City or country???????

[unclemick]

Weird - the local weather stations(New Orleans) are getting pestered by call in's wanting snow for Christmas.

Glad I'm here and not having to drive in that stuff anymore.

Hello JonnyM! I had a place once that was pretty close
to your picture. Sadly, I sold it. What we have now
residence-wise is nice (and debt free). Still, I have
owned some beautiful property over the years. The thing is...............I couldn't hang on to everything.
It's all hindsight anyway.

JG

[SDY888]

Personally I absolutely love the peace, quiet and solitude of nature - for a maximum of about 3 days at the most!

We are both city dwellers, born and bred and would not choose to live anywhere other than a large and cosmopolitan city - although work has taken me to some very remote locations in the past. OK, maybe I could stretch to a suburban area less than 30 minutes from civilisation, but that is as far as I would go.

In fact I would be reluctant to relocate to ground level and wouldn't at all if I could find an apartment I could afford which had a large terrace or roof garden.

That's just me - different strokes............

From where I am sitting there is no sign of another human being
JG

JG, is that your choice or their's??

[mark]

Used mobile home on 2.5 acres, 15 minutues to work.

On the edge of a college town of 50,000 - college sports and theatre, community theatre, 20 minutes to 2 lakes (one busy, one not), rifle range for my muzzle loaders.

8-10 hour drive to the ocean or the mountains.

I plan on staying right here.

mark Posted on: Today at 1:20pm
Used mobile home on 2.5 acres, 15 minutues to work

This is something like what I have been looking for but have been a bit leary of so far. I have been on the verge for the past 2 yrs or so but can't drop the hammer on it.

Mr Mark: How would rate your mobile home as a livable structure?
How "used" was it when you bought it?
What is the life span of one of those things?
Do they have any special problems I should look for or are they pretty much "like a house"

Is there a difference between what you have and the "trailer trash" crowd? (Ok, so maybe there is still a bit of the "snob" in me)

Cost o' livin-wise, based on my calculations, it beats renting a ncie apartment & buying a regular house and the economics are really almost irresistable

Thanx

[mark]

Its a 2 bed, 1 bath 1984 model we bought used 7 years ago while my wife was still taking classes for her masters degree. With only one child, and having lived in a smaller rent house for 8 years, its all I need. I installed new kitchen cabinets and repainted the interior before moving it to a trailer park. Since then I've redone the bathroom and moved it to the acreage. We payed cash for the trailer and lot setup. Later we payed cash for the property, with a small loan from the family for utilities and a storm shelter (since I am dead center in tornado alley). There will be no appreciation, but my taxes are about $250 per year, $150 monthly on the loan, and it pays off in 2 years. Since as university staff I am not high income, it allows a fairly high savings rate with slack to cover unexpected expenses. I laugh at the trailer trash cliche - let someone else have the high mortgage. I'd rather have a nice selection of stocks, bonds, and vacation time.

[mark]

If placed on owned property the value will tend to hold up, but on a rented lot its more like a new car thats depreciating (if bought new).

Mark, thank you for that detailed account of "mobile home living"

Personally, I am looking at taking the "manufactured home community" option. I am not as young as you. While I'd love to be rural again, I feel better being close to the social infrastructure.

By "trailer trash, of course I meant the quality of the people in the neigborhood and not how many people would be impressed by my choice of dwelling heh heh

I am not at all into that "appreciation" thing either. A manufactured home bought outright, even if in a park, would still put me ahead finacially compared to buying a regular house. And certainly ahead of renting

I'm in tornado alley, too.

Thanx again

[haha]

Personally, I am looking at taking the "manufactured home community" option. *

Will, if you are considering a leased lot in a park, be aware that there are some real disadvantages. There is a good article on the AARP site- just "search for mobile home". The problem comes from owning property that can be hard to move, on a a lot under a short term lease.

I believe there are condominium type developments, where one owns his own lot. That might be more secure.

I own REIT shares in *a community operator. I think the business can be somewhat exploitive.

Mikey

Thanx, Mikey. I'll check out the AARP thing

I am aware, however, that yes, there are portential problems. I have the luxury of shopping around for a good one that is on the up and up.

Fact is, my mother due to economic necessity and medical considerations found it to be the best move economically. Today her and 2 of my brothers all live in a mobile home park.

As far as moving it... I have no intentions (Or delusions) of trying to move it. Personally I LIKE renting but want some extra physical space and no common walls/floors/ceilings. That's really what I'm trying to manage. I'll take the depreciation and make it up on the overall savings and investment opportunities.

If I keep renting this nice apartment I won't get a dollar back when I move, so that's 100% depreciation in effect. In a mobile, I get maybe 50% or X% back when I sell it PLUS I have more cash flow in the mean time.
And a deck...and a garden... no common surfaces with the neighbors. Makes the depriciation factor seem like a nuisense fee worth paying

Hey Simon............

It's like this. Most of these are second homes and so
during the week there is little activity here.
Prior to moving here, I lived about 10 miles downstream
in an almost identical set up (subdivision on the river,
mostly occupied by weekenders). I would have stayed
but my place was too small for a couple and 4 dogs.

Re. mobile homes, I considered this in the past and even
priced a few. We could never live in a park but thought
it might be a very economical way to go. We liked some of the manufactured homes, but true mobiles did not
do it for us. I can understand the appeal though.

JG

[unclemick]

Similar to JG

A high percent (50% ??) of the fish camps around here serve as weekend/summer places and the neighborhood is much more quiet in winter.

Although the dog has his play pals from next door on one side so they wait on the front porch every morning until I let him out so they can play.

[mark]

If older, I suggest a park dedicated to retirees. After we bought our mobile (its not majestic enough to be a manufactured home) my dad suggested to a spendthrift aunt that if she could finally sell her home and office building she could move to a retirement park, with the money from the sale doubling her income.

My 82 yr old father-in-law also has a mobile on my property. He purchased his new after selling the family home in west Oklahoma. When all my in-laws come to visit I have 25 people in two mobile homes, one large greenhouse, and a insulated shed/bedroom, plus the occasional tent trailer.

I'm not sure I suggest the family compound idea

[mark]

Truthfully, in our case the mobile home was an economic decision. Housing costs have risen considerably over the last few years, pricing us out of the house market. The mobile home allows me to invest what rent would have cost us in town, plus enough extra to for a few small trips each year (Alamo Bowl, here we come).

otherwise

Our income + high local home prices = never retire

[lets-retire]

Shredder--That sounds like my hometown, just south of Ossineke.

We got tired of buying in the outskirts and having the city move in on us, so we moved into a totally urban area. This way the area can't completely change. We are looking at land in the way out country so by the time we retire it will be paid for and there might be a small town near.

This is a story about not doing your homework and
just winging it. I did it in school and I still do it now.
It usually works.

My DW and I always knew we wanted to move south.
When we married in 2001, we moved to my original
home area in Illinois and in 2002 started looking for a
home in Florida or Texas (took a long time to narrow it
down to those 2 states). Eventually, Florida dropped
off and we settled on Texas, mainly because I had lived
there and liked it. Anyway, after looking for what seemed like forever, we hadn't found anything really
appealing (this is after looking for a year), and so I
got the bright idea we should buy land
and build. We bought 7 acres north of Dallas, a beautiful spot. The only building restrictions were1250 SF minimum dwelling with doublewides okay but they had to
be new. We looked at doublewides. A lot of them.
They seemed to have a samey-samey look after a while.
DW would have gone for it but I wanted something
a little different than the neighbors. Soooooooooo,
we looked at maufactured homes, kit homes, log homes,
log sided homes, metal buildings. Whatever we could
afford we didn't have much enthusiasm for, and what we
really liked we couldn't afford, especially when I started
pricing all the extras (I had never built from scratch before).
With the septic, driveway, connecting utilities, running the water, etc, it was a fortune. Eventually I decided
it was not doable and sold the property (broke even).

The moral? I made a rookie mistake by not researching
this stuff up front. I was tired of looking, and we fell in love with the property
(always dangerous). The devil surfaced in the details.
I am cured of the idea of buying land and building.
I have no skills that I can use to bring the cost down
and I lack the energy to deal with it and the patience
to see it through. For all I know I also lack the time

JG

[Jarhead*]

Will, if you are considering a leased lot in a park, be aware that there are some real disadvantages. There is a good article on the AARP site- just "search for mobile home". The problem comes from owning property that can be hard to move, on a a lot under a short term lease.

I believe there are condominium type developments, where one owns his own lot. That might be more secure.

I own REIT shares in *a community operator. I think the business can be somewhat exploitive.

Mikey

Mikey: Good point about "Mobile home parks".
I'm sure that part of it is "location specific", but the Mobile Home Parks in Calif. are going the way of Drive-in Movies. (The dust bin of history).
I live about 15 miles from a University town, and was reading in the local paper the other day, that over half of the Mobile Home parks have been sold to developers, and more closings to come.
I really feel sorry for the older people in these parks, as besides the considerable expense to move the home, where are you going to put it? The few remaining parks have a loooooooooong waiting list, and even then, its a crap shoot.

Would imagine that in other areas, a young person could buy a parcel of land, and spot a Mobile for very inexpensive monthly living. (Not going to happen in Calif.)

Most of the "regulars" here are familiar with our
housing/location. I have been hatching an entirely new
scheme for some time now, but have yet to see any
enthusiasm from DW

Two (2) big changes from when I retired are:

1. I figured out how we could afford to be snowbirds,
a lifestyle I found attractive but always thought was
out of reach financially.

2. The realization that I couldn't just move away and
leave my parents. They have come to a point where
they rely on me to be around, and I can see that is a long range need.

However, we could move further north. I used to live
in northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The fishing
is excellent, the population sparse, and the scenery
most pleasant. Of course, the winters are long and
cold. However, we would not be there . It would be
close enough to help my folks (they would be on a line
between us and the Texas condo). Since I don't work,
I could come and stay as long as they needed. Also,
there is a financial motive. Our home (waterfront)
was bought right and is worth a lot more now after
only 3+ years. I figure I could sell this place and buy a cabin with some acreage way up north, and............
keep about a third of the cash from the sale in my pocket. We would lose the advantage of being right on
the water, but not much else. If I can get my spouse
on board I would do it. Stay tuned................

JG

[Shredder]

Shredder--That sounds like my hometown, just south of Ossineke. *
.

Lets-retire......... Thats right we live in Oscoda. Went through Osineke yesterday on the way to the big city, Alpena and wally world.............Shredder

[Zipper]

John, you're a senior now. With some medical issues.

Before you start running around in the north woods, make sure you are within range of good health care.