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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:17:21 PM EDT
[#1]
Think of it as an aluminum tornado magnet.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:19:59 PM EDT
[#2]
Build a traditional roof over them, will last much longer.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:20:35 PM EDT
[#3]
On your own land in a modern manufactured home? No meaningful difference, except architectural prettiness.
In a park? Get fucked monthly to rent the spider hell under your house and a place to park that you are trapped on. Enjoy the vibrancy created by drugs, poverty and broken homes. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:20:48 PM EDT
[#4]
For retirement;
I would not consider unless the Park is 55+ I would talk to some of the residents to see how happy they are with the management. I would check to see how stable the lot fee has been. FWIW - never lived in a mobile, just thoughts off the top of my head based on OP. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:20:49 PM EDT
[#5]
I hear they are good places to bang your sister after smoking crack.
Kidding aside, I'm sure properly set up they can be decent. I'd go tiny cabin before mobile home, though. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:20:59 PM EDT
[#6]
My wife and I lived in one when we were first starting out. A 1987 Redman or something like that. It was a 14x80.
Looked like a shit heap on the outside, we totally gutted it inside. Converted the plumbing and electrical over to stick built standards. Mobile homes usually have weird fittings and fixtures that you need to be wary of. We reinforced the floor an put in ceramic tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. It never cracked up. We actually loved the sound of the rain on the roof in storms. Energy efficiency was beyond awful. It was nothing to spend $450/month in a midwestern winter, and $350 in summer was common too. Ours was older though, had a TON of windows (which we liked for the light) but it also meant a lot of energy escaping as they were all single pane. We bought the plastic wrap stuff you put over the windows but it barely helped. Overall, it was great cheap living, but it definitely had its downsides. I can't say I'd want it in my retirement years. I'd rather just get a small ranch. Even a slab on grade ranch that is 1k SF would be less maintenance in the long run and would be worth the extra cost. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:24:04 PM EDT
[#7]
Avoid mobile home "communities" at all costs.
A mobile home on private property = a place to sleep while you build your real home on said property. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:24:15 PM EDT
[#8]
A box cutter will literally get you through exterior walls into the interior. Exterior doors, windows are a joke. Spent a lot of my childhood growing up dirt poor in one, neither proud nor ashamed of it but I’ll be damned if I raise my daughter in one. No offense to anyone, just was what it was and is what it is, I hope the best for you.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:24:17 PM EDT
[#9]
I'll probably eventually retire in a new mobile home on my 25 acres 1.5hrs away from the city in 10 years.
Not building a house at 60. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:24:54 PM EDT
[#10]
Poor white trash. Cops stop by every few days for a DV.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:26:55 PM EDT
[#11]
I'd look at modular homes. They're similar to mobile homes in that they are not site built but I've stayed in a couple log cabin modular homes on vacation and was impressed. There's an outfit in upstate SC that manufactures the particular cabins I stayed in. Just my 2 centavos.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:27:36 PM EDT
[#12]
You’ll become great friends with tornados. As soon as you buy a trailer, one will drop by for a visit.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:27:47 PM EDT
[#13]
I lived in one for 10 years.
It was 20yo when i bought it. I paid $5k for it and 10 years later i sold it for $6k. My MH was located in a small town in rural Iowa. The lot rent when i moved in was $170 month. Although I'd had a couple $10 increases over the years i was told in 2006 it would be increased to $285 month. So i sold/moved out. In retrospect i should have stayed because the next 5 years was the most expensive living I've done. Lot rents in the ia/il QC area are over $400mo now. Great i guess? if you own the trailer. The MH park i lived in was there since 1945, never had any tornadoes. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:28:02 PM EDT
[#14]
I lived in a 'trailer park' growing up. Trailers are built really cheap, the cheapest stuff you can imagine, it just falls apart. The floors get soft and rot from the outside. Trailers attract the dregs of society, sometimes they are good entertainment other times they are a pain in the ass.
Buy your own lot and put heavy plastic down as a moisture barrier. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:28:59 PM EDT
[#15]
They suck, they are built of the cheapest shit available, they suck, they devalue faster than vehicles, parts are hard to get sometimes, they suck. Oh, they are a poor investment and they suck.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:31:04 PM EDT
[#16]
I had a triple wide that had an electric furnace, during the winter my electric bills would get up to $900+ per month to heat the house. Other than that I rather liked that house.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:32:33 PM EDT
[#17]
They often have proprietary fittings and doors and windows and such, not stuff you can just buy anywhere at like Home Depot or Lowes when the time comes to fix stuff.
They also aren't insulated well and don't seal for shit. Heating and cooling those things sucks, even with a powerful/properly sized and setup HVAC, their design is not very energy efficient and you will spend a lot on your light bill. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:32:54 PM EDT
[#18]
They are like everything else. Nice will cost ye extree. You can get 2x6 walls, gable roof , and a real foundation, on your own property (where it's allowed), nicer interior finishings. It's starting to look like a real house with the cost as well.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:34:15 PM EDT
[#19]
I believe the correct name is "modular home", and a cluster of them is called a "trailer court"
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:39:31 PM EDT
[#20]
i figure if i keep working hard and saving 87% of my pay i too might be able to afford a trailer someday.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:39:43 PM EDT
[#21]
As mentioned earlier, if you get one, build a roofover on it.
I worked for an insurance resto company and we went to Florida after hurricanes Irma, and Michael. When a trailer loses its metal roof, the subfloor, (usually particle board) absorbs all the water that comes in, and since the frame is in towards the center, all the walls sink. The center ends up looking like a big hump in the floor. Translation: It's dead , Jim. The ones with a roofover lose some shingles, no big deal. If I were to get into one, I would definately OVERinsure the hell out of it. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:41:17 PM EDT
[#22]
There are some fancy mobile home parks in resort areas believe it or not. Tansi Village near Beaufort sc out towards fripp island. It used to be all mobile homes but they are being replaced with resort homes.
It's actually very nice. You have to think of it as living in a community rather than a building. It's right on the water, I think that's how the trailers get replaced, they just get pummeled by the storms. You definitely don't want to put expensive stuff there  |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:41:34 PM EDT
[#23]
I lived in one for 8 years. I had a pellet stove so my heating was reasonable, and I made sure my skirting was well insulated so I didn't have any issues with pipes.
Location was a bonus. In all, if I had to I would do it again and wouldn't bat an eye. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:53:17 PM EDT
[#24]
Interesting. Mostly negative stuff. There's still plenty of time before retirement so I'll continue kicking this around a bit. More feedback welcome.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:53:21 PM EDT
[#25]
Most of the previous posts are over generalized.
You can have mobile homes built to mostly any specifications you want. You can order them with 2x6 walls(or 2x8?), quality plumbing, insulated well, you can even order them with stairwells to put over a basement. In short, mobile homes are just like any other home. They can be built real cheap and cost a lot on energy and repair or they can be built well. In general though, they are built cheaply. They have odd sized windows and doors (even the front vs back will usually be different), cheap facets, outlets not attached to anything other than the drywall and cost a lot to be heated/ cooled. You can't really secure them and they usually only have a 54" bath tub. They work well for rental property for new landlords but I do not like living in them (standard production models). |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 1:54:35 PM EDT
[#26]
the liquor's calling the shots now randy
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:22:46 PM EDT
[#27]
Converted the plumbing and electrical over to stick built standards. This was my biggest gripe. Mobile homes have their own plumbing standards, and "normal" plumbing hardware doesn't work. Don't get one on skirts, they're draftier, making them harder to heat, and animals intrude more easily. Get one with a real foundation. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:24:31 PM EDT
[#28]
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:27:35 PM EDT
[#29]
I just bought one but it's on a lot in a small town.
Still haven't been to it yet 
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:28:31 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: the liquor's calling the shots now randy 
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:33:29 PM EDT
[#31]
My grandparents lived in a 55+ mobile home park. It was fine, nothing like your average trailer park.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:36:45 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: My wife and I lived in one when we were first starting out. A 1987 Redman or something like that. It was a 14x80. Looked like a shit heap on the outside, we totally gutted it inside. Converted the plumbing and electrical over to stick built standards. Mobile homes usually have weird fittings and fixtures that you need to be wary of. We reinforced the floor an put in ceramic tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. It never cracked up. We actually loved the sound of the rain on the roof in storms. Energy efficiency was beyond awful. It was nothing to spend $450/month in a midwestern winter, and $350 in summer was common too. Ours was older though, had a TON of windows (which we liked for the light) but it also meant a lot of energy escaping as they were all single pane. We bought the plastic wrap stuff you put over the windows but it barely helped. Overall, it was great cheap living, but it definitely had its downsides. I can't say I'd want it in my retirement years. I'd rather just get a small ranch. Even a slab on grade ranch that is 1k SF would be less maintenance in the long run and would be worth the extra cost. I grew up camping and can vouch for the rain on the roof being like a sedative. They depreciate so you never get your money back, but it beats the hell out of an apartment. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:37:12 PM EDT
[#33]
Location, location, location.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:37:48 PM EDT
[#34]
I grew up in one. Pretty much a disposable home.. nothing is made to last. By the time my 18 years were up and I moved out it was pretty much entirely rebuilt except the frame and some walls. Constructed of a lot of particle board, staples, and paneling.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:38:14 PM EDT
[#35]
Don't get anything old, they will slowly fall apart. Some of the newest stuff seems ok, they build them a much higher standard. I am not certain on this but I believe in FL new ones have to meet the same huricane standards that a regular house does and they all get anchored down when they are installed.
As said above, a mobile home on a couple acres is respectable, but a neighborhood isn't great. Here in FL there are assloads of mobile homes, and as much as they are shit on, there are plenty of old busted mobile homes still being lived in that have withstood many a hurricane. One thing for sure, I'd rather live in a mobile home on a couple acres than a cookie cutter house 10 feet from neighbors on either side. I laugh when some arfcomers post their "humble brag" homes and you can see both neighboring homes in the picture because they are sardine canned together. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:39:14 PM EDT
[#36]
They go up in flames like a book of matches. They blow away in the wind. They fall apart quickly.
Been there, done that. No fucking way I would ever live in a trailer again. I'd live in a tent in a shipping container first. If you're talking about manufactured homes that are put together on a slab and are made like a real house, then that's a different story. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:40:54 PM EDT
[#37]
Do you mean mobile home as in an r.v.? Or a stationary trailer?
I Lived in a trailer for 7 years as a kid and a modular/ manufactured home on a full basement for 8 years. Don’t get a trailer. 1/4” drywall, small cramped rooms, everything including the cupboards are just waiting to break. Modulars are better if put on a foundation or basement, but they are basically the same price as a house when all is said and done. At that point you may as well get a house because the standards are much better. Modulars and trailers feel temporary, and almost everything in them will need replaced within 10-12 years. Oh, and they use glues that contain formaldehyde, which are known to cause cancer etc... so in the hot summers, there can be buildup of noxious fumes. More of an annoyance than anything. Honestly, a house is where it’s at. You will lose money on a trailer/ modular. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:42:35 PM EDT
[#38]
Newer ones I've seen look decent. The older ones if properly cared for are still fine, although they tend to have bizarrely sized appliances. The insulation and wiring underneath them is a nightmare and animals love to live there and tear shit up. I'm assuming you're talking about a trailer and not just a small modular home.
Fires are extremely hazardous. If you had your own plot of land a small manufactured home or a double wide makes much more sense. Other than the stigma, many doublewides produced today look quite nice. They're certainly better than the nightmare apartments many people spend much more to live in. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:45:35 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They go up in flames like a book of matches. They blow away in the wind. They fall apart quickly. Been there, done that. No fucking way I would ever live in a trailer again. I'd live in a tent in a shipping container first. If you're talking about manufactured homes that are put together on a slab and are made like a real house, then that's a different story. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:45:37 PM EDT
[#40]
First home I ever bought was a mobile home, in a park, established residents, no wheels allowed, etc.
Great first purchase for the value, and it was in an area that when I sold it I got my money back out of it, but it didn't appreciate like a home with land actually would (or might). If you can afford something better, I would do that instead. If you want a cheap house to put on land that you bought, then it works, but there are other options too. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:46:10 PM EDT
[#41]
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:47:03 PM EDT
[#42]
The homes are typically built inside of a huge building. Materials sourcing becomes very budget motivated.
They have a build order for let’s say 100 homes for a new neighborhood. Specific amount of the houses are going to have certain shape attributes to them that are different than others so that the houses do not all look the same in the neighborhood. A well thought out new mobile home neighborhood won’t look too “cookie cutter”. They’re not all going to have the same front window and the same big windows over what might be a side porch. The siding colors are going to be different, etc. So now take your materials sourcing person who has an order to fill for 15,000 linear feet of vinyl siding in a color close to sky blue, for example. That person communicates around with his supply contacts and he happens to find that there’s a discontinued model of siding that maybe has less or more triangle bumps per foot of height than what is currently available and it’s a lot less expensive. They buy up all those leftover materials that are out of style and no longer available and put them into the builds. Now let’s say that some number of years later there’s a storm and a tree branch jacks up the edge of your roof and some of the vinyl siding and it needs to be replaced under an insurance claim. Whoever is doing the repair work tries to find siding that is an exact match and it’s a no go. The interior trim around windows, doors and adjoining decorative wall panels isn’t something you’re going to find again. The 45-year-old stick built ranch home that I live in, I can walk into Lowe’s or Home Depot and find a piece of trim that’s close enough of a match to the original build to go with. Unfortunately as other posters have mentioned the materials selected for a mobile home build are just so quirky that later on when you go to do repair work it’s going to be difficult to find what you need in any type of a match that’s going to look original. I did used to have a catalog and a connection with a company that was called coast distribution and they sold materials that were specific for mobile homes and recreational vehicles such as weird faucets. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:48:40 PM EDT
[#43]
My in-laws live in one on a good chunk of property. Personally I would rather find fixer up home. As stated they are generally poorly made and the value will drop as opposed to a fixer up increasing in value.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:50:53 PM EDT
[#44]
Came here to say they go up in flames like a book of matches, but it's already been mentioned.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:52:10 PM EDT
[#45]
It’s better with electricity and running water.
They burn very fast. They depreciated like a car, instead of growing in value as a typical house does over time. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:55:14 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: First home I ever bought was a mobile home, in a park, established residents, no wheels allowed, etc. Great first purchase for the value, and it was in an area that when I sold it I got my money back out of it, but it didn't appreciate like a home with land actually would (or might). If you can afford something better, I would do that instead. If you want a cheap house to put on land that you bought, then it works, but there are other options too. i've been looking at wall tents.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 2:58:11 PM EDT
[#47]
I don’t know where all the negative people are buying their mobile homes. I have lived in 2 over the course of my marriage. Both were made by solitaire and both have been top notch. The first was a 14 x 70, paid 13500 in 1980 and never had any problems, lived in it until 1990, rented it for 300 a month for 2 years, then sold it for 8000 to the renters. Then lived in conventional house until 2008. Moved to my land I owned and looked at building a house. Did not want a mortgage in my 60’s and 70’s do bought another solitaire. 32x 80. Paid less than 60% of what a house of same square footage would have cost. 2x6 walls, sheet rock interior, wood floors not particle board and set on 24 inch concrete piers. It is the most energy efficient home I have ever lived in. Avg $170 a month for electric in summer AC months and $90 a month in winter months in a total electric house with the exception of a gas log in the fireplace for winter months, burning about 200 gallons of propane at $1.20 a gallon. Love it and have had zero problems in going on 13 years. Also have yet to see a tornado in all the years living in one.
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Posted: 3/14/2021 3:48:51 PM EDT
[#48]
Visit a few mobile home dealers and see what they can show you. As for quality of life, park ownership and management is everything.
I don't think that a mobile home is a bad choice for retirement, because home and yard maintenance can be a PITA when you're over 65. All that work can seem pointless when there isn't a family to enjoy it, even more so if you live alone. |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 4:28:06 PM EDT
[#49]
In 2005 We purchased a triple wide for my daughter and placed it on my land that I have deeded to her. Factory built to standard home construction, as in 2x6 studs, 4x4 weight bearing posts, 3/8 in. Steel I-beam floor frame, sheetrock walls, standard fittings, copper wiring, large disabled spec doors, metal exteriour doors with steel jambs, double pane insulated windows... everything a good constructed home would have. I had a concrete slab pad for leveling and foundation blocks. Removed wheels, and a secondary roof put on. Still looks new. It was a top of the line manufacture and model, forget offhand which.
Last summer I had a underground storm shelter put in, along with a covered walkway to it so there is no excuse to get to it. Her and son-in-law built decks and landscaped it.. Looks nicer than my house!!!! |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 4:33:01 PM EDT
[#50]
I grew up living in trailers. They’re cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Not insulated very well. The pipes underneath will freeze easily in the winter. And when they catch fire, it will be nothing but a steel frame in under two minutes.
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