If someone bought a 1995 double wide 3 bedroom 2 bath mobile home for $45,000 back in 1995 what would be the going price for that same home today if it were still in excellent condition?
How do mobile home resale prices compare to those of traditional constructed homes? Mobile home companies are constantly improving their designs and construction techniques and the mobile homes of today are in many ways just as good or better than regular homes. Does this make a difference in the resale market?
In my experience, a Mobile or modular home actually depreciates far, far faster than a stick built home. I’ve seen them fall 30% in a single year which is comperable to automobiles! Of course, if you own the property that it is on it is entirely possible the whole thing appreciated, possibly substantially. That varies greatly and will depend entirely on your local market.
So if the home is placed on a land lot with improvements (septic, water, driveway, etc…) and with additional features such as a carport and a storage shed, those features are enough to cause the house to increase in value rather than decrease?
A definite maybe. Basically, if you own the lot/land you’re on, you will just be looking at the real estate market in general. Has the market nicely increased since 95? If so, you should be ahead of the game. Has it only increased slightly, stayed the same actually fallen since then? If so, you’re almost certainly going to be behind the game.
If your renting the land, you’ll be lucky to get what you paid for the unit.
I grew up in a decidedly non-mobile, mobile home that sat on land that my family owned. When my parents wanted to sell it, they were told that the units themselves depreciate rapidly, but once they are deregistered (legally tied to a specific piece of land and rendered non-mobile), they (and the land) can be sold as real estate and are subject to typical market fluctuations. Since our manufactured home had a series of additions, as well as a large trussed roof holding it rather firmly in place at the end of our paved driveway, on a quarter acre of land, it only made sense to sell it as real estate, not an object.
A big part of the resale price of a manufactured home is where it sits. Many of the “nicer” parks will only accept new units, not the relocation of an existing unit from another park. That means someone who buys your mobile home will probably end up having to buy your pad lease, as well, unless they have land to put it on. If you’ve got less than stellar lease terms you’ll get less money for the unit. As well, moving one of those suckers is an expensive undertaking, so that limits how much someone will pay for the unit, because they will then have to pay to move it, as well.
Compare to prices of similar selling mobile homes to get a price for yours. Often location & market determine price.
homepricecheck.com is useful if it has an address.