Why are mobile homes so much cheaper than a house?

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nsl

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Been kind of looking at rural property with 5 or so acres and a small house.
I come across mobile homes that were made in the 90's with some acres for close to $80K quite regular.
Similar acres with a run of the mill 60's or 70's built house that has been cheaply remodled seem to be $150K +.
I love some of the older little houses, but I live in one now and they all seem to have foundation or other issues.
 
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Unlike a regular house whose value increases with time, mobile homes depreciate in value and do so rather quickly.
Mobile homes are built to much less strict standards than a regular house. Smaller wall studs and ceiling joists set farther apart and less insulation. Generally an overall weaker structure. They are noted for plumbing problems due to the use of cheap plastic pipes that deteriorate over time.
A co-worker of mine had a piece of property. He wanted to add a home and move there permanently. He originally thought of buying a mobile home because he thought it would be cheaper. However, he discovered that after adding all the "upgrades" needed to make it a good structure, he could build a real house. He chose to build instead and said it was one of the best decisions he ever made.
 
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Watching some of the new construction houses go up just south of me that will go for $400-$500K makes me think the big bad wolf would have a field day down there. I wonder what they'll look like in 25 years.
 
Good info for you here from Grayfox and others.

There is sort of a middle ground between the "manufactured" home you describe (which are built with axles underneath to be towed to its eventual site, and therefore will still have the metal framework, towing tongue, etc.) and the traditional "stick built" home that is constructed on-site from the foundation up.

That middle ground is called a "modular" home. As one of the previous posters mentioned, these are built at a factory to much higher standards than a "manufactured" home, and are transported to the eventual site on a flatbed truck, usually in two or more pieces. A crane is then employed to lift the pieces and place them onto the foundation that has been prepared, and the pieces are then joined by a crew from the factory.

Once in place on a lot, modular homes are for all intents and purposes the same as a similar stick-built home as far as value, durability, and longevity are concerned. A lot of people nowadays will find and purchase a lot, then have a modular home built and transported there to be installed. Doing it this way can (though not in all cases) be a less expensive way to get a home on your lot than having it built there.

Lenders are much more likely to offer mortgage products on stick-built or modular homes than on manufactured ones, though financing of those can be found (usually at higher interest rates and shorter term lengths).
 
JcMack said:
Watching some of the new construction houses go up just south of me that will go for $400-$500K makes me think the big bad wolf would have a field day down there. I wonder what they'll look like in 25 years.
Click to expand...

We have these things called hurricanes ;) that take mobile homes and most new construction either completely away or to unrecognizability.

There's a surprising (to some) number of houses here over 80 yrs old, that have been through 5 or more hurricanes.

I believe it has to do with the wood, the amount of wood, the nails(some don't have hardly any nails), the men that built them.:)
 
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What you need is to just get an abandoned semi trailer from the dump. You throw in some gopher gas bombs and drive out the rats. Then you dig a hole and put the trailer in it. A shipping container will also work.

Get yourself a bucket for a terlit and a couple three tin cans made into lard lamps and presto. Got yourself some mighty fine living. Well insulated and green. Plus it will smell like frying bacon so you won't notice your bucket stench.
 
Speaking of shipping containers- A few years ago, I wound up owning some shipping containers.
I sold one of them to a 'survivalist' who took it out to the boonies to do whatever.
He was rather secretive about where it was going and what he planned to do with it..
So I sold it to him in place, he was responsible to haul it.
After he paid me and the trucker loaded it, they had a long discussion about where they were going.
Out West of Socorro, I think.
 
I framed houses in college and during a layoff I went to work for another framer. What a shock that was, after arriving at work I discovered he was building houses out of material recovered from a mobile home park that was destroyed in a tornado, anything salvageable he was picking up. The studs were 2x2, not the standard 2x4 used in homes, carpet he was using was the old plastic "astro turf" type stuff, the water heaters and furnaces were from the mobile homes, smaller than what most of us have in our houses. The sad part was the he was building these outside of city limits so there was no building code that had to be enforced, even sadder was that people would actually live in these. I lasted 3 days before telling him I did not want my name associated with these houses.
 
GatorFarmer said:
What you need is to just get an abandoned semi trailer from the dump. You throw in some gopher gas bombs and drive out the rats. Then you dig a hole and put the trailer in it. A shipping container will also work.

Get yourself a bucket for a terlit and a couple three tin cans made into lard lamps and presto. Got yourself some mighty fine living. Well insulated and green. Plus it will smell like frying bacon so you won't notice your bucket stench.
Click to expand...

I suggested a similar plan to my Wife using 3 shipping containers. One central living, one for her and one for me,

She was not receptive for some reason?:)
 
I thought this place was interesting
eaebd04d6a8b11f2ffc4e15edbfd924f.jpg
 
arjay said:
I thought this place was interesting
eaebd04d6a8b11f2ffc4e15edbfd924f.jpg
Click to expand...
I've seen this pic before and it does look interesting. It looks like shipping containers set on end supporting the topmost units. The yellow one has to be a PIA to live in since a lot of people gotta walk by to get to theirs. If I bought the skybox top one, one trip up there and I'd be dead. Do people really live there, or is this a semi, pseudo, neo quasi artsi fartsi representation of communal living? Note the windfarm on top of the green unit supplying power to the complex.
 
Never confuse a home with a trailer. When I was young, I worked construction, and I've worked in a mobile home factory. You want security? Ain't happening in a mobile home. A lot of those things you can break into with a P-38 can opener. The door is the most secure part. I will say I've seen one that was made up north and it was very well made compared to ones I've seen made down here. You know what a 2X4 is, what we call a stud. You know it's actually 1 1/2" X 3 1/2". Well the studs in a lot of mobile homes are maybe 1 1/2" X 2 1/2", and that was 40 years ago. Oh, and they burn like newspaper.
 
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