I've lived in a mobile home in upstate NY {cold and snowy} for the past 12 years. Mine is bolted to a wood {2x12"} platform that in turn is bolted to concrete pylons that go 4' into the ground. It ain't goin nowhere. It is situated so the water line comes straight out of the ground and right up into the trailer under the kitchen sink. From there all the water lines from the kitchen to the hot water tank to the bathroom run inside the trailer so we only have the 3' of exposed line. That line has a heat tape on it and we've not had any problems with frozen water lines down to 20 below. We heated the place entirely with a wood stove for the first couple of winters and it took 12-13 face cords of hardwood. One winter we heated entirely with the furnace {kero because the tank is outdoors} and it took two full tanks {275 gal.} to get us through. Pretty darn cheap to heat compared to my old 2 story 1800 sq. foot house.
If you've got to do a mobile, you know the risks go ahead and do it. As said it won't be a money making venture, the mobile part the land different story. We started out in a 1965 Pontiac Chief! lmfao I chit you not that was the brand of the mobile. We bought it used for cheap lived in it for around 7 years and ended up giving it to a hippy but he had to pay to move it away.
Another thing to pencil out if the zoning isn't an issue is start small with stick frame. I know of guys that started out slapping up a garage real quick, living in it for a while then building a house on to it and moving in the house then using the garage for... a garage. Know another guy that built a shell with a tall bay door one side that he drove a 5th wheel into. He lived in that and over time finished off the shell in to rooms bit by bit as cash flow allowed. The end game obviously loose the 5th wheel and completely finish it all into a house. Just another option to chew on
If I was going to live in a mobile home, I'd look around and buy used. I'd also spend the money to have it set on a concrete block foundation and anchored to it. Then I'd have the whole thing covered with one of these carport rigs. People talk mobile homes down. But if you buy them right and set them up right they can be decent dwellings.
I had a couple of young friends a few years ago who were scraping by living cramped up in a cheap apartment. They found a very decent mobile home for rent on a half acre lot in a fairly private area. They were happy as could be about going from an apartment to a mobile home with a yard.
First guy to figure put the solution to what every fugging too good to live in a trailer snob says is a problem.
They lose value faster than a 40 year old stripper.
Make that your advantage. People finance new ones they can't pay for all the time. Pick up a 1-3 year old re-po at a huge discount.
Also, a trailer-toter made a great point one day. "Ever see a stick built home get moved? It takes a dam ling time and a lot of work to make it strong enough to be moved down the road".
Give that a thought.
We lived in 23 year old trailer when we got married in '95. 5 years. It provided housing we could afford. $2500+ a few hundy to move. $175 a month lot rent. Old, neglected, somewhat nasty, it worked fine. But it didn't make others envious.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
I took apart a roof on a double wide mobile home once. Redman brand. About 1980 vintage. 1x2 roof trusses. As in 1"x2". No joke. Interior walls, 1x3.
Back in the early '70s an acquaintance bought a brand new mobile home and had it setup in a local mobile home park.
The mobile home park had poured concrete bases for bracing and concrete piers with sunken eye-bolts to connect storm tie-down straps to on every lot. He went to connect his storm straps but all he could find was a foot or so of the tie-down straps hanging loose from beneath the outside of the metal siding. He pulled on them as hard as he could but no more strap would come out.
He then called the mobile home sales business where he bought his at and was told that the storm straps were just rolled up and secured behind the exterior siding to prevent them from getting loosened and possibly dragging the ground during transport and then was told to simply unscrew the exterior panel above each strap, release extra length and connect.
He did as told but discovered there was no extra length rolled up underneath. What he found was instead of running up inside the exterior siding and over the top of the mobile home and down the opposite side as one piece like they were supposed to, the storm tie down straps on his were cut off and stapled directly to wood framing just beneath the siding.
I took apart a roof on a double wide mobile home once. Redman brand. About 1980 vintage. 1x2 roof trusses. As in 1"x2". No joke. Interior walls, 1x3.
Back in the early '70s an acquaintance bought a brand new mobile home and had it setup in a local mobile home park.
The mobile home park had poured concrete bases for bracing and concrete piers with sunken eye-bolts to connect storm tie-down straps to on every lot. He went to connect his storm straps but all he could find was a foot or so of the tie-down straps hanging loose from beneath the outside of the metal siding. He pulled on them as hard as he could but no more strap would come out.
He then called the mobile home sales business where he bought his at and was told that the storm straps were just rolled up and secured behind the exterior siding to prevent them from getting loosened and possibly dragging the ground during transport and then was told to simply unscrew the exterior panel above each strap, release extra length and connect.
He did as told but discovered there was no extra length rolled up underneath. What he found was instead of running up inside the exterior siding and over the top of the mobile home and down the opposite side as one piece like they were supposed to, the storm tie down straps on his were cut off and stapled directly to wood framing just beneath the siding.
Ship it, we got bills to pay!
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!" --- Kid Rock 2022
Why don't you contact a realtor in the area you like. People get divorced fairly regularly. There should be lots of dream houses for sale. Some people put up pole barns and finish off an apartment inside. From the outside nobody is the wiser. Keeps property taxes lower. Mice are a real problem. I have a pole barn on a concrete slab and constantly putting out poison. They will chew holes in everything you own.
I like to do my hunting BEFORE I pull the trigger! There is only one kind of dead, but there are many different kinds of wounded.
Maybe someone has already suggested this, but I didn't read the entire thread: Find a 25 or 30 acre parcel with a conventional home already built on the property.
Last edited by High_Noon; 11/11/19.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right. - Del Gue
Not 100% sure but it could possibly be the original carpet in our bedroom.
House is 41 years old.
Gasp!
Turquoise blue and puke green 4" shag Sam?
House I rented a room in while in school in the 90's still had it in the main house, leftover from the 70's. That's in the 41 year range now. Went great with avocado green kitchen appliances.
Geno
PS and a Lava Lamp.
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
