To Mobile home or NOT To Mobile home...

Still trying to get some shelter on my property.

I'm looking at mobile home options now.

Can anyone give me a primer on who to go with - who to stay away from?

Palm Harbor appears legit.

Fleetwood is questionable.

Discuss...

I lived in a Palm Harbor for about three years. It seemed like the right thing for us at the time. Luckily, it was not new. We bought a year to two old repo and saved quite a bit. Lived in in three years and sold it for 95% of what we paid. This was a nice looking home and it was fairly inexpensive to heat and cool. It was massivly roomy compared to the apartment we had been in for several years.

That has been over twenty-five years go...quality has to have changed over that length of time...I just hope it got better instead of worst. The thing I remember the most is that shit fell apart if you looked at it wrong. Bump the door jam coming thought the door & the trim (maybe the whole door) would break off. Pull a drawer out too far and it didn't just fall out, it broke, never to sit flush again. Be careful changing light bulbs, or the whole fixture might come down. Plumbing problems were the worst.

Other side of the coin: Being able to get out of an apartment and live in the country again was great while we got in a better position to buy a real home. Would I do it again, if the circumstance were similar? Yes. Would I WANT to do it? NO...especially not for more than a year or two. It kind of wears on you.


I do not think they make good weekend/BO type of house because the can deteriorate very rapidly, lived in or not. They seem to be much more prone to roof leaks, window leaks, and plumbing leaks. If these happen when you are not there, you could walk in and step through a soggy composition board floor. Three buddies and I were in a deer lease together. We bought an older, but livable single wide for the deer camp. By the end of the third season, it had broken down so we dumped some Coleman fuel on the floor, tossed a match in, then used the front end loader on the tractor to bury what was left. (Those two metal beams under the floor were a PITA)

The problem with a mobile home is that it's like a car in that the day you buy it, the value starts decreasing and eventually you get to pay someone to haul it off for scrap. Verse a stick built home that holds its value (providing you at least do basic maint.) but most of the time actually increases in value. Plus if you ever do get in a pinch and have to sell the property, a stick built home should sell faster than a mobile home as many folks are scared to own one. I've never heard someone say "I'll only live in mobile homes" but I have heard people say the opposite.

What he said... My father, bought a mobile home a year before he died. My brother and I had it appraised as he was moving into it and wanted to pay me half. The land and the home cost my father about 50k. It appraised for about 28k and the home was only lived in for 6 months. The land was valued higher than the purchase price because he bought it from family. The mobile home appraised at about 55% of purchase value.

Luckily, I got most of the money out mine.
If I were to do it again, I wouldn't. It's just not well built.

Then you obviously don't shop at Wal mart. There, trailer trash is considered anyone who doesn't have a double wide with skirting.

And to them, I say, "People that live in trailers shouldn't throw glass beer bottles."


In all seriousness, I can't see where a mobile home is condusive to ones longterm financial future. They are expensive when new, start losing value as soon as you take possesion, depreciate faster than a cigarette boat as in every year they're a year older. Tornados love them.

Get a GP medium and a mobile shower. You'll save tons of money.

Or if you don't want to rough it that bad, build a barn/shop first and live there while you save on materials for the house. Then, when the house is done, you'll also have a nice shop/barn rather than a depreciated mobile home.

Pour a slab for a modular metal building then frame in a room with plumbing. Best option for value & practicality.

stop by some mobile home parks. they will have one or two abaondoned that they will sell dirt cheap.

don't buy new.

What are you looking to spend? If you can swing $40-$60k, slab and a 2400-4000sf steel barn, spray foam insulation, plumb, frame out 1200sf or so. (Don't tell the county you built a house inside, it's just a barn.) If you are looking to spend under $40k, then a used MH might work. New MH can be priced up to $150,000, usually include the proper foundation and tornado straps, septic and setup on your land.

If you need a bank loan, lenders won't loan on relocated used homes that are over 5 years old. (Unless you are willing to pay credit card rates.)

Yep, that's my plan whenever I get into a job that pays worth a shit. Nice 3 car garage and shop setup on one side, walk through a door and you're home, metal building to the naked eye. I could totally do a trailer if the price was right and there was a good place to put it but I would definitely have a storm cellar dug out and proper straps placed on the motherfucker.

That, or build a SEAHUT or a BHUT.

I hope you mean motorhome because I've NEVER seen a mobile home that would be close to $150g unless it's on a hunk of land worth close to 100K.


I lived most of my live in NC, I've seen a mobile home or two (lived close to where some were made )

Trust me, the $150,000 mobile homes or manufactured homes as they prefer to be called, are out there... It'll be fully decked out, a master suite that has a glamor bath with beer/wine cooler and faux fireplace.

I would go with a metal building on a concrete slab. When they are doing the slab, just have the plumbing in place.

I bought a 1999 repo, put new A/C, carpet and linoleum and was right at 10K. It is a 16X80 4br 2ba with vinyl siding and composite roof. That was in 2003 and I have no regrets. One thing I like was that it was not permanent and could take my time in deciding where I wanted my barn and house. I am building a barn with a living quarters in a few weeks and then a house at the beginning of next year. I have a couple of offers close to what I have in it but I’m not ready to sell yet. This is not really a show & tell thread but here is the mobile home on the satellite. The smaller pic is the latest.

Copyright © 1996 - 2013 :: AR15.Com LLC :: All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.