I lived in a trailer in a trailer park for 5 years. It was a MAJOR upgrade from any apartment, including the high dollar "luxury" apartment I am in at the moment.
It was cheap living, and had benefits. It also had some negatives.
Top negatives were depreciation, the property it was on, weather related issues, and the stigma related to the type of home. It was an older trailer though, so more blankets in the winter, keep the swamp cooler working in the summer, and live with all the other issues. They really weren't all that bad, to be perfectly honest. And I used to laugh at the people who lived in the trailer park but had the hot tubs, the boat, the ATV's, the nice sports car, the big truck, and an RV. I couldn't believe someone would live in a place for poor people and then spend money on toys that will never retain any value. But as I grew older I realized that a home doesn't need to be the most expensive thing you own, and those people with all those toys are probably happier than someone with a nice house and nothing to do each weekend because they are spending all their money on a house. The only criticism I have for people like that is if they are buying those toys on credit and can't afford the trailer, let alone the toys. The ironic thing is now it is popular to build a small mobile home (aka tiny house) and live on the cheap so you can afford your toy heavy lifestyle.
The trailer I lived in was 14x70 (almost 1000 sq ft) and the loan payment was $189 per month. The lot rent was $120 per month. It was REALLY nice living for 5 years with my monthly housing payment being just over $300 per month. It beat the hell out of a $1000 mortgage, let alone a $2-3k mortgage. I can live with a deflated ego and extra blankets in the winter for that kind of savings, particularly when money was tight.
$150k seems too risky to me, but I don't know the area you are in, so I can't really judge that very well. Just be prepared to take a loss, so if you start with $50k, and lose 10%, it's gonna be easier than starting with $150k and losing that same 10%. I see it as the fastest way to resume your desired lifestyle within your budget. Anything else you are compromising on the space you want (or the flexibility of fixing it up). Just be prepared to lose money when you move on.
When my family first moved here to Montana, my parents were able to scrape together enough to buy a double wide mobile. Lived there for 4 years. When they went to sell, they ran into issues with the trailer park wanting the lot for a new customer (even though our trailer was brand new when we moved in), and had to sue to allow them to sell it in the existing lot. When I sold mine, I had to argue to keep it in the lot because my trailer was old and they wanted someone to move a newer one in. In both cases, if the lot had been removed from the deal, we would have been selling at a MASSIVE loss. Nobody wants to pay well for a trailer without a place to put it.
One more thing: A double wide mobile is NOT similar to an RV or a "tiny house". It is just a premanufactured home that has (or had) axles under it so it could be moved into place. Two very different life styles. A large doublewide can be over 2000 sq ft and in many cases most people would never be able to tell the difference if the home was sitting on a foundation on a regular lot. Apartment < Mobile < House. It is that simple to me, and a tiny home is under all of them. A condo or townhouse is right between Apartment and Mobile because you are sharing walls and basically live in an apartment you own instead of rent.
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Topic: Living in a mobile home (Read 11445 times)
