Central Florida, manufactured homes, hurricanes

[misshathaway]

This is such a cute little house (to me). $90,000 in a non golf course 55+ community. I want to use whatever real estate agent staged that house to sell my house.

There are many many like this. It is so tempting to buy, figuring if you changed your mind, even if it didn't appreciate or you had to sell at a loss, and even if it did not sell right away, HOA fees for this type of village are not that much to carry it.

Has anyone else been tempted?

Reasons why not:

- Don't want to evacuate with a pet
- Don't want to come home and find the roof, carport and adorable little porch in another state
- Don't want to risk an insolvent or crooked developer for one of these smaller, lesser-known communities if they manage the development.

 

[Dtail]

I would be a little more nervous on the hurricane threat with these homes, although the newer ones are built sturdier, but would scare me.

 

[Jerry1]

I’ve seen these and been tempted. It’s a financially reasonable way for me to snow bird. I’ve been looking (on line only so far) to see how close I can get something like that to the beach on the gulf side. I compare it to the expense of a motor home, just permanently parked where you want it to be anyway. I’ve considered a motor home, but not really excited about the driving of it and it’s not cheap to park it in a warm climate during the winter. These seemed like a reasonable alternative. My other consideration is a small condo. Problem is that the small cheap condos look pretty rough on line. These manufactured homes look like a good alternative in my price range.

 

[JoeWras]

It works for some, but be careful. My parents owned a lot in central FL which allowed either manufactured homes or stick built. Most residents went manufactured.

In any case, the land never appreciated over 40 years. The Ocala Forest, although beautiful, cuts things off so there's no danger of overbuilding. There's also no danger of appreciation.

Other negatives: fire ants and no-see-ums. They are in full force in the area.

On the positive side: remember I said this community had 40 years history. Nobody ever lost a home to a hurricane, even in the year that 3 raked across the peninsula. Being smack in the middle of the state helps. The downside is that some minor tornadoes through the years did rough up some of the houses.

As for the HOA. Well, dues are cheap right now, but the pool is end of life and the roads are rough. Residents expect to see them double or triple over the next few years. The developer was fine, never crooked, although I suspect they overpriced when everything is shiny and new. Now that a generation has passed, the development is in the full hands of the residents and they are not doing a good job managing it.

 

[Sunset]

I toured one 55+ community near Leesburg , The secondary market for homes there puts the price at around $20K.
We saw quite a few around $20K that were inviting.
I was pretty tempted to buy one, even to use part-time in the Winter, The land rental was $600/mo. which included the clubhouse and taxes, etc.

 

[pb4uski]

We have some friends that own a double-wide in a small community. Probably about $100k.
They have fixed theirs up and it is very nice and would be comfortable. A few years ago a group of residents (some, but not all) bought the land from the developer so they can control their own destiny. I would prefer stick-built but if that was all I could afford then it would be fine.

We also have a friend building a home down here... he is planning to go with insulated concrete forms for all the walls... he thinks it would hold up well in a hurricane (I think he is right).

 

[RunningBum]

Is the question whether to buy in Florida at all, or specifically to buy a manufactured home there?

Reasons why not:

- Don't want to evacuate with a pet

You'll probably have to evacuate no matter where you live, though you might be able to more safely choose to stay in a smaller storm in a traditional house.

- Don't want to come home and find the roof, carport and adorable little porch in another state

Yeah, apparently the new building standards since Andrew make those homes safer, but there are still problems with carport and porch roofs. That's not terribly expensive to replace though.

- Don't want to risk an insolvent or crooked developer for one of these smaller, lesser-known communities if they manage the development.

Can happen in any community.

That is a cute little house.

 

[Aerides]

There was a piece on John Oliver the other week, very sobering:

Manufactured homes lose value, like cars, they are never an investment
They aren't really mobile, moving them after you've lived in them is practically impossible - so the park better be perfect
Parks are ripe for corporate takeovers, swooping in and then aggressively raising rents, like really aggressively, leaving many folks who picked these as economical homes finding they can no longer afford to keep them

In FL, almost any mobile home except north/very inland, is going to be a mandatory evacuation in a hurricane warning, depending on your county.

 

[W2R]

Reasons why not:

- Don't want to evacuate with a pet
- Don't want to come home and find the roof, carport and adorable little porch in another state
- Don't want to risk an insolvent or crooked developer for one of these smaller, lesser-known communities if they manage the development.

Excellent reasons why not. I would never dream of buying a manufactured or mobile home in Florida because hurricane damage is bad enough even with solid, traditional homes built to the new building standards. Just don't do it!

 

[Moemg]

Their is a huge mobile home park not far from where I live . It is a mixture of mobile homes and manufactured homes they all own the land . It includes a pool , a dock ,a beach, docking for boats at a reasonable rate , a huge amount of activities including pickle ball and shuffle board . We know a lot of the snowbirds that spend the winter there and they love it .They do get evacuated during hurricanes but since most hurricanes are not during snow bird season they miss them and except for the loss of an occasional roof I have never noticed much damage after a storm. They do have some seasonal rentals .

 

[socca]

Has anyone else been tempted?

No.

Do you have any experience with full-year FL residents who live in homes <$100k? I don't, so I can't comment on what they may be like as neighbors.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Nope! These homes are an ever and fast depreciating asset. In addition the weather in central Florida is brutal, I think one would eventually see this way of life quite unsatisfactory in Central Florida.

If by some chance this is your only choice, I would buy a re-sale.

 

[Scrapr]

Nope! These homes are an ever and fast depreciating asset. In addition the weather in central Florida is brutal, I think one would eventually see this way of life quite unsatisfactory in Central Florida.

If by some chance this is your only choice, I would buy a re-sale.

I worry about the cooling bills. And maybe the AC can't keep up with the heat. I lived in a trailer in the 80's (times were tough) and I would like to never go back to those days

 

[misshathaway]

Is the question whether to buy in Florida at all, or specifically to buy a manufactured home there?

The live-in-Florida at all part is yes. The question was more, is anybody else currently going through the same decision process, and have they yet completely ruled out comparatively inexpensive manufactured homes. I thought I had until I saw this house picture. Very evocative.

If by some chance this is your only choice, I would buy a re-sale.

Fortunately no. But the architecture of the concrete blocks in the big communities leaves me cold. One big open sterile box to clean and furnish. If I did that, I would buy resale though.

 

[always_learning]

I worry about the cooling bills. And maybe the AC can't keep up with the heat. I lived in a trailer in the 80's (times were tough) and I would like to never go back to those days

+1 I have friends in brand new manufactured homes (so, the 'best' insulation) who have $500 a month a/c bills and we aren't in FL. On top of the lot rentals, that's a lot of money each month for something that's going down in value.

Also, I'm in tornado alley and after 30+ years of watching these things being flipped over with, what seems to be, the same effort as a dog flipping its food bowl in a mild F2 tornado, and no way would I live in one.

It's a shame, too, because there are some really nice-looking ones down there and the low prices make it tempting. It's the hidden things that make me say no. That, and the fact that if the owner of the land sells, you're up a creek with a 'mobile home' that isn't mobile and something 30 days to move it or pay twice the money if they decide to keep it and "just" raise the lot rents. Go to YouTube and look for that John Oliver piece a previous poster mentioned. I saw it last week and BOY was that awful.

OP, if you can, I'd honestly try to find a block-built house or a cute condo and forego the manufactured homes.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Also, I'm in tornado alley and after 30+ years of watching these things being flipped over with, what seems to be, the same effort as a dog flipping its food bowl in a mild F2 tornado, and no way would I live in one.

Some research is coming out on the most recent deadly tornado(s) that happened in S. Alabama (where most of the people killed were in mobile/manufactured homes) and some of the homes were tossed *before* the tornado even made it there.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

The other issue is the snob effect, sorry DW often calls me a snob, I try to explain that we do not have enough cash to be consider snobs. Typically the sort of folks who buy those, often it is all they can afford. There are such places around here and when one drives through the development it looks very raggedy and unkept. Ok when new, but down the road.....

 

[Moemg]

No.

Do you have any experience with full-year FL residents who live in homes <$100k? I don't, so I can't comment on what they may be like as neighbors.

I do in the community I mentioned . A lot of teachers from the Midwest and a lot of very nice blue collar . That community does not attract trailer trash . Those communities you just shudder when you pass them. They are usually in a not so desirable part of town .This park sits on Sarasota Bay . There are several trailer parks that have been grandfathered in area beaches even Longboat Key has a resident trailer park .http://www.gulfshorelbk.com/amenities-at-gulfshores-park/

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I do in the community I mentioned . A lot of teachers from the Midwest and a lot of very nice blue collar . That community does not attract trailer trash . Those communities you just shudder when you pass them. They are usually in a not so desirable part of town .This park sits on Sarasota Bay . There are several trailer parks that have been grandfathered in area beaches even Longboat Key has a resident trailer park .

The OP was citing Central Florida, Not Affluent Coastal Florida.

 

[Moemg]

The OP was citing Central Florida, Not Affluent Coastal Florida.

Yes but it evolved into a general conversation about that kind of living .

 

[orodman]

My parents lived in a mobile home community for 30 years , only evacuated a handful of times.
There home was only 20,000 new and they sold it for 24,000 after 30 years.
It was a a wonderful community with low HOA fees of 250/ month until an investor bought it and raised their fees to 750-800 per month. They moved for assisted living but it hurt them to see their neighbors get burned by these high fees