buying a new manufactured home?

[zoegirl]

HI i am new and have some quetsions... i inherited a piece of land with a very old (1966) mobile home that my family of five is currently living in.. after relocating to live here my husband has landed an awesome job... i am currently in school getting a degree in education...we have four kids one of which does not ive with us(he lives with his father) ok together we have three girls .....we are getting ready to buy a new mobile home and are undecided on what size and all... a new single wide is just under 30,000 or so and could be paid off very quickly with our income..(we have little debt) it is a very small lot of only 65 feet wide and 130 fet long...would you buy a bigger double wide and have less yard or a very long single wide and have more yard?? it is a cost difference of anywhere from 20,000 and up...the cheapest duoble wide we have found with four bedrooms is about 48,000 and the prices go up all the way to over 80,000.....i know we will be able ot afford a much larger house one day but i kinda like the idea of a single wide being paid off in 8 or 10 years..versus a 20 year on a double wide..i guess my question is what would you do in my situation? this was my dads home but i did not always live here so trailer living is new to me... will this new mobile home last us ??? i am very afraid to go into debt 40,000 dollars for a mobile home that only losses money....this one we are in now has held up well but it is not going to last us for much longer we have to get somehting else quick... we need more space and a cleaner enviroment...please all advice welcome! thanks zoe

[34saving]

I guess I don't know if there is a used trailer market in your area, but if there is, have you checked it out? (I suspect a '90s trailer would be a big improvement over a '60s one.) It would be great to make somebody else take the depreciation hit.

Also, do you like the land/area you're in? There are manufactued homes available (at least here in MN) that are built in factories, but assembled on site. Often these houses are put on full basements, which would allow you to double your space without taking up more yard. I don't know if your area would allow that, but it's something you might want to look into.

[singinjeannie]

Mobile homes depreciate, so if you buy a new one, you'll take a big hit if you buy new. See if you can get one a few years old and you'll do much, much better.

Also, if you are able to wait a bit and get the pre-fab houses that aren't mobile homes, you'll have an actual house that will increase in value, instead of losing value.

I was in a position to make this same decision 12 years ago and my husband and I decided to go with a stick-built home. It was only a difference of about $20,000, and altho the stick built home didn't have a jacuzzi and a fancy looking interior, it is now worth about double what we paid to build it. That will never happen with a mobile home.

Best of luck with your decision.

-Jean

[MrsChambers]

Go with the smaller (cheaper) version. Put your money into the LAND, that's where your return is at, not the mobile..... Scape your land real attractive and save for the future.

[contrary1]

I bought a new manufactured home for a rental..............but, I bought a lot model from the previous year. They were anxious to get rid of it & I could pay cash for it, so I got a great deal. No way could I have picked up something else for a rental at this price.

[Ima saver]

I have never lived in a trailer, but I lived in a travel trailer while building our house. It drove me crazy, to be in such a small space for so long, plus we about froze to death. I would suggest a manufactured home also, for resale.

[trenea7]

I grew up living in a trailer off and on so I thought nothing of buying one when I got married. The newer ones were really nice looking and I could afford a much nicer trailer than what I would get for the same money in a house. We bought a new double-wide in 1998 for 72000. We ended up having to move it across the state a couple of years later because we couldn't sell it anywhere in our area, even when we agreed to pay the moving costs. The depreciation wouldn't cover our loan! So we moved it, put it over a full basement--we planned to gradually finish the basement which would give us 3400 sf. of living space. It cost us about $10,000 to move. I got divorced about 2 years later and had to leave the house to my husband as I wanted to move out of state and we would have lost at least $15000 if we sold it--even though it was now secured to a basement. Our mobile was a Champion brand. It looked great but we discovered later that it was really made with a lot of shortcuts. They give you a year warranty to find any problems and boy did we have a list. Getting them to come fix them took forever and we had to have them come back several times. The problems weren't huge, but when you buy a brand new home you expect things to look just right. We never did get everything fixed and were very dissatisfied with the customer service. The sales lot we bought it from could have been a used car lot for the amount of sleazy tactics and false promises we were given. So, IMHO, I wouldn't do it. I'd go with a pre-fab house or find a cheap used one if you have to (though the insulation in the older ones is poor and will add to your living expenses.) My parents had a pre-fab house built and they got a lot of house for the money. They've been very pleased with it and they've lived there about 4 years now. Hope this helps!

trenea7

[Ima saver]

I had thought about buying a mobile home to live in while we built a new home. I thought I could just live there for a short while and then sell it. After reading this, I have about changed my mind. Sounds like you are really throwing your money away.

[Snoopy2645]

Yes they depreciate in very quickly just like a car so I would go with a newer used trailer & I would go with a long wider single wide. I used to live in one that was pretty wide for a single & long I had 3 bedrooms & 2 baths I think it was as big as my house that I live in now. I think with 3 kids 3 rooms would be plenty maybe buy a fold out couch or something for the child that is only thier sometimes. I would consider a bunkbed for him but since the other 3 are girls I would just put him on something in the living room when he is thier I think it will work out for you guys!!

[jodi]

From a real estate agent's point of view...single wide trailers are very, very hard to resell. I had one listed for 6 months and we did get several people interested, but we could not find one single bank that would finance a used trailer. And since no one had the cash ($40k), they never sold it. Double wides resell only slightly better, although I think you would have a better chance if you put it on a basement instead of a slab (it makes a difference to banks on whether they will finance it, at least around here). Now modular homes are another story. They are holding their value quite well around here - and even increasing. I have sold my last two modular homes for close to the asking price. In one case, the sellers broke even after living in it for 7 years - the other owner made money. If these were trailers, there is no way they would have gotten their money back - or anything even close.
I think the idea to check out used trailers is great. I sold one once for about $7000, and it was really in pretty good shape (a single wide). If you can buy one for $10k and resell for $5k in five years, then you have only taken a $5k loss - compared to probably $10-20k if you buy new. If you have some nearby trailer parks, you might want to check with the owner. Sometimes they will offer to buy trailers from tenants who owe back lot rent, and then try to rent them back out - but maybe they have ones to sell too. Good luck.

[Ima saver]

I have never lived in a trailer. I never thought about banks not financing them. won't they if you own the land? I have a bank loan on a lot that I paid $77,000. I had no trouble getting that financed with 20% down.

[jodi]

Ima, I can't speak for anywhere but central NY, but I must have called all the local banks. They would ask me if the trailer was on a foundation, or somehow secured to the ground (in other words, immovable). Since it was not, they would not finance it as it considered "property" and not "real estate". Now I suppose someone might be able to get a personal loan for one, but not a mortgage. As for trailers on parks around here, those are almost always cash deals (used, anyway- I have never helped anyone buy new). In fact, we cannot list them in the multiple listing service here in NY as they are not considered real estate if the land they are on is not owned by the seller.

[cercis]

Jodi - trailers are considered personal property (like cars) unless you take very specific steps. One is removing the tongue, then you need to attach it to a foundation and the final (and a very important step) is you need to surrender the title. Until you surrender the title, it is considered like a car (surrendering the title doesnt' mean you give up rights to it, though).

The mortgage company I worked for learned the hard way about that. And did you know you can still move a trailer even when it's on a foundation and the tongue has been removed. Happened several times.

[Ima saver]

Thanks I am learning a lot. We are thinking about building a new house. Last time we could not find anything to rent because we have this HUGE DESTRUCTIVE 6 pound poodle and everything says no pets. We lived in a travel trailer and I hated it. I thought I could buy a mobile home for cash to live in, but it would be cheaper to build a garage apt or find a rental. There are more rentals now than there was 10 years ago.

[jodi]

Thanks cercis! Of all the mortgage companies I called, not one ever asked me about the title. Good to know...

[cercis]

Jodi, I wish I could say that surprises me. Most mortgage company employees could learn a lot from their legal departments. Half of our job was devoted to cleaning up messes created by them.

[Firefly]

This thread has been educational!