Author Topic: Move into a manufactured home?  (Read 2988 times)

amyable

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 295
Move into a manufactured home?
« on: July 09, 2017, 05:32:52 AM »
My dream has always been to live on a small homestead--I grew up on a ranch and know what I'm getting into.  Recently, a piece of property at a great deal popped up.  The price per acre was much lower than most land goes for in our area because it hasn't been mowed or really taken care of in any way for the past several years.  We bought it, and now comes my question:

It's a 25 acre lot and the people who lived their owned the lot with two homes on it, a trailer, which they originally used as a rental, and a large new construction home.  A couple of years back, they foreclosed on their new home, sold it and the acre it was on, and had to move into the trailer.  They completely remodeled the older (early 90s) trailer--it's insanely nice--I can't imagine putting that kind of money into a trailer, but I think they were desperate to try to ease the transition for their kids.

I own my current home with no mortgage--it's worth $120K.  We got the land for $130K with the trailer, and I owe $100K on it.  We will likely build a modest home on the land in 2-3 years.  These are my options:

1.)  Sell current house and move into trailer--I have a 9 month old, and I worry about safety in the trailer as we do have occasional severe storms, but I have family nearby I could seek shelter with in the event of a hurricane.  The pro would be I get to start living my dream earlier, the con is I have to live in a manufactured home, which I'm not sure about.

2.)  Rent the trailer for approx. $850 a month, stay in current house, pay off land and then build. 

We will also keep the trailer and rent it out after we build a house for extra income.  I save approx. 50% of my income, but we only make $74K as a household.  I'm a school counselor and adore my job--no plans to retire early--I just come here because y'all tend to have really good advice.  I'm just a little stuck and need help viewing this situation from different perspectives.

SquirrelStache

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 87
  • Age: 45
  • Location: US of A
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2017, 06:05:47 AM »
I lived in a manufactured home for about 10 years, and honestly, it's no different to living in a "real" home, so I wouldn't let that factor into your decision. As for the safety, I live in Oklahoma and although we never had a tornado come near us, we always had our exit plan should one come by. At the end of the day, you're in danger staying in any type of house during severe weather, so just make sure you have your plan laid out.

SomedayStache

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 924
  • Live Long and Prosper
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2017, 07:05:54 AM »
I know many people who've lived in crappy trailers while building their forever home.
An extra nice redone trailer sound wonderful.  I always say I wouldn't want to live in a trailer, but the root of that is that they tend to decline in value not because the living experience would be any worse.  As a temporary solution a trailer can work very well.  If the safety issue you are worried about is hurricanes, well those have long warning periods.  I'd say start living the dream!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


gggggg

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 428
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2017, 07:56:40 AM »
There's a truly rich guy local to me. He chooses to live in a mobile home on purpose; he just likes it. He's a minor oil baron, owns a lot of land, built his daughter a massive house, etc.

ender

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7402
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2017, 08:21:53 AM »
Why not both?

Sell your current home, move into the trailer, and begin saving for the option to build (which should be easy since it looks like you'll be able to pay the entire land balance off). Then once you build you can rent the trailer out.

If you're talking about hurricanes it's not like those popup out of nowhere either, so that severe weather risk should be much less than say tornados.

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2017, 08:29:51 AM »
Well, we bought land and lived in a 1971 singlewide which had had no renovations, so there's my answer. It the risk is hurricanes and not tornadoes, just make a shelter plan. Our risk was tornadoes, and we sweated it out a few times, then sheltered in our unfinished house once it was dried in. A hurricane plan is much more manageable and the cost would be a fraction of the savings you'll get out of moving.

amyable

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 295
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2017, 04:10:27 PM »
Well, we bought land and lived in a 1971 singlewide which had had no renovations, so there's my answer. It the risk is hurricanes and not tornadoes, just make a shelter plan. Our risk was tornadoes, and we sweated it out a few times, then sheltered in our unfinished house once it was dried in. A hurricane plan is much more manageable and the cost would be a fraction of the savings you'll get out of moving.

We do have occasional tornadoes here (maybe 1-2 a year), but we're near the Texas / LA border, closer to the coast, so floods, tropical storms and hurricanes probably scare me more for that reason.  The good thing is we have family less than a mile from our place, so in an emergency, we've got shelter.

Syonyk

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4610
    • Syonyk's Project Blog
Re: Move into a manufactured home?
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2017, 09:07:41 PM »
How is the trailer anchored to the ground?  Does it have a foundation, or is it just sitting on the quadpods on the dirt?

We've got a perfectly good double wide manufactured on a concrete foundation, and other than the layout tells, it doesn't scream "Manufactured."  I'd trust it just as much in a storm as any site-built home.

If it's a recent-ish construction (last decade or so), it's probably just as well built as any site-built, and all you really need to focus on is how it's secured down.  If you're going to be in it a while, perhaps see what it would cost to get a foundation poured and roll it on?