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Old 10-22-2021, 05:16 PM   #61
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Dad and his wife live in a manufactured home (triple wide) on the Gulf coast of Florida.
It was probably built in the mid 70’s
It looks exactly like our 1500 square ft ranch home in Ohio.
It’s a typical 55+ gated retirement community.
Now days the older units are being razed and replaced with modern “modular” homes.
I think the only difference is now they haul away the axles.
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We live in one...our second
Old 10-22-2021, 07:26 PM   #62
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Flagler Beach
Posts: 23
We live in one...our second

We moved into a 55 plus community in Central FL where you own the home and rent the lot...great place to live...broke even on the house after living there 5 years, lot rent right about 500 per month, which was half the "market rent"...in 2015 purchased a lot in a Residential Owned Cooperative walking distance to the Ocean in N. Fl, about 30 min south of St. Augustine...we LOVE it...put in a new custom 1,200 sq ft 2/2 manufactured home. It is considered real property and the values have continued to rise...as the old adage says "location, location, location"...Our home has great insulation and very comfortable.
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Manufactured homes
Old 10-22-2021, 08:47 PM   #63
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Sequim
Posts: 3
Manufactured homes

I owned one for a couple years in Tacoma, WA in a small park run by the owner, who lived on-site. We had a good experience and, after living (in a stick built home) in Texas, where I taught for 10 years, we bought another manufactured home when we retired back to Washington state, out on the Olympic Peninsula.


We actually bought a condo in a golf course community (mostly having stick built homes, however) about 7 years before that, but never lived there and only rented it out. We'd intended to live there but decided it was a little dark inside.


Looked at some manufactured homes and finally bought in a small park (52 homes) right next to our small downtown—walking distance to everything (that was another reason, the condo was about 3 miles outside of town).



About 1400 sq. feet, two beds/two baths, with cathedral ceilings through the central part of the house, meaning out living room is tall and full of light, as is our bedroom (which is very spacious). There's also a nice utility room.



We did some remodeling (new floors, counters in the kitchen, re-done master bath), just re-painted the outside of the house, and my wife has done lots of work in the garden (small yard, but it's quite beautiful now).


Values don NOT hold as well in these homes, partly because you don't own the land (well, in a park you don't! There are plenty built on the owner's land).


For us, "space rent" is $430/month, and also includes water, sewer, and garbage. Pretty reasonable cost. Property taxes are also lower (duh, you don't own the land!).


For us, at this point in our lives, it's a good choice. Not for everyone, I'm quite sure, but it's working for us.
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Old 10-23-2021, 08:10 AM   #64
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Originally Posted by CRLLS View Post
My name.

I get your point. I'm sure doublewides have gotten better. My experience
was based on only 1 close association of a mobile home (plus a few other less close associations. I guess my point was that over a long ownership period, the construction methods and materials used back then were not made to last like other home constructions. They used to be more like construction of an RV of the same period with paper-thin paneling and pressed wood floor sheathing. I don't know what today's construction is like. Looks can be deceiving. I'm more of a structural bones type and would want to see what is behind the looks.
There is a whole range of quality on Manufactured homes out there, still, but if you look at the more reputable builders, you will find the same construction as stick built. Fleetwood would be one of the lower quality. We are using Kit West Homes, LLC. We are going on our third custom Manufactured/Modular and I've learned a thing or two in the last 20 years. These are good options if you want to build a home on a piece of property. The modulars are built to different codes designed to be allowed in a subdivision. Really with an added insulation package, the only difference between Manufactured and Modular, with a reputable builder, of course, is the framing underneath the home. There are some awesome homes out there. I wouldn't buy anything else.
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Old 10-23-2021, 09:36 AM   #65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rksparks View Post
I owned one for a couple years in Tacoma, WA in a small park run by the owner, who lived on-site. We had a good experience and, after living (in a stick built home) in Texas, where I taught for 10 years, we bought another manufactured home when we retired back to Washington state, out on the Olympic Peninsula.


We actually bought a condo in a golf course community (mostly having stick built homes, however) about 7 years before that, but never lived there and only rented it out. We'd intended to live there but decided it was a little dark inside.


Looked at some manufactured homes and finally bought in a small park (52 homes) right next to our small downtown—walking distance to everything (that was another reason, the condo was about 3 miles outside of town).



About 1400 sq. feet, two beds/two baths, with cathedral ceilings through the central part of the house, meaning out living room is tall and full of light, as is our bedroom (which is very spacious). There's also a nice utility room.



We did some remodeling (new floors, counters in the kitchen, re-done master bath), just re-painted the outside of the house, and my wife has done lots of work in the garden (small yard, but it's quite beautiful now).


Values don NOT hold as well in these homes, partly because you don't own the land (well, in a park you don't! There are plenty built on the owner's land).


For us, "space rent" is $430/month, and also includes water, sewer, and garbage. Pretty reasonable cost. Property taxes are also lower (duh, you don't own the land!).


For us, at this point in our lives, it's a good choice. Not for everyone, I'm quite sure, but it's working for us.
Welcome to the forum, we just bought land in Sequim.
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Old 10-23-2021, 08:58 PM   #66
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Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: ST GEORGE
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In early 2015 we bought a newly-installed-in-the-park mobile home for my mother, sold it in the second quarter of 2018 and lost at least $40K. Purchase price was $155K, then roughly $30K in decorating and upgrades.

A chunk of that loss was in upgrades that we did and couldn't recover the value of (e.g. the walk-in tub). The biggest cause was the space rent in the very small park, approximately $1,400/month at the end.

Honestly it was a nice home and once the warranty items were taken care of, it was trouble free. The location was in Calabasas California, just inland from Malibu. I loved visiting as I could walk to a very nice state park for my morning exercise.

I have no doubt it has appreciated in today's market, but I didn't have much say in the timing. It was bought after my father passed so she would be close to my sister, then sold after I needed to move her to assisted living close to me.

Best regards,
Chris
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