Author Topic: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?  (Read 5864 times)

swampwiz

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I was reading this, and it got me thinking about this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-11-21/mobile-homes-are-so-expensive-now-hurricane-victims-can-t-afford-them

New trailer homes seem to be very high-priced these days ($140K for a double-wide?  OH MY!), but as they make horrible investments, that must mean that old ones are cheap.

Zikoris

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2018, 03:48:14 PM »
I have no issue with the concept, and my family lived in one briefly when I was a teenager. They don't make them small enough for my preferences, however - I'm not terribly interested in living in anything larger than 400-500 square feet.

Cassie

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2018, 04:01:52 PM »
If you don't own the land then lot rent can be expensive and go up every year. If you ever want to sell the owner of the park has to agree to accept the seller and you can't rent it out. So lots of rules unless you buy your own land.

elaine amj

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Conceptually I like the idea. Like you said, old ones have got to be pretty cheap! IRL though I'd be worried about neighbors and the general community and whether I'd fit in. I've heard that in many places, neighbors can be very fussy - which doesn't suit me so well.

I did look into a local RV resort that had beautiful mobile homes (way nicer than my house!) The price was great and the resort grounds beautiful.  I was super tempted to buy a 2 bedroom unit that could easily be rented out as a cottage.



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patchyfacialhair

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2018, 04:08:10 PM »
Absolutely not. I'd rather find a cheap condo somewhere before living in a trailer. Most trailers are pretty horrible in terms of insulation and general reliability (which is why they depreciate), plus paying lot rent on top of that? It's why the poor stays poor.

At least in a small condo, even with zero appreciation, I'm not throwing tens of thousands of dollars away, and can probably sell (even at a loss) much easier than a trailer.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2018, 04:45:04 PM »
I think the answer is "it depends".


I've owned a trailer that was actually constructed quite well.  It had a good floor plan and was easy to heat & cool.  A nice piece of land with a cheap trailer has as good of a chance to appreciate as a condo or a townhome has no land to enjoy. 








use2betrix

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2018, 05:41:15 PM »
My wife and I have lived in a 5th wheel trailer for the majority of the last 5 years. That being said, I do not think I could ever justify owning a mobile home/trailer home if I was to live somewhere permanently.

Gone Fishing

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2018, 05:58:04 PM »
In, 2008, I tried to buy the double wide next door to our current house with the intention of moving in for an unspecified length of time. We were renting out our current house, and I had a new job within commuting distance.  It would have preventing me from kicking out my tenant until they were ready, given me a decent rental, and another 3 acres.  The timing didn't work out, and it ended up selling for $48k.   I ended up with great neighbors, so all is well.  The house does seem to be poor quality has required some repairs not generally needed with a quality built home.

mm1970

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2018, 06:40:55 PM »
Absolutely not. I'd rather find a cheap condo somewhere before living in a trailer. Most trailers are pretty horrible in terms of insulation and general reliability (which is why they depreciate), plus paying lot rent on top of that? It's why the poor stays poor.

At least in a small condo, even with zero appreciation, I'm not throwing tens of thousands of dollars away, and can probably sell (even at a loss) much easier than a trailer.
This depends greatly on where you live.

Where I currently live, coastal So Cal, most of the mobile home parks in my town are owned by someone and you pay rent.  There are, however, two that are owned by the people who own the homes, like a condo association.  These are, as expected, more expensive.  Insulation is not much of an issue.

Where I grew up, in rural PA, it is pretty common to live in a manufactured home, and several of my relatives do.  One of them actually worked for the company that made them until he was 50. 

You buy land, build a basement, put the double wide on top.  My sister has been living in hers for ... 25 years I think?  Almost 30?  They've replaced the interior walls with dry wall, and made other upgrades, but otherwise it's the same.  Kitchen hasn't changed.  No issues with insulation or anything like that.  In my home town it's MUCH cheaper to put a mobile home on land than to build, or find an available, stick built home.

Rural

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2018, 07:52:12 PM »
We did for five years while building our home ourselves. Let me just say I'm glad that season of life is now complete. We do live somewhere where insulation matters, and everything else is shoddy in an older trailer as well. Rotting floors and leaking roofs are no fun for anyone. Have I told the tale of the time the bathtub "settled" out from under my husband? Good times. But we were indeed badass - it came "free" with the land when we bought (probably actually reduced the land value slightly).

Civex

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2018, 08:16:54 PM »
As someone who grew up in a trailer home...

I don't think living in something that is inefficient and basically disposable (as far as a house goes) is badass. They don't appreciate because they aren't expected to last. Buying a small home and maintaining it or updating it is far more badass, IMO.

bogart

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2018, 09:25:56 PM »
I lived in an aged one for free (sat on a friend's land out in the country, with hookups) for 3 years while I was in graduate school.  Positives -- totally my own space (inside and out) for all practical purposes (I didn't own it, but no one cared what I did with the area within the range of changes I was interested in making), cheap.  Negatives:  well, as noted it was aged.  Funky.  Probably moldy in spots.  Expensive to heat (impossible to cool).  Nowhere near public transport.   My cat managed the mice, though, so there was that.

Would I do it now?  No, I don't think so.  Between fire and storm/tornado concerns (rare where I live -- the latter at least -- but not unheard of) and the hassles involved that others have noted, not really my thing. 

Syonyk

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2018, 10:12:40 PM »
As an owner of a modern manufactured... I have a few thoughts.

So... can we differentiate between pre-1980s trailer homes and post-1980s?  There's a huge difference as the HUD standards changed, and the stuff most people think of as a "trailer" is absolutely ancient.  Newer manufactured homes are just as well built, if not slightly better built, than a sitebuilt home, and a lot of the cost benefits are because the construction process is more efficient.  They build the roof at waist height on a jig, then lift it up, paint it, and set it down on top of the house with walls.  Cabinets?  Build them as one unit, because the crane can put them in before the roof goes on.  The house is built, in pieces, in a factory, then assembled on site (if it's larger than a single wide).

A 1970s single wide is probably a piece of trash to dispose of, yes.  But for a lot of the newer stuff, the only way you can tell that it's a manufactured is that the layout has a strong split down the marriage line, and usually you'll notice that all the water is on one half of the house (easier than having lines cross over).  Though some triple wides are just properly nice homes, and I doubt one person in 50 going through them would realize they were manufactured.

New trailer homes seem to be very high-priced these days ($140K for a double-wide?  OH MY!), but as they make horrible investments, that must mean that old ones are cheap.

Shop a different company.  Just because one company makes high end homes doesn't mean they all do.  When we were shopping homes, we found 1200 sq ft double wides for $50k (with panelboard - that was built to a price and it showed), bought a 2000 sq ft double wide for about $140k with most of the upgrades (really, metal roof, quartz counters, and upgraded carpet were most of the upgrades - I had them do a ton of other stuff that was cheap during construction, but that was $200 and $300 type upgrades for the whole house), and could have spent a lot more on fancy triple wides.

At least in Idaho, $100k buys you a nice double wide.

Plus foundation, well, septic, etc.  Our foundation was something like $15k, septic was another $10k.  It's odd to think of those things separately from the house, but they are.

I have no issue with the concept, and my family lived in one briefly when I was a teenager. They don't make them small enough for my preferences, however - I'm not terribly interested in living in anything larger than 400-500 square feet.

You can find ~500 sq ft single wides.

Kit West out of Caldwell, Idaho has a nice ~540 sq ft unit: http://www.kitwest.com/plan/422/cottage/1001  Put the porch on front, and it's a properly nice little small home.  I've not seen much below 400, but at that point, you're talking about a travel trailer moreso than an actual house.  I expect if you looked around, you could find some 400-450 sq ft ones.  The cottage I linked is around $30k, depending on options, so it's not particularly expensive either.

Absolutely not. I'd rather find a cheap condo somewhere before living in a trailer. Most trailers are pretty horrible in terms of insulation and general reliability (which is why they depreciate), plus paying lot rent on top of that? It's why the poor stays poor.

You're thinking of pre-1980s units in trailer parks.  My "trailer" is 2x6 exterior walls, well insulated, Energy Star rated (for a pure electric house), and even with some unseasonably cold winters, isn't that expensive to heat.  I'm pure electric with a heat pump and a 200' water level in the well (a non-trivial chunk of our energy cost is the well pump), and the worst power bill I've had is $200.  I run about $2k/yr in power, though to be fair, our power is pretty cheap.

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At least in a small condo, even with zero appreciation, I'm not throwing tens of thousands of dollars away, and can probably sell (even at a loss) much easier than a trailer.

If your concern is depreciation, buy a used one.  I've known people who did this and were able to save enough in a few years to basically buy a site-built house, cash.  Not a popular thing on this forum, certainly, but if you buy a used one, and are handy enough to fix up the issues it has, you can save a boatload of money.  I think they paid $15k plus $200-$300/mo for land rent, which IIRC included some utilities.  Not a bad deal.

On the other hand, you can also put a perfectly nice manufactured on a lot, and have a house.  Ours is still registered as a trailer, simply because we don't plan to go anywhere (family property), and it saves us a bit on taxes.  I could have done the paperwork to turn it into "real property" that made it legally the same as a sitebuilt.  The only difference is that I pay two property tax bills.

Our house is drywall on the inside as well.  Certainly not a falling over wreck.  Most people who visit us don't realize it's a manufactured, simply because, to most people, "Manufactured home" means a 1970s trailer, half falling apart.  They don't realize that they reason they can't think of any modern ones is because the standards changed and they're built as well as a site built house.

Speaking of that, go look at the build quality of a $700k+ site-built in a boom area (say, Seattle).  They're slapped together as fast as possible, by people who don't give two shits about build quality.  And it shows.  I did a factory tour before buying ours, and I came away properly impressed.  They don't hide anything on the tours - we literally saw everything from a bare trailer rolling in to the sections rolling out the far end, and I've done enough construction over the years to know what's decent and what's not.  You can get a very well built manufactured.  Not all of them are, and I doubt the 50k house would have held up past 15-20 years without a lot of work, but... that's still damned cheap per year, even if you do have to replace it.  I expect ours to last the rest of our lives, so hopefully 60 years or so.  Nothing I've seen says it won't make it.

Where I currently live, coastal So Cal, most of the mobile home parks in my town are owned by someone and you pay rent.  There are, however, two that are owned by the people who own the homes, like a condo association.  These are, as expected, more expensive.  Insulation is not much of an issue.

Yeah, "Brutally cold" winters of 68, "very nice" springs and falls at 70, and "unbearably hot" summers at 72 will work fine with something like that. ;)

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Where I grew up, in rural PA, it is pretty common to live in a manufactured home, and several of my relatives do.  One of them actually worked for the company that made them until he was 50. 

You buy land, build a basement, put the double wide on top.  My sister has been living in hers for ... 25 years I think?  Almost 30?  They've replaced the interior walls with dry wall, and made other upgrades, but otherwise it's the same.  Kitchen hasn't changed.  No issues with insulation or anything like that.  In my home town it's MUCH cheaper to put a mobile home on land than to build, or find an available, stick built home.

Also, much quicker.  Quite a few of my wife's relatives out here in Idaho live in the same thing - a double wide of some variety or another, on a concrete foundation.  I'd go so far as to say that's the "standard house" out here.  It's quick to build, quick to install, and lasts a long while.

We signed the paperwork for our house in November, and it was ready for us to move in sometime around May.  There were 1-2 months of delay there, though, because the foundation guy was booked and didn't like to pour foundations in the winter (I can't say I blame him).  So, realistically, 3-4 months from "sign paperwork" to "move in" is possible with a manufactured.  Try getting a site-built done in that time.

As someone who grew up in a trailer home...

I don't think living in something that is inefficient and basically disposable (as far as a house goes) is badass. They don't appreciate because they aren't expected to last. Buying a small home and maintaining it or updating it is far more badass, IMO.

What year was your home?  If it was pre-mid-80s, it's a totally different thing from current generation homes.  Also, my home has been appreciating.  I was sort of hoping it wouldn't, but the property assessment keeps coming back higher every year...

You can buy a slapped together trailer that won't last 20 years, or you can spend a bit more and get one from a company that builds quality units that will last.  I've seen the bones of the trailers going through the factory I bought from, and if anything, they're better built than a site-built, because they're build under a roof, and designed to survive transport.  My drywall is not only screwed in, it's glued in.  My cabinets were built in one piece instead of many.  My floor is glued down, so shouldn't ever squeak.

============

So, I guess, to the topic question, my answer is, "Absolutely."  We love it.

sparkytheop

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2018, 11:23:37 PM »
If incredibly cheap, I would live in one for a few years.  But, that's the only way I can see making it "badass". 

I have about 9 acres of land where I plan to build (I'm actively saving money).  I've had many people tell me I should just put a manufactured home on it (at least for now) so I can move in.  No.  I'm not going to pay to put something up just to deal with having to take it down to put in what I really want (I already own a home in town).  I'm also not going to pay almost as much for one as I plan to pay for my stick built house (plan is small and square, so easy to build).  And, I plan to live there for 50 years if all goes well.  It's much more cost effective for me to build what I want once, not play little games with something that isn't going to work out as the "forever" home.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2018, 01:26:30 AM »
As an owner of a modern manufactured... I have a few thoughts.

<...>

So, I guess, to the topic question, my answer is, "Absolutely."  We love it.

They way you are describing it, sounds pretty attractive. I could imagine living in such a home. I would make moving to a different place a whole different business than normal moving. You would have to move the whole home, instead of everything in it. You would always know your home and it's history.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2018, 05:15:03 AM »
I live in tornado Ally. 
No.

Even in absence of actual tornadoes, these homes do not fair well in severe weather.  I am happy for my basement.
The two trailer parks near my home take a lot of damage every spring and fall.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 07:35:22 AM by I'm a red panda »

Imma

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2018, 07:03:06 AM »
As an owner of a modern manufactured... I have a few thoughts.

<...>

So, I guess, to the topic question, my answer is, "Absolutely."  We love it.

They way you are describing it, sounds pretty attractive. I could imagine living in such a home. I would make moving to a different place a whole different business than normal moving. You would have to move the whole home, instead of everything in it. You would always know your home and it's history.

Yes, it sounds very attractive to me. I knew a girl who lived in a trailer on a park for years. The park itself had a bad reputation, but she lived in a good quality trailer that looked just like a small cottage, on a large plot surrounded by trees in a corner of the park. No problems with neighbours ever. She had to leave after a few years when the local council banned permanent living on that park. It really depends on the type of trailer we're talking about and the location you put it.

I think it can also be a good solution for an elderly relative or adult child living on the same plot of land. Where I live, local councils don't usually allow people to put up a second permanent structure on the same plot, but a trailer is not a permanent structure. That way you could live together and still have separate living spaces.

Schmidty

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #17 on: August 17, 2018, 07:06:24 AM »
In the process of doing this.  We have land and there isn't a home on it.  We have no skill for building our own, and the cost for having one built for us is too much for us at this time.  For now, we are putting a mobile home on our land.

When looking for one to put out there, and within free delivery available at new home lots (cause I'm a cheapskate), most mobile homes were way too big for us.  We found one locally for free if we just move it the six miles to our land.  This mobile home is perfect size for us, 840 sqft.  The floor is sound and there is zero evidence of leaks.  The layout is perfect for our needs.  It will require some cosmetic work like floor covering and paint, but it is DIY that we can handle.  We are recent empty nesters, so it's just 2 of us in a 2 bdrm 1 bath.  Big enough but not too big.  No sense heating/cooling and furnishing unneeded space.  But, there will be a spare room should one of the kids come to visit.

I read something once, and I can not remember the book I read it in to link, but from their research, pre 1985's mobile homes were built with sturdier material over the newer homes.  The frame wood used was bigger or something to that effect.  And used less plastics for fixtures.  Gosh I wish I could remember where I read that, so I don't sound like an idiot just now.  Sorry for that.  If it comes to me I will post a link.  In their findings an older mobile home to re-home was more desirable than the newer ones.  The home we found has apparently held up very well.  I just wish they had installed dual paned windows, but that is something we can remedy ourselves.

It is older, so depreciation hit is gone.  There's no off-gassing from new construction materials.  And, something else is avoiding the landfill.  Just my opinion, but a free place to live is pretty badass.

Fishindude

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #18 on: August 17, 2018, 07:32:27 AM »
I don't live in one, but have no problem with them.
Hey man, it's cheap housing.

I've stayed in several at hunting camps, etc. and you can do anything in a trailer you can do in a house.

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Cranky

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #20 on: August 17, 2018, 07:51:21 AM »
We lived in some pretty awful apartments in grad school. A trailer would have been an upgrade, by far.

Trailer parks seem to vary - some are nice and some aren't. You are awfully close to your neighbors, so that would be a big factor.

I don't see this as being particularly "badass", though.

trollwithamustache

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #21 on: August 17, 2018, 08:27:02 AM »
A modern double wide also offers certain advantages in earthquake country. The whole house sits on a steel frame, that was suitable for shipment, and actually makes the box a bit stronger in some ways to a site built house. It can slide around as a unit and then later get put back on its foundation. the foundation below can be cracked or damages, and because of the strong frame, its not a specialty job to jack up the mobile home for foundation repairs.

Yes, there may be cosmetic damage in the house if the above scenarios happen.


Also, in my limited survey of the market, all the trailer homes come pretty well insulated compared to a lot of site build houses.

Syonyk

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #22 on: August 17, 2018, 09:31:31 AM »
Quite a few people seem to be unable to differentiate "manufactured housing" ("trailer house") from "trailer parks" - filled with old units.

I'll see if I can get a couple photos uploaded later today to make my point.

But there is a huge difference between a single wide on stands with a skirt around it, and the same unit (or a larger unit) on a proper foundation.  In large regions of the country, "double wide on concrete" is pretty much the "standard house."  I see tons of them around here, and it's a fun "Is that manufactured or stickbuilt?" game to play driving around.  There are a few I still haven't decided on - I think one is a large triplewide, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I have about 9 acres of land where I plan to build (I'm actively saving money).  I've had many people tell me I should just put a manufactured home on it (at least for now) so I can move in.  No.  I'm not going to pay to put something up just to deal with having to take it down to put in what I really want (I already own a home in town).  I'm also not going to pay almost as much for one as I plan to pay for my stick built house (plan is small and square, so easy to build).  And, I plan to live there for 50 years if all goes well.  It's much more cost effective for me to build what I want once, not play little games with something that isn't going to work out as the "forever" home.

I wouldn't put a new one in for your purposes, but getting a $10k used one to live in while you save the money on where you're living now and get the house built is quite reasonable.  If it's in tolerable shape, getting someone to show up and haul it off isn't a big deal.  Just buy a mostly depreciated one.  Single wides are super common for "Live in this while we're getting the full house built," especially for people who are either doing a lot of the work themselves or want to be onsite to make sure the contractors do things properly.

Though if you're looking at a "small and square" house, I'm willing to bet there are some doublewide floor plans that work well for what you want to do.  Floorplans aren't fixed in stone, either.  You can move stuff around, and there's quite a bit of flexibility with how stuff is arranged.  We pretty much redid our whole master bath concept because we didn't want a soaking tub and phone booth shower, we wanted a nice large tile shower.  Which moved a bunch of other stuff around, and we have a comically large toilet room now, but we've got shelves up in there and keep things like camping supplies and our Christmas tree in there behind a curtain.

I would make moving to a different place a whole different business than normal moving. You would have to move the whole home, instead of everything in it. You would always know your home and it's history.

I mean, you could, but I don't think too many people actually do that.  Moving your whole house is more of a "tiny home" thing (though I question how often those people do it).  It's not a "hook it up to your pickup and tow it around" event - you're typically over-width and over-length for normal road transit (a standard width is just under 15' for a unit), and for a larger one, you need a semi.  I'm not exactly sure how much our segments weigh - never asked.  Plus specialized equipment to get it on/off the foundations, if that's how you've built.

For anything larger, you'd have to do quite a bit of work to split the halves.

People can and do remove manufactured homes from sites, and you can buy used doublewides, but it's not a particularly common thing I've run across.

I read something once, and I can not remember the book I read it in to link, but from their research, pre 1985's mobile homes were built with sturdier material over the newer homes.  The frame wood used was bigger or something to that effect.  And used less plastics for fixtures.  Gosh I wish I could remember where I read that, so I don't sound like an idiot just now.  Sorry for that.  If it comes to me I will post a link.  In their findings an older mobile home to re-home was more desirable than the newer ones.  The home we found has apparently held up very well.  I just wish they had installed dual paned windows, but that is something we can remedy ourselves.

That sounds almost entirely backwards.  The HUD standards before the mid-80s sort of let you do anything, and when they changed, it stopped allowing the thrown together stuff that people (including in this thread) associate with "mobile homes."

Look around, but most of the older stuff will be 2x4 construction, whereas most newer stuff is at least 2x6.  And plenty of other changes as well.  You want a newer one, ideally, though if you've found one locally, certainly go with that.

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It is older, so depreciation hit is gone.  There's no off-gassing from new construction materials.  And, something else is avoiding the landfill.  Just my opinion, but a free place to live is pretty badass.

Yup.  The off-gassing is interesting.  I cooked our place before we moved in to drive off a lot.

A modern double wide also offers certain advantages in earthquake country. The whole house sits on a steel frame, that was suitable for shipment, and actually makes the box a bit stronger in some ways to a site built house. It can slide around as a unit and then later get put back on its foundation. the foundation below can be cracked or damages, and because of the strong frame, its not a specialty job to jack up the mobile home for foundation repairs.

Plenty of site-built homes aren't well secured to the foundation and just slip off in an earthquake.  And, yes, we could literally just jack up the house if we had to do foundation work.

With a concrete foundation, the house is typically sitting on jacks on pads, and then is strapped down as well - I've got an awful lot of large steel straps securing the whole house to the concrete beneath.

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Also, in my limited survey of the market, all the trailer homes come pretty well insulated compared to a lot of site build houses.

The new standards require it, and IMO having an insulation crew working in a factory structure, doing more or less the same thing with similar designs, leads to better consistency in installation than stuff done onsite.  I poked around installed insulation before the walls were up when I did the factory tour, and I've got no complaints at all.  The winter performance exceeded my expectations in terms of energy use to heat.

mm1970

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #23 on: August 17, 2018, 11:38:33 AM »
Hey now, our "hot summers" get into the 90s for a few days here in So Cal.

It's funny though, people are still "anti-trailer" here, even though some of the parks are really quite nice (whether all-age or retirement only), and still $500k if you end up in the park where you own the land.

I lived in a trailer in HS, though not in a trailer park.  This thing was a single-wide.  It was old.  It was a POS, so cold and drafty in the winter (PA, remember).  It's NOTHING like the one my sister lives, built in the early 90s, and nothing like the one my other sister just got a few years ago.

Even here in sunny So Cal, a coworker "built a new house", which was essentially pre-fab - not "manufactured" as much as the walls and big sections were trucked in.  I can't remember where he got it but he showed me when he did.

PDXTabs

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #24 on: August 17, 2018, 11:44:58 AM »
I would, but it would need to be in the middle of nowhere on land that I owned. It actually sounds quite pleasant to me. However, as a practical matter for my employment, I can't live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere until I have some way to get a good internet connection.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #25 on: August 17, 2018, 11:54:53 AM »
Quite a few people seem to be unable to differentiate "manufactured housing" ("trailer house") from "trailer parks" - filled with old units.


Well, the original post said "the old units come cheap".
So why would anyone in this thread make the assumption that we are talking about new units?  That's something YOU added. 

A new manufactured home easily costs more than many stick built homes, with basements, in my area.

mm1970

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #26 on: August 17, 2018, 01:32:01 PM »
Quite a few people seem to be unable to differentiate "manufactured housing" ("trailer house") from "trailer parks" - filled with old units.


Well, the original post said "the old units come cheap".
So why would anyone in this thread make the assumption that we are talking about new units?  That's something YOU added. 

A new manufactured home easily costs more than many stick built homes, with basements, in my area.
Define old?

Probably most people would consider my sister's 25-30 year old manufactured home "old", but it's still quite acceptable.

chemistk

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #27 on: August 20, 2018, 06:08:25 AM »
If my wife and I ever decided we wanted to be rural, there would be no hesitation to buy a few acres and put up an nice custom manufactured home. As mentioned above, if you don't care about having your house looking like an estate, it's the best thing to do in rural areas.

I suppose the stigma is absent for me because my grandmother lived in a late 80s/early 90s single wide in a mobile home 'resort' by some high trafficked railroad tracks. Green carpets, panel walls, and a funky smell - I still have rosy memories of late nights watching cartoons there. My aunt also lived in one for a while, a much nicer early 00's unit. If it weren't in a mobile home park, you would have never known it was a trailer.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #28 on: August 20, 2018, 06:43:49 AM »

I would make moving to a different place a whole different business than normal moving. You would have to move the whole home, instead of everything in it. You would always know your home and it's history.

I mean, you could, but I don't think too many people actually do that.  Moving your whole house is more of a "tiny home" thing (though I question how often those people do it).  It's not a "hook it up to your pickup and tow it around" event - you're typically over-width and over-length for normal road transit (a standard width is just under 15' for a unit), and for a larger one, you need a semi.  I'm not exactly sure how much our segments weigh - never asked.  Plus specialized equipment to get it on/off the foundations, if that's how you've built.

For anything larger, you'd have to do quite a bit of work to split the halves.

People can and do remove manufactured homes from sites, and you can buy used doublewides, but it's not a particularly common thing I've run across.

I am totally unfamiliar with double widths and triple widths. I have seen single width trailer houses and thought they could be transported on a truck, using a crane to put them in place. But maybe the concept of them is mainly to stand somewhere permanently instead of being moved around.

BFGirl

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #29 on: August 20, 2018, 07:06:23 AM »
Lived in one as a teenager.  Between the dust that gets in, the mice and the severe weather we get, I'd only do it if there was no other option.

Syonyk

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #30 on: August 20, 2018, 11:07:43 AM »
I am totally unfamiliar with double widths and triple widths. I have seen single width trailer houses and thought they could be transported on a truck, using a crane to put them in place. But maybe the concept of them is mainly to stand somewhere permanently instead of being moved around.

If it's a single wide, you literally just put wheels on it and tow it.  They still have the axles under them.

A double wide or triple wide still has the axles, but it has to be pulled apart, which is harder.  Doable, but not quite as easy.  And you don't need a crane - you just roll them sideways over the foundation into place, or line them up and jack them over if they're on stands.

swampwiz

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #31 on: August 20, 2018, 05:56:54 PM »
It appears that by "trailer home", some folks are thinking about factory-built homes that are basically not much different than stick-built homes.

What I mean by "trailer home" is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeMp0uF1kA

Retire-Canada

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #32 on: August 20, 2018, 06:20:29 PM »
I was reading this, and it got me thinking about this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-11-21/mobile-homes-are-so-expensive-now-hurricane-victims-can-t-afford-them

New trailer homes seem to be very high-priced these days ($140K for a double-wide?  OH MY!), but as they make horrible investments, that must mean that old ones are cheap.

I'd rather live in an RV trailer than a trailer home. I feel like I'd have a lot more options including selling and buying a new one more easily and moving locations easily.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #33 on: August 21, 2018, 06:31:09 AM »
It appears that by "trailer home", some folks are thinking about factory-built homes that are basically not much different than stick-built homes.

What I mean by "trailer home" is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeMp0uF1kA


No.  I could never live like that.


Mobile homes don't have to be run down and falling apart.  They don't have to be in crappy trailer parks.


You could have asked the same question about "living in an apartment", and then shown us one in the slums.   








swampwiz

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #34 on: August 21, 2018, 08:36:59 AM »
I don't mean the ones that are falling apart either, but I mean the ones that are single-wide - and maybe a little frayed along the sides.

Imma

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #35 on: August 21, 2018, 08:54:22 AM »
I don't mean the ones that are falling apart either, but I mean the ones that are single-wide - and maybe a little frayed along the sides.

According to wikipedia, single wide trailer can legally be up to 18 ft x 90 ft = 1620 sqare ft  = 148 m2? In that case, yes, absolutely, I could live in a trailer that size. That's twice the size of my house. And my house is a little frayed along the sides as well.

As long as the location is good and it's not falling apart or costing a fortune to heat, why not? It's just the non-hipster version of a tiny house really.

By the River

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #36 on: August 21, 2018, 09:24:51 AM »
They way you are describing it, sounds pretty attractive. I could imagine living in such a home. I would make moving to a different place a whole different business than normal moving. You would have to move the whole home, instead of everything in it. You would always know your home and it's history.

I worked with a mobile home mover while going to school.  It does require a toter (semi-truck) and permits to use the roads as well as escort vehicles with flashing lights.  I would guess that half of them are ever moved.  Many are as people mentioned here, the owners would move a used trailer to their land, build a house and then sell the trailer when finished.  I'm sure others were moved once and rotted in place.   

Syonyk

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #37 on: August 21, 2018, 10:27:03 AM »
I don't mean the ones that are falling apart either, but I mean the ones that are single-wide - and maybe a little frayed along the sides.

If it's structurally solid and decently insulated, why not?  They're quite affordable, and not all of them, as noted, are in trailer parks.

They're a large percentage of the housing stock in many states: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hou_per_of_hou_uni_tha_are_mob_hom-housing-percent-units-mobile-homes

Though, as I've pointed out before, quite a few things that most people would call a "house" are, in fact, "mobile homes" legally.

Erica

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #38 on: August 21, 2018, 01:28:40 PM »
We are open to this idea right now

Considering buying a nice forest service cabin residing 6 months a year.
This is where we'd entertain company and have family stay with us.

We are waiting for one to come up for sale within 10 miles of our current home

The also own  a trailer/manufactured home/ fixer upper home the remaining 6 months.
My husband is very handy being a contractor so he can fix up a crummy trailer house.
Maybe even making it appear as a real house so no one would know.
We'd need some land and a year round spring or well.
We love to garden

« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 01:31:46 PM by Erica »

Acastus

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Re: Would you consider being "badass" enough to live in a trailer home?
« Reply #39 on: August 21, 2018, 03:35:55 PM »
If you mean an Airstream tooling around the country, then that is an experience I would like to try for a season. I like my creature comforts, so I want more space and more luxurious furnishings for a permanent locale. And I want a permanent, fixed home base to adventure from.