Any experience with mobile/manufactured homes?

CaptUSA said:
They can be an inexpensive way of living. You can have a nice enough living space for low cost.

BUT!!!!

Resale value is extremely low! It is hard to sell a used mobile home. People who want used mobile homes have a hard time getting loans for them. Once you buy one, YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH IT. If you do want to get rid of it, you will lose a lot of money.
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Depends on what part of the country you are in. We bought a used mobile home (in Maine), lived in it five years and made huge profit when we sold it. A mobile home is considered a Chattel loan. Like buying a car.
 
They say that if a tornado approaches, you need to find a ditch somewhere...
 
AME3 said:
sweet
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I would build an inground maybe basement and top it off with a geo-dome. The inground part has a wall temp of about sixty degrees year round, in most parts of US. Cool the place with a tray of ice cubes, heat it with a candle...domes are windproof, and can withstand an F5 if constructed properly. Dosn't have to be huge and expensive...can be constructed in modules and added onto as time goes by.
 
CaptUSA said:
They can be an inexpensive way of living. You can have a nice enough living space for low cost.

BUT!!!!

Resale value is extremely low! It is hard to sell a used mobile home. People who want used mobile homes have a hard time getting loans for them. Once you buy one, YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH IT. If you do want to get rid of it, you will lose a lot of money.
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Who cares about resale value? Instead, save up for a good banjo, a good dental plan to treat that lone tooth in your head, and for a good hound dog to keep sleeping on the porch.
But watch out for tornadoes! According to the hysterical media, tornadoes are attracted to house trailers just as flies are attracted to barbeque sauce.
But remember that women are also attracted to house trailers! Ah . . . yes indeed! Seems more women are being turned on by Bubba-fever than ever before as nothing gets a woman hotter than bouncing her up and down and banging her head off the bed's head board!
Actually, I'm just kidding about all this. In the future, I believehigh quality inexpensive housing, most likely built in China for about $3,999, will help build a new middle class in our fifty Democratic Republic of fifty nation-states as such manufactured edifices will aid in increasing disposable income.
In order to further increase disposable income, something we learned to do during the Great Depression, half of all park space should be converted over to build tent cities.
 
AME3 said:
I would build an inground maybe basement and top it off with a geo-dome. The inground part has a wall temp of about sixty degrees year round, in most parts of US. Cool the place with a tray of ice cubes, heat it with a candle...domes are windproof, and can withstand an F5 if constructed properly. Dosn't have to be huge and expensive...can be constructed in modules and added onto as time goes by.
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Cool! Where can I purchase a rubber bubble to spead $400,000 worth of styrofoam over?
 
Actually Uncle Emanuel, the material I would choose for the lower structure is known as Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) which is a system of formwork for concrete that stays in place as permanent building insulation for energy-efficient, cast-in-place, reinforced concrete walls, floors, and roofs. The forms are interlocking modular units that are dry-stacked (without mortar) and filled with concrete.
Here's a sample source: http://www.buildblock.com/welcome/homebuyers.asp

And here's a source for the dome portion: http://www.domeincorporated.com/concrete-dome-kits-prices.html

There are many other suppliers as this is a highly competitive area. As you can see, the costs of a modest structure is quite competive with conventional methods.

Of course I agree that this would probably cost more than a single wide mobile home would. But I believe it is doable for less than a 400K outlay by far. Security wise, as well as energy efficiency, beats a trailer IMHO anyway.
To each their own, just my two cents...
 
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For a decade or so the family would basically live out of a 5th wheel at a local RV park. Other than doing laundry there was no need to stop at the house. A lot of people there would do the same, others would do it year around and go south in the winter. I met a MLB hall of famer one day when he brought his motorhome to visit a friend. Nice people in the parks and an option outside of the normal trailer parks.

I do know my township has an ordinance against mobile homes. Unless it's for farm help they're not allowed anymore. Just make sure any land you're looking at doesn't have similar ordinances.
 
My church is building anew facility (the current building is falling apart) and is using containers. They are building a church building and a house/parsonage. The whole thing: land, building, wiring, air con, foundation, etc. is $220,000. Considering prices aorund there and the yen rate, that's pretty good. If you do it right, you can't even tell it's made of containers. And you can add on: spread out more or put on a 2nd floor.
 
I think I posted somewhere on this forum about burying an old gutted school bus. It was cramped but very cheap and energy efficient if laid out properly. It also cannot be seen from a distance. A good option for bare land where you want to build a real house eventually.
 
Suzu said:
I think I posted somewhere on this forum about burying an old gutted school bus. It was cramped but very cheap and energy efficient if laid out properly. It also cannot be seen from a distance. A good option for bare land where you want to build a real house eventually.
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and if you build your house over the top of the bus it can become your root cellar/bunker. I would be sure to remove the gas tank, lines and engine before burying it though. I would not want fumes to become an issue.
 
Just don't buy a new one. I bought one for $35,000 and its worth decreased to $20,000 as soon as I got it to where I was going to live. A year later it was worth $12,000. Those things devalue faster than cars.
 
If you buy land to put a trailer try to find a piece that already has electric hook up and a well and septic already dug. I know many people who started with a small trailer and built on to it and built a stone or brick foundation before setting the trailer on it.
 
TonySutton said:
and if you build your house over the top of the bus it can become your root cellar/bunker. I would be sure to remove the gas tank, lines and engine before burying it though. I would not want fumes to become an issue.
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I ought to have said "gutted and stripped down". We took off every part that could be removed and used, including the wheels, engine, drivetrain and lots more, but the thing had been sitting in a junkyard for years without a drop of gas in it before I got it.
 
Suzu said:
I ought to have said "gutted and stripped down". We took off every part that could be removed and used, including the wheels, engine, drivetrain and lots more, but the thing had been sitting in a junkyard for years without a drop of gas in it before I got it.
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I want to build a natural home within a few years. Part of my plan includes buying an old bus or travel trailer to live in while I build the house. When a family friend decided to build his own home (conventional) he built a 2.5 car garage first with a full bathroom. His wife, daughter (high school age) and him all lived in the garage while he built the house.
 
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