes in parks as there is no land with them. But you are looking at owner financing for the most part at whatever rate they will charge you.
There are entirely too many stick homes on the market right now and they can be bought for very competitive rates and prices and this has destroyed the mobile home market.
Even if the home has land tied to it on title like they can do here in AZ it has very little value to a bank nowadays.

[Rich Cabeza]

If anyone loves their park feel free to send me a private message with the name of it. It would be greatly appreciated.