Is a trailer a good investment?

[FourPaws]

@Crafter_Man

Careful there. While some modular homes are built well, a lot of them are junk.

My cousin plopped a modular home on 5 acres in rural Ohio. That was 10 years ago. It’s falling apart at the seams.

My home is a 2400 sq ft modular. I do not experience any of the issues you’re mentioning above.

My home’s value has tripled in the 9 years I have lived there, due to housing markets, etc.

While my home is a modular, it’s considered exactly the same in terms of selling, financing, etc as a traditional stick built home.

[Lambo]

@HeyHomie

1. Yes.

2. As far as I know, trailer park tenants (and landlords) have the same legal rights, responsibilities, etc. as they do in apartment rentals. But, IANAL, nor do I reside in Ohio.

3. A trailer allows you to own a “home” at a fraction of the cost of owning a site-built home (subject, of course, to the conditions of the local housing market). I have around 1100 square feet, for which I paid $28,500. An 1100-square-foot home in my city, excluding those in terrible neighborhoods, would set me back $70,000 or more. One downside is that you have to pay lot rent; you can avoid this by buying your own land to put it on.

Tell your friend not to do it. As a trailer owner myself, I can tell you confidently that trailers are terrible homes. They depriciate rapidly, they’re crap in a tornado, and finding land to put them on is a crapshoot. Your choice is to either pay lot rent (and between my mortgage payment and my lot rent payment, I’m putting out as much each month as I would on a mortgage on that $70,000 house I told you about in Point 3) or find some land out in the country that isn’t crap.

When you use the term “mortgage” wrt your trailer, do you mean an actual mortgage, or is it some other type of loan (such as a vehicle loan, which is the first thing to come to mind)? I’m just curious, I don’t have any idea about financing for mobile homes.

[Throatwarbler_Mangrove]

I’ve looked into trailer park living here in Calgary, since I’m cheap and willing to put up with anything to save a buck.

quite frankly, I don’t understand why any city dweller would want to live in one. They are almost uniformly located in undesirable areas, the existing residents don’t have a terribly good reputation (although I have no first hand knowledge of this), and to top it all off, the amount of money they want to charge is ridiculous. I might be interested if they cut their asking price by 50%, but I don’t want to pay the same amount as an apartment to live in a trailer park.

[HeyHomie]

@Lambo

When you use the term “mortgage” wrt your trailer, do you mean an actual mortgage, or is it some other type of loan (such as a vehicle loan, which is the first thing to come to mind)? I’m just curious, I don’t have any idea about financing for mobile homes.

Well, I call it a “mortgage” because, well, it’s what I pay on my home every month, and it’s a 20-year term. Strictly speaking it probably isn’t a “mortgage” (since I don’t qualify for federal mortgage tax deductions), but that’s what I call it.

[ThisSpaceForRent]

Just a nitpick…

The correct term, unless the said dwelling was built prior to 1976, is Manufactured Home…Mobile homes were built before 1976…Trailers are what you tow behind a car or truck. These are HUD rules, note mine. Modular is a whole other ball of wax.

tsfr

[Magiver]

@Christopher

The only reason I can think of to buy a trailer, is to give yourself time to save enough money to put a good down payment on a real home. It is an awful place to just reside indefinitely.

I have seen some nice mobile home parks and I’ve seen people buy a nice secluded plot of land and place one down permanently. It’s an economical way to live.

From a purely financial basis, buying a used mobile home is an excellent investment in preparation for buying a house. I did this while in college and it allowed me to pay off a modest unit at cost below a comparable apartment. I sold it for more than I paid for it and used the money as a down payment for a house. An added benefit over an apartment is you get a little plot of land for gardening and a place to sit outside and barbecue as well as a place to put a shed for bikes and stuff.

[alphaboi867]

@vetbridge

Yep. I know several people who bought trailers to live in while they built their “real” houses. Five years later, the house is completed, they move in, and sell/give away the trailer.

Didn’t Mick Huckabee and his family live in a mobile home while the Governor’s Mansion was being renovated?

[Broomstick]

@alphaboi867

Didn’t Mick Huckabee and his family live in a mobile home while the Governor’s Mansion was being renovated?

Supposedly, a triple wide

[Siam_Sam]

@Rick

4. What disadvantages are their to living in a trailer?
   In the Midwest and South they seem to have an almost magnetic attraction for tornadoes.

Not to mention unemployed redneck ex-cons living with their pregnant cousins.

[Muffin]

But if it were not for mobile homes in Ohio, Jerry Springer would still be interviewing the likes of Jessie Jackson and Oliver North, instead of the charming and gracious guests he now hosts.

I can’t speak for Ohio, but on the other side of the lake in Ontario, most trailer parks are the shits due to some of the people who live there. The exceptions that are nice are trailer parks that cater to summer recreation in cottage country.

Few communities have more than one trailer park, so when a trailer park deteriorates and closes, the occupants have nowhere in the same community to move their trailers.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

Mississippi has some wonderful mobile homes

[Jamicat]

It really depends…

I wouldn’t spend 50k on one…

I spent initial 3k on mine and 5k+ over the years in improvements.

I have single mobile…the other half is Block wall…and I just built an addition with 2x4 n’ plywood.

I’ll never get 10k outta it…but I have to have space.

Originally a 2 Br 1.5 bath…1800 sq.ft.

Now 4 Bedroom 2 bath…2200 sq.ft.

I wouldn’t have even attempted fixing this shit hole…but I lost my job and that killed my credit…so got stuck here, till’ one day i am not.

:rolleyes:

Better off grabbing new one, rather than an old one…around $10 sq.ft. , is a fair price.
That equals round $20k for 2br 1.5 bath n carport, 1500-2200 sq.ft. NEW.

I think my math is OK…:dubious:

[california_jobcase]

Mobile homes cost more to heat than stick-built houses unless you get one of the really good ones. The biggest reasons to maybe live in one instead of an apartment is you won’t be sharing walls with anyone and you might be able to get more square feet for the same price.

Heating and cooling can kill any savings from lower rent or mortgage fast if the mobile home’s not well insulated.

[LSLGuy]

Note this thread is almost 3 years old.