Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OP, have you thought about a "tiny house"? Some of them are not SO tiny. I have some very good friends who bought a 600 square foot very well designed "tiny house" around the same price point as a mobile home and its adorable.
I admit, I don't like mobile homes. I grew up very poor and my mother always made a huge deal about the fact that we "might have to go live in a trailer" except for my grandparent's kind gift of a house on their property. I had friends that lived in them. But I also dated an architect in grad school who designed new modular homes that were fantastic. When you say "mobile home" I think "trailer park" which is not accurate.
Would you want to live with your father in law in 600 square feet?
Would you want to live with your father in law in 600 square feet?
No I wouldn't want to live with my father in law in 600 or 6000 square feet. Nor in a mobile home. But how big is the mobile home you are looking at? In my experience, they aren't exactly palatial.
How about two mobile homes? One for you and one for FIL?
I haven't been in that many but the few I have, when it was cold outside, had a tendency to be cold. Especially closets etc. on the outer walls. Are they on metal framing? I don't know but it just seem liked they sucked in cold.
Plus crawl spaces, although nice not to worry about basement flooding, can mean cold floors and rodent entry spots.
And that's not a 50K mobile home as the OP was talking about. Not to mention that there is not going to be an option to buy undeveloped land to put something like that on in the area he's buying in.
Actually, there is no such thing as new "mobile homes" anymore. They are called manufactured homes and yes, this is a manufactured home (shows up on wheels, stays on the frame with just the wheels and hitch removed). I chose a large version to make a point, which is that they do not build tin boxes anymore!
I'm heading up to Maine in 2 weeks to buy a mobile on concrete pad w/ 3 acres for under $40K.
2 bedroom, 2 bathroom.
its quite nice inside ,also has a new 2 car garage and paved driveway.
They know how to keep warm in northern Maine. (Houlton).
For me,
A peaked roof is a must.
Owning the land is a must.
There's no room for the middle class in eastern Massachusetts. The only working class and middle class people owning their own homes are the ones who bought 10-15 years ago, or inherited their homes. It's getting ridiculous. Last year, we were just barely were able to get into a community just west of I-95, and today there's nothing for sale in our price range in our town, let alone closer in.
All these people putting down mobile homes... I mean, you have to live somewhere. Pay $2,500 to live in some cruddy apartment, or pay $800/month to live in a mobile home park with a bit of independence, and maybe you can sell the place later on and get some of your money back? I'd take the mobile home, assuming it's not a dangerous meth-addict kind of trailer park.
I so wish we'd done that when we were in Arizona for graduate school a few years back. Bought a house, which promptly crashed in value in 2008. Now it's just about come back up, 10 years later. Arizona has really nice trailer parks, with respectable middle class people living in them, some for retirees, some for families, that include community centers, swimming pool, wifi, etc. Massachusetts... not so much...
AZ is full of MH's not just in parks but on acreage, same as OR,WA and ID. Heck, we've been house hunting in OR for a few years and it never ceases to amaze me how many MH neighborhoods where they own the land (not trailer parks) there are.
My MIL has lived in a MH for the last 40 years that I know of and always in a park. Given that she lives in the NorCal wine country in a 55+ park her older MH is worth more than she paid for it just due to the space it sits on. The thing is, it's an affordable place to live compared to any house around it.
What I'm going to add to this post is probably contrary to what most ppl think, but since I'm 64 and "been there, done that", I'll add my 2 cents.
1. If you go the mobile home route, I would say to make sure that is where you want to stay forever. They do depreciate, even one put on your own property (tho not as much as in a park because the land has value). They are good for ppl my age or older, where if they depreciate (or falls apart)- who cares! Your heirs will be the ppl who have to deal with it, not you.
2. For someone just starting out with their first home- get a small, cheap house. It probably will not be your dream house, but you can always add on, renovate, or move. But always stay cheap. Here's why:
Make sure the mortgage- if you even have one (none is better)-can be paid by the person who makes the lowest salary. I bought a house 20 yrs ago with a boyfriend. I was laid off from work and I made the higher salary. If we didn't have a cheap, low mortgage house, we would have been screwed. But my boyfriend could carry the whole mortgage, plus taxes. My unemployment check helped to pay the utilities and food.
Even if being fired or laid off is not a worry, you don't want to be poor, but house rich. I've been in beautiful homes with no furniture except beds and a card table in the kitchen because the ppl who owned the house couldn't afford furniture. Don't forget the bigger and fancier the house, the more taxes and insurance you will pay.
You will only have XX amount of money. With that money you can give it to the bank and county/ school for mortgage and taxes, or you can spend it on vacations, furniture, eating out, etc. Are you planning on NEVER going on vacation because you cannot afford it? Even beautiful homes need maintenance. What would you do if you needed a new roof? Or had to replace a floor or carpeting? Buy new appliances?
Or even unexpected medical bill? Or you got sick and had to buy specialized medication, renovate the house to handicapped, or go on a specialized diet where you had to buy stuff from a health food store? My husband had 2 back surgeries 2 yrs apart- we have good government insurance and didn't have to pay, but each surgery was over $100K. My sister had a non-cancerous lung tumor removed, and did not have insurance at all. The hospital social worker applied for Medicaid for her (and both her and her husband worked). Medicaid paid only 80%. They had to sell their house to pay of the balance.
Are you planning on having a big mortgage, taxes that go up every yr, 1 or 2 car payments, credit card debit? And still have electric, water, phone, food, cable, internet, etc to pay? Wait until you see what having kids costs!! I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be able to sleep.
How about saving money? No one tells you that eventually you will get old and will need to retire. Will you have money for that?? I am retired now, and although my husband makes good money and will have a decent government pension, I am looking to go back to work at 64 for at least another 6 yrs (or more). My salary we are planning to just sock away for our retirement. And that is providing the COL doesn't go crazy, where we will need to work even longer.
You do what you want, but I would go into a cheap house in a decent location. It's better to have the cheapest house in the best location, than the best house in a so-so or bad location.
We have our house for sale now. It gets real old, real fast when we shell out over $22K per year on a house, insurance and taxes. We don't have cable because we can't afford it. We drive 16 yr old cars. We don't have cell phones, or iphones, etc because we can't afford it (we have tracfones for emergencies, which is $20 each every 3 months), and between the 2 of us (my tiny pension and SS) we almost make $100K/ yr.
You only have so much money and that amount will only get you so much. It is up to you to decide what is important to you and what you can live it. I would weigh all the pros and cons of an expensive house. Just remember that expensive houses can also burn to the ground (I know 2 families that lost their house to fire- 1 family also lost their dog) and be gone. All they had in both cases were the clothes they were wearing. I'm not wishing that but it has happened.
Also you need to plan on the even more expensive replacement value for your HO insurance. What will that house cost to replace in 5, 10, 15 yrs, and how much will that insurance cost you year after year?
Good luck in your decision. Only you can decide what is best for you.
Mobile homes are synonymous with trailer parks which is where the stigma comes into play. I guess after that it's always the mobile homes that get destroyed in a hurricane or tornado zone.
They might depreciate but they can also generate rental income. My sister pays $600/mo for an older MH. However it has been remodeled quite nicely, new .flooring and cabinets. I don't believe it is on a foundation. it is on a lot with 3 other MH, whose occupants seem decent.
I am considering demolishing my current (old and small) home in a couple years and replacing it with a MH or modular. Thoughts? I live in central wyo.
They might depreciate but they can also generate rental income. My sister pays $600/mo for an older MH. However it has been remodeled quite nicely, new .flooring and cabinets. I don't believe it is on a foundation. it is on a lot with 3 other MH, whose occupants seem decent.
I am considering demolishing my current (old and small) home in a couple years and replacing it with a MH or modular. Thoughts? I live in central wyo.
Just so y'all know, most any mobile home plan can be made as a modular home for not that much more $.
Been researching it for over 2 years now and that's probably the way I'll go next time around...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
