The problem with “mobile homes” is that once they are on a pad, they’re not mobile anymore. If property values in the area where the park is located go up so does the pad rental, and from there it just gets ugly.
ETA: Also, remember that mobile homes are, generally, not as durable as regular houses.
From reading this thread and thinking about it, it seems pretty clear that for areas where the land is cheap and high winds are rare (hurricanes and similar), manufactured homes may be an optiomal solution. Tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, hail, and similar probably destroy stick built just as easily as manufactured, and it’s cheaper to replace a manufactured home when this happens.
If you could get a manufactured home with decent r rating foam insulation and or use 30+ SEER split units for the climate control this would make the energy inefficiency of a thin walled mobile home negligible.
Motor homes; modular / manufactured homes; house and travel trailers - all different. I’ve lived in all. Our 3-wide modular in the Sierra Nevada snow zone has been home for two decades with minimal bother since leaving the Bay Area. We’re a forested 1/4 mile from a mostly-seniors trailer park, close for county transit. Our cedar acreage was a real deal with utilities already in. The coastal stick-built we sold has financed a comfy retirement.
Age may force us closer to community facilities. We would definitely look for another previously-built lot (utilities onsite) for a sturdy 3-wide housing us and our collections. Be aware that bargains ain’t and low-balling is suicidal. Reputations matter. Finding the right source and design took much longer than installation. Make sure everything is solid.
A trailer park nearer the Pacific may tempt us. We shall see.
Beware of zoning laws and other things. I live in an area with a couple communities that were developed as vacation homes and had no mobile park stigma (because these were mostly beach homes for upper middle-class people) but eventually turned into year-round homes for many locals and/or retirees. Turns out they are zoned as “seasonal campground” and now being enforced as such after decades of folks living there year-round. Guess it’s not an issue for people who RV part of the year or have a winter home in Florida.
In 2008 I needed a place to live, the house I was renting was being foreclosed. I bought a double wide mobile home with it’s own piece of land for only $11,000. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, almost 2400 square feet. It was on a poured foundation so wasn’t on blocks. It was built in 1978 so it wasn’t the most energy efficient place to live. I upgraded the water lines that would freeze in cold weather, installed better doors and had a new roof installed. The only thing I didn’t like was there was no garage and the HOA would not let me build a stick built shed to store my tools. I put it up for sale in 2011 for $24,000 and had a bidding war between 2 couples. I accepted $33,000 for the place and they were very happy with their purchase.