Mobile home living. I want to do it! How has it been for you or people you know?

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Well...lol...we will not be able to afford a duplex or a condo, which is why we are considering a mobile home (yes, we still are!). Also, I don't like to live attached to somebody else. Then if you don't like who you are attached to, you're stuck! Condos are just apartments that you pay for...my son lived in one and both of us hated it. Also, the pet restrictions...same as apartments.

As for young???? Sig, I'M NOT YOUNG...lol. We will not be able to afford this home soon, which means we certainly can't afford a new one or a duplex or to move. I sort of like Wisconsin, by the way. I am NOT a warm weather person and tend to isolate inside with air conditioning and fans once it hits 80 with humidity. The farthest south we would locate would be Illinois where my other daughter lives! No interest in Florida/Texas/Nevada...too hot! I almost croaked when I visited my grandson in Missouri!
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I wonder if there is someone you can talk to that could go over your household's finances to tell you how much home and where you could afford. I would think a SW in a good, safe park would be preferable to a stand alone built home in a bad neighborhood. Maybe a free credit counselling agency?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thanks, TM. Oh, the park we are thinking of does criminal and drug testing and is very safe.

Now there is another factor. My father is 88 years old. I will get some money when he passes on, but I don't even like to think about that. It's too sad. If it happens...I still don't want to take all I get and buy a house that hub and I don't need anymore, although houses in our very safe small town run as low as $50,000 for a seriously nice two bedroom home. But houses here don't go up much in value and I think both hub and me are wanting to be done with the lawn bit...lol.

We know what we can afford. We will work with that. Thankfully, both of us have never needed prestigious things to be happy.

Thanks all for the help.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
My parents moved to a 55+ mobile home community in Florida in their fifties. They lived there happily for over 23 years. After my mom died, we rented it out for several years which covered the costs. However, now that we are trying to sell it and the land that it sits on, we are having no luck at all.

One note of caution . . . when my parents moved there they had a cat and the community allowed pets. The residents decided to buy the park from the company that owned it and turned it into a co-op where each resident paid $30,000 for the plot the mobile home was on. Once that happened, the residents changed the by-laws and voted to ban pets. They were allowed to keep the ones that they had but were not allowed to get new ones.

So, I guess you can never be sure what will happen in regards to being allowed to have pets. However, I think my parents would both have said that they would have done it again. They loved the community and their neighbors.

~Kathy
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
MWM...if your dad dies and leaves you enough money to purchase a singlewide in the park you want to live in, that would be the way to go if I were you. That way you have no rent other than lot rent each month. Most likely you can get a very nice singlewide for no more than $25K and that is a VERY nice one. If he leaves you more than that, you could put it in an account in your husbands name to pay the rent each month...say a rental account. One that sends it out as an auto bill pay account. I think that is what I would do.
 
S

Signorina

Guest
Just be careful since it's a mobile home park and you have no ownership. There have been a few cases where the parks themselves were foreclosed upon OR sold OR condemned to make room for new developments and that left the residents with homes they could no longer live in and could not afford to move.

It happened in Glenview IL a few times (Sunset Village is being foreclosed on right now) -- and there is a mobile home community in an NWIL suburb (by one of our stores) that city residents have been trying to get rid of in order to raise the surrounding neighborhood's values. I don't think that kind of stuff is as prevalent in WI as it is in IL - but just have someone (a lawyer) read over the declarations to be safe.

I really think renting for a year there would be a great option - try before you buy.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Sig, yes, I know.

I will be getting significantly more than $25,000.He just won't give any of us a dime while he is still here, and that is his decision. And the account sounds like a good idea. Maybe if it happens (and I sooooooooo hope it doesnt!), we would consider a smaller two bedroom house on a small lot...who knows? I think we'd just pay in full. But getting something that way...again, I don't even take that into consideration. After all, although he is 88, he still has girlfriends, drives, and loves to go dancing...lol!!! I hope I take after him :)
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
mwm...you know that is how I got mine right? First it was my mom and now I have my emergency repair account from my dad. I bought the doublewide when I had to take care of my mom because we only had a 3 bedroom singlewide and with 3 boys plus me, Tony and my mom living in it there was no way we could all fit so I had to buy a bigger place. I bought the largest thing I could get. A 28x80 with 4 bedrooms and an office off the master bedroom. This thing is bigger than lots of houses I see on HGTV...lol. Its over 2000 sq ft. It was great with all 3 boys here but now we just rattle around in here. I never even go in the office or one of the bedrooms. My living room and dinning room combo are never used. We only use the family room because that is where the TV is and the fireplace.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I didn't know, Janet. But I guess they want us to have something or we wouldn't get it. I just don't like thinking about it...my dad is my only parent who has ever been nice to me. So when I think about how our financial situation will be, I block out this possibility. Another thing I didn't think of is that we could possibly qualify for government housing assistance and even food stamps in a few years, but I sooooooooooooooo don't want to be that person who takes everything from the government. I'd rather not do that. I already get SSDI and Medicaid. And I feel kind of guilty about it...I wasn't raised to take government programs, but then my parents didn't believe I had disabilities and also they had no idea the economy would tank the way it has...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
SSDI and Medicare arent welfare and you darned well know it. You get that because you worked at sometime during your life and you had some credits to draw.
 
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