Pros/Cons of buying in mobile/manufactured home community?

[Chereya]

I am starting to do research for buying our first home which will be in 18-24 months. With home prices being what they are now, I don't know if we can afford a traditional home. Mobile and Manufactured homes seem to be in a more comfortable price range for our budget. We could probably afford to get a mortgage/loan amt of up to $150,000 on 30 yrs but I don't really feel comfortable making that big of a commitment because this will not be a permanent move. We could probably pay cash on something $75,000. We have no debt and would like to keep it that way as much as possible. I would love to be able to pay cash for our starter home and then over the course of our lives, upgrade with little or no loans needed.

I am looking into moving to central Florida, other parts of FL or possibly, Georgia. We will probably need to relocate in a few years for DH's job but for now he works at home. We have two kids (4m and 26m) and would want a 2br/1ba or larger. We plan to have 1br as DH's office and use the living area as a master BR with the other BR for the kids.

Do any of you live in a mobile or manufactured home community? What are the pros and cons? Do you own the property under your home or is the lot a rental? What details are important to ask about or notice?

Your thoughts, ideas and comments are appreciated as well as any "good" finds.

Chereya

 

[2BigKIdz]

We lived in a double-wide home in a trailer park from 1992-1995. We purchased the double-wide from a manufacturing company (well my mom did) and then rented the lot that it was placed on. The lot fee went up every year, we ended up paying less for a mortgage payment (on a 2300 sq ft home in a gated community!) than we were paying for a trailer payment and lot fee.

I really don't know of any pro's for this other than the initial price but you lose money over time as trailers depreciate just as vehicles do. The only way I would recommend doing this is putting it on your own land on a permanent foundation. That is the only way that you will get money out of it when you want to sell.

The park we lived in was very small and was well maintained and allowed only people that owned their own trailers, no renters. The owners also lived on the property. They have since started to allow renters and the park has gone downhill.

Financing a mobile home is also different than purchasing a traditional home, atleast it was back then. But if you are paying cash that would not be a concern. I don't remember the details, but when we sold the home to my uncle they would not allow my mom's name to be removed from the title. My uncle sold the home in 2004, the new owner's were late on a bill and a notice was sent to my mom that payment was late (I think the new owner's financed through a different company and the transaction hadn't completed at that time).

 

[aprilgail2]

I would never live in any kind of trailor/mobile home in a hurricane area....all it takes is a weak hurricane and your "home" is gone.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I said that to dh when we moved here (Texas). We could live in a trailer and save some $$$. But family wouldn't go for it.
Here is what I see from my own research.

Pros...
Buy something cheap to save money.

Deduct interest off taxes, although not sure how that works for a mobile.



Cons...
Higher concentration of sex offenders/criminal element living in trailer parks.

Death from the elements, tornado or hurricane.

Studies have shown that manufactured homes have a very high concentration of poisonous gases in the "home". It is due to the materials that are used.
(All homes have this. Some are better that others. Trailers are worse due to amount of PVC's emissions.)

No gain on your investment. A manufactured homes is a "loss" and not a gain. It decreases in value. Lose money on your house. In other words, it is a guarenteed loss.

My guess would be you might be paying a higher interest rate from bank with a 30yr. I would only go 15yr.

You will be upside down on your loan, you will always owe more than your home is worth.

Insurance will be a killer, if you can hang onto it, I imagine.

 

[tar heel]

If you can pay $75,000 cash, I can't imagine why you would buy something depreciable like a mobile home. You said you want to be able to move up and pay cash. The easiest way to do that is for your house to be worth a lot more everytime you sell it -- that's not going to be the case with a mobile home. I would get a modest mortgage (50% on a $150,000 home is very modest) and move to the kind of neighborhood you would want to raise your children in. While I'm sure there are nice mobile home neighborhoods, I think you've got a lot more risk there and aprilgail is absolutely right about the hurricanes.

For the record, my parent's first home was a mobile home, but they were not in the financial position you apparently are. We were out in the country, however, and had a 1/2 acre lot with a real yard with nice grass and flowers. We lived there for about four years.

 

[DwarfMaster]

I'll admit ~ I live in a mobile home community.
Ours is very nice, well maintained, secure, w/ large lots. I own the home but rent the land. I actually like the neighborhood.

No, I don't want to spend the rest of my life there ~ but I'm in no position to purchase a house right now. I'm a single mother w/ 2 children living paycheck to paycheck. There just aren't any homes or nice apartments in our area to rent. We bought the trailer new in 2001 ~ it hasn't really gone down in value yet. I'm not sure why someone said the insurance would be horrible ~ probably because of the location. They really are much better made these days ~ with "real" doors, windows & drywall.

Now I probably wouldn't recommend it in a hurricane area.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Probably the most important point is that the home depreciates instead of appreciates. There are many small communities in Florida and Georgia (outside of the metropolitan areas) where 75,000 will buy a nice small house that will not depreciate. That is what I would do.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes, I expect the secret would be to buy used or cheap so you don't have to experience the "new car loss".

 

[SC Minnie]

If you live away from major areas (Atlanta) in GA you would be able to probabaly get a 3br house with a yard for 75K.

If we had 75K cash I would purchase a house and finance the balance if there is any(shouldn't be very much to fincance).

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

The only con that I can think of off-hand, is resale value.

I once listed a mobile home and buyers couldn't get financing, because so many lenders are no longer loaning money on them. This is especially true for single-wides.

I for one, no longer take them as listings for this very reason. Of course, other realtors still will, but it was tough one for me, and it eventually expired and my sellers ended up having to lease it out. (They tried going FSBO too)

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Check out this gallery of homes from a company in Central Florida. You can't even tell they are Manufacturered homes.

They have stucco on the outside and everything. It is located right off I-4 and you can see them from the road. I couldn't believe my eyes.

http://www.palmharborhomes.com/our_homes/gallery_of_homes/index.asp

They even have a still home.

 

[budbeerlady]

We bought a manufactured home and put it on the property that we owned. So we arent in a community, we have 10 acres in the country and I love my home. But I dont think I would buy regardless of a manufactured or stick build home in a hurricane area. I would rent and stock up the cash untill we could move someplace less hurricane prone. We have lived here for 7 years and have no complaints about it. Buying a manufactured home gave us some options we wouldnt have afforded with a stick built home, we have a great stone fireplace and my jacuzzi tub Dh never would have paid for. I have nice anderson tilt in windows and for us it was the best decision.

 

[Disney Doll]

My DSIL lives in a development called Barefoot Bay in Florida. It is between Melbourne and the Sebastian/Vero Beach area. Her home is beautiful, and she purchased it through Homes of Merit.

 

[C.Ann]

It depends on what your definition of a "manufactured" home is.. If it's a mobile home, then there are more cons than pros and definitely a depreciation factor..

If by a "maufactured" home you mean a modular home, they are just as good as many stick built homes (actually some of the requirements are stricter for them than a traditional stick built) and will appreciate in value over the course of time..

 

[Toby'sFriend]

$75k is a really nice down payment. If you bought a smaller, reasonably priced house - you could probably have it paid off very quickly.

I think that is what most "Financial People" would recommend you do.

 

[Chereya]

Thanks everyone for your input. I really didn't know much about buying a house or mobile homes at all. That's why I'm starting early to gather info and edumacate myself. I didn't realize that they depreciate in value. I guess that would be unconstructive for us to buy one then, especially considering that you have to pay rent on the land it's on.

I'm still back to my problem of looking for the right areas in our price range for a traditional house then. Anybody have suggestions for towns or neighborhoods I can look into? Someone on another thread posted about an area about an hour NW of Philadelphia with some homes in the 40-70k range. Anyone have the names of places I can research in this price range in FL or GA?

Thanks again for the great help!

Chereya

Check out this gallery of homes from a company in Central Florida. You can't even tell they are Manufacturered homes.

They have stucco on the outside and everything. It is located right off I-4 and you can see them from the road. I couldn't believe my eyes.

http://www.palmharborhomes.com/our_homes/gallery_of_homes/index.asp

They even have a still home.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

you will probably want to start at

http://www.realtor.com

 

[Chereya]

It depends on what your definition of a "manufactured" home is.. If it's a mobile home, then there are more cons than pros and definitely a depreciation factor..

If by a "maufactured" home you mean a modular home, they are just as good as many stick built homes (actually some of the requirements are stricter for them than a traditional stick built) and will appreciate in value over the course of time..

I guess this is where a lot of my confusion comes from. Do some people/sales agents use the term interchangeably? How can I tell the difference between a manufactured home of good quality that is equal or better than a traditional built home vs one that is merely a mobile home by a different name?

Chereya

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I guess this is where a lot of my confusion comes from. Do some people/sales agents use the term interchangeably? How can I tell the difference between a manufactured home of good quality that is equal or better than a traditional built home vs one that is merely a mobile home by a different name?

Chereya

In our MLS, we have "Manufactured Homes" and that's where we place all mobile homes (anything that has wheels, regardless if they've been removed or not) and "Single Family" where the others go, including modulars.

 

[Brianne]

Check out this gallery of homes from a company in Central Florida. You can't even tell they are Manufacturered homes.

They have stucco on the outside and everything. It is located right off I-4 and you can see them from the road. I couldn't believe my eyes.

http://www.palmharborhomes.com/our_homes/gallery_of_homes/index.asp

They even have a still home.

Those homes are amazing, aren't they? I've been tempted to stop & look just for the fun of it. You wouldn't think they were manufacturered homes at all!

I'd be too worried about living in one in Florida though, even with the updated codes, etc. I was pretty thankful to have block construction after the past couple hurricanes that blew in & around here.