buying a trailer home, good idea or bad?

[mostsmooth]

if you needed a place to live, wanted a house, but your options were most likely a crappy old smallish house, or a new pretty nice double wide trailer(i dont think it really has wheels, and it looks like a regular house) for like 20-30g less, would the trailer be a bad idea?
im also curious about how they hold their value relative to regular houses. im guessing they depreciate faster? but then again if you arent planning to sell it, the depreciation shouldnt bother you , no?
anybody here live/lived in a trailer home?
upsides? downsides?
tia

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Just get one of those houses I see them wheeling around with OVERSIZE LOAD on the back. Something tells me those can't be all that expensive.

[jakethebake]

I hate to say it, but "manufactured homes" have gotten much better in recent years. The quality is much better, and some of them you can barely tell they're not just houses. I cannot verify, however, that instances of domestic violence or the wearing of mullets is any less.

[housenuts]

-ev

[Shajen]

plus, the hurricane/tornado attractance factor is multiplied by 15.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
plus, the hurricane/tornado attractance factor is multiplied by 15.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.schnittshow.com/Images/hurricanecharley2004/MJ43.jpg

Then there is the girl factor.

[wacki]

http://www.ussartf.org/images/Hurricane_Andrew_Trailer_Park_Destroyed.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~pvamagic/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/mobilehomepark.jpg

http://thearchetypalconnection.com/images/HurricaneAndrewdamageLow.JPG

[mostsmooth]

first off, its not for me
second, lets get serious!!!
/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[_2000Flushes]

[ QUOTE ]
lets get serious!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't trailer homes interfere with Internet connections and possibly even electricity?
(Not that it's anything that can't be compensated for with some nice wood paneling.)

-2kF

[usmfan]

Seriously, trailers are an awful idea in my opinion to own. Fixed houses tend to appreciate in value. As you noted, trailers (all of them) depreciate in value. On top of the price, you still must pay for land (rent or own) to locate the trailer. I think you would be better off renting if you can't afford to purchase a fixed house at this time. If you've ever been in a trailer, then you know that they just feel flimsy. The floors usually shake when someone is walking. There is essentially no privacy due to the wall construction. My vote is no.

[chaas4747]

I think there is a big distinction between a modular home (built off site and hauled in by truck, and a Trailer home. I was watching something on TV the other day with Dale Earnhart Jr. and he lives in the modular home built on a basement/foundation and it looked pretty nice.

[Bukem_]

I know a guy who bought a trailer for 14k. He was very proud of it, as he was only 18 when he bought it.

But he didn't own the land it was own. The landowners convinced him they were selling the land and he had to remove the trailer. He didn't want to, so he sold the trailer for $1. They were of course lying, and now they rent out his trailer.

Good investment.

[lucas9000]

I preminisce no return of the salad days
http://www.nelsonandnelson.com/flippedout/raisingarizona.jpg

[AviD]

Upside, moving would be easier if it had wheels.
Downside, it has no wheels.

I did see a really nice house "put together" like Lego style last year in a rural area. Looks like some dude with ridiculously money bought a nice piece of property for a mixture of a horse farm and nursery...but decided not to actually build a house but rather order it in parts and have it trucked there and put together. Either that or he really has more money than Trump and was obsessed with his old house and had it taken apart and moved to this new location.

In all honesty, it looked like a new "sectioned" house (i.e. roof in one section, garage in another section, etc) and they just trucked it in and put it together.

Not that any of that has [censored] to do with a double wide, so to answer your question (or at least tia's)...get what YOU like. I'm sure double wides are decent in their own right, but probably don't have the perks or room of a house. But when weighing a crappy old smallish house vs a nearly new double wide (assuming they are equal or near equal in size and practical functionality with equivalent neighborhoods)...I think the DW is the ticket. Besides those TP girls with 3 teeth are the shiznitchy! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[LALDAAS]

2KF where is the avatar with the happy fat dancing kid? I loved that one!

[Mars357]

Keep in mind that these things depreciate as fast (or faster) than a new car. They are NOT a good place to put your money if you ever want to see it again..... On the other hand, if you plan on living there a while, (many years) you may not be out any more than you would have been if you were renting...

If it was me, I'd find a condo or townhouse or something like that that's in the same price range and live there...

My .02

[Ray Zee]

its a no brainer the small crappy house is best. fix it up and make a profit. you will lose your shirt on the tin can.

[mostsmooth]

heres an example of the type of house im talking about, im not quite sure its the same picture most of you have in your heads

pics (http://newjersey.foxtons.com/search?md5=83517ad51435a14ffb3e7dd29d32fa69&curren cy=USD&search_form=map&search_type=SS&submit_type= search&inst_ref=40861&resource=thumbnails)

[jakethebake]

CLEAN UP YOUR THREAD!!! /images/graemlins/mad.gif

...and actually I've seen a lot of newer ones that are much nicer than that.

[AviD]

[ QUOTE ]
its a no brainer the small crappy house is best. fix it up and make a profit. you will lose your shirt on the tin can.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ray, I think there are alot of factors involved here regarding investment in fixing up an "small and old crappy home".

What kind of neighborhood would this be in?
What is the expected marketable value of such a home given the area?
Will anyone be willing to pay MORE for a now gleaming but still old and small home? Will it be enough to offset your investment in fixing it up?
Would you invest in an addition or several additions, and again can you expect to make such monies back considering all other homes in that respective area? i.e. Old crappy homes in an old crappy neighborhood and suddenly you dump N dollars and make it a diamond in the rough, but its still in the rough.

It's not like a classic car that you can refurbish and revitalize for the market. A house is fixed in respect to the area it resides and that area is as important (or if not more important) a factor than the house itself. As you are hinting, you can take a FAIR house in a GREAT area and make it a GREAT house and make a good deal of money on it with little investment in comparison.

World of difference, but alas I am not a real estate magnate...so in actuality I don't really know what I am talking about, just thinking along the line of financial instincts (which also btw might suck! /images/graemlins/smile.gif)

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
If it was me, I'd find a condo or townhouse or something like that that's in the same price range and live there...

My .02

[/ QUOTE ]

Condos generally aren't much better as investments.

[jakethebake]

Whatever you do, make sure there's room for...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/pwarcham/OOTtub.jpg

...the grotto.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

Location location location.

Mobile homes/ manufactured homes/ trailers do depreciate whereeas houses generally don't.

But if you buy a manufactured home on prime property, you can make out because of where the home is located. So, just find out if the area you want to buy is doing well.

Example, I have two friends - one in Southern California who lives in a manufactured home and one in Las Vegas who owns a condo. Both owners live in a community where they pay HOA fees and such. Neither owner owns the land.

But both homes are gaining equity. Both friends are making money on their purchases. The manufactured home would sell for almost the same as the condo simply because of location. (Neither appreciate as quickly as houses, but a small, old, crappy house is a hell of a place to live - you need a place to live, not simply an investment, right? Better go with what YOU like.)

Besides, trailers are hip.

-Otis
OTT in OOT

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Besides, trailers are hip.

-Otis
OTT in OOT

[/ QUOTE ]

Only in Arkansas.

[ChoicestHops]

Even the rednecks in Arkansas recognize the un-coolness of trailers.

[AngryCola]

Eh, a little tornado here and there is nothing to worry about.

Wez folk from Dorthyland knowz allz about dem twistas.

[_2000Flushes]

[ QUOTE ]
2KF where is the avatar with the happy fat dancing kid? I loved that one!

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry, man. He's no longer with us.

-2kF

RIP (http://runninginplace.net)
http://www.geocities.com/mikesxyton/pictures/fat.gif

[justin D]

Its only a good idea, if you get something like this.


http://www.missouritrailertrash.com/jeff-gordon.jpg

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
-ev

[/ QUOTE ]

[Ray Zee]

you fix it up according to what you need to live in it and what is best for its future value. you dont buy anything in a declining neighborhood.

[_2000Flushes]

[ QUOTE ]
you fix it up according to what you need to live in it and what is best for its future value. you dont buy anything in a declining neighborhood.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to think we all learned this lesson from Mason's crappy old car.

-2kF